Aha, at last, a victory for the Voter! The steel beams of corporate society have crumbled in my wake. Persistence has paid off and now my simple indulgence awaits.
Soon my senses will alight from the aroma of freshly popped corn, with each bite, my palate will encrust in a salty blend of butter and crushed corn, my only saviour will be a thirst quenching complimentary post-mix delight. This time no tender shall pass across the counter, no credit card on-line, for I have complimentary tickets and it's Hoyt's who have succumbed to Soliloquy's rebellion.
So after my little rant 'n' rave about no popcorn at 'Black Swan', my wife and I bitched and moaned about how good the movie was, the seats were nice but didn't recline, yet most of all, the sneaky host at La Premiere reneged on the free popcorn. After the film as no-one was there we rang the next day and left a message. After almost a week of playing phone tag my wife actually got onto someone. The first operator said nothing she could do and that we had to write. My wife rejected this and demanded a manager.On hold for a while, I took on the challenge and proceeded with my banter and carefully re-constructed the scene in a real-time like monologue. But the manager 'Wayne' (not his real name but close) totally disregarded my version of logic and expectation and stuck to their policy of "...all complimentary items are self-service..". He failed to acknowledge that we were never communicated that and by the fact that the host actually hand delivered our drinks, then was it not reasonable by precedence, our popcorn too would be hand delivered?
So good old Wayno just listened to me roll around a few analogies such as likening 'McDonalds Drive-Thru' to 'Vue De Monde' comparative service and expectation philosophy etc etc which went nowhere as he didn't even know what Australia's No. 1 restaurant was. So obviously young Wayno, whose barometer for fine dining is limited to a TGI Fridays, came back at me with "..the best I can do is offer you a free La Premiere popcorn". So with a mind to enact some sort of retaliatory vengeance akin to Gary David (or Webb) type of event at the cinema, I calmed myself, said my goodbyes to the sniggering beligerance of the 'Wayno-Wall' and took to the feedback section on Hoyts.com.au to scribe my opinion of a popcornless man.
Here's the result from none other than Wayne himself....
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Dear Mr. <Soliloquy Report>,
Thank you for the correspondence regarding your recent visit to Hoyts Victoria Gardens. We appreciate your patronage at Hoyts and welcome your feedback. It is this feedback that allows us to improve on the overall cinema experience.
I am writing in response to your letter regarding your La Premiere experience and the problems you encountered with your visit to La Premiere on Australia Day to view Black Swan. Please accept my apology on behalf of the team for failing to deliver you and your wife popcorn upon your request. As stated to you via the phone, the sequence of service in La Premiere does not generally include the delivery of complimentary popcorn or drink due to there being self-service areas. However after discussing the issues at hand with members of my management team we feel that because you were not made aware of this fact at the time of your visit, it is not unreasonable for you to expect it; especially after a request was made. Failing to act on this request is therefore unacceptable.
Our staff are required to follow strict procedures in relation to servicing our La Premiere customers. It is unfortunate that the standard was not reached on your visit. The circumstances you experienced are extremely rare and we have taken measures to ensure that the incident is isolated. I do however apologise for the inconvenience this caused.
Again, thank you for communicating your feedback. As a gesture of good will I would like to offer you two La Premiere complimentary passes that you can redeem at any participating Hoyts location. Please forward a mailing address so that I can send these to you. I am confident that your next visit to Hoyts will be an enjoyable one.
Yours sincerely,
<Wayno 'tail between my legs' Movie Manager>Thanks Wayne, I appreciate that although you had every opportunity to appease my simple request you have now undertaken the humility to express, and in your own words that behaviours were simply 'unacceptable'.
As Metallica says...."And Justice for All!"
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