Why at movie theaters one employee is usually responsible for issuing tickets and collecting cash while another person collects those tickets when patrons enter into the theater?

Answer 1

I worked at a movie theater, so my answer would be that the first person who sells you the ticket is working the box office and the second person is called the greeter (or was at my theater). At my theater, sometimes the people working box would also do the greeter's job by ripping tickets when there were fewer people coming in. However, when there were a lot of people coming in, the people at box had to dispense tickets as quickly as possible, so someone else (the greeter) would be the one to smile and tell people which direction their theater was in, as well as rip the tickets. It's helpful to cut down on the pressure for people on box. However, the more important reason is probably that not everyone would buy a ticket for a show starting soon. Some people like to go in a buy their tickets for an evening show in the morning. And some people buy tickets online with websites like fandango. With this two-person system, these people who already have their tickets don't have to wait in line to get the attention of someone working box.