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And if the thing blows up, and the owner gets a $1,000 bill for all the repairs; and then blames you, and you get fired, which wouldn't surprise me from what's been said in this thread: put it all behind you and move on to something else. Anything's better than having to deal with a boss from hell, and this is a stupid one which is worse.

I'm a newcomer to this forum, but I think you guys are going to hear a broken record out of me: "Glad I'm Retired!"

Randy, Paul, Scott: I gather that you guys are full-time techs who handle many screens in a quasi-managerial capacity and I would hope that you at least have some clout with cheapskate corporates. People like us who can walk into an empty room and put it all together & fix it when it's broke don't grow on trees and I guess at least you can tell the owners "The buck stops here, daddy. THIS IS IT!"

Grrrrrrrrrrr from Montana.

Yeah, companies can be cheap. I agree with that up to a point. If they spent money every time somebody asked for it, they'd be bankrupt in a week!

I have very little problem getting my company to order parts when they are needed. Mostly because of my philosophy. Only once or twice have I asked for things that turned out not to be needed. One time it was for something stupid but I was about 500 miles away and was trying to diagnose a problem by phone.

My philosophy is:

1. When I KNOW I'm right, I put my foot down and don't take "No" for an answer. (But be polite if you can muster it.)
   
2. If I THINK I'm right, I say so but I listen to reason.
   
3. If I MIGHT be right but MIGHT be wrong, I take things as they come.
   
4. If I don't know what the heck I'm doing I go outside to have a cigarette while I think about it.
   

What I find that happens is that people will listen to you more this way. Speak with authority and don't take no crap. BUT don't be so hard headed that you won't listen to reason. After a while people will get to know that when you say something they should probably do it. (Or tell you a good reason why not.)

Telling the occasional joke helps lighten things up. You don't want people to think you are an ogre!

Little explanation on the owner....does anyone remember the thread "Masking Tape Aperture Plate"? Same theater. Actually Sean posted that before he started there.

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Some of the guys have come back later and said they thought it over, and I'm right. Some schitzy person on a traffic stop just might pull a gun & blow their head off.

I try to be RIGHT when I make decisions. Those that have the clout know me well enough to know what I tell them is true. They'll back me up when I ask for things because I don't ask for things that aren't needed. That's not clout, that's common sense.

Smoking:

The thing is, I smoke more when I'm alone and I spend a lot of time alone.

I spend most of my time on the road alone. I don't have a "core" group of people to depend on every day. The people I DO see on a regular basis don't know me outside of the context in which I work.

I generally WANT to quit smoking but you really gotta' admit that as much as quitting is a "willpower" issue, it takes a lot of support from other people to keep you going. This I don't have and it makes it harder to keep off the ciggs.

Now, this sounds like a cop-out: The reason why I started smoking cigarettes was to replace the things I USED to smoke. At the time it was a lesser of two evils. After a while the habit stuck.

I really have been interested in quitting. I have a question about this but I'm going to cut this post off here. It's getting too far off-topic. I'll pick it up in "Film-Yak"... Meet me over there and I'll continue.

There is one theater that even after having three physical fires in the lamphouse on the tap board of a 4000 watt console STILL would not replace it. Did I say three? Yes, THREE FIRES and even THAT wasn't enough. Their in-house tech warned them repeatedly and I also warned them after I came by and took a look at it...yet a new board was just too much darned money. Talk about putting not only the equipment at risk but the safety of the employees and customers! What really sucked about the situation is the fact that this particular console blocked the only exit to office space (where several people could've been trapped with no way out) and was only a few feet from the main electrical wall for the building (which was not even in it's own isolated room). To add even more to the situation, the lamp in there is way over hours, is darkened and flickers like no tomorrow.

Fortunately the "money men" are no longer in charge and I have faith that the man who has just taken charge will see to it that proper repairs are done immediately. No amount of money is worth the safety of even just one person.

FINE!!!!?

Here is the lamp. see the bubble on the "nipple", notice the crystalization around it, See the cracks forming in the quartz? The tech also said that it is normal for the pin-spot of light from the cathode to bounce up and down when looking at it through the viewing window!!! I am calling tommorrow and informing him that if the lamp blows HE WILL PAY FOR REPAIRS! I am also going to contact LTI directlt. I think LTI makes a GREAT lamp. They have the best light output of any lamp ive seen. this was either a fluke or the tech screwed up the installation. I dont know what else to do.

------------------
--Sean McKinnon
Asst. Manager/Projectionist
Gloucester Cinema 1-2-3

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On one occasion when I saw one that got a smudge on it you could see the lines of the person's fingerprints on the lamp They were actually ETCHED INTO the glass! I wish I could have lifted the print and compared it to people working in the booth!

Seeing the place where the smudge is, I hold out a little hope that it's in a place where the glass is strong enough that just the area around the bubble will give way. A hole will develop in the lamp and all the gas will escape. The inside of the lamp will instantly turn white and it'll look like it's "on fire" inside the glass. (It would be kinda' cool looking if it wasn't such a dangeroud thing.)

I've seen two catastrophic lamp failures. One where it actually exploded mid-show. (Lack of ventillation -- exhaust fan gave out.) And one where the lamp "degassed", like I said above.

If you are workig when it gives, you'll know it. It sounds like a shotgun blast... really! (I've heard many-a shotgun)

If it does go, remember about the glass flying into the projector. I would actually lean toward handling that problem first. Unthread the projector and remove the gate/trap. Inspect it closely and look for any particles. (Watch it! They are sharp as razor blades!) Remove what you can and hope that there isn't any real damage. Doing this first will give the lamphouse time to cool off before you go sticking your hands in there. (Flaming-hot razor blades! ... Now THERE's a thought!)

Get out the vacuum cleaner and just go at it, using common sense. Wearing leather gloves is a good idea. May I suggest two things: First, get a good "point-source" light and shine it in there. (An auto mechanic's "trouble light" for instance.) The light will reflect off the particles and you'll be able to see them better. Second, empty out the vacuum cleaner right away after you've finished. Be careful. You don't want to get nailed by the glass two weeks after you think everyting's back to normal. (This actually happened to me.)

After you've cleaned up the glass it's time to move on to the "recon" stage. Survey the damage and hope the reflector(s) weren't taken out. The repairs are common sense, pretty much. Just don't fire that puppy up again until you're sure it's back in good health.

Sean, my advice is don't involve yourself any further with this thing. Your concerns have been over-ruled by higher authority. Let it go, let it run as is, let it blow. When/if it does, don't open the lamphouse door, call the service guy, let him deal with it. Let the house shut down for the nite and refund the money. The only way this owner is going to learn is by paying a big bill and let HIM fight with the tech over why the bulb took everything out. You're already on record with your concerns registered.

=====>> YOU ARE NOT BEING PAID ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY TAKING ANY SORTS OF PERSONAL RISKS. <<=====

This included messing around with a lamphouse full of broken glass without the right equipment to deal with such a problem. I can see a big OSHA case brewing here, and I've got some expertise in this area. Meanwhile, take pictures, and save the negatives & prints. The pictures I see here are not sharp enough.

I would not come out of retirement to work in a multiplex for anything under $12-15 per hour and have no fear anyone would pay that; so I can continue happily retired !!

Yesterday I spent some time exploring the early posts on the site here, waaaaaaaaaay back in 1999 when it all started. Just absolutely a plethora of horror stories everywhere with these cheap corporate multi-chains.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? I have some ideas, but it's outside the scope of this thread. Will need to write up something comprehensible at leisure and post it... sometime next 2 weeks, maybe.

For now, time to put my old broken record back on the pornograph again [ooops! I mean phonograph] lower the transcription arm into the groove and off it goes:

"I'm sure glad I retired from this business back when I did."