A strange and terrible weekend

[hot_pastrami]

Well, someone from Cinemark got the letter, and e-mailed me this last Friday (Jan 11, 2004):

Dear Mr. Bellows,

I have received your written letter concerning your visit to the Cinemark Theatre in the Provo Towne Center on 12/20/03. First, let me apologize that the incident even happened. You have detailed the events out in which I totally understand your position and the unpleasant experience you had that night. Obviously this was not our goal and was a concern of mine after reading your letter.

I have spoken with Troy Taylor about the incident as well and he is just as uncomfortable with the details. He feels really regrettable that the whole incident happened and especially the exchange in the auditorium. When speaking with him on the matter, I could tell that he was still trying to understand how it got to this point. Troy has been with Cinemark for 11 years and has managed many of our complexes with sound results. I feel he is capable of handling customer issues but it may be that in this case and the events of that night, there could have been a clearer way to handle the situation. I know that, when we have lines of people waiting for hours for a movie like this, if we don't have a solid crowd control process in place, those people who have been waiting start to question "why do they/she/he get to get in the front of the line". Troy may have been trying to do so and really didn’t understand your position with this even though you had mentioned to him that your wife and friends were already in line as you were earlier. I think Troy is wanting to convey his apologizes to you as well and should follow-up with a response.

At any rate, I'm sorry this took place. It appears you attend movies on a regular basis at this theatre. My hope is that, something like this hasn't happened to you in the past and will not happen in the future.

Kindest regards,

Kim D. Phillips
Rocky Mountain Region Leader

Hmm, I did ask specifically for a phone call, and not an e-mail, but we'll see how/if Troy decides to contact me. Two weeks isn't too bad a response time, either. What I suspect is that old Troy-Boy will e-mail a nice, sincere non-apology ("I regret that you misunderstood me," or "I'm sorry if you didn't understand.") We'll see.