Work

Sorry I’m a bit behind.  Here’s a few updated pictures:

The theater has started its renovation. I personally think it’s several years overdue but better late than never I suppose. When all is said and done we will have new leather, reclining seats, a full kitchen, new carpet, new floor lighting in the auditoriums, new lobby seating and two new bar sections.

I finally got around to getting my Single Decision Maker certification at work.  It doesn’t get me a raise but it does make things a little easier for me.  Basically I can now sign off on most cases without a doctor reviewing it.  The exceptions are children’s cases (which I rarely get anyway), cancer cases and mental cases that are a denial.  I can sign off on pretty much any physical case (except cancer) and mental allowances.  By not having to get things reviewed it will save me a little time on each case so hopefully I will be able to lighten the load a little.

Not really.  Power outages can be fun when you’re a kid.  Lots of adventure and fun playing the day by candle light and lanterns.  It’s not fun when you’er an adult and your place of business looses power.  For over an hour.  First you have to get all the customers out.  And if you are lucky no one yells at you for the power being out.  Because, you have complete control over that of course.  Then you have get the teenaged staff to keep their ADD in check long enough for them to do what needs to be done.  Then you have to just sit and wait for the power to come back.  Though not really sit so much as run around and do things that can only be done while the power is out.  Like check emergency lights.  Then after a while you decide to de-thread movies and rig up the films so they can be run again quickly which is not extremely difficult, but not easy either.  So yeah, power outages… not fun.

Yet it usually doesn’t happen all at once.  A few weeks ago Thor was fired from the Grande.  He was the only person that had been employeed there for as long as I have been.  There is no official story as to why he was fired but rumor has it that there were emails which the higher-ups did not feel were professional or appropriate.  Of course instead of talking to him about it, they just fired him.  (There is a pattern developing here with the way they will terminate people at the drop of a hat.)   They also decided they would interview for a “City Manager” position which was discovered to be a lie.  They were interviewing for Thor’s job right under his nose.  So, after Thor’s termination they made Kevin interum GM.  This is the second time they have done this with Kevin.  And while it might look good the first time, the second time is just a slap in the face.  They told him he would be GM until they found a replace.  Translated: Your good enough to do this for a little while and we have faith in you for now but we just want someone better.  So, Kevin decided he wasn’t comfortable with his future at the company and is now leaving us to go back to Regal.  He isn’t the only one either.  Stewart had the same idea and has already jumped ship and gone back to Regal.  So, now, within a few weeks time, we have no salary managers at the Grande.  We have three hourly managers, one of which has only been a manager for a month, another one who has gotten far to complacement in their job and a third who will likely leave soon as well.  Oh, and don’t worry, Thor landed on his feet and is back to work at Regal as well.

The next few weeks should be entertaining as the Grande slowly implodes.  Hopefully upper management will be able to get replacements soon but I doubt it.  It’s taken them a month or more to get a replacement for Thor.  It’s been implied that the projectionists will be put into a managerial role to help cover the deficits.  This is a huge mistake just waiting to happen.  For starters we aren’t really trained to handle things 100%.  Then there is the fact that if you pull us out of the booth to run the floor, who will run the booth? 

I’ve seen something like this happen before so it’ll at least be a fun ride!

Apparently the new company decided to make some changes in the management team.  Steve, the old GM, was terminated as was Art, another manager and friend of mine.  There was no warning or hint that it was about the happen.  Steve was putting away stock when the home office rep came up and basically told him to stop working because he was being terminated.  It was a bit of a shock. 

They screwed Art even more though.  He was on vacation last week and they decided on Wednesday that they weren’t going to be bring him on board.  So, they are denying that they fired him which means he can’t even get unemployment and they didn’t give a severance package.  Now, I’m no lawyer but I would think that depending on the deal with Regal, the new company took the building AND the employees.  Which means that they did fire Art.  Because had he not been on vacation he would have been there on Friday to fill out paperwork and then on Wednesday they would have fired him.  Not this, “oh, we never hired you” crap.

Oh, and did I mention Thor is the new GM?  And they are bringing Stewee back, even after they made such a big deal about Regal not transfering employees from the grande?  I guess they didn’t have a problem with taking Regal employees from another theater.  One things for sure though, It’s going to be interesting ride.

For those interested, The Raleigh Grande has been sold yet again.  We are no longer part of Regal Cinemas.  A group from Texas is opening a new theater chain called Carolina Cinemas.  Ironically they also bought the name Consolidated Theatres.  So, I’m back to be being a Consolidated Theatres employee.  Good thing I still know people at other theaters so I can get free movies closer to home.