After the show hangers-around

[Frank Cox]

So the movie is over and there's still a group of people sitting in the auditorium yakking and ho-hoing.

This happens rarely but it happened again tonight.

I remember one occasion twenty years or so back when there was a group sitting there after the show was over and I kept thinking, "They'll leave any minute now so I won't bother them." I did a bit of clean-up in the lobby and then sat and waited for them to leave on their own and they didn't depart for over an hour.

I'm getting less patient (or maybe smarter) these days so after two or three minutes tonight I went in and told the group that I'd like to start the clean-up so could they please take the discussion outside or somewhere else. And they left.

Sheesh.

[Marcel Birgelen]

You should charge them by the minute and if this happens frequently, maybe you should open an adjacent bar, so people can continue their discussion over there.

I guess you handled the situation correctly, as long as the show was really over and done for, as in, the credits rolled to the end and there are no more stupid after-credits scenes.

What I personally hate is unfriendly staff trying to push me out of the door while I'm hanging around during the credits. It doesn't happen all that often, but in some cases, I may be interested in some particular elements in the credits. You paid for the entire movie, that does include the credits too. I don't mind too much if you start cleaning the room while credits are running, but you have no right to chase me out of the room before the last line of credits have dropped.

[Frank Cox]

I didn't bother anyone until the end (plus two or three minutes). The credits had finished, the projector light had shut off, the auditoruim lights came back on, the sound system switched back to the elevator music.

The end.

[Steve Guttag]

I can understand giving people a "grace period" to gather themselves up and perhaps a little discussion of what they just experienced but there is nothing wrong after 5-15 minutes to politely ask people to move along so that you can clean up and shut things down. In most jurisdictions, you cannot lock things up, turn out the lights until the public has left and it is inconsiderate of them to cause all whom may be responsible (including if it is just you) to hang around. They bought a limited license to watch a movie...they didn't rent the space indefinitely. My guess is, 99.99% of the patrons are making their way for the doors the moment the first credit hits the screen.

[James Wyrembelski]

Super rare that it happens here but was common when I worked in the restaurants. I do the same here as I did everywhere else. I'd give you so much time after closing but once we hit the 15-20 minute mark I just start vacuuming. I've got things to do.

[Harold Hallikainen]

Get a louder vacuum cleaner?

[John Eickhof]

I would suggest you hand them some brooms and dust pans....

[Randy Stankey]

Just say... "It's closing time. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."
Living in a bar, I have heard it or said it, myself, every night for as long as I can remember.

If you want to, play the song by Semisonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IXBuSVqyNk&t=20s
I've heard that song about nine million times, too. The only drawback is that some people don't get the hint.

Basically, just tell people that it's time to close. "Excuse me, folks, it's time to turn out the lights and lock the doors... Have a good night!"

It's YOUR theater! (Or the theater to which you have been entrusted with the key to the front door.) It's your right to decide when to lock the doors. Your business hours are posted on the front door. Customers are welcome on your invitation, not the other way around. The customer's invitation does not extend past posted business hours. That's why you post your business hours.

I think sweeping the floor, running the vacuum or making noise is rude. Customers should never see you sweeping the floor. Don't get passive-aggressive. Just tell people, politely but directly.

[Martin McCaffery]

"It's closing time. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

You stole my line, which I in turn stole from Jeneane Garafalo who in turn stole it from somewhere.
Fortunately, I have a well earned reputation at the theatre as being cranky, so when I shout that out, they leave.

[Marcel Birgelen]

My guess is, 99.99% of the patrons are making their way for the doors the moment the first credit hits the screen.

I'd say that figure was accurate until Marvel and DC (and a few unspecified others) started that obnoxious trend to put key plot elements (or not) into mid- and post-credit scenes. That, in turn, led to the creation of entire websites devoted to the subject of whether or not it is a good idea to leave or sit through 5 to 15 minutes of slow crawling text...

You stole my line, which I in turn stole from Jeneane Garafalo who in turn stole it from somewhere.

I guess she stole it from that 1998 Semisonic song Randy mentioned... unless they also stole it from somewhere else...

The bar I used to frequent like two decades or so ago used to play this German song as last song every night, it has also been used by several radio shows around here, as "goodbye song" over the decades. Who knew that German works great for sentimental stuff. Unfortunately, it also ended up as one of those dreaded songs that people frequently play on funerals... People should be forbidden to play good music on funerals, as it has a tendency to ruin those songs.

[Randy Stankey]

I guess she stole it from that 1998 Semisonic song Randy mentioned... unless they also stole it from somewhere else...

I have heard it spoken since I can remember but I can definitively pin it down to 1980 when it was used in a movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDvSIHuMk9s

If John Landis and company saw fit to use it in '80, they must have heard it from somewhere. Since I don't think Landis ever came to my father's bar, he must have heard it some place else... likely in some other bar.

My guess is that it originated in speakeasies during Prohibition times in the 1920s - '30s.

[Martin McCaffery]

Yeah, Jeneane used to use it in her standup routine, pre-1990s. Not sure if she semi-famous in 1980. I think Prohibition is most likely

[Marcel Birgelen]

It's been a while since I last saw the Blues Brothers. According to a post on Reddit, it probably started during the prohibition, so it must be true then.

[Mike Blakesley]

I had a mobile DJ service in the 70s and 80s, and we used to play a lot in one bar downtown here called the KoKoMo Club. There was a bartender named Patsy who had a whole slew of closing time lines. She was an expert, both at bartending and getting closed on time.

My favorite was: "Let's go, let's go, everybody gotta go go go!"

She also used "OK folks, it's hotel-motel time!"

And of course the ever popular one mentioned above.

One time people were lagging in leaving so I played the "Green Acres" TV show theme at top volume. That cleared the joint pretty fast.

[William Kucharski]

I don't hang around but I will not even get up from my seat until the credits are over and the projector turns off.

I've always seen it as a sign of respect for those who made the film, plus I enjoy the end credits music.