Two Minutes Hate

Poor Business Decisions

One of the local theaters that my Hetero Life-Pal CT and I frequent has a small arcade. It is a sad state of affairs when this arcade happens to be one of the better places to play pinball. They have a whopping three machines but I want to support them because that is about three more than most places. On our weekly moving outing, I try to show up early so that I can give this arcade my money before the show. I'd also be buying a beverage and probably a hot dog. The theater won't be getting rich off me from this excursion but it is $10-$20 bucks that they wouldn't get otherwise. A poor business decision, however, prevents me from giving them my money.

Thursday night (CT & I's traditional movie night), has now become the time when they count the money and tokens in the change machines and arcade games...which wouldn't bother me, but to do this, they feel like they need to shut down the entire arcade. I worked at an arcade for years, never once did I feel the need to shut down the place to count the money and tokens.

What makes this decision even more dumb is that they shut down the arcade from like 6:30-8pm. 6:30-8pm! Isn't 7pm-8pm the most common movie start time? Isn't that when you would expect to draw the most people into your arcade and make the most money from impulse playing? Why can't you count the money at 4pm? I've been there at that time before and there is no one in the theater. Plus why does it take an hour and half to complete this task? The arcade I worked at was 10 times the size and it still only took me about an hour and half (and yes this included time waiting for customers to finish playing their games).

I really do want to play your games and spend my money there, but you are making it difficult. I am able to play after the movie...and I do, but I would probably play both before and after if I was able. Why are you making it so difficult for me to give you my money?

End Hate