In high school, my buddies and I had the fortune to work at the Dearborn Drive-In in Dearborn,MI. I kid you not when I say it was, is , and always will be, the greatest job I ever had.
We had to dress in black slacks, black dress shoes, and white dress shirts. You got to work about 6:30, and gathered around the concession stand.
First up...sweep up around the concession stand, and clean the restrooms. There was only one rule to cleaning the restrooms and that was...don't touch ANYTHING with your hands. One person had the bottle of cleaner, and sprayed some in each urinal and toilet. The other guy had the scrub brush, and followed giving each one a quick-over, flushing afterwards.
After the cleaning of the concession stand, the manager would ask who wanted to work the back, and who wanted to work the front.
Working the front involved tickets and money. There were two car lanes, each with a ticket booth manned by two lovely ladies. As the cars came up, you looked in, counted heads, and charged accordingly.
If you worked the back, you basically stood around until the cars started coming back (The gate usually opened at seven). Trucks and vans were asked to park in the fourteenth row and back so as not to block the views of the cars.
When the movie started, we usually used the concession stand as our base of command (it sounds silly, i know). From time to time, we would pair up with flashlights, and walk the lanes making sure there were no troublemakers. If there was, we contacted management immediately, and they dealt with it (while we stood back, arms folded gangsta style...i laugh when i think about us being 'tough').
There were two theater at our drive-in. To get to the second theater, you drove along the wall, circling the first theater, back into a dark corner, finally turning into the second theater. We called that dark corner 'the point'. If you were handling the point that night, you wore an orange vest and had a flashlight...your job was to wave drivers along so they didn't think they were lost. It was pretty boring back there, and I only handled point a few times (one time, one of the managers came out there, produced a joint, and we proceeded to get high...my first time for that
🙂.
One of the funny things the management told us was that you ALWAYS carried a lighter. And wouldn't you know it, they were right. I couldn't keep track of all the girls who needed a light
🙂
After the first movie ended, we were asked who wanted to punch out, and who wanted to close. My buddies and I usually opted to close...mo money, mo money
🙂
If you closed, you stayed for both movies. After people left, you picked up the speakers, turned the volume down, and put them back on their stands.
My buddies and I would usually get pizza afterwards, sleep in the next day, go golfing, then back to work.
When I think of my favorite summer, that was it. The Dearborn Drive-In was torn down the following summer, making way for a grocery store.
Now whenever I hear "Summer of 69", it hits home..."spend my evenings down at the drive in...."
🙂
The Sean Man
