Hollywood Holiday

12/19/06
Well, just like over the summer, I'm risking getting fired by keeping an on-going log of the goings on of my first job over at Green Hills Regal 16.

And I'll say this right now, a lot of things have changed.

The dirt is that the employee/manager relations is pretty much at a level of perpetual distrust thanks to the lack of a work ethic. Since I left, the inventory losses have been continuing to the point where the General Manager told me straight away that eleven people were fired in just the last three weeks. The charges range from calling in too many sick days in a row, stealing food from the concession stand, and generally being a bad employee. Nobody from the summer that I worked with was there. Most of them were fired or quit.

And as much as I hate to do this, my guess from the information I gathered was that all the black people were fired and all the white people quit out of personal conflict with management. At least that's what it sounds like from the people I talked to who I did recognize over the summer.

At one point, they were so short with employees they were ready to hire just about anyone. Around Thanksgiving, the theatre would gain only one new employee for every three people they loss. My return to the employee roster, as well as the hand full of others that decided to come back, is a blessing to the management. Not only do most of us have a work ethic, but we are also in good standing with the managing team.

Benefits also got compromised. Any transaction now with the theatre has to be done with a manager present. Employees working concessions no longer have access to any of the drawers for bags or cups. I found out the hard way that we are also locked out of the freezers, which makes refreshing hot dogs near impossible! Nothing can be done now without a member of management giving some kind of approval.

Speaking of which, one of my summer buddies got promoted to a manager position! This should make going to work with him rather awkward if nothing else. But, hey, at least there's someone on the management team that I can say I don't have to learn a new name to associate with a new face.

I can't say the same about the new group of kids they have running around. It seems the more things change, the more things stay the same. New faces replace the old roles. We still have the loud kids that think being "ghetto" is cool, we still have the usual employee spat over stupid things, and we still have people that don't act very professional around the register. Makes me kind of wonder if firing all those people simply because they were bad employees is really going to do any good in the end. We still have the same general pool of employees as far as how everyone acts.

Should be interesting seeing how not only am I working Christmas Eve, but the day after Christmas as well. The second of the two I'm told is hell on Earth.

12/21/06
It seems that the employee pool that I was introduced to is indeed different than before, almost to the point where people in general suck.

I found out when I talked to my new manager that the new employee roster doesn't like being told what to do by co-workers who are doing their jobs even though those that are doing their jobs were told by managers to correct people that were not doing their job. How long you've been at it doesn't matter. You tell someone to do something correctly, and they will fight back.

Case and point? I was called a snitch by another co-worker when I asked someone why they turned down the temperature on the hot dog roller. They told me that they were told to turn it down so the hot dogs won't over cook. I told them that a manager told me earlier that the temperature should never be lowered. I tried to get it confirmed by the manager working the concession stand helping us stock. Remember, they have gotten very strict about stock, so during rushes, there is always a manager helping out (especially on weekends). The manager working with us said not to turn it down. The employee who turned it down threw her hands up and said that if the dogs over cook, it's the manager's fault and not hers.

And yet, I was called the snitch because I was doing my job and not touching the dial as I was trained.

I can't blame why several of the kids that went to college like myself are not coming back in the summer. At this point, I would join them as well. However, at this point, I still can't drive and nobody in my family has "time" to help me get a Learner's Permit.

12/22/06 - Communication Failure
Today, we were pretty much screwed.

The usual opening day/night crowds came, but their volume was as if it was summer all over again. You would think that for a three o'clock matinee, most of the people in the mall would be shopping. Not the case today. Nearly every last matinee show was full, and since the evening times fell way to close to each other, this meant that clean up had to be done fast. My manager told me it will be like that all weekend long... and then some!

But that wasn't the worse part.

The reel we got of We Are Marshell went missing this morning. Our first show was cancelled as a result. The reel was found in time for the second showing. However, as it ended, the film ended up getting burned through by the light bulb. You'd be surprised how common this accident really is. After that, the film cut yet again an hour into the third show. And then again an hour before the ending. This resulted in the show letting out half an hour later than scheduled, resulting in a line in the lobby and the distribution of free passes for the entire theatre that show.

And if you think that was bad...

Over the course of the day, I had five people of various levels of anger come up to me complaining about how the newspaper said showtime for whatever movie but their ticket said another showtime. I had to double and triple check times as well as assure them that this kind of miscommunication between the theatre and newspapers is common. Which it is.

One upset senior tried to theatre hop as he waited for his show to start, as the time in the paper was an hour earlier than what was printed on his ticket. Needless to say, he got more upset when I told him he couldn't watch another movie he didn't pay for even if he was waiting for his to start. So, in a fit of rage, he left to get a refund.

The last patron that this happened to during my shift apparently was a first-time visitor to the Green Hills location, so I escorted her to the (new) Customer Service desk... only to find four other women there with the same problem. All five women wanted to see a movie that was advertised to start at a time an hour later than when we had scheduled to start.

For those of you that don't know, Opening Weekend times don't change until Monday. This applies to both theatre schedules and what is advertised in newspapers and online. That being said, this weekend's ushers (which includes me for yet another shift) are going to be run ragged.

12/26/06
Supposedly the most hellish time of year for those that work in the mall for minimum wage, I was able to get out of work thanks to a winter flu that strangely enough attacked everyone in the house! And I mean everyone!

And despite the military managing styles of my General Manager, I was able to score at least a sympathetic "Get well soon" from an Assistant Manager.

As of this typing, I'm still sick. I may be able to work tomorrow morning. However, I'll be seeing if I can get out of serving popcorn, seeing how I'm still fresh with the winter bug. Last thing I want is to be the cause of an outbreak just before National Hang Over Day.

12/27/06
I was well enough to work, but not well enough to work concession. Luckily, I was able to get out of it thanks to the managers switching around people. However, we were kind of short on staff for the madness that happened this morning. From what I was told, the same thing happened yesterday with four people calling out. However, I was the only one that had an honest and believable excuse.

In the end, I was able to get everything done by the time my shift ran up, which is an achievement given the fact that I fell behind cleaning so bad that a manager had to help me out. Tomorrow is my second day off for the season I'm working. Hopefully, I will be back to my old self by tomorrow night.

12/29/06
Got the first of my two pay checks this season today. Made just over a hundred bucks, but unfortunately, all that money is going to cover up an impulse purchase I made online after Christmas.

But that's not the big news of the day.

In the middle of an afternoon rush, a co-worker called me "Chong." I'm not even from the region where such a slur would come from, but I do not like being generalized simply because I am from the Asia region by blood. It is one of my personal pet peeves to assume that I'm one race when I'm clearly from another. I don't mind people guessing (i. e. "Are you Cambodian? Japanese?") and I love it when people actually ask me what my background is. But to just flat out assume pisses me off to no end.

I considered his action as racist and reported it. I even told him earlier when he asked if he could call me "Chong" what I would do. Apparently, he's an idiot and couldn't figure out why that is a bad thing. But then again, I was the one that assumed he knew.

In any event, I told my managers and they were gathering written statements from other employees who were working around the time it happened. Keep in mind that this was also done in front of a lobby full of customers too. Chances are one of them heard it, but which is pretty much impossible to determine. After all, they came to see a movie, and that's the only thing that was on their mind at the time.

Unfortunately, the person who called me "Chong" left before the managers could get a statement from him. Chances are he knew and wanted to save his hide from his parents.

12/31/06
My last day at work before my clean up and school preparation week, and what happens? I'm labelled "The Snitch" because of the fact I got someone fired. I explained to everyone that asked about the situation what happened and why I had to report it. I think (or rather hoped) they were able to relate because nearly everyone is a minority race in the employee roster. Still, I can't help but feel like I'm not the most hated employee at the moment. Granted I won't be back until May, specifically the week Spider-Man 3 comes out, but still.

Then again, who knows if that current pool of employees will still be around.

So my last week of work in the summer, I started a fire. It seems that I can't end a seasonal shift without something strange happening to me. Yes, something strange did happen to me that can top being called "The Snitch."

During my last hour of work, a couple comes up to me wanting to find a pair of seats together for their movie. I went ahead and helped them out to the best of my ability. I found a row with two seats available, but they were separated. The only way the two would be able to sit together is if I asked two groups of people, one a group of two and the other a group of four, to move down several seats. I couldn't talk to the group of four, however, without talking to the group of two first.

Well, the lady I talked to was really snappy. When I asked if she could move down a few seats and if she could tell the party in the middle of the row to move down as well, she fired back saying that "In my time, people were on time for the movies." She repeated this despite me telling her that she did not have to separate. She simply had to move down a few seats and ask the middle party to do the same. She grew hostile, and I gave in.

Leaving the woman who wouldn't make room for two people who didn't want to sit so close to the screen, I escorted the couple out of the theatre and apologized for not being able to help them. They left to get a refund, as they didn't want to watch the later showing of the same movie.

I asked my manager if what I did was the right thing to do. He assured me that it was, but I couldn't help feeling like kindness to others is dead. All she could have done is just move down a few seats and be accommodating to others. If she was late, she would want the same, would she not? Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think she would be late to a movie. I hope she never is though, but if she does... well, let's just say I hope someone does move for her, but chances are they won't.