The cinema in Skokie was the place for youth to go on the weekends for a movie, to get together with friends, their kids, and dates. In the summer it was cool inside and in the winter it was warm inside. The cinema, a place of entertainment brought youth from all over town to play the arcade, eat popcorn, pizza, or just watch a two hour movie on a big screen. Who wouldn't want to work somewhere like this? And this is where I came to work when the cold season brought the summer and fall yachts in off of Lake Michigan for the winter at Navy Pier.
I greeted customers, sold food and soda from behind the counter for hundreds of Harry Potter fans. It was me, Tracy, Faith, and Hilary who who went from bath room to bath room filling toilet paper rolls, paper towels, and soap by the hour. We mopped the floors and cleaned up the sinks usually layered in make up, popcorn, and hair. Only in their teens most of the film crew staff I worked with would talk about partying, boozing, their boyfriends, parents, and their first day of their freshmen year in college.
During film crew meetings in the mornings once a month some of the staff would throw up in their seats from late night partying. Our managers were at their best since all of the cinema employees would be transferring in the next year to other cinemas. Greeting customers standing on my two feet for over six hours to direct which way the movie was playing wasn't easy. I would drink my coffee and eat some candy at my station, and tell the patrons that outside food and beverages were not allowed. Then I would announce the food combo of the day and direct them to the food counters.
Abbey who was one of the managers with cheerful, sober, and kind eyes always put me at ease during the slow and busy times. Breaks were twenty minutes usually and I was getting tired of eating nachos and hot dogs so I begin buying health bars and protein serums at the grocery store down the street. Agnes one of the other managers of the ticket booth was in her early twenties who just moved in with her boyfriend and had the best humor about it. She was busy mostly after work studying to graduate with her degree in nursing. She always had a nice outfit on with solid pastel colors, her long pony tail, cardigans, and upbeat attitude toward the workers who had a harder time than most finding things to do when everything was done.
Karen a tall and young single mother came in later as a manager, she was tall, with pale skin and brown hair. She laughed a lot and liked to point when she gave orders to clean the theaters or bathrooms. I was often left with the dirtiest bathroom clean up job being the newest of the film crew kids. I did my best on the job just to hurry up and get back to my apartment. Working at the cinema required 5-6 managers a night on duty. Luke the concession manager watched the money coming in and out from the drawers. He was a young kid with long curly hair down to his shoulders who was usually quiet and pretty relaxed. He would help out if we needed something but unlike Kashal or Denise who had to seemingly be giving us all something to do.
I hoped to be a model worker just as much as the rest of the film crew was for me and so I was scrubbing floors, and walls picking up the smallest items off the floor just to keep from getting watched by the managers. Many times we found money on the floor and turned it in right away for the customers who came back all frantic and concerned about dropping their money in the big dark rooms of the theater.
The film crew and I discussed different college majors, and classes. John was studying computer science, Maggie was studying English, and George and Jorge were working another job in the mornings to keep up with their bills. George washed and tuned up cars and Jorge baby sat his brothers and sisters and not getting paid. I met a lot of film crew members who came to work full time at the cinema because they said they couldn't pay for tuition this semester. Everyone was fueled by their dreams, hobbies, and friends and helping each other out with rides, and paying rent. Michael who was close to Josh and one of the other senior managers was shy and timid. I learned he loved to write science fiction stories and was taking film classes.
Faith a pretty blue eyed 18 year old, one of the crew members who had been at the cinema for five years usually brought in her toddler to see movies in between her shifts. She would call me to work for her and would return the favor. Faith was a quiet and calm cashier at the concession stand and I was often amazed to see her patience and stillness standing behind her assigned register for hours. This took experience and practice and she had been there for five years. When another crew member Shelby had her baby,I gave her 50 dollars for a baby shower gift, and her boyfriend who was a hard worker at the cinema usually stayed until closing time at 3a.m. to support their new born baby. He told me about his record productions and that he traveled to perform with his music band from town to town. I gave the pregnant Shelby rides to her grandmas sometimes when she got off her shift and shared my stories about my mother and I.
Joey and Nake usually called me to come hang out in Chinatown but it was usually too late and I was too tired. They would share their stories with me usually the following weekend at the cinema while we popped popcorn and stocked the nachos. Joey was very tall with long hair, and big glasses. He was confident and poised. Nake was a little girl who told me about her BBQ's at 8am in the morning since she worked so late at the Cinema. I didn't get the joke until later. She also took care of her daughter and was saving for college while she boyfriend was studying to become a doctor.
Nadem who spotted me in the upstairs film room looking for a job at the cinema my first day was a manager with a bad heart condition and he when he hired me I was glad to be working with this sparkplug of a kid. He worked around the clock at the cinema, well dressed in uniform, stood up straight, and never took his eyes off his work. I enjoyed watching the team work, the different personalities, goals, dreams, and I learned how much courage and strength the youth of our day contains. The film crew staff was large. And in the summer when kids were coming back from college for a break new faces joined us.
Holly who dyed her hair a lot from platinum to dark brown to red sometimes was usually downcast and slouched over carrying her broom and dust pan. She often told me about her mother who drank too much and the troubles it brought on her. Holly also drank and would have bruises or scratches on her arms. She mostly kept quiet about where they she got them. When David turned 21 years of age he couldn't wait to go out that night and party. Concerned I gave him the best advise I could knowing it wasn't what he wanted to hear but he listened and that's all that matters. Usually around midnight I was getting fretful, my feet were sore, and it was hard for me to focus on what I had to finish up on since I was distracted by the time. Sharon didn't want me to leave because she had a lot to clean up and since Luke was about to let me go when I asked, she became angry and cussed up a storm. She reminded me of myself. I finished up my night and ignored her and clocked out. Afterall, I had to drive over an hour back to my apartment. The next week I apologized to the short dark haired clear skin girl with glasses named Sharon for that night she was left to finish cleaning the popcorn bins herself. She looked like she didn't even recall the occasion and like bringing it up again might have been something she didn't want to remember.
Nevertheless, working at the cinema for 12 months taught me experiences working with youth that have given me a lot relationship at the work place solutions that I didn't have before. The young film crew reminded me of myself when I was their age, and we had fun bowling after work, watching movies together afterwork, and working toward the same goals on the job to get the ticket and popcorn lines moving with gratitude, and the serving attitude.
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