A brief time of history: The Plitt Era

(To my long-time friends and readers: you might have seen this one before… it’s from one of the most substantial experiences of my life and I hope you don’t mind if I share it again this year. Thank you. To my new friends: please enjoy reading about my first ever job: usher at a long-gone movie theater.)

A brief time of history: The Plitt Era

This week I’m celebrating the 43rd anniversary of my first “real” job… as an usher and concessionaire at Plitt’s Woodfield Theaters III & IV.

This cinematic showcase was located in the northeast corner of the outlot of Woodfield Mall, in Schaumburg, Illinois.

It’s not there anymore. It’s been gone for a long time. But I remember.

This work meant and continues to mean a lot to me, even though it might look like just another summer job in the early 1980s.

I learned a lot at the Mighty 3 and 4.

Like how much it means when you can work with people who are and will become your friends.

About the dangers of too much free pop and popcorn. The things you can do to nacho cheese.

About how early the Peter Principle can be applied to people and theater managers barely out of their teens.

And how if you work a 39-hour week at one job and another 39-hour a week at a different job for the same employer the same week, you don’t get any overtime pay!

And how cash registers are for wimps. It’s just adding and subtracting small numbers, Pythagoras!

And how when all the teenage boy ushers look roughly the same, some angry caveman is going to jam a key into your neck that’s actually meant for Kevin, that Tom Cruise-looking scoundrel of a coworker who flirted with the wrong girl and then disappeared quickly into the crowd.

But we had so much fun. And saw so many movies. And ate so much popcorn. How about you?

Do you have any memories from your first job worth sharing, that bring a smile to your face?

More Plitt-story tomorrow.

See you then.