Not The Hero That AMC Wanted, Just The One They Deserved
I was closing one night at the North 6, and two of the concession registers were short more that $10. The rule was shortages by more than that had to be written up, so I always looked for reasons to not do that. Our registers at the time had a tendency to occasionally stick, and staff would almost always just ring in the order a second time and complete the sale off the second go. A 2-minute glance at their sales would turn up any identical sequential sales, and more often than not correcting out the first sales also corrected their shortage back into safer waters. So no need to write anyone up.
Of course, the rule was we’re not supposed to be fixing for their mistakes and they should be written up for playing with the register instead of calling for help. But that was a stupid rule.
Anyway, one of the drawers was clean, the staff on that one was simply short. Really not that big a deal. But on the second transaction record, there was something weird. Some of the more expensive items on the menu, refunded out ten at a time. Probably a hundred bucks or so involved. And the duplicated sale I’d been looking for in the first place. So fixing the sale fixed their shortage and saved me from having to write them up, but the refunds on there were a thing. I left a note in our daily log and ran a question by the 8- and 14-plexes asking them to check their own sales for any weirdness that night.
As of my next closing, there had been no problems reported from the other buildings and there had been no direction from the senior managers, so I ran with it. I spent the next few nights going through our sales records for the previous few months, found chunks of refunds in excess of $10,000. All refunds had been done with the same supervisor’s password, but the only person in the building whose shifts lined up with the refunds was the North 6’s House Manager, the guy to whom the complex GM had delegated responsibility for the 6. Not officially (because the House Manager was not an official position, and it was one that Burbank maintained despite being explicitly instructed not to by corporate on multiple occasions), but essentially my boss.
The pieces all fell into place over one closing shift, when I got everything together and started comparing dates to schedules. This was NOT a small moment. Suspecting that your boss was stealing tens of thousands of dollars doesn’t happen every day. And my boss was one of the GM’s golden children, and the beneficiary of all kinds of preferential treatment and discretion. From a GM that already didn’t like me, so I had no real reason to expect this GM to take what I was finding seriously. But my next official move was supposed to be reporting out my House Manager to my General Manager. Instead I hedged and reported what I’d found to a Senior Manager that I did trust, and he moved things from there.
And it turns out that yeah, I was right. The guy was stealing tens of thousands of dollars. And he’d been getting away with it for at least months because 1) he was editing inventory data directly to mask red-flag percentages & the inventory manager was an oblivious doof and 2) because managers were SUPPOSED to be jerks to staff. We weren’t supposed to be looking for reasons to fix staff shortages, we weren’t supposed to be checking out sales reports like I was. There was no reason in our daily practices or expectations for me to be looking through those sales records in the first place.
On Tuesdays there was a rhythm. The House Manager would open, I would be the mid. Once I came in the boss would step away to start nailing down the next week’s show schedule. Once the closer came in I would step away with the completed show schedules to nail down the next week’s staff schedule. Sometimes the show schedule would be built out from the 6, sometimes he’d head over to the 14 first.
My staff schedules were usually written from the roof of the 6. The closer would come in and get set up, I’d grab the roof key and disappear for a few hours.
Anyway, one Tuesday the House guy was out of the building, and the head of Loss Prevention for AMC Theatres shows up at my building, and he’s got his head of corporate security with him. This was another “NOT a small moment”. For a guy in my position – this was pretty huge. They told me the bundle I’d worked up had been shipped and in their hands, and they’d verified every bit of it. They were there that day to fire the House Manager, they told me how things were going to play out (I was the manager in the building, I needed to know), and everything went just so. The boss got back, was pulled into a conference with the loss/security guys, and maybe 20 minutes later they walked him out the door.
My understanding is that he agreed to repay out of his retirement payout if they agreed not to prosecute, but that’s his story.
Mine is the handshakes I got from those two ass-kickers on their way out the door, and the invitation they offered to apply anytime to join their team of auditors.
And here’s another thing- even when this guy was stealing from us, our numbers were still fantastic. Highest concession productivity of the three Burbanks, and doing well nationally. Part of why he was able to get away with it is because our operation was just that solid to begin with, that we could lose chunks and still be a headliner.
And who has two thumbs and is the reason WHY that building ran like clockwork?
About The Author
davetwsprocket
Dave didn't get the memo until, like, just now. He is capable with arranging words, but only just getting started at getting those words to actually do anything. He is motivated by a disrespect for authority, and towards finally doing what's right. He's good with people, but that's a learned skill- his natural inclination is to be far, far away. He's a Leo.