What happens is, two guys buy tickets. They go in. One guy takes both stubs and goes outside. He gives one of the stubs to a friend, then goes back inside. The friend waits a few minutes, then goes in. The process repeats until a bunch of people are let in on the same two tickets.

Both kiosk and internet ticketing lend themselves to scams, and the role of the good doorman is becoming tougher.

Any owner that doesn't do random head counts of auditoriums is opening his or herself up for scams and theft.

Jeff, after reading your post below, There may not be a firm solution to the problem in your theater. Seems to me all one can hope for is the doorman has a good memory, and can recognize the person leaving for and returning from the restroom.

| RR |---Concession----| RR |
| |
|=================UU================|
| |

Kind of hard tgo represent, but to the sides
are where the different screens are, and
the concession is at the back end of the
theatre. Anyways this "scam" only works
when there is an Usher in the middle (UU)
and no ushers to the side of the RR (restrooms) They just tell the Usher they need to use the restroom, and they let them. Now if there is an usher taking tickets on the sides, they wont b e able to get in, but on slower nights, with just the usher in the center of the lobby by concession, it works every time. Pretty lame. Guess we just cant let customers use the restrooms anymore for fear of ripping off the theatre.

Hope my explination of the scenerio made sense, if not, let me know and Ill explain further..

The theatre in my area that has the best security is the Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 in Decatur, AL. Often, when I'm expecting a crowd to show up for movies, I buy my ticket at least an hour early and walk around in the mall (the theatre is behind the mall) for a while. That way, if a crowd shows up, I don't have to wait in the ticket line. Every time I've returned to the theatre to get into the auditorium, someone has always approached me to ask for my ticket stub so they could tear it, even though they know who I am. Everyone there has been trained to make sure every ticket is torn. This theatre would probably be the most difficult to sneak into. One time, someone came into the auditorium before a show and asked to see everyone's ticket stub. I heard later that a kid had bought a ticket for a different show and went into the R rated movie. If they're cracking down on that, you know they're checking everything very well.

However, that theatre has one flaw. There are two sides of the building. The two entrances to halls leading to auditoriums are to the left and right of the concession stand area in the back of the lobby. The restrooms are behind the concession stand and one can go into the restrooms from the left side and come out on the right side, and vice versa (they go all the way through!). I used this to my advantage one night when I went to see "Wizard of Oz". There was a huge line to get into that side of the auditorium because "Waterboy" was playing that night (on that same side of the theatre). I went to the restroom on the left side, walked through, and came out on the right, walked in front of the huge line, and went into my auditorium. I was the only one who saw "Wizard of Oz" that night and I escaped having to wait in the "Waterboy" line to get into it. My ticket stub had already been torn, though.

On slower nights, they tear the stub when they give it to you at the box office (which is just inside the lobby). I think the staff there have good memories and know if anyone tries any funny business.

One thing I read from the post above "I threw my ticket stub in the trash" We will usually boot someone if we dont think they belong there, even if they threw their ticket stub in the trash. If it was an adult, we usually give them the benefit of the doubt, but a kid will get kicked out We post a sign saying to keep your stub. I heard a story though of one guy who went ballistic and said he threw his stub away, and he screamed he wanted to go find it, so he went to the restroom trash can, found his ticket, and went back to the Guest services desk, WITH the trash can, showed his stub, and threw the entire contents of the garbage can at the managers.. hahaha.. I know it sounds sadistic, and it probably is, but one of my only joys of working at the theatre (OTHER than watching the movies and playing with the projectors haha) is watching people snap. Its a brilliant example of humanity at its best...

Similar story, Shadowood theatre in Boca Raton. The manager and staff were sticklers for stopping the crossover traffic. A man and two sons, as I recollect, pulled the same "I threw our tickets in the restroom trash!" routine. The usher escorted them to the restroom, where they triumphantly pulled three ticket stubs out of the trash bin. "You see! I told you we threw them in the trash!" They exited the restroom tickets in hand and waved them in front of the manager. She took them, asked "Are you SURE these are your tickets?" "Oh, yes. Absolutely!" She than said something to the effect of "I believe you. These were for the last set of shows, which have all exited. Furthermore, they weren't even for the auditorium the usher saw you entering. Now leave!" The response? "I'll have your job! We bought tickets and didn't realize you were going to be so nasty about our sitting in some empty seats! There was no reason for you to be so rude about it." The manager looked over at me, smiled and said "I think I can save you some trouble. Let me introduce my district manager." I smiled. They left.