Sight Unseen

After punching in 9-8-7-6 on the keypad and twisting the handle of and opening the staff room door, I heard the staff CD player gurgle with distortion as the song faded out and started again. I recognized the song as "Televators" by The Mars Volta, and I wasn't sure how long Boris had been sitting there, nor did I particularly care.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Fuck off," he murmured.

"Sure thing," I said, heading around the corner to the men's changeroom. Throwing on my standard red-and-white staff polo overtop of my Nine Inch Nails Fragility Tour T-shirt, I tucked both into my dark blue slacks. Kicking off my basket-weave Nike 6.0s for my horrible black Clarks, the song faded out and started again.

Looking at myself in the men's full length mirror, I decide I am to the standard and ready for prime time, I attached my name tag and I leave Boris to feel his feelings as I headed out to the mezzanine to start my shift at the AMC 24 Theatre in Kanata.

Employing a small army of young adults, I was surprised to see the majority of my graduating Grade 8 class washed up here, now, like me, in their early twenties, working as part of the small army of well groomed and underpaid masses that kept the entertainment ziggurat running, all but anonymous with our first name dymo-labeled on to a cheap piece of plastic with the theatre branding on it.

The easiest shift was the Box Office, as generally speaking everything was $10 or so, and you'd process through thousands of dollars over the course of a full eight hour shift. Whenever your till needed a 'pickup' (meaning you had too much money in your till), the supervisory Blue Shirt on duty would come, open your till, take out everything but the float, and stick it in a pneumatic tube which landed in the cash cage behind concessions.

Concessions was by far the worst. People were constantly indecisive and/or outraged at the pricing you demanded for a small popcorn and drink. If you were lucky, you'd be on a side till and didn't have to deal with many people. Shifts there always found you somewhat sticky.

Today, however, I was working as part of the floor staff, which was what most people did on a weekend. This granted me a certain level of autonomy and camaraderie with the other staff on the floor.

Heading over to the service closet in the south wing, and punching in 1-2-3-4, the door clicked open and I took my broom and dustpan, and headed over to theatre three, which was just finishing another screening of some Oscar bait.

Calling for a mop over the walkie-talkie, Rob responded, and by the time I was done sweeping up the back rows of the theatre, I pointed him over to the spilled coke near the front row.

Picking up the ABS plastic concessions tray, I gave it a firm toss, spinning it counterclockwise slightly as it landed on the carpeted floor with a thud. Once Rob and I were done, he headed back to the service closet to empty the mop into the box sink, and I walked back to concession to drop the tray off.

The music in the theatre was on a loop that lasted exactly 50 minutes, with the first 25 minutes being a loop of about six songs interspersed with prerecorded DJ banter for the soft rock station which always preceded Bryan Adams' "When You're Gone". The back half of the loop was six songs interspersed with prerecorded DJ banter for the classic pop station, which would lead into Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69".

Placing the ABS tray on the concession counter, I check the time and count how many hours are left before I can go get stoned with Paul and Janet out back, and call my dad for a lift.

As the night started to wind down, I confirmed plans with Janet at about 9:00 and I'm mostly left to my own devices in the north wing. Auditoriums were finishing their last screenings of the night, and as one of the last three floor staff of the night, I'm stuck cleaning up most of the theatres alone, mopping up several Cokes, cleaning up assorted debris, and sweeping up half bags of popcorn kicked over by shithead teenagers I booted out mid-handjob in this week's PG-13 slasher flick in theatre eight.

Feeling increasingly annoyed, I find a concession tray wedged between a seat and the back wall. Gripping it with two hands, I manage to free it from bondage.

Now I'm usually a pretty careful guy, but the fates aligned that night. Instead of cleanly landing near the exit, I watch in slow motion as it spins clockwise and skids along the wall, and directly into the triangular wall sconce that projected our brand colors on the theatre walls between screenings, shattering it into four dozen pieces and knocking the lamp with its lightbulb still intact, but knocked at a 45 degree angle.

Thinking back, I should have checked the projection booth before doing anything, but being alone in the theatre, I rushed over to the broken glass sconce, swept it up sight unseen, and resolved to claim ignorance and not tell anyone about it.

Working the floor in the South wing the next day, I am filled with dread as the walkie-talkie crackles, and I hear Omar, one of the higher-ups say "Come in Matt?"

"Matt here."

"Can you come to the cage for a few minutes?" It's asked in such a way that it's not really a request but a command. I never talk to Omar except in passing. The cage was the office behind the concession stand where Omar, Lisa, Evan, and Terry would watch security footage and, quite often, privately discuss disciplinary actions.

Security footage. Fuck.

"Roger."

With a hangdog look, I walk over to the cage door and give it a knock. Omar opens up and invites me in to sit down.

"So Matt, we had a bit of an issue in theatre eight last night."

Fuck.

My voice cracks, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, it seems there was a small... fire."

"Fire?!" My face turns white.

Omar is silent.

After watching me sweat, he finally laughs at me and says, "nah man, I'm just fucking with you. You've been here a year! You get a raise. It's only five cents, but it's better than a kick in the head."

"Oh... great."

Holy shit.

"Yeah, five cents, I know. It's like nothing. Anyway, talk to you later man. Have a good one."

"Yeah... you too."