Last night I got a page from a manager at one of our theatres. He explained to me that he had no sound and that the little red light was out. The supply is not connected to our automation, so I had him double check the breakers. After this was checked, I told him that I have never had an L.E.D. power supply fail and that I would look at it first thing in the morning as it was already about 10:30 and I knew by the time I got there it would be too late.

He then told me that he had just gotten off the phone with the complex manager right before I called, and he instructed him to loosen the L.E.D. and try to move it up and down to see if the sound came back. I told him not to mess with any adjustments and that i would be there first thing in the morn. The manager who told him to adjust the optics would be there in the morning and I told him that I planned on a heated discussion with that manager.

He called me back about 10 minutes later and told me that he got the sound back on. I asked how, and he informed me that he moved the L.E.D.! First of all he had to explain why he told me the L.E.D. wasn't lit. This is one of the first L.E.D.'s and not one of the visible ones. He was used to the bright ones and didn't notice this one being lit. After a little inappropriate language on my part, I informed him that I would be there in the A.M. to perform an a-chain and make sure that everything was o.k.

This morning I found a a couple of the L.E.D.'s on different projectors were out of alignment by pretty much. I ended up replacing one of the L.E.D.'s because there was no way to achieve dolby tone. The new L.E.D. solved that. The other houses, I set dolby tone. The manager never showed up, so I made plans to show up after the doors opened.

A couple of hours later I got a call from said manager. The house with the new L.E.D. had problems. As soon as he started the projector, the L.E.D. went out. This is not the same house as last night! I told him that I didn't realize this sound rack had an outlet that was hooked up to shut off when the projector started. This chain used to do that to shut off tape decks before they started getting distribution amps. I accidentally plugged the power supply into this outlet as it was not marked. I talked him through this problem and told him that I was on my way, and would check on this problem(with my own agenda of finding out why he would try to adjust any optics or instruct any others to do so).

When I got there he was in a meeting, so I went upstairs to see what was going on. I opened the front panel of the CP500, the projectionist (who had no idea who I was) said that the manager already did that.????
I was looking at the cat.222 to see if there was any signal, I don't know what the manager or projectionist was doing. Then I noticed tools on the wire trough in front of the projector. I asked the projectionist and she said that the manager started to mess with it before he called me. This is the house that I just put in a new L.E.D. an did an a-chain on about 3 hours earlier.

What's a guy to do???????

I know this is long, but I just need to vent my frustrations!!

Yes the manager last night got the show running for the two people in the auditorium, but did he go about it the right way?

Bruce
 

You've basically got 2 options as I see it...

#1 You can try and create all the hell you possibly can over this situation (making sure to yell at everyone real good) and hope you can scare some respect out of them to listen to you...

*or*

#2 You can try and earn that respect.

Now the second won't be as satisfying as the first and will obviously be harder on your part, but the only advice I can offer you here is that in this day and age respect is not given based upon age, years with the company, years in the field, or status in the corporate food chain. It is earned. Those "given" respect days are long gone.

Here are some tips I can offer personally. Remember, these are just my opinions.

• If you're introducing yourself as Mr.Hamilton, start going by Rick instead. Let them call you Mr. and Sir on their own.
  
• When you enter a theater, don't grunt away as you walk in but try and fake a good mood, regardless of the fact that a few of those employees should really be running from you for their lives.
  
• Remember, every once in a while will come a young employee who actually does know what he/she is doing. Just because he/she is young does not mean they are an idiot.
  
• Do NOT go up to the projectionist or manager and start demonstrating your unsurpassed knowledge of the 4 letter words comprising the english language. Go to the machine and check things out calmly and quietly first.
  
• If you think someone has tampered with something, after checking to verify things are out of alignment, ask the operator nicely on duty when the problem happened, what was done to attempt to correct the problem and what was the end result of their attempt, etc. Then explain why what they did only made matters worse and how you would appreciate it if they would make a quick call to you before they touch anything in the future behind the Dolby panel and in the sound optics (or whatever the problem was related to).
  
• When you're finally finished, take the time to explain how things work to everyone involved. If there is a kid running the booth, talk to him/her directly. Don't talk to the manager and simply allow him/her to overhear. If both are present, make sure to turn your attention back and forth, showing equal interest in both parties. Ignoring the kid shows a complete lack of respect for him/her, and that is the person you want to gain the respect of the most to prevent future tinkering.
  
• And remember, whatever you do, NEVER raise your voice or curse. That's what the privacy of the van is for.
  

Things such as this will ultimately make a world of difference in how people view you and listen to what you have to say. I'm sure there are field engineers-a-plenty who will argue what I've said until the day they die, but after working various management positions for 10 years and doing plenty of field tech work, I've learned you are guaranteed of respect from your employees with these tips. Once you have that, the tinkering will cease, as the employees will consider you more of a friend and listen to your requests.

I hope there's something in here that will assist you put an end to such problems. Let us know if any of these or future suggestions in this thread help.
 

Personally, I always lock up all of my tools if they are "on site" overnight or longer. Not only that, but the soundracks are always locked shut as well, to prevent curious fingers. I actually had one of the Vice Presidents of United Artists (when I worked there) come up to me and point to the external crossover on the back of an amp in the sound rack and say "What would happen if I pulled this out right now?" My response was a pleasant "Well, you'd probably have to buy me a new set of High Frequency drivers, Bruce!" Bruce was confused, but then let out a half smile and then wanted to know where his screening prints were and then blah blah blah blah.....
 

Unfortunately, This is a growing trend in the Projectionist world. These days we have inexperienced operators in our booths toying with equipment they don't understand.

In the theater I work in some of our Projectionists are 17!!!! hardly old enough to appreciate what they are doing.

enough said

 

several months ago, I had just gotten home from work and had cracked open a cold beer and was sitting down to relax when i got a 911 page from one of our theatres. I called and they were frantic because they had a sold out show of 'Antz' and there was almost no sound and a very loud humming sound!! I asked the usual questions: threaded right? everything turned on in the rack? does it happen in all formats? Did it happen earlier in the day? etc. and they answered all to my satisfaction. So i told them I would be there soon I got in my truck and drove 40 miles to the theatre, went into the auditorium, which had gone to half-full because of the complaints and refunds, and listened, I heard a very loud 96hz buzzing drowning out the regular sound..Aha! We're reading Perfs! Went into the booth, and looked and discovered the problem- the soundhead gate-roller/lateral assembly was not closed ( this is a Simplex 5-star) causing the perfs to get read by the soundhead. Man, was i hot!... I closed the roller, 'magically' restoring the sound, instructed the projectionist to double, even triple check his threading and rollers/gates before starting a show, got in my truck and cursed and bitched all the way home.

Aaron

 

Friday night... Gone With the Wind... Full House...
The first act ran okay. Second act runing when I got called.

No sound but everything running okay, otherwise.

I come to find that the REMOTE/LOCAL switch on the processor on REMOTE. (Ultra-Stereo proc. -- No remote volume control hooked up.)

Since the customer owns the equipment, and since I cannot dictate how it will be used or treated, I don't worry about it. There's nothing I can say or do that will make the booth people afraid of me anyway, because I don't sign their checks. That's the 90s crowd.

Several years ago, the last time I tried to "pull rank" was with a manager. She was a nice enough lady, but we were like oil and water. I constantly reprimanded her for foolish actions and the resultant down-time. To make a long story short, as she transferred around the region in later years, she related to everyone along the way about how bad a tech I was. Even though I quickly solved all the long-standing problems in her booth and always got her back on the screen in one trip, my condescending attitude made all the difference in her perception of my ability.

I'm being paid for what I know and what I can do. My work day will consist of what it consists of, and when it's done, I'll go home. It's a good way to look at the day and much easier on your blood pressure.

Now, I'll certainly make any apparent misuse of the equipment known, and I'll stand firm if someone is being abusive, but I have learned that treating the customers in a dignified manner reaps greater benefits.

The "idiot" calls will always be a fact of life for the field engineer.

I love this job!