9 things you should stop doing at the movie theater, according to employees

• Movie theater employees across the country told Insider what customers do that annoys them most.
• They wish customers would figure out their concessions order before it's their turn in line.

These as-told-to essays are based on conversations with three movie theater employees from across the country. Their words have been edited for length and clarity.

I've had some pretty insane things happen on my shifts — from an FBI raid during a showing of "Joker," to having to fight off two people who were throwing haymakers at me in the middle of the aisle during a movie. We're in a college town, so things can get pretty crazy.

I've worked at the theater in Keene, New Hampshire for five years. It's a family-owned movie theater, and I love working there. But what I wish customers would do is:

1. Be polite

I'm a nice guy and I love nice customers. I give polite people free popcorn. People who work at your theater are people too — it doesn't hurt to remember that.

2. Don't throw your trash on the floor

Especially now, because a lot of places are so short-staffed and it's harder to get employees in to clean, throwing your trash on the floor is very uncool. It's also unnecessary.

I've had customers who, if they're not finished with their popcorn, will just dump it on the floor. Sure, always having something to do means job security for us — but once in a while, it'd be nice if people were more considerate.

3. Figure out what snacks you want before it's your turn to order

So many people just tell me they want a soda and popcorn — I can't do anything with that. So then I have to ask, what size soda do you want? What kind of soda do you want? What size popcorn do you want? Do you want butter on it? It's tedious.

4. Put away your phone

I can't believe I still have to tell people to put their phones away during the movie. We check our theater several times throughout the showings to make sure people aren't on their cell phones. We give multiple warnings, and yet I still have to escort people out for not listening. We give two strikes and after that, it's like, come on.

I work at a theater on the upper west side of Manhattan. I've been working here for five years now.

5. Read your ticket stub

Theater patrons purchase a ticket, whether it's online or at the box office, and then never look at the information on the stub. Pretty much everything you need to know in regards to the when, where, and how of your experience is on the stub.

6. Know the name of the film you're coming to see

When customers add words to the title or just completely botch it, it drives us insane. We're currently showing a film called "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," and I've had customers come up to the window asking for a ticket to "brains and beauty," "bloody beautiful," and everything in between.

Scott (Hayden, Idaho)

I've worked at my theater in Idaho for just under five months now. Customers here are generally very kind and understanding — but some things I wish customers would do are:

7. Don't ignore "please wait" signs

Strolling into uncleaned theaters is annoying and gets in the way of us cleaning properly after a showing.

8. Don't just ask for "diet" as a beverage without elaborating

There are likely three different "diet" drinks here.

9. Don't show up 30 minutes late to your movie

I understand showing up late because you want to skip the ads, but I'll likely be doing other duties like restocking or cleaning, and we don't like to have to be dragged back to the front for stragglers.

If you work in Hollywood and would like to share your story, email Eboni Boykin-Patterson at eboykinpatterson@insider.com.