Gateway Globe Platinum Cinema- Unlimited Popcorn/Drinks (Eye)

Another “success” story was with Gateway again. Let me reiterate that change can only occur when upper management is open minded enough. I’ll also be pointing out other instances when I felt I was banging my head against the wall. I still did it though. It must be a weird genetic strain in my family…

Anyway, back to Gateway. A ticket to the Globe Platinum Cinema costs P299 if you’re not a Globe Platinum holder. If you are, then the price lowers to P249. The ticket entitles you to a 40-seater lazyboy cinema with unlimited popcorn and drinks. Now, it seems pricey at first, but, this is how I analyzed it.

If I buy a Gateway reserved seat ticket from their other cinemas, it is worth P140. Under the assumption that I will get a bucket of plain popcorn at P60 (I can consume a whole lot of popcorn), and a soda for P30, that equals P230.

The difference between P299 and P230 is P69. But if I pay the extra P69, I get to wait comfortably in well-cushioned couches in the Globe Platinum Cinema’s private lobby, while getting a head start on the unlimited popcorn as well. And then, once there’s an announcement about allowing moviegoers to enter, I toddle in with my drinks and popcorn and put down my snacks on a glass table that’s in between every 2 lazyboys. Once I sit down, I let myself be enfolded by the lazyboy’s comforting dimensions, pull the lever that lays my body in a reclining position, and get ready to munch through unlimited bags of popcorn while gulping down soda.

So for an extra P69, it seems like a good deal to me. Some of my friends still find it too pricey even after I’ve explained, so what I do is I treat them so they can experience for themselves the Globe Platinum Cinema.

So when I went to what was fast becoming a weekly ritual, imagine my displeasure when I noticed that the requisite rows of popcorn and drinks were missing from the bar top (there’s a bar inside the lobby). When I asked if there had been a change in policy, the answer was, “Yes.”

In my opinion, the new policy was very inefficient with regards to time. With the previous system, if a moviegoer wanted a popcorn and drink refill, all he needed to do was dash out of the cinema, grab the popcorn and drinks from the bar top, and then rush back in. If he chose a slow moment in the movie to do so, then not much was lost with regards to viewing time. It would probably take more or less 1 minute.

However, the new policy required the moviegoer to order the popcorn and drinks from a waiter, who went through a side door to get the order from the snack bar, before finally coming back.

As you can imagine, the waiting time would be made much worse if the waiter was getting somebody’s order, which meant that the moviegoer would have to hang around until the waiter returned, before he himself could order. That was exactly what happened to another moviegoer, who had the misfortune to come out after I’ve already ordered. Instead of the waiter getting our orders at the same time and coming back with both our orders, the other moviegoer had to linger much longer than the length of time that I did.

It was intolerable. I talked to Ms. Edith Espelita, Gateway’s theater manager, and told her that with the time delays of the new policy, it seemed like Gateway wanted to renege its unlimited popcorn and drink offer.

And by the time I watched there again, I was heartened to see rows and rows of popcorn and drinks, ready for the moviegoers’ consumption.

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