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Topic: GKC up for sale?!?

Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-15-2005 01:08 AM

Justin ... businesses closing is one of the reasons why companies pay for UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ... if something drastic happens ... they have a safety net ... so it's not F**K them and their families .... 90% of theatre employees I've ever worked with were PART-TIME ... if someone's relying on a PART-TIME job as their only income, themselves and their families are pretty much screwed anyways.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 02-15-2005 02:27 AM

Good point Mike. I didn't even think about UE.

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Chase Hanson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 172
From: San Diego, CA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 02-15-2005 02:52 AM

But at the same time, the difference between losing the extra $100-$300 (depending on wage) a week. Might mean the difference between paying rent and eating right or paying rent and barely eating.

The "well we have Unemployment insurance, so its not a big deal" excuse is blatantly obfuscatory. I have car insurance, doesnt mean its no big deal if I go slamming my door into other peoples cars in the parking lot, and rear ending people at stop lights. Just because I pay someone else a monthly premium to foot the bill for my fuck ups, doesnt remove my responsibility for them.

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Kurt Zupin
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 989
From: Maricopa, Arizona
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 02-15-2005 08:36 AM

Mike I work 40 hours a week, I'm a manager and booth Supervisor and I'm part time. I depend on my paycheck from the theater to support myself and my girlfriend(she is a waitress/bartender and does make good money) We have a very comfortable living, but if I were to lose my job I would be fucked, yeah I could get partial unemployment but not nearly enough. Your thinking

quote: Mike Spaeth
so it's not F**K them and their families .... 90% of theatre employees I've ever worked with were PART-TIME ... if someone's relying on a PART-TIME job as their only income, themselves and their families are pretty much screwed anyways.

is complete and utter bull. Now why do theaters say that all there employees are part-time? So the company does not have to give them benefits...thats why I am Part-Time. NOW THAT IS BULLSHIT

Do you know how hard it is to find good employee's? Its almost impossible. And when you treat them like they mean nothing it become's even more impossible. If you don't treat your staff whether there in school or not with respect your going to be screwed and all your going to get are the school drop outs and recently released convicts...because words going to get around that Manager so and so is a jerk and doesn't care about his/her employee.

END RANT.

I mean no disrespect to anyone, just stating my opinion on this very touchy matter.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-15-2005 12:00 PM

Who said anything about treating employees like shit?

I'm simply saying that sometimes decisions need to be made ... business is business.

Should every company consult with all of their employees before they make a decision for fear of how the employees FEEL???

Plus, every theatre closure I've ever been involved with has involved at least two weeks notice to the staff. Yes, they found out 2 days before the doors closed, but were allowed to stay on for a couple of weeks to take all of the equipment out of the building ... Funny enough ... not a single employee has ever opted to stay and help ... management usually ends up hiring day-labor to assist with the job.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 02-15-2005 12:59 PM

Well Kurt, all of my employees are part time because they all work less than 40 hours a week.

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Jeremy Fuentes
Mmmm, Dr. Pepper!

Posts: 1168
From: Corpus Christi, TX United States
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-15-2005 02:10 PM

quote: Mike Spaeth
but were allowed to stay on for a couple of weeks to take all of the equipment out of the building ... Funny enough

Funny? Oh wait, now I get it..HAHA!! Its funny to lay people off then ask them to help you load their crap. I'm rolling on the ground laughing!! Obviously anyone who supports such actions by a corporation have never been fired in such a manner. Look at it this way, lets say you come to Film-Tech with a question that you really need answered. Film-Tech is the only place that you can find the answer from. You ask the question, making it clear that your job depends on it, then Brad takes down the site. Too bad for you. Comparisons, in case people dont get it.....

Come to F-T with a question = Go to work for money.

Ask the question making it clear you depend on it = do your job to the best of your ability to make sure you pay the bills.

Brad takes down the site = company closes doors.

Too bad for you = Too bad for you.

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Justin West
Master Film Handler

Posts: 271
From: Peoria, IL, USA
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 02-15-2005 02:53 PM

quote: Mike Spaeth
Funny enough ... not a single employee has ever opted to stay and help ... management usually ends up hiring day-labor to assist with the job.

As Dr. "Pepper" Fuentes pointed out, it really isn't funny...and I am not meaning to pick apart your beliefs, Mike, but there is a growing callous-disregard by corporations towards employees, considering them to be tools to be used and tossed aside as deemed by demands of business rather than as people, human beings with lives and families. In the past, the top US corporations used to recognize that it was their people who PROVIDED the corporation with a human image to their customers in the marketplace. People on the FRONT LINES (while they may have been on the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder) were the ones the public saw, was served by, and conversed with. I knew of an older gent who sold tickets at a theatre for several years. He was part-time, earning Wal-Mart's "greeter's" wages but he was dressed and groomed well and he conversed pleasantly and respectfully with the customers.. "distinguished" would have been a good description of him...and customers thought HE must have been the theatre OWNER!!! He was just a low-wage peon but he took pride in himself and his job and guess what, not only did he do what the company paid him to do (sell tickets and collect money) but he gave them something else, something they did NOT pay for: a respectable image! Sure there are other facets of the business that affect the company's image as well, but this people-to-people relationship is (was?) very important. So, to get back to your comment, if a manager comes up to an employee and tells him the theatre is closing tonite and the worker is "fired" but adds that the worker can stay a couple weeks to disembowel his now "former" place-of-employment, IS, in reality, treating the worker like [bs]

No way around it. Now, then again, some people don't mind being treated like [bs]

but they are the people Kurt mentioned...the ex-cons, dregs of society...and, thus, you get what you pay for!

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Don Cross
Film Handler

Posts: 97
From: Charleston, WV, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 02-15-2005 02:58 PM

I think that it is sad that, as Americans:

Most Americans live from paycheck to paycheck; not that its the employees fault for this most of the time.

That Americans have the worst "level of benefits" such as healthcare, retirement, etc.. of any first world country, developed country, or industrial country. I'm sure that some of our members of this message board (who happen to reside outside of the United States) can feel welcome to support this fact.

That most Americans don't have much of a "savings nest egg". Basically theres very little of a net "to fall back upon".

All of that (and much more) in the country that calls itself the United States of America, and considers itself the world leader. I don't consider this a political party problem because both Democrats and Republicans are responsible. I'm just suprised that it has ever been allowed to get this bad in this country. It might even be bad enough to be beyond reasonable repair.

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Kurt Zupin
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 989
From: Maricopa, Arizona
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 02-15-2005 03:08 PM

Jim...do you consider working someone 39.5 hours under 40 so that would constitute them being part-time? That seems to be the norm at most business, as long as they don't past that 40 hour mark there just part-time and expendable.

quote: Mike Spaeth
Plus, every theatre closure I've ever been involved with has involved at least two weeks notice to the staff. Yes, they found out 2 days before the doors closed, but were allowed to stay on for a couple of weeks to take all of the equipment out of the building ... Funny enough ... not a single employee has ever opted to stay and help ... management usually ends up hiring day-labor to assist with the job.

If you found out that the company you have worked your ass off for was closing its doors in less then 48 hours? Then they had the gall to ask you to stay and help them move the equipment. Honestly I don't think you would, I know I wouldn't...and probably most of the people on this entire forum would agree.

I don't think nor did I say that a company should consult with its employees before they do anything...but there has to be a curtisey shown to the employee, whether its a notice that your company will be shutting down and you will need to find another job. And NO I don't mean just two days before, I mean two weeks...why is it the norm that if you plan to leave your place of employment you should give a two week notice but if a companys going to close its doors you guys think its ok to not let the people who are relying on that paycheck to live a notice? Shouldn't it be the norm for both sides?

Also Mike, how many theaters have you been at that have closed?

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Don Cross
Film Handler

Posts: 97
From: Charleston, WV, USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 02-15-2005 03:19 PM

Good quote mentioned in an earlier post...

You get what you pay for!!!

It appears as though to many theater owners and managers are expecting their Chrysler PT Cruisers to perfor much like the highest end Mercedes Benz; and since "the budget won't allow it", who need things such as oil, air filters, and even 86 octane fuel.

Some managers and owners really expect to find the cream of the crop while not backing up their employees and paying them a living wage. Meanwhile the theater employees are leaving to find better paying jobs in fast food and at places such as convenience stores.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 02-15-2005 03:55 PM

quote:
Now why do theaters say that all there emplyees are part-time? So the company does not have to give them benefits.

Yes

The same thing happen during the 90's with the Banking industry. I had friends that worked as full-time as tellers and then the Banks cut their hours. They went from 40 hour a week jobs to just under 30. So the savings was you hire a few more part-time tellers and you save the company in paid benefits.

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Allison Parsons
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 630
From: East Peoria, IL
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 02-15-2005 04:34 PM

quote: Mike Spaeth
were allowed to stay on for a couple of weeks to take all of the equipment out of the building ... Funny enough ... not a single employee has ever opted to stay and help .

I've closed two GKC theaters. The first I had 3 weeks of notice time and was not fired. The second (my home away from home) i got 6 hours notice and then I was fired, but yet had the option to stay to help tear down. AND I DID! The reason being is that I loved that place so much that I just needed some 'closure' so I stayed for that reason. And that was the only reason I stayed to do that. 97% of the other employees gave the middle finger and didn't look back. Oh wait...I also gave them the [fu]

but after I took everything I wanted from the theater. [evil]

Whats even sadder is that I went to back to work for the company that screwed me over in the past (not just the closing of my theater). I've been with GKC for almost 9 years and i'm getting payed $8.00!!! IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME?!?!

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-15-2005 06:00 PM

When the aforementioned theatre closed ... I was a *PART TIME* Assistant Manager. I stayed and helped ... and then was transferred to another location, as was offered to all the employees there ... myself being the only one that took them up on the offer. I started at the bottom ... and have worked my way up the ladder over a number of years. I have plenty of respect for my employees ... I also understand that sometimes business dictates making tough decisions that will affect those employees (and myself).

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 02-15-2005 06:09 PM

quote: Jeremy Fuentes
Funny? Oh wait, now I get it..HAHA!! Its funny to lay people off then ask them to help you load their crap. I'm rolling on the ground laughing!! Obviously anyone who supports such actions by a corporation have never been fired in such a manner.

Jeremy, are you trying to imply that a company is wrong to close an unprofitable location? Should companies keep their unperforming locations running forever?

quote: Kurt Zupin
If you found out that the company you have worked your ass off for was closing its doors in less then 48 hours? Then they had the gall to ask you to stay and help them move the equipment. Honestly I don't think you would, I know I wouldn't...and probably most of the people on this entire forum would agree.

Seems to me, if they ask you to stay on a couple of weeks to shutdown the place then they ARE giving you two weeks notice. In most instances, telling people way in advance of a closure means you will have difficulty staffing the place towards the end, as well as risk signifigant theft.

quote: Kurt Zupin
but there has to be a curtisey shown to the employee, whether its a notice that your company will be shutting down and you will need to find another job. And NO I don't mean just two days before, I mean two weeks

Again, asking them to stay for a couple of weeks to close the place down IS giving them two weeks notice.

quote: Kurt Zupin
Also Mike, how many theaters have you been at that have closed?

Mike has been at one that I am aware of. And I had to spend quite a bit of time over that that one helping shut it down because most of its staff abandoned ship when it closed. The ones that didn't were transfered to the city's other locations. If I recall correctly, clearing out that theatre took about three weeks.

quote: Kurt Zupin
Jim...do you consider working someone 39.5 hours under 40 so that would constitute them being part-time? That seems to be the norm at most business, as long as they don't past that 40 hour mark there just part-time and expendable.

My part timers work anywhere from 10-30 hours a week on average. However, someone that worked 39.5 hours a week would be part time. You may consider the 40 hour mark to be arbitrary, however, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

quote:
Oh wait...I also gave them the [fu] but after I took everything I wanted from the theater. [evil]

Thanks for proving my point about employee theft.

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