Hello - this is probably a silly newbie question, but here it is:

Do you ever feel the need to change your appearance or wear a "disguise" when trying to be inconspicuous? Or would it make me more noticable? I'm not talking Pink Panther-type disguises, but will changing myself make me stand out?

I'm doing my first blind theater check this weekend. It's a single-screen theater so there's not a lot of staff at the location and not a lot of people milling around in the lobby when the movie is playing. Since I'll need to go to 4 showings in a single day I'm concerned about being spotted. I will be able to buy some of my tickets at a kiosk before the movie times so that will keep me clear of the box-office personnel. But the ticket-takers and lobby staff might wonder why the girl with the glasses and long red hair is coming to every showing of this movie.

So I was thinking I might need to change my appearance a little bit. Wear a different jacket. Wear my hair up. Have contacts/glasses interchangable. Baseball hat?

Besides being noticed arriving I'm more concerned with leaving after 30 minutes and not raising an eyebrow. It's a very small theater. Few exits. I don't know how I can really go unnoticed when leaving. But I really don't want to watch this movie 4 times.

I feel silly worrying about it but I don't want to jeopardize the "shop" by getting management suspicious.

Folks who do more theater checks are probably better equipped to answer your questions. The theaters know they are checked so you will probably be more conspicuous if you are messing with disguises. I have a reversible jacket that I would use for such occasions--not terribly obvious.

If you are actually leaving the theater and returning, an if the hair is really a noticeable red, you might try up, down, hoodie, hat with 'down' being your last trip as it would definitely be the most noticeable. But somehow if it was that big a deal I probably wouldn't bother doing 4 of them in a day.

I do theater checks occasionally. Here's some tips:

1. Don't buy all the tickets yourself. Do you have friends who could buy them? Or, do what I occasionally do, and spot somebody else seeing the movie to buy your ticket for you:

Tell them that you're an undercover representative from Universal, Warner Brothers, ect, and ask if they would help you. Most people seem excited at the idea of helping with and undercover investigation. This is called social engineering in the private investigator world. And yes, it's legal.

If you actually are doing work for Universal, W&B, ect and you have instructions not to reveal yourself to anybody, pretend to be someone else doing some other type of assignment. Make it seem interesting and most people will be willing to purchase your ticket for you (with your money of course).

2. Don't stand out. By this, I don't mean wear an obvious disguise. Just wear stuff that won't attract the attention of theater staff. Maybe a change of shirt and shoes for each movie. Most employees see person after person, changing your shirt is usually enough to convince them that they've never seen you before. Just keep your head low and don't stand out.

And worst case senerio: Some employee recognizes you as having seen a different movie that same day. So what? He'll probably keep it to himself, maybe wonder "I wonder if that's the same lady who was just in here." I doubt anybody will make a big deal of it.

EDIT: To be concise with this, people aren't very observant. I've learned this while practicing as a lawyer. A crime is perpetrated against someone, they give the police a description of the suspect, once the surveillance video gets reviewed, it's determined that the victim gave a really bad description that looks almost nothing like poor guy who was hauled in (who's perfectly innocent but looks alot like the description given).

If you just change a couple things about your appearance, most people won't recognize you from before.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2011 11:42PM by Nichtoliver.

Thank you for the helpful input, Nichtoliver. I will probably need to employ your tactic of asking a stranger to buy my ticket. I walked past the theater today and found out they have removed the ticket kiosks they used to have. They also do not sell tickets online anymore so a visit to the box office will be necessary.

Changing my shirt and shoes won't be a problem either. I live just a couple blocks from the theater so I can stop at home for a quick makeover. The weather is bad enough that wearing a hoodie or a hat to deal with my hair won't be unusual. My hair is probably my most notable feature because it is pretty long and quite bright in color.

Fingers crossed it goes well. At first I was thinking it would be easier at this small theater than a huge multi-plex, but they each have their advantages and disadvantages it seems. Depending on this experience I may just stick to the revealed theater shops instead.

I'll update later on how it goes...

Hi Theresa. I just stay my memorable self. Never had a problem that I am aware of...

I would wonder if their are cameras in the theater, maybe just dark clothes and bring a pair of large sunglasses, if weather is cold a hoodie...four in a day seems like 3 too many. Most of the time employees don't care, but, you never know.