December 30, 2004
Bahamas' Galleria Cinemas Begging For Bankruptcy
Without an exception, all of my movie-going experiences at Nassau's Galleria Cinemas have been the worst I have ever experienced. And I am not the only one saying that. Far too many people agree with that opinion. Galleria Cinemas should do itself a favour and just go quietly out of business, because they will eventually be driven out by the Bahamian public.
You'd think running the only movie theatres in New Providence would make the job easier for the management at Galleria Cinemas. Well, you wouldn't know it by the terrible way the theatre chain is managed.
I went recently to the JFK theatre to see an afternoon movie with friends. There was no one at the ticket booth when we arrived. Finally, a slovenly, obese, lazy woman came to the window and grunted some rude command that ended with a dollar amount. I smiled, said "Hello" and slid a $20 bill through the slit in the black-tinted plexiglass, which very much resembled the hole in the wall that I once saw in a movie about crack cocaine houses.
After a minute or two, two tickets were shoved out the slit without a word from the rude employee inside the ticket booth. I said "You're welcome", anyway, then headed for the entrance.
Again, no one was at the door to take the tickets, so my friends and I just went on in. I sat at the door, where the ticket-taker is supposed to sit, for about five minutes, cheerfully taking the tickets of other movie-goers just to see how long it would be before a Galleria Cinema employee came to relieve me of my self-imposed duty. Too long. My movie was about to start so I gave all the tickets I had collected to a snack bar girl and went into the theatre.
The movie I saw, "Meet The Fockers", with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino was funny and I enjoyed it.
After the movie I went to use the men's room and the condition of that restroom is what prompted this rant. It was despicable. This is a public restroom in a privately owned theatre. There is NO excuse for any company, anywhere, at any time, to not maintain their restrooms for the use of their customers.
It is not like the theatre was busy. In fact, it was nearly empty and there were several emloyees lounging around doing absolutely nothing. Why weren't they tending the door or cleaning the bathrooms? I paid good money for a movie ticket and expect the facilities to be reflective of the ticket price. This ain't no "dollar" theatre like they have in the States. And, even those cheap theatres have clean restrooms and polite employees. It is unacceptable that Galleria Cinemas doesn't.
All I can say is, it is quite obvious that the money-grubbing owners of Galleria cinemas, like the toilets in their restrooms are full of... well, I think you get the message.
Posted by admin at December 30, 2004 07:00 PM