To: Our Valued Patrons of the St. Croix Falls Cinema 8
Please accept this letter as our formal apology, for the actions of one of our officers, in responding to a patron’s complaint about her visit to our theater on February 20th. There are numerous descriptions of what took place, and particularly the nature of our Company’s response, which have appeared in print, on television, the radio, and the internet. The long and short of the story is that one of our senior staff responded to the patron’s complaint in an inappropriate and offensive manner. As a Company, we deeply regret the response that was given.
The officer in question has acknowledged that he made a serious mistake and has apologized for his conduct. We hope that you will accept our apology as well. We recognize that the individuals who were offended by our employee’s actions may be unwilling to look beyond his words. To them, all we can say is that we hope you will give our Company and our staff, the opportunity to convince you of our sincerity and of our commitment to provide the best movie going experience that we are able to give. We believe our Company has been a good corporate citizen of St. Croix Falls and the surrounding areas for over twenty years, originally downtown, and more recently “on the hill.” We hope this long-standing dedication to the community, including support of other local businesses, sports teams, and children’s programs, far outweighs this particular incident.
Sadly, the principal complaint that was made by the patron in question related to our new manager’s attempt to remove some underage viewers, who had purchased tickets to other age appropriate films, from sneaking into an “R-rated” film. When the presence of the underage viewers was brought to our manager’s attention by another customer, our manager made an announcement to our audience and asked all individuals who were not holding tickets to the film being shown to leave the auditorium. She then proceeded to check the tickets of the individuals involved. While we regret any inconvenience to our customers and the disruption to the showing of the film, our manager’s response was in compliance with our Company’s strict policy barring young viewers from age inappropriate films. That policy, which we firmly stand behind, is a reflection of the wishes of our patrons and the communities that we serve. Again, we sincerely regret the incident and our employee’s response.
We remain committed to the goal of providing the best entertainment experience possible to St. Croix Falls, the surrounding area, and the other communities we so proudly serve. Thank you for your patronage.
Sincerely,
Evergreen Entertainment
Evergreen Entertainment
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