Thursday, February 18, 2016

Workplace Crushes: Reyz and Farz

Reyz and Farz were members of the original crew hired for the Hillcrest Cinemas. They were at the first staff meeting on 11/09/91 at the Park Theatre, along with Abed.

I don't really recall meeting Reyz that day. There were a lot of new faces I was trying to get accustomed to, and I was not able to make connections with everyone. I was still fuming over being relegated as part of the regular crew to think about first impressions.

At first, I thought Reyz was Hispanic. She had dark brown skin, black hair and a common Hispanic surname. I figured out years later that she was actually Filipino. To be honest, I'd never known any Filipino people up to that point in my life. Even Anz (who was half-Asian) thought she was Hispanic.

I know that she helped out during the final construction phase. She cleaned and assisted in setting up the concession stand. During this time, I was taking a lot of photographs. She turned out to be the only member of the original crew I did not capture on film prior to the opening, except for one shot in which her back was turned. (But that wasn't on purpose, she just happened to be heading out the door from the stand.)

A few weeks in, we were standing together in the lobby area outside auditoriums 2 - 5. We were waiting for films to end and clear out so that we could clean them. We started talking, and we were kind of flirting with each other. This was when I first started noticing her and realizing how cute she was. I became very smitten with her and looked forward to those shifts in which we would be working together.

Now, I knew I couldn't really date Reyz because I was her boss, but I still enjoyed talking to her on a regular basis. One night, she came to the Hillcrest Cinemas to see a movie on her own time. She was waiting outside. Then, I saw this guy with light red hair and glasses come up to her. They might have been dating, but they didn't hold hands or touch each other. I didn't know what the deal was between them, but I hoped it wasn't serious. I saw him with her one other time.

The day came that Reyz decided to leave the Hillcrest Cinemas. On her final night, I was able to convince her to allow me to take a photo of her. She reluctantly agreed, but took off her glasses and gave a big smile for the camera. That night, I put a letter in the mail that I had written to her. I figured that now was my chance since I was no longer her boss. I got her address from the employee file so I could send her that letter. I wrote about how I had strong feelings for her and I hoped she would be willing to go out with me. I told her I didn't know who that guy was I'd seen her with, but I wasn't the kind of person who would interfere with that. I included my phone number, but I never heard back from her about the letter.

A few weeks later, she had to come to the theatre to get some paperwork. This happened while I was managing. She had cut her hair short. Her presence was a little unsettling because I had to be alone with her in the manager's office while she looked through her personnel file. She still did not mention the letter. At one point, she needed my help with something and I accidentally touched her hand. I kind of freaked out because I didn't know what she was going to say. She acted like nothing had happened, but I was just a jumble of nerves during the five minutes she was there. She found what she was looking for and left. I never saw her again. I cannot even locate her on the Internet.

I recall becoming acquainted with Farz before that first staff meeting. She and I had arrived early before Anz and Ved got there with the food and drinks. We started talking. She was about my age, a little nerdy and wore glasses. I remember she told me she had a Master's degree in Psychology and now, here she was, working for minimum wage. She actually thought it was rather funny. I knew right away that I liked her, but I wasn't looking to date employees that that time.

Farz was also a little overweight, but not so much that it made her less attractive to me. I recall an incident in which she was supposed to be a bridesmaid and was required to wear a corset. During the rehearsal with prototype versions of the bridesmaids' outfits, she couldn't breathe and wound up fainting.

When Anz decided to designate someone as "Head Usher," to be primed for learning how to manage. Farz was our first choice. However, just a couple of weeks after she started, the Guild Theatre picked her to be their Chief of Staff. That meant I was no longer her supervisor.

I went over to the Guild during one of her shifts to see a movie. She had started decorating the lobby with a lot of publicity photos from films and actors. She had an autographed photo of Lucille Ball. I told her she would be wise not to put that on the wall because someone was likely going to steal it. I also noticed that she had a lot of photos of Harrison Ford (none of which were autographed, although she had tried many times). I figured he was her favorite actor.

One day, Ved gave me passes to see a press screening of "Patriot Games." I figured this was my opportunity to ask Farz out. She agreed to go, but wasn't certain if she was going to be back home on time to go with me. I drove out to her apartment in Ocean Beach, but no one was at home. We had agreed that if she wasn't there by a certain time, I was to just go without her. That certain time arrived, I waited a little longer and then I left. I was rather disappointed.

Because of that, I could practically call her a Lostop, but since I didn't make any more attempts to try to do something with her, that kind of keeps her in the "Crush" category.

I also cannot find Farz on the Internet. I thought she had an uncommon name, but it turns out there's at least 30 women in the world with that name and not one of them appears to be her.

I'm always curious about what has happened to the women in my past, and it looks like I have to remain curious about Reyz and Farz.

No comments:

Post a Comment