The internet is a dangerous place.

With the click of a mouse you can express love, pain, frustration, or any number of things that may or may not actually be true.

To call my most recent week working at the theatre "abnormal" would be the largest understatment of the decade.

At the beggining of this month I made a bone-headed post regarding my General Manager. It was uninformed, stupid, and most importaintly wrong. I did take the time to correct my post after it had been submited. This post has now been removed and deleted.

A few weeks passed, i didn't even think about the post. Later on, one of my fellow employees at my theatre stumbled accross the web-site, saw my negative post and printed it (completely disregarding my 40-some eccessively positive posts). The comment was then posted (to my unerstanding) in a prominent location within the projection booth and from there was read by many managers and assistant managers. Rumors spread quickly, and soon, nearly every employee had at least heared about it. Many stories were wildly inacurate. Several employees have since avoided contact with me. A few managers have confronted me about it, and i feel a strong sence of awkwardness from of the remainder of them. I have not yet spoken directly to my GM - It would be better to disscus this with her "off the clock."

I would like to publicly apologize for my actions, and reiterate, as I have before, my deepest inermost appriciation and respect for my General Meneral, one of the best, hardest working, most knowledgeable, (and hopefully one of the most forgiving) people in this industry.

To my other fellow managers/empoyees. I am sorry for any way in which my post may have offended you. My understanding is that some of you were ofended by the fact that the words "Film Handler" appeared bellow my name on the posts. I would like to inform all of you that I did not put that there. On this website, each member is awarded a status based on how many posts they have made. "Film Handler" signafied that i had under 100 posts. After 100, i would be given a status of "Expert Film Handler" and so on and so forth. I have asked the web-master of this site to make an exceptionin my case. (Please see my post entitled "Forum Status" begining in Film Handler's Forum and continuing in the Film Yak forum.) I am also sorry if my intense facination with presentationhas annoyed you. I will work harder not to be so technically minded. The booth isn't what I should be concerning myself with when I'm on an ushing shift. (Not yet, anyway )

For the employees woried about privacy, I am no longer posting on things that directly relate to our location (such as employees, technical issues, location, names, positions, and especially management.) I will continue to post only direct questions or answers that will not affect any one at our theatre ( if i decide, or am allowed, to continue posting here at all) I urge all of my fellow freinds here at Film Tech to adopt simular standars for thier posts. This is a social hell I wouldn't have any of you go through.

I expect and fear that the worst has not yet hit me. I will know for sure when i meet with my GM Saturday.

Over the next few days i will be systematicaly removing any segments of any posts that include any information associating me with our theatre in general, and also any one spcific person.

In closing, I am again sory for the problems this has caused. I hope over the next couple weeks to earn back your freindship, respect, and hopefully trust.

Michael Brady Olpin
iMacMike@Mac.com
4-18-2002

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" I am also sorry if my intense facination with presentationhas annoyed you. I will work harder not to be so technically minded. The booth isn't what I should be concerning myself with when I'm on an ushing shift. "

Were they cracking down on you because you have a fascination with the booth?

If your GM is a reasonable person, hopefully everything will go well if you just tell the honest truth.

A while back a friend of ours was working for a fabulous theater chain known as MegaStar cinemas, whom I will continue to bring up from time to time until we hear from him again because of the way he was treated (feel free to search the archives). They gave him a LOT of grief over comments he made which were in no way whatsoever negative toward the company. I know this because just after he retracted his posts, I pulled a backup of the forums and read through every single post he had made. I, as well as a few other people I gave printouts of his posts to for input, all felt he was very professional with everything he posted. Basically put (but in different, more direct wording) he was told "stop participating and delete your posts or be fired". That's a lovely threat there, isn't it? It's that kind of nonsense that is a staple trademark of a really bad employer. Your manager SHOULD have taken that printout down and came to you directly about it if it was indeed uncalled for, instead of leaving it up and allowing the staff to attack you for whatever the reason was. Like I said, now that you are all wound up about it and decided to post this thread, this is now news being read around the world! Hopefully the manager simply does not know about it yet and as such has not had the proper chance to remove it and discipline the employees who have given you so much grief as to drive you to this point.

So what was the comment? I suppose I could look it up in a forum backup, but I don't have the time right now. You don't have to be exact, but I'm guessing it was something along the lines of your theater having presentation problems and your manager not doing anything about it? Well you know what, if that's the case, then those projectionists need the wakeup call and your manager should be the first one taking action to see to it that it is improved, not giving YOU grief. Maybe your job is only to keep the floors clean, but it's THEIR job to keep the presentation first class, and if that's not happening, it sounds like the manager needs to get rid of them just as much as if you were not operating your broom adequately. Remember, people come to the movies to see a movie, not to pay ridiculous prices for candy and soda. That's why they are called movie theaters. Without the movie, you have no customers. Sure a clean environment, comfy seats and friendly employees are necessary, but the overall presentation of the film is more important than anything else because THAT'S the reason you have customers there in the first place.

While indeed you are sorry, do what you need to do to sleep well at night, but remember you do have a right to your opinion and you do have a right to express yourself. Any company that prevents that is a shitty company to work for. I'm betting though that once you sit down with the manager you will find the pressure you have been getting from the staff was uncalled for. Most managers got to where they are because they are mature and professional, and I expect you will find that you will be treated that way, so don't lose any more sleep over it.

By the way, NO ONE here was offended that your computer generated title was "film handler". That's just ridiculous and is clearly explained in the FAQ.

(And yes, I moved this to the Yak forum because it had no purpose in Film Handler's. Please do not post anything further in Film Handler's unless it is specifically related to projection in some manner. That's what the categories are here for. )

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That said, most executives are blind to just how much information is common knowledge, and execs taking a hard line are usually only deluding themselves. This isn't an industry that has rocket science secrets, and little of any "leaked" info will ever impact any bottom line.

If I were confronted with an employee who blabbed too much, my first question would be "How good a job does he do?" My second would be "How does he relate to the rest of the staff?" If both answers were positive, he and I would have the 25 cent talk about how things worked, and what was appropriate behavior. If the employee was a problem employee, he would just get eased out without the talk. Unless a secret real estate deal has been revealed, on a scale of 1 to 10, such problems rate about a 2.

A forum like this is bound to have lots of lurkers that are afraid to speak up, and some that look down on those that do post. Some "hot" topics are best left to those of us that are in business for ourselves or retired.

In an earlier thread, I think I mentioned how my performance improved when I thought of myself as constantly on-camera. The internet is the same way. You might get slapped around a little, but if you are sincere, you'll be fine.

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The latter? - Well, I would sooner eat out of a garbage can rather than to depend on them for a paycheck.

A little hint. If someone got to the point where they got pissed off and quit and a day or so they still feel good about quitting, chances are that person made the right decision. Been there....three times in my life.

If someone does not appreciate the time and effort I spend to help them or their company, I'll find someone or a company that will.

Some of us in this country will say what has to be said to whom it has to be said to, and we don't give a damned who the F*** is listening. That's one of the many things that makes the USA so great!

Kind of crude, I know, but I just had to say it.

Admiral Yamamoto (orwhoeverthehellitwas) said something after he devastated Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Basically, he said, "OOPS!!!"

And then way before that, Captain John Paul Jones said, "Surrender, hell!! I have not yet begun to fight!!" (But what might not have been quoted was "Let me finish my coffee first...")

As Harry S. Truman said once, "It is time to strike a blow for Liberty!"

Retired Navy Weenie Man strikes again.