Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Parents of termed employees

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Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 05-02-2001, 12:09 AM:

So, you're fat, stupid, lazy and so is your kid. I hire your kid because he doesn't sound so dumb in the interview. Then I realize he is dumb so I fire him. What do you do?
1) educate your kid so they do a better job next time
2) cuss out the manager that fired him and threaten to sue
3) go off on the general manager of the manager that fired him and threaten to sue
4) let your kid go back to the place he was employed with a gun
5) #2, #3 and #4

If you chose number 5, you probably live in the Kansas City Kansas area.
I just bring it up because it happened to me last Saturday night. A kid came up $40 short on his concession drawer. In addition to being short, during his short employment he managed to do all of the following:
-> use his bare hands to push back ice in our ice chests (don't worry, I fished out all the touched ice)
-> confuse clearly marked chemicals (no, you don't clean surfaces with odor remover; at least it wasn't the kettle cleaner acid)
-> spontaneously leave work
-> piss me off in general

Needless to say, I fired his ass. Then his parents, the father I will call Jabba the Hut, came to the theatre. Since the kid was fired for being $40 short (none of the aboved was mentioned in the counseling report I gave to the kid), the parents took that to mean I had fired him for stealing. I never said he was stealing, just that he was short. I explained this to Jabba. Jabba then said that his kid was new and it could have been misrings. I explained he was thoroughly trained prior to handling money (more over, he had been on the job 3 weeks with no other major cash shortages- this $40 was 10% of his business for that day). The father then proceeded to cuss me out (my faithful assistant- Eric the Inquisitor, placed a call to security at this point). The mother decided to continue being a bitch until security came over.
Later that night, the fired kid was back in the theatre with a pass that an off-duty employee got him. He was arrested outside the building for smoking marijuana. He was with another fired employee and an off-duty employee (who's now fired as well). On his person they found a gun clip, and in his van they found a gun (perhaps he threw his gun in his van when the cops approached, I'm unsure). What's even more amazing is the parents knew there son had a gun on him.
So what can we learn from this?
1) stupid lazy people may be armed
2) stupidity is hereditary
3) fired employees are not welcome (they use other people's passes and don't buy concessions anyways)
4) Kevlar is not an approved concession item
5) Termination should be taken more literally- get them before they get you.

Posted by Chris Duvall (Member # 787) on 05-02-2001, 12:47 AM:

Gee, you should come to Las Vegas. Hell, Rockville, MD (suburb of DC) is just as bad. I ran a theatre there and now here in Vegas. Both places have all of what you just described go on almost daily. The DC location was right off from a subway stop, so I had all the criminal acting employees and customers coming through. I have video evidence of drug deals and theft that had happened in my building. Vegas has all the bitchy parents griping about...hell anything.

I just had an mother come in saying that I was going to be fired because I would not let her girl have her direct deposit statement. Her "little angel" refused to return her uniform after quitting.

It is nice that parents nowadays will come and fight all of their childrens battles. That they will teach their child how to treat authority and teach them on what proper work ethic is now.

To those parents lurking on this site that do this...
F--- You!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

OK, I am calm now. (Find your happy place, HAAAPPPYYY PPPLLLAAACCCEEE)

Sounds like you have your hands full Jason. I feel for you.

------------------
Chris Duvall
General Manager
Regal Cinemas
Colonnade 14
Las Vegas, Nevada

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-02-2001, 12:59 AM:

The two critical things to remember when firing an employee are:

1) Documentation
2) Consistancy

You must document every action that led you to firing that employee. Leaving work early? Write him up. The other things you mention may or may not have been offenses qualifying a written disciplinary action, more likely a verbal warning. There must be writing proof though of every action you take.

Consistency means you can't fire one employee for doing something and not another for doing the same thing. What if an employee who had been there for 2 years had come up $40 short? Would you have fired them? If the answer is no, you could be in trouble. If the kid you fired is a minority, you could be in a LOT of trouble. Now you'll tell me the person who's been there 2 years has had a stellar record, never being late, etc and the kid whos been there 3 weeks has been nothing but a screw up. Fine, but do you have documentation? Unless you can prove it, it nether happened.

I want to be clear that I'm not accusing you of anything, it sounds like this kid deserved to be canned. But you have to cover your ass when it comes to these sorts of things, not only to prevent discrimination suits, but also to stop these jerkoffs for filing for unemployment when they don't deserve it.

Posted by Kyle Abel (Member # 819) on 05-02-2001, 01:32 AM:

Dustin is absolutely right.

DOCUMENTATION! DOCUMENTATION! DOCUMENTATION!

I can't stress that enough. I had a female employee say I was guilty of sexual discrimination (rehiring males vs. females). Had I not had documentation of prior problems before the last straw, I could have been in a lot of trouble.

Keep a paper trail and you can save your job.

------------------
Kyle Abel
General Manager
Plano Movies 10

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 05-02-2001, 02:31 AM:

Ill tell you one thing I am glad I work in Massachussetts. Mass is NOT a Right to work state. You can fire anyone for anything (except race, color, creed, and sex) I still document everything though just to be on the safe side.

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

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-02-2001, 03:19 AM:

I feel for you. You could not pay me enough to work in Johnson County Kansas. I've heard nothing but complaints from the theater managers there. I've worked a couple of grand openings there and have experienced some of those "My

smells like roses" people first hand. Not everyone there is that way, but some days it sure seems like it.

Sadly, it sounds like they're raising their kids like that, too. Or not raising their kids.

AFAIK, Kansas is not a right to work state. Just make sure it's in the employee handbook and you have a signed acknowledgement that they can quit for any reason and can be term'ed for any reason.

Posted by Timothy Ervin (Member # 733) on 05-02-2001, 04:03 AM:

I agree with everyone else DOCUMENTATION!!!!!COVER YOUR ASS!!!!!!!

Dont you just love these parents of terminated employees who try and confront the manager? I have had a few of those and I let them know that I hired their kid, not them.

Sounds like you have your hands full man..I feel for you

Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 05-02-2001, 05:21 PM:

I always have documentation against termed employees. The parents may not know what it is (nor or they allowed to see it), but it's there in case corporate needs to go poking through it.
Funny sidenote- his father was banned from the property for cursing me out, but his son wasn't. Then the son gets arrested while possesing a gun and the parents knew about it. Now the whole family is banned!

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 05-03-2001, 03:14 AM:

Actually, it isn't the Johnson county people that are causing the problems..... Its everyone else..

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 05-06-2001, 09:38 AM:

We almost never hire juveniles for those reasons. Legally they can't operate the popcorn popper because of the burn hazard anyway.

Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 05-07-2001, 01:22 AM:

Don't hire juveniles?
Who else is going to be able/willing to only work weekends in the off season?
The theatre industry seems to be a hard one to get into if you're NOT a teenager. If you're supporting yourself, you won't be able to do that just working weekends at what theatres pay. Almost all the adults at my theatre are management- they got into the business and were promoted when they still lived with their parents.

Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 05-07-2001, 01:37 AM:

Well on second thought, maybe it's not hereditary.

Today I fired an employee who has been a general screw-up since day one. Saturday, he signed out some passes to himself; without asking for manager approval and despite losing his pass privleges for a previous infraction. It was decided he lost his job, but he didn't know it yet. He showed up today with his whole family and tried to get passes to Spy Kids. I took him up to the office instead. Jim Ziegler and I (Ziegler has some posts around here as well) spoke to him in the office. He lied out his ass. Not even good lies. He said another manager *secretly* reinstated his pass priveleges (the General Manager suspended said priveleges), and another approved the passes for himself-- both lies. They were so inplausible that Ziegler and I busted out laughing in front of this kid. I usually think of terminations as solemn occasions, but I was busting a gut. We tried to deter him from lying to us, then he began the "I swear on my life" bit (that's when you KNOW they're telling the truth...[roll eyes]). When I stopped laughing, I told him to leave and turn in his unifrom within 24 hours.
I heard later that down in the lobby, he told his parents what happened. His parents chewed him out in the lobby in front of everyone! Then they left without a word to me.
Good. He deserved to get fired, hopefully this will be a learning experience for when he gets his next job. Had his parents gone and argued with me about firing him, he would never learn.

Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 05-07-2001, 02:03 PM:

As far as parents of lousy emplyees go, this works:
"I have been instructed by my lawyer not to talk to you. If you wish any contact with myself or this theater, you need to do it thru your atterny. You need to leave now, or we will have the police remove you."

You can add, "Our conversation is being monitored by our security system, as stated on the door (get those stickers even if you don't have the system). I repeat, i have been instructed not to talk to you. You need to leave."

Most stupid people don't deal with laywers. (Almost)Any lawyer isn't going to take on a client who is a rant. If they do get a lawyer, your lawyer can sue for his/her fees if the idiots actually try something. That is IF you have good documentation for the termination.

Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 05-08-2001, 12:39 AM:

I always try to be reasonable first- I think it's the best way to go. But if they make a scene, get beligerant, and refuse to go, threatening to call the police usually gets them out of there quickly. If you have a police officer on duty as your security, they move damn quick.
People who have these kind of fits will argue more if they know you're calling the police, but will leave before the cops get there. With on-duty security, we call the officers by name (ie: Daniels, can you come to the lobby?). Then, *SURPRISE*, you have a pist off cop who we pay a lot of money ready to take care of the problem. Too funny.