"Don't come back for 7 to 10 days!"

1991 the movie "My Girl" with Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin. The scene when Vada (Anna's character) learns that her period started. The next scene, Vada answering the door as Thomas (Macaulay's character) rings the door bell to see if Vada is able to come out and go swimming. Vada pushes Thomas and yells at him, "And don't come back for seven to ten days!" She then turns around walks in the house and slams the door.

Vada learning she will have her period for the next 7-10 days.

As women we can all relate to this scene all too well every month. Well I am feeling that way tonight, and it is just the start of PMS. I had a decent day at work, but then this evil poisonous monster took over me on my way home from work. Not too sure where it came from...but I hate it!! I wish that I could yell at everyone from my front porch to not bother me and to not come back for seven to ten days, but if I did that then I wouldn't have a job after those ten days were up. I guess I will be like any other woman and have to suck it up. 

I will force myself to post my daily joys each day as I think this will help me keep daily life into perspective. So here is to today's joys:

1. The sun was out on my way to work this morning. 

2. A fairly good day at work with not too many challenging phone calls.

3. I spent the evening with my husband and three dogs.

4. Bravo's Real Housewives of NYC started back up tonight. 

(Ok, for most of you, the last joy is a stretch, but I love the NYC housewives. I admit, I have a television junkie, but this is one of the shows that I can sit back and laugh at because even people with too much money have relationship issues with men and women.) 

Movie Theatre Pet Peeves

Ok...so this will probably be a long list, but things have been bugging me lately. If I don't tell you then if you are doing them to me or other people then you people will never learn. Hahaha. This past weekend I just happened to pick up on quite a few of them and I just wanted to cringe each time something happened.

• Handing me your crinkled up money when I tell you the total amount of the transaction, assuming that I will count it for you, and give you back what you need. I really just want to count the money and keep the extra as a tip if you are too incompetent to unravel your money and give me the correct amount. 
  
• Standing in a concession line for 5 minutes and still have no idea what you want when you get up to my register. I really just want to tell you to go back to the end of the line and then maybe by the second time you get up to my line you will know what you want to order. 
  
• Yelling at me that I told you that someone was in line before you, and telling me that you have stood in three different lines for ten minutes. What I want to tell you is that if you would be patient and stand in one line then you will eventually get served. But to continue to jump from line to line is  not my problem. 
  
• Annoyed at me that you are running late for your movie because you tripped over your dog, forgot your wallet, or what ever excuse you have to give me. Next time...try leaving the house earlier and/or have a back up movie planned just in cause the movie you want to see is sold out! 
  
• If you are ordering tickets or concession items, get off the phone!!!!!! I find it very rude that you assume that you can not hang up your phone conversation or put the phone down for just a couple of minutes to get your items. 
• When you are handing your movie ticket to me at a ticket drop location...don't continue to walk and assume I will chase after you to give you back the other half of your ticket. Just be patient, stand and wait until I have torn your ticket and gave it back to you. Also, if you have a large party with you, please have one person have all the tickets. This will speed up the process as well!   
  
• Pick up your own trash as you exit the theatre. This will help the usher crew get a theatre cleaned a lot faster, especially if you are in a sold out show!! 
  
• If you are under the age of 25, don't be offended if I ask for your drivers license if you are buying a rated-R movie ticket. If you are under 17, don't try and have your parent buy your ticket for you! We know that you are going to try and sneak into the rated-R movie after your first failed attempt and then get a PG movie that is "near" the desired movie. Stay in the movie auditorium that you have a ticket for. This makes everyone's jobs a lot easier! 

I kept the list short, I probably could have gone on for awhile...but these are the main ones that myself and other co-workers gripe about. I could probably make a list of what my co-workers and even myself need to stop doing...but that is for another post all together. ;) 

Oh what to write for today...

I am drawing a blank on what to write for today. I am a little over the half way mark for blogging every day for a month. I figured it would get difficult in mid month...and yup...it has. I had class yesterday despite it being MLK Day. The program that I am on meets once a week, it is important to not miss any classes. I didn't mind going to class yesterday. It was easy to find parking since no one was really there. Next week it will be a little bit more of a challenge as spring semester will be in session. Spring trimester will start in mid-February or early March. I can not remember exactly.

I worked today in Box Office, which I loved. Box office to me is the best place to be any day of the week at work. I love working Tuesdays, as it is SENIOR day!! This means that anyone above the age of 60 is able to see a movie for $6.00 all day long. I have a soft heart for senior citizens, probably because my grandma managed a senior citizens for many years when I was little.

I have a couple new favorite songs lately. One is the new single from Creed called RAIN. Guess it just reminds me of the days of living in Oregon. Another new single that I like is from a band called BoyslikeGirls and it is called "Two is Better than One."

Hopefully  tomorrow I will have a better post that is more interesting. Hope your week is a good one. :)

Difficult Jobs...

Yesterday marked yet another working anniversary for me. I have now officially been working at the movie theatre for two full years. I know...I should be excited that I made it two years at a tough job that most people can only deal with for 3 months at best! I guess I should blame the "not giving up mentality" on my mother. haha Growing up she always told myself and two siblings that if we started something we had to stick with it for the whole year.

There have been times where I have accepted a job offer, sat for two weeks in complete misery and said that I could not do it any longer. This happened to me when I first moved to Tucson in 2006. I accepted an administrative assistant position at a local exterminating company. So what was the big deal? The company was just awful on how it was ran. The phones were extremely busy and I could not leave my desk even if my life depended on it. The people who worked there would stand up by the front desk (my desk) and drop "F bombs" while I was on the phone. I am even talking about managers! Just not what I wanted. I quit after two weeks and found something different. Well, so I thought. I found a position at a local plumbing/electrical contractor company working as a dispatcher. I loved my HR manager there. She told me to be careful as the owners of this small business like to micromanage everything one does in the office. I saw quickly how this company worked. Even though I hated the job towards the end of my time in Tucson, I stuck it out for seven long months. I then got married and moved to Connecticut.

January of 2008, Rob and I came to the conclusion that I should go back to work. I was bored at home, the Ebay selling from home was not really working and I needed to find some friends. I applied at lots of retail places as I was starting school in March and so I needed something that I would be able to change my hours every 12 weeks or so with out having lots of issues from management. I had to interviews on one day with two job offers. I decided to go with the movie theatre, even though it paid less, due to the fact that it was a stable job. I am glad I chose the movie theatre now only because the other place that offered me a job is no longer in business.

I remember one of the first nights of training at AMC. The computer network went down for the whole theatre. The box office cashiers had to issue tickets that one would use for a raffell and keep track of what movie and show time people were going to. Myself and another person were suppose to get trained in concessions, but since the compters were down we were thrown to do ushering with the other 4 people. I hated this and thought that the training and management could be a little bit more organized. But I told myself to push through it as it was just new to me and eventually I would know what I was suppose to be doing. Once the 90 day mark hit, I congratulated myself as I had made it through probably the hardest 90 days I had at a new job. By then I had made aquaintences with some of the people who worked there, and finally feeling accpted even though I was probably one of the oldest people working there besides my GM and a couple other managers or maintenance workers. July of 2008, I was asked if I would be interested in the Admin. Assistant position at the theatre. I did get a pay raise and it would consist of doing paper work and not being out on the theatre floor 3-4 shifts. I accepted the promotion and loved it. Yes it was challenging because of how my GM treated his employees. I had to work one on one with him at times, but I just pushed my feelings aside if I could. I told myself that I had worked with more difficult people in the past, and this GM was nothing. In March of 2009, I was informed that AMC would be deleting my AA position nationwide in theatres as they felt that it was not sufficient for theatres. I was bummed and was told that I had two options. Quit or step down to a film crew person. I decided to step down (i was able to keep my pay as it was not my fault that I was having to go backwards on the job ladder). In the summer of 2009, a new GM to work at my theatre...and well the whole atmosphere has changed for the better. As much as I didn't care for my previous GM in many ways...I kind of miss the militant style of work ethic for the employees.

So now I am here with a 2 year pin on my work shirt collar. Congrats to me!!! The longest I have ever been with any job is 2.5 years and unfortunately that will be the same with this job as Rob and I are moving. Will I stay with AMC when I move? Well it depends on where we go and if there is an AMC that I could work for. If so, then I will probably just transfer...but I am growing tired of working with high schoolers and their drama. So if I find something new, I would love to work at a place that is closed on the major calendar holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. I will though miss the ability to watch movies for free. Well, I think Rob will miss that more than I, as he takes advantage of that more than me anymore.

Party Food!

I have spent the last couple of hours making food for tonight's AMC Employee Appreciation Rockband Party! I made a Chicken Pasta Salad that has green bell peppers, cucumbers, parm. cheese, feta cheese! The dressing is olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. It looks delicious!! A friend of mine back in Oregon use to make a pasta salad like this about once a week for dinner. It is pretty low cal as long as you do not add any type of creamy dressings to it. In addition to the pasta salad, I will be taking Monkey bread. What is monkey bread?? Well basically it is pieces of dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar baked in a bunt pan with a brown sugar & butter sauce. So yummy!! Here are the two recipes that I used. :) I hope that you enjoy!!

MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD **I added 1 pound of grilled chicken pieces**

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

□   2/3 c. oil
□   3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
□   1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
□   2 tbsp. chopped green onion
□   2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
□   1 1/4 tsp. salt
□   1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
□   12 oz. any type of pasta, cooked and drained
□   1 med. size tomato, cut in thin wedges
□   1 each, small red, green and yellow bell pepper, halved lengthwise and cut in thin crosswise strips
□   1/4 c. greek style or pitted black olives
□   8 oz. Feta or mozzarella cheese, crumbled
□   1/4 tsp. crumbled dried oregano

Process oil, vinegar, 2 tbsp. basil, the green onion, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in blender or food processor until smooth. Put pasta, bell pepper strips, tomato wedges in a large bowl. Pour in dressing; toss to mix. Roll cheese cubes in remaining 2 tbsp. basil to coat. Add to salad; sprinkle with oregano. Toss lightly. Serve at room temperature.

 

MONKEY BREAD

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

□   4 cans refrigerator biscuits (about 40)
□   1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
□   1/2 cup butter
□   1 cup white sugar
□   1 cup brown sugar, packed
□   1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut, if desired

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.Add biscuit pieces, several at a time; shake to coat well.
Place pieces in a buttered tube or Bundt pan until all are used.
Sprinkle layers with nuts, raisins or coconut.
Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in saucepan. Cool 10 minutes, then pour over top of biscuits.
Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.
 

Best place to hang out late night - Denny's!

With a group of friends where the majority of age is under 21 where does one go after work at 1am? Denny's (or in my Grandpa Schneider's words: Lenny's)!! This is where I spent two and a half hours with five other friends from work. Iit was the best way on how to unwind from a crappy night at work. I worked the backbar which means I was in charge of keeping the popcorn and candy and everything going. This is only successful if the backbar person prior to the closer can keep the stand running smoothly. Well this was not the case last night. I came into the stand with an hour before the busy of the evening to find no popcorn at all in any of the three warmers in addition to no candy pretty much left in the stand and or pretzel bites in the oven. I went in and tried to get popcorn going but once the busyness hit...I just wanted to cry. I did have help from a supervisor...which was awesome. It did finally settle down and three of us started to close down the stand. We started closing down the stand around 1030pm which was two hours before doors locked. By 1am myself and the rest of the crew were clocking off and saying good night.

Next stop, Denny's! My friends and I try to do this at least once a month. You tend to see some very interesting people at Denny's around 1-2am. Free entertainment if you ask me. haha. Last night was not an exception to this. When we walked in we could smell alcohol on someone's breath and all wondered which drunk it was. A friend went in to the rest room and when she was opening the door to come back to our table when she met the drunk girl who shoved open the door, did a back head flip and said, "hi". My friend said, "uh hi" and continued her way back to our table. Oh what a night. Good comfort fatty food (i.e. pancakes, hash browns, bacon, mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, and a turkey club sandwich are all items you could have found at our table last night) with the combination of  conversations that go on this late at night are the best!! These conversations are like ones at a slumber party should never be repeated to anyone outside the circle of friends at the party. I will miss these precious nights come this summer, but know that I will meet new co-workers to hang out with late after work.

Cleaning up Christmas decorations...

Today is Saturday. What to do? What not to do? I have to get stuff done before I leave for work today. I am working from six to close tonight a the back bar person in the main concession stand. Personally I would rather be on register rather than be the one who is constantly making popcorn, pretzel bites, hot dogs, pizza, chicken tenders, running to get more bottled waters, icecream bars and so on. Most would tell me that I have the best shift because of not having to be on register. Bleck...give me a register anyday.

Before heading to work, I will start to take down the Christmas items that are hanging around my house. I need to get the house into a "selling" condition as we will probably put the house on the market within the next week or so. Such bittersweet feelings about all of this. I will be sad to take down my decorations only to know that the decorations will decorate a different house for the next holiday season. I am hoping for a more open layout in the next house. We can only wait and see.

Not much else going on today. Kind of a boring post, sorry! I am enjoying blogging on an everyday basis, even as hard as it is sometimes. :) I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Tired...

I am so glad that I have the next two days off from work! I am so tired!! Work has been pretty busy the last couple of days even though we had snowfall the last couple days in the morning. I was in concessions today and I had a pretty good team with me. My backbar person was the BEST!!! she kept stuff going and it was awesome. Thanks Alyssa! :)

Monday classes start back up and so I will get back into the winter school routine. Monday I will have my Social work: Human Behavior class in the evening. I have just a little bit left to work on for my presentation and then I need to get my reading done in addition to a write up on what I got out of the chapter. Then my psych: learning disorders class is on Thursday evening. I have a test in that class. should be pretty easy as it is over just 12 disorders that we have covered since the first day. :)

Not much else going on. oh!! I was playing around with a new facebook application called Status Shuffle. I found the best saying that needs to be one's personal moto. It says, "Don't look back and ask why, look forward and ask, why not?!" Isn't that just awesome?? This is something that I need to remember for this year since there were be lots of changes for me this year again. :)

SOLD OUT!

Wow...what a crazy past couple of days working at the theatre!! Traditionally this week is the busiest week of the year for all movie theatres nationwide. Why? Well it is traditionally the week that most people take off to spend time with their children while they are home from college and high school for Christmas/Winter break. Since everyone is home they tend to go to the movie theatre and see a few movies. The movie studios know this and try to bank on all they can from a busy holiday weekend! This year was no different.

Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin & The Chimpmunks 2 were the top three movies in the box office nationwide this weekend. I will agree on this one since I worked Thursday through Sunday. I worked in the concession stand Thursday and Saturday while the other two days were in the box office. Saturday was the busiest day at the AMC theatre that I work at in Connecticut. We already knew it was going to be busy due to being the day after Christmas, but to add to the busyness...it rained all day!! The theatre was projected to have about 8500 guests come through the door, but since it rained all day the ending total attendance for Saturday was over 11,000 people!! This total breaks the record for the history of the theatre!! The last time we broke the record was last summer for Batman: The Dark Knight midnight premier when the attendance was just over 9,000 people. All weekend though you kept hearing shouts from the box office, "May I have your attention please, the (enter show time) of (enter movie title) is sold out!" Props to Adam Del Re to shouting these announcements out on Sunday and having the entire theatre lobby go completely silent while he was talking. It was awesome. :)

Saturday evening, one of my managers sent out a Facebook note for the AMC employees to read. I thought I would share part of the note.
"today, i saw a crew that was dedicated and determined. nobody was willing to give up or give in, and while people just kept streaming through the doors and shows were selling out left and right, we kept it together. i wanted to give you all my personal thanks that on a day like today, we were steadfast and cohesive. we showed the guests what we were made of. we cleaned every last piece of popcorn, served hundreds and hundreds of guests, and really made the difference. the rest of the week will be busy, but if we all can keep it going like we did tonight, nothing can stand in our way. don't forget that. keep your eye on the prize and know that we are breaking records and we couldn't do it without you. - Ben Goodman"

Lastly, I have complained before about guests coming to the theatre and being upset because their movie is sold out. Here are some tips again for you to remember when going to the movies on a busy holiday or big movie premier weekend.

• Buy tickets from Fandango.com to ensure you have tickets for the desired movie and arrive to the movie theatre about an hour before the movie starts. 
• If you do not want to purchase tickets via the internet, go early in the morning to buy movie tickets for later in the day. 
• Attend one of the first show times for the desired movie as those tend to be sometimes less busy than later in the day (especially on a friday). 
• If you go to the movie theatre around the time your movie starts, have 2-3 back up movies that you would like to see, just in case your number one movie is sold out or close to be sold out. 
• If you arrive at the movie theatre to find out that all three of your movies are sold out, DO NOT GET IN LINE to decide what to do. Your best bet is to try again on a less busy day. 
• Do not get frustrated at the theatre employees because of how busy it is, as this just adds to their own stress from being so busy.

Boy...what a week!

What a week I had last week! School, work, Rob receiving crappy news from work, and family flying in on short notice.

As for School I am on my winter two week break. Yay! As a college student, I know that even though I am on break, I can not just enjoy my break. At the end of my two classes I was informed that there were papers and presentations due soon after we come back from break. I have a presentation due in my Human Behavior social work class the night I go back to class, which I think is January 4th. Then I have a paper due for that class on February 15th. Then in my Psychology Disorders class I have a paper and presentation due in early February. I think for my Psych class I will do a paper and presentation on Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), as I find that one interesting and there is a lot to talk about with this disorder. I could also do ADD/ADHD as I know first hand how that disorder functions. So we will see what I end up researching. Fall term grades were all posted last week (which was the highlight of my day for me.) All three classes: Sociology, Social Work: Processes I, and the weekend 1 credit class on HIV/AIDS I recieved all B's! I knew about my social work class but had to wait on the other two classes. I was excited to see that I got B's in the other two classes as they were just as difficult.

Work is starting to pick up due to kids coming home for winter break and parents starting to take time off from work to spend with their children. The big new movie this past weekend was, Avatar. I was scheduled to work in box office Friday morning (which I love). The only thing I hate is when people get pretty pushy and annoyed with you if not everything is set up when they are needing items. There are three individuals who ALWAYS come in to se a movie on Friday morning and gripe about me every single week. Since Avatar is in 3D, there is an additional $3 surcharge per ticket due to the 3D technology. These three individuals came up and said, "We do not need the glasses as we already have them from last time." I responded with, "Ok, well three movie tickets will still cost you $27." They then tried to argue with me that they already had the glasses and therefor they should not have to pay the extra money. I explained to them (in a rushed manner since I was the only one in box office) that reguardless of them having glasses from a past movie, they would still have to pay the additional money because it it not for the glasses but for the added expense of making the movie into a 3D film. They gave me yet another dirty look when I asked them for $27 again. They handed the money and said, "well give me the glasses then!" I slid the three glasses over to them and they apparently thought that I threw the glasses to them. When they left I saw one of the participants of the party go up to my supervisor to complain about me. Oh I was mad. I mean really, you come in here every week to find something wrong with me to complain about. My supervisor did not give anything to them as a "free - I'm sorry pass" as that is what I am sure they were looking for. I told my supervisor that the three guests who complained about me come in here every week and cause a problem. It is not my fault that they do not understand that they have to pay money to see a movie regardless if it is $6 or $9.

Next on the agenda for the crazy week is Rob's job. Rob was informed last Tuesday that due to budget cuts, he will have a teaching job at Iona until June. After June he would be unemployed, which really sucks if you ask me. We started the steps of what we need to do for the house and everything else. I am trying to stay positive and think that next year by this time I will be in a different house which will be in a different state! I am hoping for warmer winter weather, but we will just have to wait and see where we are taken. Rob is starting the applying process this week for different schools through out the country.

On top of all of this, my father-in-law flew up to my house last week to spend time with Rob and I. He will be here for three weeks. Yes, I did say three weeks. haha. It is nice to have someone here for the holidays, but three weeks?! haha. I think what was stressful at first with this was that my house is in shambles due to myself being so busy with the end of the term and everything else going on.

On the up note I took a day trip down to NYC with a few friends from work. We went and saw the Rockette's show at Radio City Music Hall, which was extremely cool!! I will have to blog about that soon. I am just trying to get caught up with everything else and stay afloat with the other things that go on with life.

Tips for going to the movies

Since the busy summer season of movies is already underway, I thought I would give you some tips that will help you when you or your family goes to see one of the many "summer blockbusters" this year.

If attending a movie on the opening day or even opening weekend plan ahead. If you do not like purchasing your tickets via the internet on Fandango.com or Movietickets.com then arrive at the movie theatre earlier than what you normally would for a standard movie; especialy for the family friendly movies. I always suggest people to come by way before the movie starts to get tickets for later that evening. If you or your family attends AMC theatres, you are able to see the new show schedule on Tuesdays before the new week. For example, for the week of May 29th, you will be able to view the new movie show schedule on Tuesday, May 26th.

Remember that movie prices and times are subject to change everday. Just because you paid $x.xx for one day does not mean that it is that much everday. Some movie theatres will have several different movie prices. The theatre that I work at has movie prices for Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and or holidays. Then different movie prices for Modays-Thursdays.

Always remember that just because a movie is advertised as 3-D in SELECT locations, does not mean ALL locations. There are some theatres still who do not have the 3-D digital projectors but offer the 3-D movies in a 2-D regular movie format. Most locations who are showing the movie in 3-D will advertise their movie as 3-D on either Fandango.com or Movietickets.com.

If you arrive at the movie theatre with out tickets and you find that your movie is sold out or has been sold out for awhile DO NOT freak out. ALWAYS come to the theatre being flexible for change. Know that most of the large movie theatres in your area may have more than one print of each new large movie. Remember that waiting 20-40 extra minutes for a movie is not that big of deal. If you are unwilling to wait, then before you come to the theatre always have a back-up movie that you are willing to see if your movie was or is sold out.

After you have purchased your tickets and are at the concession stand, know exactly what you want before you start talking to the theatre associate. Be patient and know that when you are stressed, it stresses the theatre associate out as well. Do not change your mind a lot of times and have your money ready for payment. If you have more than one person in your party, have one person order all of the concession items and another person there willing to help carry all the concession items down to the theatre as well. While you are ordering concession items, please DO NOT take the items away from the theatre associates register until they have rung up every item into their register. By taking away the items, it causes the theatre associate to take longer as they may not remember what you had asked for it it was a large order.

Once the movie is over, remember to pick up all of your items that you brought in with you. Just as much as you hate cleaning up the messes at your own house, theatre associates hate having to clean a super messy theatre.

Here is a list of movies that will be showing at most movie theatres this summer season. For desciptions of all of these movies you can go to www.imdb.com. For those of you who are wanting to know if any of these movies would be good for children go to www.crosswalk.com. I believe each week they have a posting on what is in each movie for you as a parent can choose if your child would be able to see the movie.

MAY:
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIEND'S PAST
STAR TREK
ANGELS & DEMONS
TERMINATOR
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2

JUNE:
LAND OF THE LOST
THE HANGOVER
MY LIFE IN RUINS
TAKING OF PELHAM 123
IMAGINE THAT
YEAR ONE
THE PROPOSAL
TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
MY SISTER'S KEEPER

JULY:
PUBLIC ENEMIES
ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINASOURS
BRUNO
I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE
G-FORCE
THE UGLY TRUTH
FUNNY PEOPLE
ALIENS IN THE ATTIC
ADAM

AUGUST:
G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA
JULIE & JULIA
DISTRICT 9
FINAL DESTINATION: DEATH TRIP
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
POST GRAD
H2 (HALLOWEEN 2)
THE BOAT THAT ROCKED

Harder than what I thought

Today was my first day back as a "red shirt". It was hard to put the uniform on and head to work. Before today I kept saying, "It will not be that bad." Well then it really hit me how much it really was bothering me. I had a lot of sympathy from my co-workers who all thought my situation was pretty crappy. I wish that AMC Home Office would have realized that the reason why the theatres who were getting good audit scores was because of the Administrative Assistant. Oh well, it is out of my control and I am working with what I have. I was schedule 4-11pm in Guest Service today. Not the ideal place that I like to be on a Friday evening, but whatever. It was slower than what anyone had thought due to having enough coverage for employees. I looked down at the clock around 6pm and realized that I had been on the clock for only two hours. I felt as if I had been there for at least 3 or 4 hours. I was hoping that I would get a break today so that I could eat some type of dinner. Well I forgot that according to CT State Labor Laws, an employeer who is not union does not have to give a meal break unless the crew member is working for 7.5 hours. Those crew members who work 7.25 hours qualify for a 21 minute non-paid break. Because AMC being so cheap they will schedule crew members just short enough so that they do not have to issue a break or enough to only have to give a 21 minute break. I mean come on...if you are going to have someone sit off the clock for 21 minutes you might as well give someone a full 30 minute break. I find it frustrating...but what can I do? I guess I spent too many years working in Oregon where a crew member gets a paid 15 minute break every 4 hours and one unpaid 30 min break with every scheduled 8 hour shfit.

I do not know how I can last as a red shirt. I am in a bind though. If I try and find something else...then I have to let the employer know that I need a week off in late June for my China trip, and then the first weekend off in June for my trip to Oregon. I have told myself that I will stick it out until my China Trip and make another evaluation from there. By then my theatre should have a new General Manager and so things may change. We can only see.

Change

I have been told that Change is good in life. I accept change but I hate it at the sametime. I have had lots of change in my life. Moved several times when I was younger, jumping from job to job and having to learn different things, moving away from Oregon, and then moving away to Connecticut, starting classes at a new college where I feel like the old woman.

Friday will be another change for me, and I am not too sure if I will like it or not.

My administrative assistant position at AMC is being deleted company wide. "Crappy"...I know. I have to accept this change as I have no control over this. The reasoning behind this change is not due to the company dealing with the economic downturn but due to company wide most theatres were not utilizing the AA positions correctly or even at all. The AA position was created to help boost Yearly Theatre Audit Scores. Well to much of Corporate's surprise, the AA position did not really boost the yearly audit scores, except for my theatre which received a 94% last summer. What will happen then? I will go back to being a pee-on Red shirt. In a way...I do not mind going back to being a Red Shirt, but then in a way I do mind. First I will love knowing that when I am coming to work work...I just need to come into work, work the position scheduled, and then go home. I will not have to worry about getting any reports emailed out or pay the bills on a timely manner or anything else. I will though have to give up my awesome work schedule that I have right now. Currently I pretty much work Monday through Friday from 9p-5p in the exception of Wednesdays where I work from 12-8pm due to one day where I can schedule doctors appointments on. Another down fall to being a Red Shirt is having to fight 40 other crew members for a requested day off. Currently I just have to send an email to my boss and let them know that I need the day off. Normally I get it off due to only having to worry about only 6 other people on the leadership team.

One may say, "Amy...if you like working a steady schedule with weekends free...why don't you look for something else?" Well, I would...but this summer I have a busy one due to my two trips in the month of June and my school schedule. I am afraid that if I leave AMC to a different job, then if something goes wrong, I will be out of a job. Obviously there are not a whole lot of jobs out there right now. This is why I keep sticking with where I am at. As much as I know there is a different place out there that pays more and may treat their employees better...I just can not take the chance quite yet.

I question how the current Red Shirts will treat me or even think when I come walking in on Friday wearing their uniform. I have been slowly telling people that I am changing uniforms starting on Friday. So we will see what happens. I will be keeping my pay that I am making now, so I will be an over-paid Red Shirt. I am hoping that I can stick with this...and that in the future (next fiscal year), Home Office will realize that the theatres actually need the AA position and I will be able to be bumped back up into the position. I can only wait and pray.