The other Friday, I wrapped up my work, cleaned my desk and sat and pondered as to what to do. I asked around if any of my colleagues had plans that could accommodate a lone ranger at the last minute. Not surprisingly, everyone was busy taking their girlfriends out for dinner, watching movies with college friends, so on and so forth. I decided to watch a movie, coz that’s one activity that I don’t mind doing alone. I usually soak myself totally in the movie, and so, lesser the distraction the better. I looked up the movie listings and realized that there was “Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix” running this week! That’s a movie I had to watch!
I landed up at the PVR multiplex in Sahara Mall at 6.20 pm for the 6.30 show. Just as I was slipping into a reverie about sitting in the hall and watching the teen wizard prodigy kicking some voodoo butt, the ticket counter guy woke me up with a rude jolt –
“Sir, your bag is not allowed inside the theater.”
“Ok fine, I’ll drop it at your security counter.”
“Sorry sir, that won’t be possible, we don’t have a baggage counter.”
“Whoa!” “What do you mean I can’t take my bag inside and you don’t have a baggage counter, what on earth am I supposed to do with my bag?”
“Sorry sir, there’s nothing I can do, yaada, yaada, yaada”
I lost my mind at the absurdity of the situation and yelled at the counter guy to get his manager along. The manager came and repeated what his ward had just said. I yelled some more about the silliness of the rule – they are located in a bloody shopping mall for Christ’s sake! People carry bags in malls, where are they supposed to leave their bags if you don’t provide for storage? Totally miffed, I asked to be referred to someone who could do something about the situation. I had quit work early today to catch a movie, there was no way I was letting a silly rule to come in the way. All I got in return for all the ranting was a feedback form! I was miffed that I missed the movie, but at the same time I was happy that I had yelled at the manager and everyone else in sight, I had atleast fought back, it made me happy.
Mulling on what to do next, I sauntered upto the next mall a 100 meters away. It too had a PVR, my eyes lit up! With the glee of a lion that had tasted blood, I strode upto the ticket counter and started my routine all over again, knowing fully well that the baggage issue would crop up. And when the issue came up, boy, was I ready! I started my yelling sequence all over again, the lines were well rehearsed by now, they flowed out with stinging venom, creating quite a stir and drawing the manager our of his lair to engage in damage control. This time though, the manager was a pleasant Sikh, who seemed to be the people-friendly type. The type that knew all about customer relationship managament, the type that knew that going out of the way to help a customer is a sure-fire way to create customer lock-in that will exist for a long, long time. Most importantly, the type that knew that every customer who walks into the theater counts, because a theater is after all built to serve the single small customer who walks in, they don’t have an enterprise sales channel, every small end-consumer is as relevant to the business as the next one.
The Sikh gentleman explained the rules to me but said that he’ll make an exception this time and let me store the bag in the employees’ storeroom. I joyfully accepted the kind gesture and grabbed the ticket. Whew! I finally was watching Harry Potter. The Sikh guy had just saved my weekend from becoming moody and depressing.
After all that had happened, the movie could not be disappointing. I enjoyed it to the hilt, the movie had very little sentimental balderdash, it was an action-packed fast paced one and half hour delectable treat for Potter fans. The Dumbledore and Voldermot duel at the end was my favourite moment. The grand battle between the masters was so vivid - Voldermot spinning a vortex of shattered glass, only to be countered by Dumbledore’s water cyclone! The day’s struggles were truly well rewarded.
I smugly congratulated myself on the triple whammy - two good fights and a mind-blowing movie, what more can one ask for on a Friday evening! :)
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