A SERIOUS PROBLEM AT SF WORLD CINEMA

The EU Film Festival in Bangkok ended on Sunday. There are many problems happening during the festival, including some serious ones. At first I didn't intend to write about these problems, because they don't frustrate me so much. But then something happening yesterday changed my mind. I feel so frustrated with some staff of the SF World Cinema that I think I have to write about it.

The most serious problem of SF WORLD CINEMA I found happened on Sunday, Nov 29. I bought a ticket for SPLINTERS, of which the showing is listed as 15.00 hrs. I arrived at the ticket collector's booth around 15.10 hrs, but a ticket collectress there didn't let me in. She said CINEMA 14 wasn't open yet. I also saw that the doors of CINEMA 14 were closed. So I waited in front of the ticket collector's booth. I noticed that there were also a group of people waiting there, too.

A few minutes later there was an announcement that CINEMA 12 , which showed DISNEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL, was open, and people there formed a very long queue to have their tickets collected and their bags searched, so that they could go inside. A man also came to help the staff to collect the tickets at the booth.

I think at around 15.15 hrs I saw a foreigner who is a frequent film festival goer arrived there. He got into the queue. I guessed he bought a ticket for SPLINTERS like me. I didn't tell him that CINEMA 14 wasn't open because I had never talked to him before. To my surprise, I saw the staff collected his ticket and he went inside CINEMA 14.

Then I knew something wrong had happened. I hurriedly got into the queue, and the male staff collected my ticket. I went inside CINEMA 14 at around 15.18 hrs and found that the film had already started. I didn't know for how long it had started. I felt very angry. CINEMA 14 must have been opened since 15.00 hrs, and the film may have been started at around 15.08-15.09 hrs, but the female staff at the booth didn't let me in. She didn't tell me the truth. She made me lose my chance to see the first 10 minutes of SPLINTERS for no reason at all.

I ran back to the booth and complained about what happened. I nearly cried. What have I done to deserve this? The female staff at the booth seemed to show no remorse at all for what she did. I heard her saying something like "I just didn't know it". The male staff there, who looks like one of the managers, said that he would reprimand the female staff. So I decided to go back to the cinema and watched SPLINTERS.

What would happen if that foreigner didn't arrive at 15.15 hrs? Then, I would have waited there until 15.30 hrs, until I found out that the film had already started a long time ago.

The upcoming British Film Festival will also be held at SF World Cinema. I hope this kind of problems won't be repeated again.


My suggestions for people who want to go to SF World Cinema:

If a staff doesn't let you go inside, claiming that the theater isn't open yet, you should take a good look of that staff and try to remember her face. If it is found out later that the staff lies to you and the film has already started, you can specify easily who the culprit is.