Some years ago, I shared an apartment with a friend, Mike. Mike and I had a lot in common and were good friends, so becoming roommates seemed like a good fit and that turned out to be the case. One of the things we enjoyed was watching movies at home or at the cinema. At the time, I was an avid listener of a Boston radio station that regularly offered free sneak preview movie passes for calling into the radio station’s contest line. They offered enough tickets to fill the entire theater, and the contest was usually held on the day of the showing, so my odds at winning a pair of passes were pretty good.

It seemed they offered tickets every week, so every week Mike and I saw a new movie for free. The movie cinemas varied and were usually smaller locales than the thirty theater multiplexes we usually attended, so in addition to seeing some good movies, we got a good education on the excellent theaters of Boston. We’d usually have to head out to the theater immediately after work to take the train into town, transfer to a couple different train lines, and walk a few blocks and still arrive at the theater in time. Sometimes the adventure of the trip was more exciting than some of the movies we had seen.

As I said previously, the free preview was usually held at small venues, so we were surprised when a particular movie was held at large cineplex in Cleveland Circle. We were even more surprised to arrive at the theater and find the entire lobby packed with people waiting for the showing. We had arrived pretty close to the designated time, so we had to stand pretty near the back of the crowd. To make matters worse, this particular theater required the radio station to hand out individual tickets to the contest winners which in turn had to be collected at the entrance to the theater.

I had never seen such a packed theater lobby and began to grumble that it would take an hour for us to just get to our seats. Soon, an announcement was made that they were going to start admitting people. Mike and I both took our places in line, if you could call standing in the mob truly waiting in line. Suddenly, the crowd started to move forward and we could see a steady stream of people being admitted to the theater. I nudged Mike and said that the owners must have decided that it was a better idea to just admit everyone, rather than attempt to collect all the tickets from the crowd.

We continued to move forward toward the entrance, as the lobby emptied. When we reached the velvet rope gate, I was surprised to find that an attendant was in fact present, collecting the tickets. He stood firm in front of the crowd, with both hands outstretched, taking tickets from people to his left and his right. More, surprising than merely collecting the tickets was that he was actually separating the stubs and returning them to each patron. He accomplished all this, without missing a beat, by grasping the ticket between his two forefingers and thump, snapping it to separate the two parts, collecting the receipt in the palm of his hand, and returning the stub between his thumb and index finger. His fingers snapped constantly and consistently as he set about his business until the entire lobby was processed and had entered the theater in a matter of minutes.

Several things struck me about this young man. He executed his job gracefully and efficiently. His movements had the rhythm and flow of a percussionist in a salsa band. He was faced with a difficult situation in front of a large crowd and stood his ground. I’ve seen smaller crowds cause terrible destruction and mayhem if provoked or left unchecked. He took a thankless job that many people may even consider beneath their consideration, added his own flair, and improved upon it. I’ve wondered if this snapping technique was something he invented himself or was taught by some ticket-taking guru under whose tutelage theater employees advance out from behind the concession stand. Although, I suspect he was self-taught, because I’ve never seen this performance repeated anywhere else in all my years of attending concerts, movies, sporting events, amusement parks, and haunted houses.

Although I may never know his name and doubt he still works at the Cleveland Circle cinema all these years later, I think he deserves recognition and admiration. I’ve often thought of his example, usually when I encounter a retail employee who looks less thrilled in receiving my money as I feel in handing it over. I know there are a lot of difficult, thankless, and tedious jobs that people nonetheless have to show up for and perform daily, but that’s not sufficient reason to fail to take some pride in those jobs. I also know that people who do take pride in their work, who respect what they do and expect the same from others, usually succeed in whatever job they perform. And, I don’t think that’s a coincidence at all.

"Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Lord Chesterfield