Hit man Ray (Colin Farrell) botches the simple job of murdering a priest in a confessional. The “botch” occurs when a bullet passes through the priest’s body into a young boy’s head. Deeply troubled, Ray and fellow hit man Ken (Brendan Gleeson) go to the beautiful medieval Flemish city of Bruges, Belgium. Ken engages in tourist activities, which Ray finds highly boring. Various characters, such as an American dwarf actor and a beautiful woman selling drugs on a film set, add color and interest to this film.

Customer Focus

This sequence has two parts that are separated by a title slide that reads, “And another interaction for the ticket seller.” Watch Part I up to the title slide and pause the film. Answer the first two questions. Restart the film sequence and play to the end. Answer the third question.

Part I. This sequence starts as Ken enters the tower to buy a ticket. It ends after he asks the ticket seller (Rudy Blomme) whether he is happy. This sequence follows the discussion about the city of Bruges between Ken and Ray.

Part II: This sequence begins as Ken and Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes) approach the bell tower. It follows their discussion over beers about where Harry should shoot Ken. The ticket seller tells Ken that the tower is closed because a visitor had a heart attack. This sequence ends after Harry’s interaction with the ticker seller. The film continues with various scenes based on the plaza.

What to Watch for and Ask Yourself

1. Ken is the customer and the ticket seller responds to him as a customer. Do you perceive the ticket seller as having a customer focus as emphasized in this chapter? Why or why not?

2. The ticket seller will interact with Ken and Harry Waters in Part II of this film sequence. Do you predict that the ticket seller’s customer approach could result in negative results for him? Why or why not?

3. Part II offers a lesson in customer focus. What did the ticket seller fail to understand about his customers?