One thing I’ve always noticed, no matter which cinema I go to, is that it inexplicably takes FOREVER to buy popcorn.

I can’t explain why. I’m sure the job doesn’t simply attract naturally slow people. But I’m often stood there with my money out, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for them to come back with my popcorn or hotdog.

I’m often tempted to hop over the counter and just help myself .. I’m sure it’d be quicker, it’d be easier, and the popcorn guy would probably learn something from it.

I never do actually vault across the counter tho, partly because … every cinema popcorn guy is slow, I worry that maybe that’s because the job is more complex than I imagined .. maybe I’d make a fool of myself by messing up the scoop technique, or I’d overfill the popcorn tub, and in my haste, my shoddy technique would create instabilities within the popcorn, perhaps causing it to overflow violently.

It seems at least one cinema has tried to find a solution this problem. The photo below is one I just had to take, after spotting the popcorn counter at the Showcase Cinema in Leeds.

(There’s a missing image here, presumably of a lot of cinema employees stood behind the popcorn counter)

overkill

There were actually even more popcorn guys stood around the corner … but I felt a bit of a dick taking photos of popcorn guys, so couldn’t really set up for the perfect shot.

For those of you wondering … no I didn’t get served any quicker, altho the food came fairly quickly, the guy who served me didn’t have a key for the till, neither did the next guy in the line who he asked, luckily the third guy had one.