Oh, and I guess there's the shitty customers too. The most fun were the ones who hadn't pre-booked incredibly popular films then moaned about the screenings being sold out (like I could do anything about that) and coming out with shit like "We've driven all the way from [town about 3 miles away]!".
And not really worst, but certainly memorable was when I caught a young couple (about 16/17) having sex in a screening of The Woman In Black. Very romantic.
I'm sure anyone who's worked with food in any capacity has horror stories there too. Pick and mix that's full of dead flies, an earwig in the popcorn warmer, but the worst was when I cleaned out the built up grinds out of the coffee machine and was met with a shower of fucking maggots.
I've cleaned up half-chewed gummy bears wedged down the sides of seats, used nappies, cheesy nachos smeared into upholstery, spilt drinks that have run down every single step in the screen, you name it. And so. Much. Popcorn.
Do you know what happens when you get a mixed Tango Ice Blast, a portion of popcorn and an overexcited toddler? Purple vomit, that's what.
I saw the Jennifer Connelly version, honestly I couldn't tell you what happened in it, it was so memorable 😏
I switched Ready Player One off partway through the race at the start. There's only so much "Reference, reference, REFERENCE" I could handle, and I read the fucking book (which was also an atrocity).
When I say "worst experience in the cinema", I mean as a punter. As an employee of one, hoooooo boy...
My worst experience in the cinema was Open Water. Marketed as Jaws meets The Blair Witch Project and "based on a true story", it was the biggest waste of 79 minutes (and oh god it felt like longer) of my entire life. Crashingly boring, I simply wanted the main characters to die so I could go home.