My colleages at Imperial are my second family
38-year-old Christina is a full-time nurse but has kept her extra job at the movie theater, a welcome haven after demanding days with crises and grief.
Harry Potter movie posters and the familiar scent of popcorn are my first impressions when stepping into the Egmont-owned Imperial movie theater in Copenhagen, the largest in the Nordic region. My second impression is of a relaxed, smiling Christina Kjær-Madsen with a nurse’s uniform under her arm.
“I often ask myself why I keep on working here. Every year I say this will be the last, but it’s so hard to stop,” says Christina after having greeted her colleagues and sat down at a café table in the theater foyer.
A complete contrast to nursing
Christina has a full-time day job as a head nurse at Copenhagen University Hospital’s orthopedic department. That world is miles away from the comfortable atmosphere and alluring darkness of the Imperial movie theater where she works in the café and as a contact person for gala and business-to-business events.
“This job is poles apart from nursing,” says Christina, who started working at Imperial in 1991, when she was only 20. Initially, Christina was a full-time employee, but her professional career and caring for her nine-year-old daughter make her a part-time employee now. She fits in as many hours at Imperial as she can squeeze into her calendar, and it’s not unusual for her to put in a 7-to-3 shift at the hospital and then work at Imperial from 6 to 11.
“My days at the hospital are stressful, with grieving and critically ill patients. At Imperial, there’s a great atmosphere, a fun social environment and lots of happy people. I know it’s going to be a good day as soon as I step in the door. It’s quite true to say my Imperial colleagues are my second family.”
The cinema is a relief
Christina’s department at the hospital receives critically ill patients and patients injured in traffic.
“Once we received a family at the hospital where the parents had crashed their car and lost a child. You really want to be there for those people but you can never fully grasp their grief. Sometimes life does not
make any sense. That is why it is a relief to come here,” she says and looks around the cinema before she continues:
“But the great thing about being a nurse is also to see people recover and to know that your job makes a difference both professionally and personally. I can easily have a good day at the hospital but it lifts my spirits up in a whole different way to see happy children who are excited to go to the cinema.”
A hard job to leave
A couple of colleagues wave happily to her from the other end of the foyer, ruffling their hair, obviously inquisitive about our interview and the nurse’s uniform Christina is carrying. Christina smiles back, telling them she’ll explain later. “He’s really a fireman,” says Christina, nodding at her male colleague.
“Quite a few of us have been here for many years. Imperial is a really special place, and audiences rightly expect something special from the largest movie theater in the Nordic region. I find it very hard to say goodbye to it all. The guests, my colleagues, the family feeling. It’s unique.”
Every one’s mom at Imperial
Christina feels that each of her jobs benefits the other, but is very conscious that her work at Imperial must not affect her main job.
“Naturally, my main career is the most important, but my nursing colleagues love hearing stories about Imperial,” she says as her daughter comes running out of the movie theater, barefoot, popcorn in hand. Christina asks where her shoes are, and her daughter runs back into the dark theater, where hundreds of children are laughing at the sloth and the mammoth in Ice Age 3.
“People get along really well together here, regardless of age. I’m probably everyone’s mom, because I have a care gene in me, but thanks to this job I also feel young,” she says, bursting into a loud laugh when asked whether she will still be at Imperial when she turns 100.
“I don’t think so, but when you’ve been an employee here for 25 years, you get a lifetime season ticket to the theater, so I only have six years to go,” she jokes.
“I often ask myself why I keep on working here. Every year I say this will be the last, but it’s so hard to stop,” says Christina after having greeted her colleagues and sat down at a café table in the theater foyer.
A complete contrast to nursing
Christina has a full-time day job as a head nurse at Copenhagen University Hospital’s orthopedic department. That world is miles away from the comfortable atmosphere and alluring darkness of the Imperial movie theater where she works in the café and as a contact person for gala and business-to-business events.
“This job is poles apart from nursing,” says Christina, who started working at Imperial in 1991, when she was only 20. Initially, Christina was a full-time employee, but her professional career and caring for her nine-year-old daughter make her a part-time employee now. She fits in as many hours at Imperial as she can squeeze into her calendar, and it’s not unusual for her to put in a 7-to-3 shift at the hospital and then work at Imperial from 6 to 11.
“My days at the hospital are stressful, with grieving and critically ill patients. At Imperial, there’s a great atmosphere, a fun social environment and lots of happy people. I know it’s going to be a good day as soon as I step in the door. It’s quite true to say my Imperial colleagues are my second family.”
The cinema is a relief
Christina’s department at the hospital receives critically ill patients and patients injured in traffic.
“Once we received a family at the hospital where the parents had crashed their car and lost a child. You really want to be there for those people but you can never fully grasp their grief. Sometimes life does not
make any sense. That is why it is a relief to come here,” she says and looks around the cinema before she continues:
“But the great thing about being a nurse is also to see people recover and to know that your job makes a difference both professionally and personally. I can easily have a good day at the hospital but it lifts my spirits up in a whole different way to see happy children who are excited to go to the cinema.”
A hard job to leave
A couple of colleagues wave happily to her from the other end of the foyer, ruffling their hair, obviously inquisitive about our interview and the nurse’s uniform Christina is carrying. Christina smiles back, telling them she’ll explain later. “He’s really a fireman,” says Christina, nodding at her male colleague.
“Quite a few of us have been here for many years. Imperial is a really special place, and audiences rightly expect something special from the largest movie theater in the Nordic region. I find it very hard to say goodbye to it all. The guests, my colleagues, the family feeling. It’s unique.”
Every one’s mom at Imperial
Christina feels that each of her jobs benefits the other, but is very conscious that her work at Imperial must not affect her main job.
“Naturally, my main career is the most important, but my nursing colleagues love hearing stories about Imperial,” she says as her daughter comes running out of the movie theater, barefoot, popcorn in hand. Christina asks where her shoes are, and her daughter runs back into the dark theater, where hundreds of children are laughing at the sloth and the mammoth in Ice Age 3.
“People get along really well together here, regardless of age. I’m probably everyone’s mom, because I have a care gene in me, but thanks to this job I also feel young,” she says, bursting into a loud laugh when asked whether she will still be at Imperial when she turns 100.
“I don’t think so, but when you’ve been an employee here for 25 years, you get a lifetime season ticket to the theater, so I only have six years to go,” she jokes.
August, 2009
