Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: crappiest companies?

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Posted by Ethan Harper (Member # 472) on 05-21-2000, 10:46 PM:

who was the crappiest company that you have worked for and why or any other horror stories you might have. while working within a company.

here is mine

where i work now i am employed by an audio visual company to run the booth at a theater.

The problems:
i was originally offered 12 an hr. by the owner of the theater. The a\v\ company said "all that we are budgeted for is to pay you 10" so iwas stupid and agreed. well twa recently that the other 2 dollars an hour was being charged to the theater instead of me. so the owner had always thought that i was getting 12 when i was really getting ten. i was enraged and so was he. they siad that they would look into it. does anybody have any suggestions for me?

do projectionists ever get the respect they desrve? i guess not.

two it is a 7-plex where everything is manually run because the a\v people ripped out the existing automation and is trying to currently put it into an amx unit, but i seriously dont think they know how. although they say they do, it would have been done over a month ago when the theater opened.

the general manager thinks he can own me although i dont work for him.

it seems that it is our fault and we get yelled at if stuff on the a\v side is not correct or god forbid we have to start a movie at the same time when credits go up in another auditorium

"how come the lights are not up, turn them on NOW!!!" no we dont have starts at the same time.

"Ethan if that pizza box is there in the morning we are going to be switching words tomorrow!" -general manager
since when are you respomsible for the booth? is the question i would ask him. i work really hard for my prints and this is what i get?

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-22-2000, 02:17 AM:

>>"Ethan if that pizza box is there in the morning we are going to be switching words tomorrow!" -general manager<<

Ethan,

If that's all he has to complain to you about, I think he should thank the good Lordy that you are there and stop bitching to you about trivialities.

Of course, I am assuming he means 'there' to be in the bin or on the table, not wrapped up inside a print.

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 05-22-2000, 03:16 AM:

The worst company I ever worked for was Hollywood (now Wallace).. I lasted all of 6 weeks with them...

The reason I left can be summed up with a quote from the general manager (this is an exact quote, BTW), " The customers dont care what happens on the screen as long as the concession lines are short and they have cupholders."

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 05-22-2000, 07:30 AM:

>The a\v\ company said "all that we are budgeted for is to pay you 10" so i was
>stupid and agreed. well twa recently that the other 2 dollars an hour was being
>charged to the theater
instead of me. so the owner had always
>thought that i was getting 12 when i was really getting ten. i was enraged and so
>was he. they siad that they would look into it. does anybody have any suggestions for me?

I'm not understanding your complaint. If your services are being contracted out doesn't it stand to reason that your employer is going to get a cut of it? If you go have your car repaired and the labor charge is $75/hr do you think the mechanic gets all of that? Two bucks an hour is nothing. Keep in mind that there are payroll taxes to be paid (employer's part of social security and medicare, federal unemployment, state unemployment) and that eats up about half of those two dollars. Workman's comp probably eats up the rest, maybe more. Hell, they're probably losing money on you.

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-22-2000, 10:09 AM:

I would agree with Steve on this. You agreed to work for $10hr; you must have thought that was fair. That you were sub-contracted out by the AV company is a different issue; they can (and should) charge whatever they can get.

If the owner offered you $12hr, and the AV company only offered $10hr, why did you stay with them? I guessing the AV company had some other advantage you thought loosing $2hr was worth.

But after all, you are a 'free agent.' Ask if the owner still willing to give you $12hr. Or maybe it's simply time to look for another place to work and move on.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-22-2000, 11:53 AM:

Hi Steve, Welcome finally! What the heck took you so long?
My question is.... To Ethan, are you paying self employment taxes or is that part being taken care of for you? If you are paying taxes you should have gone for the 12.00 but if they are taking it out then its worth the 2 bucks an hour. It costs them alot more than that.
Mark

Posted by Ethan Harper (Member # 472) on 05-22-2000, 03:38 PM:

to john and steve

on the issue of my payroll.

well, i was offered by the owner of the theater 12 an hr. the a\v company said that all they could pay me was 10 hr. there was a contract between the theater and the a\v company to pay me 12 an hr. i did not know this till recently. if they wanted to make a profit off of me maybe they should of charged a little bit more to the owner? Illegally they are scheming my 2 dollars. The owner was not aware of this till i told him how much my rate is right now. we were both enraged.

then again question i ask is this,
who in their right minds hires an a\v company to hire their projectionists for them?
especially if the a\v company has no idea what the power button on the lamphouse does.

they are now considering the thought of putting me on a salary? has that been heard of? A proj. on salary. I guess i would not mind as long as i am making a little above the average amount as to what i am supppose to be making. the only difference that there is suppose to be for me between working here and the theater is this. i am under the a\v\ payroll which the oewner pays for each hour that i work here it just a different check, and i have a\v benefits.

if you found out that your being ripped off from what are you are contracted by the theater to being payed how would you feel?

------------------
--"That's my story and i'm sticking to it!"--

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-22-2000, 04:22 PM:

Salary is great if you put your foot down and walk out the door at 40.1 hours. Otherwise, they will use "salary" as a way to work you 60-80 hours a week ending up with far LESS than you would make hourly. Be careful and get everything in writing.

Posted by Russ Kress (Member # 461) on 05-22-2000, 05:12 PM:

Yes, Brad is correct. But! If you get hit by a bus on the way to work, you still get paid if you are salary.

I haven't called in sick for a couple of years, but it's nice to know that my income would be stable if I had to.

Russ

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-22-2000, 06:44 PM:

I don't understand how you can say the $2.00 per hour is illegal
They could sell your services fo $50.00 per hour and keep the $40.00 per difference if they chose. They are your employer not the theatre
The theatre probably chose to hire the AV company so they did not have to pay WC and benifits but a flat amount

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-22-2000, 06:53 PM:

Salary isn't good, unless you have the limits set from the beginning, as Brad said.

And you can bet if you DO get hit by a bus, the company will do everything in its power to find a way AROUND paying you, that much you can bank on.

Employees ARE worked 70-80 hrs a week or more on salary, because when an outfit gets you in such an arrangement, they OWN you. Get those hours stipulated, in writing, BEFORE entering into an agreement.

Perfect example: my brother drives a truck. He makes nearly $100,000 a year, BUT (and here's the catch) he's gone most of the time, sleeps here and there whenever he can catch 20 minutes or so, and works enough hours that it comes out to little better than MINIMUM WAGE for the time he's investing. Further, he has no time to enjoy the money he makes, because he's gone all the time, driving the stinkin' truck!

------------------
Better Projection Pays!

Posted by Ethan Harper (Member # 472) on 05-22-2000, 07:43 PM:

aacchh
reply to gordon

i am not trying to make a fuss or anything really i am not and i do apologize if it seems this way.

but there was a contract from the a\v company and the theater to pay me 12 an hr. not 10an hr. that is what makes it wrong if they wanted to make a profit then they should charge the theater 14 an hr instead of stealing what in the contract is stated to be given to me.

------------------
--"That's my story and i'm sticking to it!"--

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-22-2000, 10:10 PM:

I agree with others regarding being paid a salary; it sounds good until they start to work you over 40 hours. But, since you work there now, you must already have a good idea how many hours per week are required.

Laws vary from state to state, but usually as an hourly employee, you should get overtime pay for working over 8 hours in a day and over 40 hours in a week. Where I am, there are laws that protect an hourly employee more than a salaried employee.

So, there are goods and bads either way. But, I still don't see anything illegal. Although, if I understand things correctly, that AV company may have lied to you to get you to work cheaper. Which is a crappy thing, no doubt, but not illegal.

As I said, you might be in a good position to work directly for the owner. It seems like the theater owner needs you, and you don't need the AV company. With no automation, it would be tough to replace you.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-23-2000, 05:21 AM:

In Texas, all they have to do is give you an hour's break (off the clock) for working over 8 hour shifts. Of course, I've never known anyone to actually abide by this law in regards to salaried employees.

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 05-23-2000, 11:51 AM:

To the best of my understanding, being paid salary does not necessarily preclude you from receiving overtime.

I don't have the specifics in front of me, but there is criteria on what makes a certain employee "EXEMPT" or "NON-EXEMPT" from the labor laws. If your situation made you NON-EXEMPT in ANY of the areas... then you were still eligible for overtime and the whole enchilada.

I know that I am exempt because I supervise more than 10 other employees. I am also exempt because I can make decisions that affect the rest of the company. I believe another is that I spend more than 50% of my time SUPERVISING people; were I to be spending more than 50% of my time DOING what it is I was supervising, then I would be non-exempt.

Those are at least two of the ideas behind it. Check it out with your states Labor Commission --- the State of California is always helpful in answering those sort of questions.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 05-23-2000, 01:47 PM:

Worst company I've worked for would have to be AMC. While working at the AMC Grand I remember working a 26 hour shift (that's right 26hours not a typeo) I informed the manager that I was going home since my replacement had come in finally, and he insisted that I stay longer. At the time I was the only one that could build up prints and do trailer changes. and that evening we had 6 prints of Judge Dread, 4 prints of Power Rangers, and something else I can't remember that all had to be built up, hence the long shift. This is also a company that does not pay time + 1/2 for hours worked over 40 hrs a week. you only get straight time on one pay check I had 160 hours in a 2 week period.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-23-2000, 02:11 PM:

I can outdo that one Jason. I pulled a 36 hour shift at Cinemark opening a theater up north once just to go back to my home base and work another, and an awful lot of other 20+ hour shifts while I was there. Still it wasn't a slave driving thing. I offered the help and long hours at the time, they didn't demand it. Nowadays I'm not sure if I would do that to such an extreme. That was pretty damn rough.

Posted by Ethan Harper (Member # 472) on 05-23-2000, 04:03 PM:

here is twisted one for you that should make all projectionists cringe. i had a friend who i worked with at Cinemark who came from a previous theater who's name will remain anonymous. The head projectionist there has been known to rape other male projectionists and other little boys. His quote is the the same as reason for leaving"it was really crappy when you were forced to close the booth on a staurday night and you could hear little boys crying in the background"

The company does not want to fire him because they are scared of lawsuits due to discrimintaion against homosexuals. Apparently it has been done before?

yes this is true and there are others that can confirm this true. even on this forum.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 05-23-2000, 04:30 PM:

There are some pretty sad individuals out there. but that seems a little far fetched... if it was truly rape, then it wouldn't be a matter of discrimination but sexual assult charges. Most companies have a policy that if an employee is changed with a crime, they are subject to dismissal. But who knows, alot goes on out there

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 05-23-2000, 04:56 PM:

Ethan, you're saying the contract between the theatre and your employer says how much YOU will be paid? Are you sure? It would seem strange that a contract between those two parties would specify how much one of them should pay you. Nevertheless, as you are not a party to that contract you really can't complain if it's not being followed--that's between the two contracting parties.

Anyway, I'm not sure how you could expect your employer to take in 12.00 an hour, pay the payroll taxes, insurance, do the paperwork, etc. and still pay you 12.00.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-23-2000, 05:25 PM:

Hopefully, the rapist will get nailed one day. That is totally unacceptable.

I worked in the TV film dept. with a guy like that. He never came on to me. Either I was too old, or, I wasn't his type.

Now and then he would take off for lunch and come back the next morning like nothing happened.

I KNOW that management knew what was going on....

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 05-23-2000, 07:09 PM:

Steve,

The point that I belive Ethan is trying to make is that both the owner and the A/V company had agreed that someone in Ethan's position would be paid $12/hr. However I'm sure that the ower is already paying above what he belived to be a $12/hr employee for the reasons that you mentioned (although I can assure you that there is no insure involved). This is a big drawback to contract work.

Ethan, I have an idea on cicrumventing this problem I'll talk to you about it on Fri.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-23-2000, 08:02 PM:

About the rapist. Didn't they mnake him sign the sheet on his application where it says "We reserve the right to terminate you at any time without cause." I'm surprised if he didn't sign that.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 05-23-2000, 08:15 PM:

Dustin,

One of the joy's of Texas is that the company dosen't have to make anyone sign one of those. They can do it anyways. HOWEVER if you can prove you were fired because of discrimination then your only means of persuit is through the courts, but the burden of proof is on you.