When I left off yesterday, Mayan Manager Mr. R had announced that he was transferring to a Landmark Theatre in Palo Alto, CA. He told me at the time that there was a possibility that Assistant Manager Lerd would move up to become the House Manager and I would become the Assistant Manager. All of this would have been taking place within my first six months of employment at the Mayan.
But in order for me to become the Assistant Manager, I would have to go through the City Manager, Mynd. I called her up to ask about the possibility of becoming the Assistant Manager if Lerd became Manager and she said we would set up an interview for a future date. She also had to interview Lerd as he was trying for the Manager position. He got to be interviewed first. Basically, Mynd kind of gave him a kind of review. He said that one of the things she had a problem with was that he could be short with the customers from time to time. I wondered what she was going to say about me because I really hadn't worked with her very much.
I got my interview with Mynd. I told her how much I loved my job and how I looked forward to coming to work every day. She told me that she really didn't have much experience working with me, so she didn't have much to go on. She was aware that I was a very efficient employee and shift manager. However, what she had seen indicated that I wasn't "smooth" with people, and because of that, she didn't feel like I was ready to be an Assistant Manager just yet. So, if the position became open, I wouldn't be getting it.
But what she said about me not being "smooth" with people probably had more impact on me than anything else anybody has ever said about me to my face. Here's the thing: I've mentioned several times on this blog that I likely have Asperger Syndrome. And this would possibly explain why I might not have appeared smooth when dealing with people. But up until this point, I never even thought I had a problem.
When I talked to Mr. R about this, he said he never saw anything about me that would indicate that I had any issues dealing with the customers or employees. I had a good attitude toward everyone when I was working, so he didn't know why Mynd said that.
And if it had just stayed between Mynd and me, it probably wouldn't have had so much impact. But she told the other House Managers. She told Maud. Maud told the other District Managers. Every important person I would come in contact with in the Landmark Theatre Corporation during my career was aware of this. It caused me to always second-guess myself when I was involved in difficult customer situations. I honestly didn't know what to do. It certainly didn't help when Maud bought me a Christmas present. It was a copy of the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People." I just wanted to throw that back in her face (because I'm pretty certain she had a touch of the asp as well).
I refuse to believe that Mynd had that kind of insight into what was going on in my brain. I figured out later what must have been going on. Mynd used to work in Dallas, where there's only one theatre in the Landmark chain. The turnaround rate for management positions was nothing like what it was in Denver. She probably had to work at least a year before being offered the Chief of Staff position. After that, she probably had to wait another year to become the Assistant Manager. Here, I was about to accomplish that in the space of six months. I think she was determined not to let that happen, so she just made something negative up out of the blue about me and it stuck. And long after I'd left Landmark, it affected my ability to properly deal with confrontation using my best instincts. I still have problems to this day.
In the meantime, Maud and Mynd failed to make a determination as to who would be the Mayan's next Manager. The date for Mr. R's departure was rapidly approaching and he got into a fight with Maud. He told her that if she didn't name a Manager soon, then he would. He also said he told her that if she was going to choose someone, "it better not be one of your fat dykey friends from Texas!" (I don't know that he told her that to her face, but I certainly got the idea that he was hoping to be named the City Manager when Maud became District Manager, but she had chosen Mynd, someone who would have matched the "fat dykey friend" description. He wasn't kidding about that. I met several Landmark friends of Maud's from Texas who were overweight and lesbians.)
A couple of days after that, Mr. R called me into his office. He told me that he just found out that Landmark was going to be closing the Ogden Theatre. He said that it was likely that Mr. W, who was the Manager there, would be named the Manager of the Mayan. He started crying while he told me the news. In addition to the Esquire, he had also managed the Ogden for a period of time and was rather attached to it.
Lerd would remain the Assistant Manager and I would remain the Chief of Staff. Mr. W had only planned to be the Manager for a couple of months. He and Mr. I from the Esquire had planned an extended overseas trip in which they would be touring on their bicycles. Mr. I also planned to vacate his position. That meant there would be another chance to move up pretty soon.
That chance, however, wasn't offered to me. Maud and Mynd hired someone from outside the organization to manage the Esquire. His name was Mr. M. He had managed the student movie theatre at the college he attended, so he had a great deal of experience. They hired someone from our staff to be his Assistant. But as to whether I would move up, there was news, but I didn't hear about it first-hand. In addition to Mr W leaving, Lerd turned in his two weeks notice when it became apparent Maud and Mynd weren't going to name him the Manager of the Mayan. Then we had three people who used to work for Landmark in Denver return to work at the Mayan. Mynd ASKED ALL THREE OF THEM IF THEY WANTED TO BE THE ASSISTANT MANAGER (including Toz, who had left and come back after a brief period)! Mynd REALLY did not want me in that position. However, all three turned down the offer.
Mr. M was named the Manager of the Mayan. Another outsider, Mr. C, who had done extensive work for the Denver International Film Festival earlier that year, was hired as the manager of the Esquire. Mynd and Maud still had to sort out the Assistant Manager position at the Mayan. A few weeks earlier, Lerd hired a former employee who had been the Chief of Staff at the Esquire. Her name was Cheld. She had caused a number of problems while she was Chief of Staff, including not showing up for shifts. Mr. W was very angry at Lerd for hiring her, but he couldn't do anything about it.
So, this is what Maud and Mynd decided to do: They named Cheld a Chief of Staff as well. Over the next three months, we would be observed as to our management techniques and they would decide which one would be the Assistant Manager. The other would remain the Chief of Staff.
This turned out to be a terrible idea, because it just made Cheld and me enemies. She was constantly trying to do things to make me look bad. Most of the time, I was able to persevere. One of the things we did was split up the Assistant Manager responsibilities of scheduling and payroll. I did payroll for six weeks while she did scheduling. Then we switched.
During this time, we both were very extensively involved in a celebration surrounding the 60th annimversary of the Mayan Theatre. We both did our best work during that period. It was nice because it was the one time in which we weren't trying to get each other. We were able to find a cooperative spirit that actually enhanced our presentation.
After the three month period. Mynd and Maud called us into the City and District offices. After a rather lengthy prelude, they told us that we would both be promoted to Assistant Manager. I would be the 1st Assistant Manager and she would be the 2nd Assistant Manger. This meant I had ascended to the level of Assistant Manager about 11 months after I had first been hired.
Even though I accomplished that feat, I still did not feel like a winner.
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