Cathay Cineplex Parkway Parade celebrates its first year
Movie lover enjoys his job as a theatre manager
Working a nine-to-five desk job never appealed to Mr Haikal Hanafi, 26, a theatre manager with Cathay Cineplexes.
His love for movies pushed him towards taking on a part-time position with Cathay Cineplexes after he had completed his O levels at 17.
After three years as a part-time theatre executive, Mr Haikal was motivated by his mentor, Ms Adelin Wi, the assistant operations manager, to take on a full-time managerial position after completing his national service.
He said: "I've been a theatre manager for four years now and really enjoy my job. Although I'm Malay, I studied Chinese in primary and secondary school. It has been a real asset in my ability to converse with customers and solve problems."
Cathay Cineplex Parkway Parade is celebrating its first anniversary this September.
All seven theatres at the outlet are equipped with Assistive Listening Device Systems, where infrared signals are sent throughout the hall and picked up by dual audio headsets. This allows those with hearing impairments to enjoy movies by adjusting the volume of the headphones to suit them.
Although I'm Malay, I studied Chinese in primary and secondary school. It has been a real asset in my ability to converse with customers and solve problemsMr Haikal Hanafi
Mr Haikal said: ."It was really heartwarming during the first few months at the Parkway Parade outlet to see the three to four regular customers, who are hard-of-hearing, coming to watch movies regularly because they can now enjoy them better."
Mr Haikal, whose duties as a part-time worker included selling popcorn, now has more responsibilities.
He is tasked with managing his own team of staff as well as ensuring that monthly sales targets are achieved. He also has to oversee corporate events happening at the outlet.
Mr Haikal transfers digital movies from external hard-drives to the Barco projector machine which plays them.
He said: "We used to play films using 35mm reels. Each movie would come in five to six reels which a projectionist would have to carefully piece together in sequential order. There was a lot less room for error."
One of Mr Haikal's most memorable experiences working with Cathay was when he was returning home to Ang Mo Kio at 3am after a night shift. He was in a taxi at a routine police stop when an officer spoke to him.
He said: "The police officer asked me who I was and where I was going. Then, he shocked me by asking if I worked in a theatre. I was so confused and wondered if I had served him before. He really didn't seem familiar to me.
"The officer later explained that I smelled like popcorn. It was really funny, and my colleague and I burst out laughing."
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