Cinema staff's attitude

While this may be a slightly old subject, I would like to bring this incident to readers' attention.

I fully agree with many of the people who have written in to complain about how annoying it is when people use their mobiles in the cinema while they are trying to enjoy a film.

So I was very glad to hear that both Eden Century and Embassy cinemas have stated that if any one of their patrons has a problem with this issue they could complain to an usher or manager and the situation would be dealt with appropriately.

Until yesterday.

I met up with some friends to watch the film Guess Who at the Embassy Cinema in Valletta. The service was quick and friendly. We entered the auditorium and began to watch the film. It was quite enjoyable.

All of a sudden, what should we hear but someone talking loudly on a mobile. Was it part of the film? No... the voice was in Maltese. Not only did we discover it was from the row in front of us, but it was also one of the ushers - an older member of staff, who should have known better! We went to fetch a manager to sort the problem out.

The manager was in his office with two other staff members, smoking. While, to be fair, he did send someone to see to the problem, he did not seem to care less.

What is it about the attitude of certain individuals? They seem to take it upon themselves to give an establishment a bad name. I thoroughly enjoy visiting Embassy Cinemas but after all the fuss that has been made recently I would not expect such careless behaviour from staff at a cinema. Especially one that has always - up to now - had a genuine, friendly and hospitable atmosphere.

I hope there is some manager/owner who can sort this problem out once and for all. After all, if staff members cannot show an example of respectable behaviour, why should the general public behave well? Unfortunately, it seems that the general attitude is "monkey see, monkey do".