[hot_pastrami]

Ok, here's the letter I wrote and will send to Cinemark corporate tomorrow (kinda long):

Dear sir/madam,

My name is Alan Bellows, and my wife and I have been long-time patrons of Cinemark theaters. Until a recent unpleasant experience with a manager of a local Cinemark theater, we watched movies exclusively at a Cinemark theater about twenty minutes away from our home, at the Provo Towne Center in Provo, UT. My wife and I, along with two other couples, attend about 2-3 movies per month as a group; and as a result of Saturday’s events, we will now take all of our movie-going business to other theater chains.

This letter is not intended to win me free movie vouchers, discount tickets, or anything of the like. All I seek is reparations for unjustified personal insults done to me by a Cinemark management employee. Short of a personal apology from Troy Taylor and his immediate superior, I can assure you that there is nothing which can draw my business back to a Cinemark theater whenever I have a possible alternative.

I would like to relate the incident which occurred at the Cinemark theater last Saturday, the 20th of December 2003:

My wife, our friends, and I had arrived over an hour early to our 7:50pm viewing of Return of the King, but the line was already stretched far down the theater hallway. We got in line together, and visited amongst ourselves for some time. After a while, I left the line to go get some food at the snack bar for my wife and I. When I attempted to enter the hallway to rejoin my wife and friends, I was stopped by a manager, Troy Taylor, and told that I had to stand in a new line, outside of the hallway area.

I explained to Mr. Taylor that my friends were expecting me to return, and he asked “Do you think your friends will save you a seat?” I said that they probably would, but if I would not be allowed to rejoin them, I should at least be allowed to inform them of the situation. The manager refused to allow me to do so. He said “Why don't you just go to the end of the line like I told you to?”

Though I was annoyed at this, I responded to Mr. Taylor with the civil, but direct response “Why don’t you show some good customer service, and let me go tell my friends what is going on?” He directed me again to the end of the line, at which time I told him that my wife was among my friends, waiting for me to return.

At this, he turned to one of the young men taking tickets beside him, and said “Oh, so now the story changes! His story just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?” Not only was his statement very condescending, but in saying it, he also strongly implied that I was lying to him. Until this point, I had been polite, because I am a polite, even-tempered person who simply wished to enjoy a movie in the company of friends. However, questioning one’s integrity by calling them a liar is shameful customer service, and will upset even the most patient of individuals, such as myself.

I asked him, “Excuse me, are you calling me a liar?” He made a snide comment denying the accusation, but the fact that he hadn’t used the word “Liar” didn’t alter the substance of his statement. At this point, I walked past him, and said “Come, let me introduce you to my wife.” I also added an expletive from which I’ll spare you, suffice it to say I was upset at Troy’s insinuation. He followed me into the area where my wife and friends were waiting in line. I introduced him to my wife as we arrived.

“Do you know this man?” he asked my wife. Confused, she answered that I was her husband. “So he’s your husband?” Again, bewildered, she answered an affirmative. I was becoming more agitated, because now he was not only rudely grilling my wife, who was unaware of what was going on, but in asking her repeatedly, he was once again suggesting that I was lying about her relationship with me. He turned to me and said something to the effect of, “You need to learn to behave yourself in public, sir,” and turned to walk away. I responded in turn that he needed to learn not to accuse his customers of lying, and he said “I never called you a liar, and that’s the end of it.”

Having been provoked by the multiple implications that I was a liar, his condescending tone, and the rude treatment of my wife, I said “Kiss my ass” as he walked away. At this point he asked me to leave the theater, and I refused, so he asked if I wanted him to go get the “police.” I told him that he was welcome to do so if he liked. While he was away, the line began moving, and we were seated in the theater.

Mr. Taylor did appear in the theater some ten minutes later, with two mall security guards in tow. He quickly located me, and walked down the row of seats, and stood in front of my wife, who was sitting beside me. He asked loudly “Do you want to apologize, or do you want these officers to escort you from the building?”

I responded with “I will apologize to you, if you apologize for calling me a liar.” He again denied that he had ever done so. I said “Look, we’re both adults here, and we both know that you insinuated that I was a liar. I will apologize for my behavior if you apologize for yours.” Because Troy was being so loud, the exchange had caught the attention of people several rows behind us and in front of us. The other theater patrons were chiming in with comments for Mr. Taylor to “lay off” of me, and to leave me alone. He ignored these suggestions.

He continued to deny the insinuation, but eventually offered an incomplete apology, in an insincere manner, to the effect of “I apologize if you misunderstood what I was saying.” To end the unpleasant exchange, I opted to accept this apology, and apologized in return. He added “If you can’t learn to behave yourself, you won’t be welcome here again.” My wife mentioned to him that this was going to be our last visit to his theater, given the events of the evening. At this point Mr. Taylor departed, and I wished him a good day and merry Christmas. Once he was gone the other theater-goers, people who I did not know and who had no part in the exchange itself, shared their thoughts on the converstaion with me, with comments such as “That guy must have been picked on in high school,” etc. It clearly had been seen by most patrons as an unjustified action against me. To those who had heard the exchange, I apologized for the disruption.

I concede that I behaved inappropriately, and used some rude language when addressing Troy Taylor, but not before he provoked me by being rude, condescending, and questioning my integrity. What should have been a simple compromise, allowing me to go let my friends know that I would rejoin them soon, was turned into a scene in the corridor, another in the theater, and resulted in dozens of patrons being annoyed at Mr. Taylor’s behavior, and your theater’s loss of six individuals’ future business. If Troy and his immediate superior are willing to offer me a sincere, personal apology, then we will be willing to resume our patronage at your theaters in the future. Otherwise, my friends and I are perfectly willing to enjoy our movies at the theaters for competing chains. There are many theaters which are just as close to our home as that in the Provo Towne Center, and some in fact closer.

Whether or not your management decides to grant this apology, you should at least be aware of the shameful customer service exhibited by your theater’s manager, Troy Taylor, and realize that he is incompetent to the point that he has now driven several individuals’ future business away from your entire chain of theaters. Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
J. Alan Bellows
(phone number, address, etc)