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Topic: Why My Cat HATES Easter!

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 03-24-2008 12:50 AM

And getting triple pay from a huge company like Boeing is a huge Christmas present in itself since they know it'd be a rare thing to ever happen again.

I bet there was some serious earnings paid out for that day by itself.

(Can you see cinema owners doing this on holidays? .....nah!....)

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-24-2008 01:02 AM

Monte,
I would think a xenon bulb going out on Saturday Night would qualify as an "emergency", and would require a PHONE CALL, not an e-mail.
I wanted to throttle a fellow assistant who did NOTHING when one went down but waited until I showed up for work 6 HOURS LATER.
I know if we are down a screen we are supposed to CALL our Tech unless we know it's something he/she can't fix until the part arrives anyway.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 03-24-2008 01:54 AM

I hear your rant Monte. My company expects me to be available 24/7 on weekends and when I'm covering for the boss. But unlike the salaried boss I'm hourly, and I don't get paid (overtime or otherwise) for such coverage. The company also demands that I use my own cellphone for this 24/7 coverage, and does not reimburse me for that use.

Easter isn't a company holiday for us - so tonight is just another night in the office, though it is my Friday (yay, three days off).

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-24-2008 09:49 AM

The service company I worked for considered lamp changes to be something the theatre staff should be responsible for therefore it was not covered under our contract as an emergency call, and was billed at the demand rate. If I was doing pm's or already at a theatre and they asked me to change a lamp for them or to show them how I would do it for them and not charge them but if they called in an emergancy call saying that the lamphouse will not work one of the first thing i would ask is "Did you try changing the bulb" to which they ALWAYS answered "YES". WHen I would arrive at the theatre the first thing I would do is open the lamphouse door to see a BLACK bulb there. I would change it and 9 times out of 10 it would light right up! It's a MIRACLE! I would make sure they got charged in that instance.

Monte, You shouls have chewed your superiors out for not having theatre staff capable of changing a xenon lamp. It really does not take a technician to change a lamp!

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-24-2008 04:37 PM

quote:
Monte, You shouls have chewed your superiors out for not having theatre staff capable of changing a xenon lamp. It really does not take a technician to change a lamp!

True and agreed: unless there's a peculiar reason not to (e.g. the venue is a general purpose arts centre which only shows films once in a while), the projectionists of any well-managed cinema should be trained and competent to replace a xenon.

That having been said, if anyone is in the slightest doubt, I'd far rather that they called a service tech out and incurred a bill than attempted the job themselves without proper training and/or feeling 100% confident about what they were doing. Unlike almost all other jobs in the booth (except possibly replacing rectifier diodes, for which a similar health warning applies), you can hurt yourself very seriously if you get it wrong.

In both the two places I worked as a chief projectionist I made completely sure that either the projectionist on duty was trained or confident to replace a lamp and handle them safely, or that if necessary, there was a way of continuing the show without needing to (i.e. in a booth which has two projectors plus a platter).

But that having been said, in no situation except bad luck of the sort you can't plan for (e.g. being sent a faulty bulb) or a very unlikely emergency should you ever need to replace a bulb unexpectedly. Even if you don't replace them after X hours' service regardless, they gradually start to flicker towards the end of their life, which should be all the warning sign anyone needs to replace them first thing one morning when the bulb and the lamphouse are stone cold. I suppose the analogy would be of airline pilots training to deal with all the engines breaking down in mid-flight. A hell of a lot of care and planning is done to minimise the chances of that ever happening, but it has done on a small number of occasions and when it has, that training saved lives.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 03-25-2008 01:47 AM

Thx all for the support and comments given to my rant!

I know it was looking as if I was almost making a mountain out of a molehill to whine over a trivial thing (being that doing bulb changes is really nothing and minutes to do..) to where I really apologize to the members of this FT forum in appearing tthat I am whining, but with me spitting back, it exposing those who climbed all over me realized that they need to look at both sides of the story before making hasty decisions on making the conclusion my fault with me not taking immediate action in repairing a down screen situation.

Thus, they reversed the conclusion with complimenting me on heading up and making that 35 mile (58Km) drive from home that late Sunday afternoon and doing the changeout "so quickly."

Unfort, the mgr of this theatre, is the only one that knows how to do a bulb changeout, and the mgr was down for the count with the flu that wknd. Thus no other staff was trained to do the changeout. Plus, the supervisor that sent the email also apologized for not even thinking on calling me since she had a horrible night herself when the closedown numbers failed to balance on the first go-around.

...one of the things that a company tech has to face at times ... [Roll Eyes]

( Oh, as for the bulb (( a 2500w Christie in a X90 console w/1900hr on it)). it lost its gas when the end seal went - went completely dark blue. Have to admit: prettiest dark blue that could be... [Big Grin]

.. It just shattered when I busted it outside-no "pop" or "bang" )

Thx all again!- Monte

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Anslem Rayburn
Master Film Handler

Posts: 476
From: Yuma, AZ, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 03-25-2008 04:10 AM

quote: Paul Mayer
I hear your rant Monte. My company expects me to be available 24/7 on weekends and when I'm covering for the boss. But unlike the salaried boss I'm hourly, and I don't get paid (overtime or otherwise) for such coverage.

Depending on exactly how restricted you are during such times, they may be required to pay you for your time.

quote:
Here's an extreme example to illustrate factors that establish that an individual has been engaged to wait and therefore is on the clock. Consider a maintenance worker who's on call every weekend, must respond to every call, must be able to reach the employer's facility within 10 minutes of a call, will be called at her home telephone number unless she buys a cellular telephone at her own expense and pays for the service, and is called several times each weekend. The on-call time constitutes work time and must be paid as such. When the on- call time pushes the nonexempt worker over 40 hours in a workweek, she must be paid at overtime rates.

Link

Of course, these types of issues become a question of whether it's worth pushing it or not real quick.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-25-2008 05:26 AM

Monte, don't feel bad I think its a pre-requisite for service techs to be able to complain about some of their locations [Smile]

It's funny before I started training to be a tech I was very very nervous around Xenon lamps and all of a sudden I was expected to go in and free welded on bulbs and work around them a lot. I think I kind of just found a way to put it out of my mind, I always took the proper precautions but somehow I forced myself to bury the deep rooted fear I had of Xenon bulbs. I know a lot of theatres don't want anything to do with them because of that fear but have no problem opening the door to the power supply and poking around in there, one theatre used to hide there tools inside the p/s compartment [Eek!]

I think there is more of an immediate danger of shocking yourself on a power supply than of getting hurt changing a xenon with the proper gear.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-25-2008 06:21 AM

It's the same issue as with handling nitrate film: you don't need to be afraid of xenons, but you do need to treat them with respect and you do need specific knowledge in order to handle them safely. The message to get through to trainees is that it's not rocket science, but is a much bigger deal than changing a normal filament bulb.

The worst example of bulbs done wrong I ever came across was walking into a provincial arthouse which will remain anonymous, to do a sickness cover relief shift. On a shelf above the rewind bench were about 20 2k xenon bulbs, sitting loose and wrapped in a couple of layers of newspaper - no other packagaing, and certainly no sign of the protective 'condoms' in which they were originally shipped. I reported this to the manager immediately and, wearing the full protective gear, removed the bulbs to the boiler room in the basement and stuck a great big 'no entry' sign on the door.

It turned out that the chief projectionist there (who'd started as an assistant manager and gone upstairs following a retirement) had been taught, incorrectly, that xenons are only dangerous at the start of their life, and 'lose pressure' and their ability to explode once they start to flicker and are replaced. However, the cost of shipping the bulbs back to the supplier for disposal (which was what company regulations dictated had to be done with them) was such that his boss balked at paying the bill. So, while the boss sorted the issue out with Head Office, he simply put the bulbs on the shelf until this issue was resolved. That was several years ago, and it never was resolved. And as for the bulb condoms, he'd taken those home and was using them to grow tomato plants in!

The thought of 20 bulbs falling off that shelf and onto the workbench when someone was sticking films together does not bear thinking about.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-25-2008 06:49 AM

Wow, Thats crazy! The thing is with all the things that could kill you in a projection booth (High voltage power, High speed Metal Reels Re-Winding, Fire...) people are only taught to be paranoid of Xenon lamps. I re-member my first day in a theatre being told that you can be killed by an exploding xenon, that it would take out the whole booth and the wall to the theatre, and that the bulb could go shooting out of the projector into the auditorium. Being fifteen and stupid I did not know any better. Maybe not to that extent but everyone is taught to fear Xenon lamps, most people really think you can die form an exploding lamp. I guess maybe you could if a peice of quarts cut a main arterry but what are the chances of that? How many people have you heard of dying from a Xenon lamp? These same people who are petrified of Xenons are not afraid to stick their hands in a power supply, wear a neck tie around a high speed rewinding reel, Stick there head under the top deck of a potts type platter to thread while breaking down from the top deck at high speed, Turning their backs on large metal reels rewinding on a bench at high speed, and many more dangerous practices. I think Xenons should be handled with care, respect and the proper safety equipment but it's crazy that people are brainwashed to fear these lamps and ignore all the other dangers in the both??? [Confused]

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-25-2008 12:14 PM

Monte,
I did not hear your complaint as "whining". At least in your situation, there was no one there that could change a bulb.
Where I work, before one can be promoted to Senior Assistant manager, one has to know how to change a xenon bulb and diodes. The manager on that shift knew how to do both but did neither. "It's not my job".
Later, that assistant needed someone to cover their shift as something came up...I said "No. That's not my job."

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