Saving ‘Fluffy’ — Fans fume when their favorite ticket-taker is fired

MORRISTOWN — An online petition has been created to save the job of flamboyant Morristown ticket taker Eric "Fluffy" Glover, as theater-goes react with disappointment that he was fired.

Glover, 55, was known for his dancing, hand gestures and beat-box noises as he took tickets at the AMC Headquarters 10 — but was fired recently by the theater. His trademark  style was captured in this 2009 YouTube video:

Word of his firing has generated negative comments and calls for him to be rehired on a theater page Facebook page.

"There was one good thing to look forward to coming to this theater and now it's gone, so now there's nothing to make people go out of their way to come here anymore," wrote Drew Vincent.

"You need to do the right thing and bring back Eric. A kind loyal worker needs to be celebrated, not thrown away. I hope we all go to another theater so they feel it at the gates," James Halilk wrote on the page.

Glover first became part of the theater staff in 1987, when it was an AMC. When it closed in 2012, then as a Clearview, he was left without a job, as recounted by NJ.com at the time. AMC took over the space again in 2013, and brought him back on a part-time basis. He was let go this month

Zoë Gulliksen, a self-described "movie nerd," said she went out of her way to see movies at the theater because of Glover.

"Every single time it was the best. You go on a Saturday night, he was always there. Everyone wanted to get their ticket ripped by him," Gulliksen said. She said he would "make this noise that would sound like a machine and act like a robot." He was "super charming, this big teddy bear of a guy" and once told her she had a great smile, Gulliksen said.

"My son goes to Morristown AMC almost every week and really misses Eric," Stephanie Edwards wrote in an email to New Jersey 101.5. Others in their emails asked what they could do to help "Fluffy" get his job back.

Lucas Shafrin started an online petition to rehire the 30-year veteran of the theater, dating back to previous ownership.

"For my entire life, Eric was a part of the movie going experience almost as much as the popcorn or even the movie itself. I'd like AMC to see that Eric is beloved by his community and a lot of people have very fond memories of him, and I'd like to see them realize that Eric is a cornerstone of their theater," Shafrin said.

"Most of all, I just want to see Eric happily live his life and have his job back because he has brought smiles to so many many locals for so many years,"

AMC spokesman Ryan Noonan did not return a message seeking comment on any change on Glover's status with the theater. Noonan previously said Glover was fired for "behaviors inconsistent with AMC’s policies and standards."

It’s not the first time the community has rallied to help Glover out. Nearly 12,000 people joined a Facebook page to support him — originally, to get him re-employed by AMC when it took over the theater, and later to ask the company to employee him full-time.

Almost a year ago, reacting to news Glover was living in his car as he struggled to make ends meet, supporters raised more than $65,000 to help him.

In 2011, fans bandied together to throw him a giant party and buy him a car for his 50th birthday. The celebration was caught on video by MorristownGreen.com at the time.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.