We have had remarkably low turnover in the nine months that we have been open. We may have turned the staff over once since we opened. This is much better than the 600% the last multiplex I worked for did. We pay just a bit better than the competion, I know it isn't much but you know the nature of the business.

This week we scored a coup de grace when we booked two prints of Best in show. We are dumping all 6 of our old shows and building up 6 new ones. Luck was with us when most of them showed up yesterday (Wednesday) so I could start building them up.

This week one of our assistant managers quit because she couldn't handle the stress of the job. Her words were that every time she came to work she felt frustrated. We did all the chores. All we asked of the assistants was that they open and close and run film and get the staff to perform their duties.

Because she quit, Ky and I will be going on 6 days per week and will not be able to leave town untill we have trained a new assistant.

This morning the projectionist called in and said "I quit." Yes he was that eloquent. So I get to build up the last two prints and tear down 6 prints tonight. Oh the joys of ownership. I don't know what was going on in his life, but I know it wasn't us.

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut

I have read many of your posts before and would come work for you at the drop of a hat, unfortunately travel to and from work would be a bit of a problem.

Since I am independantly wealthy, I will come and be your new projectionist. Oh wait, did I say wealthy? I meant dirt poor broke. Independantly dirt poor broke.

I can empathize with you on this. No matter what you do, there are those that just cannot see your vision. Just hand them a joint and tell them to toke up, and all will be fine.

Im sorry, did I say joint? I meant pink slip. Just hand them a pink slip and tell them to toke up. Ok that doesn't work either.

Let's face it. There just isn't enough money in our economy to go around, and as a result, there isn't enough to pay people. The lack of cash creates 80 percent of all stress. If we could pay people 25 dollars an hour, they would clean up human waste and tell people of the positive health benefits.

Nice to be back...

Embrace it as a matter of fact. When people call me an a$$#@!e, I say thanks. I have been working on it. As a matter of fact would you fill out a customer survey card so that in the future I could be even more of an a$$#@!e to you.

Then pack your suitcase, put it in the car and drive 300 miles and get a motel room in that town. Stay there for 2-3 days, drive back to your apartment and do it all over again.

While you're away, you can work in different theatres that are full of people you describe. They don't give a rats ass if you bust your tail fixing up the equipment. As soon as you go out the door they'll proceed to tear every machine apart. What they don't tear apart is so caked with grime and film dirt that you sometimes can't tell there's a projector under there!

You know hardly anybody by name in any town you only get to see them once every couple of months. (The ones that don't get promoted or quit.)

You spend your evenings in said motel rooms, watching re-re-reuns of James Bond movies on WTBS. (Or re-re-reruns of "Crocodile Hunter")
The phone doesn't work 1/2 the time so you can't even e-mail your family to tell them how you're doing. (Don't even THINK about calling long distance from a motel!)

You know, I used to be a real A-Hole in my old job because I knew everybody and they knew me. We had an unwritten rule that you can yell and holler as long as you don't make it personal. We knew that EVERYBODY gets mad.I f you can't blow off steam in front of your friends, when can you?

Now, I have a hard time containing myself. There are times when I just want to SMASH something. I TRY to say things in a "nice" or "encouraging" way. There are times when no matter how hard you try to "smile" people can tell you don't mean it.

THAT'S the hard part.

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Continued From Above...

6. The further away from you the location is, the bigger 'emergency' they make of a problem that can almost always be fixed by a regular projectionist in 5 sec or less.

7. No matter how 'on schedule' the construction crew is, they will have to do something major in an auditorium at the last minute, usually requiring lots of sawing and hammering, at the same time you are putting out the mikes to do an EQ.

8. The more heavy equipment you load up into the truck, the further away from the location you are going to have to park.

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