These days, I wonder how some businesses stay relevant and make money with some of the practices they carry out. The ones who actually have the well-being of their customers at heart don’t get enough visibility, and then, the ones who really don’t care about customers and only about profit, they’re the ones with a large online and offline presence.
It gets to a point where it seems that these guys are just doing things for the sake of it all. Maybe it’s a taboo for one business to be good and also popular. As if it’s a crime to have happy customers and kind staff while making loads of profits. Maybe if such a thing happened, the business would fold up and simply collapse.
I’ve been trying to find alternative cinemas to go to here in my area, and the number is ridiculously low. Most of the major cinemas with some measure of sense are as far away as Ikeja, Lekki, Surulere, and whatnot. And from where I live, it just won’t cut it. I can’t be spending 3-4k on transport alone to see a movie of 8k. I’m not that die-hard of a fan.
The issue is, I’m not really happy with the cinemas around me. So far, I’ve found only two, and they both have their issues. One is in a neighboring town, not so far, but I can easily get there, no matter the time of day. The issue is, they have no online presence at all. When I check out their social media handles, I see that they’ve not posted anything since March 2021 or thereabouts. But yet, I heard that they’re still active.
How do they even get customers? If people don’t know when their movies will air, or what movies will air, how then do they just go there? Will customers just go there with a Hail Mary, hoping that a good movie will be showing and showing at a convenient time? It just doesn’t make any sense, because when I look them up on Google, I see that they’re still active.
And for this reason, I’ve never gone there. I always want to go there on a regular day, not when I have an important movie to see, because I don’t want to be disappointed. However, I’ve never had the time for that. I’m always too busy. And on Sundays, when I have a little bit of time to step out, the other cinema, which is much closer and easier, takes the win.
But that second cinema isn’t without its faults either. Now, they have a strong online presence. They have an active social media and website where you can check out their movie times. I follow them online and use their posts to time myself. By Friday, I’d already know how my Sunday evening would be.
But sadly, that seems to be where it ends. Their infrastructure always has one fault or the other. I’ve seen a movie before while the AC was off. You know that theatres are enclosed places, so without an AC, the heat would be almost unbearable. I’ve seen movies with faulty sound systems. It’s either not loud enough or the sound engineer didn’t fiddle with it well. So certain scenes would be muted for one reason or the other. I’ve even seen a movie one time and I didn’t know that there was a leaking roof.
All these issues, over the years, have forced me to reconsider my choice. But I’ve not been able to do anything just yet. Because right now, I don’t really have a lot of options. The other cinemas are just too far away. And not only the money, but also the time. Some movies start showing by 9 PM, I can’t afford to leave somewhere like Lekki or Ikeja by 11 PM to return home. The time I’d spend on the road alone will be more than the length of the movie I went to see.
And now, it seems I’m stuck with this one cinema that always has one problem or the other. And so far, I don’t think this issue is unique to cinemas. I’ve noticed that just about every other business is like that. Restaurants, clubs, lounges, bars… they all have one flaw that really inconveniences their customers, and the management would simply ignore it.
Is it because there is not much competition? They’re the only ones in the area, and they feel they can do however they like. From customer service to the products themselves, or their infrastructure, there will always be one thing that will put you off. One restaurant sells really delicious meals, but its staff are rude and love to insult customers. Another restaurant sells terrible meals, but they have the kindest staff with the most beautiful smiles. The restaurant that has both good staff and good meals would have a shabby environment that you won’t be comfortable enough to eat in.
As in, is this what we have to face now? We can’t choose anymore between the good and the bad. We only have bad and worse. And that is even subjective. Because whatever we choose, we’re accepting that something will go awry. We just choose the bad one that we can accommodate.
We really need to do better. And even more importantly, we need competition. If there are at least five cinemas within a five-mile radius, these guys will be on their toes, making sure that customers are happy because the last thing they want is to lose the little they have. The same for restaurants and all hospitality-based businesses.
We need competition.
