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Author Topic: List some dumb things you've been told by managers Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-13-2006 04:12 PM                    Lately, I feel like I could make this thread a mile long by myself, but for now, I'll tell one story and see what else pops up. We've all worked with managers who know everything there is to know about theater operations, and the booth in particular. These people are never wrong. And this will be their stories. No need to mention any names here - unless you want to. One of the funniest things I've been told lately is that threading from the bottom up is bad because it "puts too much tension on the platter motor and the variac motor." Can anyone tell me what the "variac motor" is? I know what the "platter motor" is, but I wasn't aware that the variac had a motor. Maybe I'm wrong.  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 04-13-2006 05:23 PM                     One manager wanted to replaced all the "perforated" screens at our quad because they all had little tiny holes in them. He couldnt understand how they were in perfect little rows........OMG  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 04-13-2006 06:02 PM                     "Just make it happen." Whether it be two pieces of equipment that just don't belong together, or getting the show on-screen without having the film, or any number of other situations. The solution to this, of course, is to spend $3000 to "just make it happen".  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-13-2006 08:24 PM                     Many moons ago, when I worked in a union booth (a two man booth no less), the manager called up and asked to play music 15 minutes before the first show. The booth contract stipulated that projectionists' hours began when the show hit the screen, and the theater was entitled to one cut of preshow music. I explained that to the manager, who replied "I don't give a damn- I want 15 minutes of music." His wish was my command, and two weeks later I turned in pay sheets with projectionist hours starting 15 minutes before the first show. The manager threw a shit-fit over the extra time, and threatened to fire all the operators. OK, quick call to our business agent to explain the situation. He was in the manager's office in fifteen minutes, and you could hear the screaming out in the lobby: "How dare you threaten the operators!" **#//!!%&###. Ushers said the sideshow went on for ten minutes. Bottom line- we got paid for the extra time, the asshole had to apologize, and we went back to one cut of music before the first show.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-14-2006 07:25 AM                    Did you know that the only thing Film-Guard is good for is removing scratches? I learned that a couple of weeks ago. I'm so lucky to work with such knowledgeable people.  |  IP: Logged Jim Bedford Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 597 From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-14-2006 11:01 AM                        quote: Mark J. Marshall Did you know that the only thing Film-Guard is good for is removing scratches? Obviously you haven't tried it mixed with branch water and a twist of lemon peel!  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-14-2006 01:28 PM                     There has been so many, but here are a few of my favorites: "Just kick the amp to get it working or I'll find sombody who will." The owner's wife was just in and said everything looked clean and I told here the theatre was just cleaned." "I'm not exactly a theatre manager, but consider myself more as the company's remodeling and design engineer." "There are 70 tickets sold for auditorium #4. [holds 130] Do you think we should move it to auditorium #1?" [holds 222]. "We might be able to get better sound compression out of the Dolby reader if the two guide rollers are making contact while the equipment is running." "Hey, I ran into that Brad Miller guy at Showest and told him that Filmguard stuff you use is only WD-40 in a bottle. Instead, I want you to start using this platter brush I bought while I was out there." I'm sure there are more if I think about it.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-14-2006 01:28 PM                     Post deleted  |  IP: Logged Jason Winn Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Mesquite, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 04-14-2006 01:36 PM                     The managers I worked with didn't even like us using Film-guard. They didn't like it because, the first time you run it on a print, it might leave a few light streaks on screen. But, after the first show, the streaks are gone, and so is the dirt. They didn't care about that though. If hundreds of specks of dirt appear on screen every show, that's okay! But, if there's a few very light streaks for one show, then it's a problem.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-14-2006 01:54 PM                     New theater with 6-8 box office registers and about 12-14 concession registers. The GM's procedure is to take all of the cash drawers and turn them upside down on his desk, sort the different kinds of money and fill in the blanks on the nightly paperwork. Me - "So how do we know who's drawer was short if the grand total doesn't add up?" Dumbass GM - "We only hire honest people, so that doesn't happen." Me - "Ummmmmmm, ok." 2 hours later hundreds of dollars were missing, yet he continued his stupid practice day after day and blamed it on all of us Assistant Managers stealing the money (of which we were all witnesses to the fact that was not happening). After a week we at least got him to keep box office and concession piles seperate. (Maybe a month into it he let us count each drawer seperate.) That dumbass ended up being promoted to a district manager for a major chain!  |  IP: Logged Robert Burtcher Expert Film Handler Posts: 194 From: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Registered: Jun 2005 posted 04-15-2006 04:08 AM                     Ohhhh... I'd kill to post a useful reply in this thread... but I'd rather not get written up.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-15-2006 12:46 PM                    It's a shame we can't have this one thread be all anonymous posts. That would be wonderful. Imagine all of the fun stories we would hear!  |  IP: Logged George Roher Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Washington DC Registered: Jul 99 posted 04-15-2006 02:26 PM                     At one theatre we were having to change Xenon lamps quite often, partially because the managers were cheap about buying lamps and some lamps had an insane number of hours on them. Also, management was abusing the equipment when they were in the booth so some lamps were failing early. Anyway, one of the brilliant managers was complaining to us about the money he had to spend on lamps. He argued that it was our fault for not taking care of lamp changes when we should have. We explained that in order to change lamps in the first place, he would have to have bought lamps to put in. Be he kept arguing that if we had changed the lamps then he wouldn't have to buy new lamps right now. It was kind of like talking to Nigel Tuffnell. It was a mindnumbing conversation.  |  IP: Logged Bob Koch Expert Film Handler Posts: 183 From: williams ca Registered: Nov 2001 posted 04-16-2006 02:14 PM                     Brad`s post reminds me of a description of a manager told to me long ago by an ex Dolby engineer, who shall remain nameless, "he possesses the approximately equal parts of belligerence and ignorance that characterize a Syufy manager"  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-16-2006 10:12 PM                    "Never dip tooth brushes in alcohol... they will react with the alcohol and cause it to turn pink." I made him clarify... it's not the pink dust on the tooth brush that causes the pink alcohol, it's a chemical reaction from the tooth brush. This caused us to write the following on our booth's white board: "Welcome to (our theater's name)! Home of the amazing pink alcohol reacting tooth brushes!" That note has been on the board for about three years now.  |  IP: Logged

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