But the reason I tell this story is because yesterday, I learned of it's happy ending. This man was recently fired from the company...for sexual harrassment! HA! TAKE THAT! But it gets even better. The district manager was promoted to a larger district, and she flourished at her new job...well, that is until she got caught STEALING and was FIRED! BUH-BYE!

So maybe we didn't lose the battle after all. I guess some things are worth fighting for, huh?

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However... there are often other issues in situations where employees contact upper management to complain .

Example: I walked into a manager position at one older theatre where the previous manager had been let go. That manager was fired in part because he was more intent on being friends with the staff than getting the theatre in shape, in part because of a continuing mysterious shortage problem, in part because of low per-caps, and finally because he held a resentment towards the new director of operations, who wasn't tolerating his behavior.

Immediately upon my arrival as new manager and instituting an inventory control that made it possible to trace theft, that staff mailed a couple of letters with falsified information to the owner of the company attempting to get me fired. (This type of staff retaliation can be common in some areas of the country, and is the reason why no smart executive ever takes such letters at face value.) Fortunately, the new director of operations understood the situation and ignored those letters.

In my case, a long time older female employee who was head of concession was probably the leader of the pack. The woman was barely adequate at her job, but being such a long-term employee I couldn't fire her without repercussions, and she was just shy of being able to retire. I'm fairly sure I made an immediate enemy of her when I prohibited her from bringing in "her favorite" chocolate bars that just happened to be exactly the same size and make as the inventoried theatre candy.

The next step in the employee campaign to get the old manager back or get the less aware assistant promoted (which shows the general level of intelligence of this group) was employees flatly refusing to do certain basic tasks, such as sweeping the floor behind the counter. Understand that this was an older theatre with no new applications coming in, even with a newspaper ad, so mass firings weren't an easy option. At this point, the pocketbooks of these opportunistic petty thieves were beginning to feel the crunch of working just for an honest wage, and attitudes were getting surly.

Phase three of the campaign to get rid of me was to make thinly veiled threats. "You know that people sometimes just disappear in this city, don't you?" Since this crew didn't know my background, I pulled out an old picture of a hulking huge employee I had once been friends with, changed his name to Guido, and suggested that if anything happened to me he and my associates would know where to look first to break arms and legs. (Funny thing is, if he'd heard I was hurt, this fellow probably would have done that.)

I was able to hire a trickle of new employees and did much of the work myself until phase four of their campaign. On the first really busy night with a new film, the older woman called in sick, and at a predetermined time during the big rush the entire floor staff and concession staff walked out without a word, hoping to get me to quit, or to get me fired for being so inept as to have an entire staff walk out on me.

Luckily, I was friends with another manager for the company who worked a few miles away. He ferried over half his staff and things were operating better within half an hour on short staff than they had been the entire previous month. Per-caps in concession started to pick up as customers were served quickly instead of being made to wait for the purposeful slowness of the previous employees.

A couple of the ex-employees attempted to follow up on the walkout and make further trouble at the corporate office, but were quickly shown the door, thus ending the power play.

The head of concession was kept (under a watchful eye), but without her minions she no longer had any power and soon reduced her hours to the minimum required to keep her retirement. Some of the staff from the other theatre transferred permanently because they could get more hours, and a new staff was built.

I bring this all up to point out that there are times when a staff seriously wants control of a theatre- sometimes as a personal vendetta, sometimes so they can goof off, and most often so they can steal from the company and scam the customers. The relating of this experience may help you understand why most experienced company executives will say "The manager is the manager, is the manager. If you don't like him, leave." If I hadn't come into the theatre with a good reputation, and the director of operations hadn't backed me, not only would I have been out of a job, but the company would have continued to lose thousands of dollars a year in theft.

That doesn't mean that the real wayward manager gets carte-blanche. Behind the scenes a manager who screws up can get brought down a peg pretty quickly. I've been on both ends of that cannon.

I do suggest that anyone hiring on to any job do their homework. Ask other managers in a circuit what their opinions are, ask employees, but don't go into a situation blind.

I took the job and spent a week visiting it as a customer, and quicly found that I needed to replace the whole staff. So what I did was hire a staff and train them at another theater. After they were ready, I came in, fired them all, and put my whole new staff to work. I also hired eight people to fix the place up in less than three days.

Yes all the officials came in to see about our out of code theater. Couldnt find a thing wrong. So they started spray paint tagging the building instead.

Never go in blind. Always know whats up first.

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Yes, it costs money, but a good DM can keep track of problems much better than company assigned auditors, or a bean-counter reviewing percaps and attendence at the corporate office. At a 1 DM to 12 theatre ratio, I can almost guarantee that a good DM will make back his or her salary (and more) within the first year. Unfortunately these savings are hidden in reduced theft, better staffing patterns, and increased attendance, so they are overlooked when money is tightened. Something similar happens with employee safety. An injury or workers comp claim can be expensive, but everyday running doesn't take these increases as a possibility, and employee safety can get short shrift.

There is a myth that increased computerization and use of cameras and excessive reporting can eliminate the need for a district manager. On the surface, it might seem that this works, but like running an engine without oil, hidden damage will be done that is not easily reversed.

You are also correct that sometimes a company does have to look the other way, knowing full well that there is a problem. That too is part of management; sometimes the bigger battles get fought first. The potential for discrimination suits and other practical difficulties can also delay corrective actions.

Your situation wasn't handled well, and you can bet that the company paid for its errors, even though the loss may not have shown up on the books.

Dave, well done on your coup d etat.