Get off your ass!
June 13th, 2012 | PersonalI was catching Snow White and the Huntsman yesterday. The projection was out of focus–very evidently out of focus. You see severe ghosting in the subtitles. I decided to be a nice guy and see if the projectionist would fix it. Ten minutes into the movie, the problems remained unfixed. Yet nobody flinched or make any noise about it.
I wasn’t sitting through a two-hour OUT OF FOCUS movie. Not going to waste my money and time. I reported the problem to a staff. I stood next to him as he radioed his colleague. “Boss, I reported the problem already.” Still I stayed next to him because I wanted to get confirmation someone’s heading over to fix the projector ASAP. “You can go back to your seat. We will look into the problem.” Ok, I’ll take his word for it.
Back to my seat, I endured another ten minutes of OUT OF FOCUS movie. This was too much. Yet nobody made a sound. No heckling, complains, whistling in a hall with 80 people! Am I the only person seeing the problem? I stormed out and confronted the same staff again. “I didn’t pay to watch an out-of-focus movie. I suggest you get this fix now.” He radioed his colleague and finally got a confirmation someone was with the projector and the problem was fixed.
Back to my seat again. It was fixed indeed. I learned a few lessons here.
First, I learned how many people are willing to put up with a problem, in my case over 80 people, than confronting it. It is FAR easier to sit on our asses than to get off our asses to fix a problem.
Secondly, just because it is acceptable to everyone else doesn’t mean it is good enough. It’s an Asian thing to be polite and non-confrontative. There is a place for diplomacy & there is a place for confrontation.
Thirdly, you can take a promise at its face value as long as you verify the facts as well. Promising a solution and actually solving a problem are two different things.
Finally, be prepared to get off your asses a few times to accomplish a goal. It’s still well worth the effort.
p/s I thought the movie was so-so. 5/10 from this armchair critic.
June 13th, 2012 at 10:45 am
The power of peer pressure. 1 against a large group. This applies everywhere, be it positively or negatively. In this case, you did a marvelous deed. Someone needs to stick their feet out to make the change.
June 13th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
It’s good that you voice out your opinion, while I think that you should be more patient while waiting for it to get fixed.
June 13th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
I’ve spent 20 minutes watching an out-of-focus movie. Jasmine, that’s more than patient in my book.
June 13th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
I been in similar situations many times before. I was the only one complaining in some theaters where every seat was full. Fortunately, most times, they would also give me passes to see another movie.
June 18th, 2012 at 12:59 am
nice one there louis !
July 1st, 2012 at 1:25 pm
That was good action louis….