Movie theater job is cool ... and it can be fun, friendly, too

You might consider working in the Cinemark 8 movie theaters to be an easy job, but there's more to it than tickets and popcorn.

"I perform four jobs," said Peter Cayer, 19, who has worked as an usher at the Cinemark 8 theater in Summerville for two years. "Box teller (selling tickets and gift cards), concessions (selling snacks), usher (directing moviegoers where to go) and working the booth (threading the projector so the movie plays)."

From greeting the customer at the window to operating movie reels, Cayer, who lives in Summerville, manages to perform a number of tasks with fellow staff members who make his work experience all the more enjoyable.

"It's fun, friendly and everyone gets along really well," Cayer said. "A good thing about this job is the friendly staff and the customers. It really helps to get through the day when everyone's smiling and having fun."

The theater is also nice and cool, refreshing even the most overheated customer.

Cayer said there is an ebb and flow to the day when employees deal with larger masses of moviegoers or other unexpected events.

"Sometimes, we'll get a rush for a good bit of time, but when it's over, things go back to normal," he said. "Also, there are times when little kids will pull down the fire alarm."

It's not uncommon to see moviegoers who had their hands full while walking into the theater walk out with their hands empty. Not all of the empty containers end up in the trash can.

"As soon as movies get out, we get in and clean up the theater so we can sit new customers for the next showing," Cayer said.

Serving people and cleaning up after them are all part of the job. However, one of the perks for the hard work is being able to preview movies before they're released to paying audiences.

"The only movie I'm really looking forward to this summer is 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.' I loved the first one and I liked the CGI (computer-generated imagery)," Cayer said.