Threat Confirmation

One day a rink employee asked me if we would host 2 of their birthday parties in our bar. I told her I would think about it. She said Todd wanted an answer now, so I told her he hadn’t been very nice to me lately and I would think about it. The next thing I know, Todd shows up in my kitchen telling me he has not been mean to me. When I explained I didn’t say he was mean, just that he hadn’t been that nice to me, Todd said, “I can be real not nice”. There it was again, that threatening tone. I’ve allowed this man to steal from me, his people to steal from me, his people to disparage my business and mock me, accuse me of not paying my rent, and now he’s threatening me. At this point, I spoke up and told him this was the second time and he was not to threaten me again. Well, that was it. All the crap I had put up with to keep a good relationship with Todd was now for naught. I was the bad guy for speaking up and Todd made sure I was punished for it. Everything just got worse and worse after that.

I told Todd we would take the parties they had overbooked on the condition that he give us the $50 they charge for using their party rooms. He agreed. In the next 2 years that I was there, he never paid us the $100. I even sent him an invoice and got nothing.

I told Pierre about all this. Pierre is my partner and should help me with these issues. He has known Todd for years and used to work for the local hockey team. Pierre should be able to get these guys on a more honest course. Instead Pierre told me I needed to learn to play nice with the big boys and they would be nice to us. What??? So, it’s my fault they steal from us because I haven’t been nice enough to them? Really? We gave them free food everyday; we gave them a discount on everything they bought; we smiled and joked with them. That’s not nice enough so it’s our fault they steal and sabotage our business? What is wrong with these people? Apparently an ice rink is a very toxic environment when the General Manager is a toxic individual.

I’m telling you all this, because I want you to think about these things before you decide to start a business and before you team up with a partner. It never occurred to me my landlord would threaten me and steal from me. It never occurred to me my partner wouldn’t back me up when our landlord was breaking the law. I just want you to be prepared for anything before you begin. I wanted to think that being kind would conquer all, but I was drowning in an icy cesspool, bleeding money as I gasped for air. This should not happen to you.

What was my mistake here? If I don’t stand up for myself, Todd will threaten me again. If I do stand up for myself, I’m the bad guy. Truly, my mistake was not recognizing that I couldn’t build a business when my landlord was dishonest and my partner didn’t have my back – and no liquor license or private parties would change my fate. I should have quit early on and cut my losses.

Is That a Threat?

From the very beginning, I wanted the cafe to make money in a lot of different ways. Diversity is the key, so you aren’t relying on one cash flow stream. One of the things I decided to do was sell boxes. All of our food and supplies came in fresh clean boxes. People are always looking for moving boxes and some people pay moving companies a lot of money for boxes. So I posted our empty boxes on craigs for $2 or less per box. We sold exactly 0 boxes. I was shocked. So we finally just started throwing them away. What a waste.

Another idea was to sell mini-bottles of toiletries. People travel to rinks for competitions, tournaments, and to train with a specific coach. They often forget something, like a toothbrush or shampoo, and could buy from us instead of looking for a store. Customers also need tissues and lip therapy in an ice rink. We were asked for hockey tape several times, so we sold some tape too. We didn’t sell this stuff everyday, but it was handy when customers needed it.

Todd went ballistic. He told me he couldn’t compete with us. I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I reminded him that he competed with us everyday. He had vending machines all over the building that sold the same stuff we did – coffee, hot chocolate, soft drinks, candy, chips, granola bars, to name a few. (Another problem with not having an exclusive food provider rule. Not only could people bring in food from another restaurant, they could buy from vending machines rather than spend money with us.) Todd went on to explain that we could not sell sundries as our contract only allowed us to sell food. I didn’t remember that being in the contract so I said I wanted to see that in writing. Todd said, “I am not someone you want to go to war with.” Was I just threatened? I should be able to discuss anything with my landlord and see it in writing without being threatened. In the interest of good relations, I decided to ignore it and just comply. So now, I’ve allowed this man to steal from us, allowed his people to steal from us, allowed his people to disparage our business, allowed him to dictate what we could or could not sell, and even to threaten me, all to keep good will with our landlord.

I shared all of this with Pierre. He kept saying he would talk to Todd, or talk to Max (the main rink employee disparaging our business), but nothing changed. I don’t know what Pierre did or didn’t do, but he didn’t help our business. Like I’ve said before, Pierre never put in his seed money, so he probably didn’t care that these people were affecting our bottomline. It wasn’t his money we were losing, it was mine.

Sexual Harassment?

Today, I watched a movie/documentary of the gymnastics scandal. I have been appalled from the very beginning and thought the Karolyis should have left gymnastics as soon as the story broke. How dare those people take children from their parents care and not protect them! At that time, I had no idea coverups led all the way to the USOC. Now, I’m really mad. Not sure why I’m mad. I’ve seen stuff similar to this throughout my entire life. I’ve posted numerous times that people talk about discrimination and harassment like they’re bad but when it comes down to it, no one really cares. I have brought issues to management’s attention numerous times and almost every time I was the one to lose, my job or my voice. It’s sad but true. I’m so glad these gymnasts were finally able to be heard and save others from the same fate. They were brave and I admire them. I’m also impressed with the judge, who was able to see through this abuser and punish him.

This brings me to one night at the rink. I was training a new employee. She was a cute 15-year-old with a lot of energy. We didn’t usually hire anyone under 16 but her friends worked for me and she really wanted a job. At one point a young boy – maybe 12 or 13 – came over and I asked if we could help him. He was embarrassed and said the guys at the front desk had sent him over to check out the new employee and radio back how hot she was. I was offended, mad, etc. These 20-something men gave a young kid/customer a radio and sent him over to harass a young girl while they watched from the front desk. The next morning, I reported the incident to Todd, the General Manager. He informed me that this was not sexual harassment because we didn’t work for the same company. They are our landlords and have power over us. So just like Todd didn’t punish his people for stealing from us, he didn’t punish them for harassing us and their own young customer. Clearly, these young men needed a mature adult to work with them at night but it didn’t happen. This incident seems minor compared to the gymnastics story, but no one should be treated like a piece of meat especially a 15-year-old.

Exceptional Customer Service

All companies strive for exceptional customer service, or at least say that they do. It’s easier for large companies to make sacrifices to keep your business than for small companies. We’ve been told by large companies that our call is important, just not important enough to talk to a live human being. We’ve been trained by large companies to buy a membership or pay a fee for better customer service. We have even been bribed with free stuff after receiving poor customer service. But are you really getting exceptional customer service from large companies? Aren’t the large companies hoping you’ll hang up the phone before getting to the live customer service agent, hence hiring less agents? Aren’t large companies taking their sweet time picking and shipping your order if you don’t upgrade to VIP membership? Aren’t large companies keeping track of customers who complain too much in order to black list those who only order to complain for free stuff?

Small companies, mom and pop shops, desperately need your business and deeply appreciate your business. They smile every time they see you. They answer the phone personally. They help you as much as possible. Small businesses cannot sell cheaper, because they can’t buy cheaper. They can’t give away a lot of free stuff, because they don’t have the cash flow or the profit margin to pay for it. But know in your heart that you are a hero to them just because you patronize their business.

As a small business, you have to decide what you’re willing to do for customer service and stick to that. There are always going to be dissatisfied people. There are always going to be customers trying to bleed you dry for free stuff. Make your rules and stay within the guidelines. If you lose a customer because you didn’t do ‘enough’ to keep them, you are probably better off as nothing will ever be enough after that and they will cost you more than they spend with you.

Where Your Hockey Ticket Money Doesn’t Go

As you’ve read in previous posts, Todd stole from us a lot. And not just inventory. Sometimes I would come to work and the bar would be full of uniforms and children. Todd never asked if they could use our area for their team kickoff. This was a violation of our contract, which stated we had exclusive rights to the cafe and bar area and our landlords could only enter to service it, inspect it, or in an emergency. And they were supposed to give us fair notice. Obviously, they didn’t care about our business, our contract, or the fact that we might have a party booked, etc.

One day, they actually asked to use the bar area as they had overbooked their party rooms. I’m guessing they asked because the parties were at a time when we would already be there so they couldn’t sneak in and just use the room. I think they charge $50 to rent their party rooms for a couple hours. So I agreed to host their parties, but I told them I wanted the $50 fees they were charging. They agreed but never paid. Here’s a local hockey team that makes millions in ticket sales and they never paid the $100 invoice I sent. I don’t know if that bothers you, spending your hard earned money to support your local hockey team and then they screw whomever they can. I just wanted you to know how they handle their business and your money. You’d think they would want us to be successful and continue to pay them rent but they just steal and steal and steal. I often wonder what 561 thinks about this team he’s so proud of hiring a bunch narcissistic thieves.

Too Little Too Late

Todd came into the kitchen to talk to me after we called the police on Will for stealing. During our conversation, he told me he had fired Will and he indicated he had decided not to help himself to our food anymore. He didn’t say it in so many words, but we both knew what he was talking about. He followed his indication by saying he wanted to set an example for his people. I was appalled. We had to call in the police to get the general manager of the building to stop stealing from us. My feeling was he realized his job was on the line if we caught him on camera.

Todd never admitted he was stealing. He never apologized for stealing or helping himself, however you want to soft sell your bad behavior. Todd never offered to pay for what he had taken. He never apologized for setting a poor example for his people. Even after this, he never helped us put a stop to the stealing by fixing the security cameras or coming in late at night to check up on his people or hiring an adult to work late every night. He also never stopped his people from trash talking us to the customers as they vented their anger that we called the police on their friend.

The sad part is an apology wouldn’t fix it anyway. He was already leading by example. All his people saw him help himself and assumed it was ok to take whatever they wanted. The damage was done. People notice what you do. They rarely notice when you stop doing it.

World’s Greatest Dad

As we discussed earlier in this blog, with the exception of Brian (I love Brian for being such a good and honest man in such a dishonest environment), most of the men working for the rink stole from us. Some of them stole everyday. These people were our landlords and had access to a key to our restaurant. Theft escalated when we got our liquor license and had alcohol onsite. We locked as many cabinets as we could, but in my heart I just couldn’t believe we had to protect ourselves against so many people. Doesn’t anyone have morals anymore? We put in one camera and caught someone right away, but the picture was below the neck. So Todd, the perpetrator’s boss, said there was no way to identify the person and consequently did nothing. That’s when we found out the security cameras in the rink were not working and there were no plans to fix them. However, I feel they could have identified the guy if they wanted. I was there until 11:45pm. When I left, the rink was empty except for employees and all the doors entering the rink were locked. The timestamp on the picture was around 12:15am. There were few rink employees on the clock, 1 or 2 that I saw, and only one was wearing coveralls. The picture obviously showed someone in coveralls. Even if that’s not enough to write him up, it’s surely enough to let him know this is a zero tolerance offense and must stop immediately – scare him straight. Todd did nothing. Pierre did nothing.

We put in another camera. Again, we caught someone immediately. I recognized him but didn’t know his name. He had his hand on the beer tap so Todd couldn’t say he was just in the restaurant to get ice. Todd said he wasn’t sure who it was. Really? Todd doesn’t recognize his own employees??? We called the police and filed a report. Todd tried to talk us out of it, saying he would like to take care of it himself. I guess he thought I was stupid enough to believe he would take action after doing nothing in the past. One thing I do know, Todd identified the picture for the police. The kid, Will, was 18 or 19 and steeling beer. He worked in ops, which means he most likely had a master key to all the rinks in the DFW area. Since we filed a police report, Todd had to fire Will. I don’t know if Will got to keep his key. Pierre still had his master key after quitting his job with the local hockey team that owned all the rinks.

Will contacted me several times. He was crying and asking me not to press charges. Then he proceeded to lie to me and say he only took 1 beer. In one weekend, we had multiple pictures of him taking beer and Snapple. So I pressed charges. I was tired of all the lying and stealing. Of course it just made the other employees hate me more and work harder to see us fail – but that’s another story.

A week or so later, a man came to the counter and said he was Will’s dad. I braced myself. I thought he was there to chew me out for pressing charges against his son. I was so wrong. He had to pay Will’s fine so he didn’t feel Will was punished and wanted to know if I would let Will come work for me for 20 hours to make up for stealing. And I should give Will the worst jobs possible. I was shocked. I didn’t really want Will around, but I loved his dad for caring and agreed. What a wonderful dad! And I gave Will the grossest, ickiest jobs possible. After 10 hours he lied and said he couldn’t come back because of school so I called his dad. Will finished out his 20 hours.

Todd chewed me out for making him fire Will for stealing and then hiring Will to work in the restaurant. You can see our landlords lived in rumorville. They were always reacting without checking the facts. Just like we did not sell liquor without a license, we did not hire Will to work for us. Since Todd stole from us too, it probably never occurred to him the kid’s dad would want Will punished for stealing. I was so glad when Will’s 20 hours were up and he was gone. Sadly, this didn’t stop the stealing.

Every Penny Counts

Kyle the Bartender was a Godsend. His experience brought us many timesaving and moneysaving procedures. One of our best decisions was changing our pricing system. When we opened, we set prices and let the POS system calculate the sales tax and total sale. Making change was time consuming and sometimes challenging for the teenagers we hired, leading to long lines at the counter.

Kyle’s idea was to round off prices to the nearest quarter. So, I sat down and calculated every item’s price plus tax and then rounded to the nearest quarter. We changed the POS system to handle the new pricing. It was amazing how much time we saved when we didn’t have to count pennies.

One glitch. Hunt Brothers was great about providing signs, flyers, and handouts. However, most of their preprinted materials had their suggested retail prices on them. Hunt Brothers doesn’t require that you charge their prices, but they won’t print your signs with different prices. So I trained our employees to give change to anyone who complained that our prices didn’t match the signs. I think there was only one item that we charged 9 cents more than the sign price. I highly recommend this pricing system, especially in an arena environment.

Cease and Desist

Fall is the busy season for hockey. We were anxiously awaiting our liquor license. The paperwork was done and turned in. Waiting for approval is hard, especially when the rink is busy. So we decided to give away beer. Two beer limit, but most people just asked for one. Some of the regular customers were really good about tipping well, even when they didn’t have a beer. But I got the impression they were tipping more than usual – maybe I was imagining it, but that’s how it felt. There were many families who really appreciated our effort in trying to take care of them and they rewarded us for it.

The next thing I knew, I got a Cease and Desist letter from our landlord. The letter stated that they heard we were selling beer without a license which is illegal. They never asked us if the rumors were true or if we had received our license, they just had their lawyers send us a letter. I couldn’t see where any good would come from fighting it, so I immediately packed up all the beer and took it home. Then I sent them an email saying I had complied but that I wished they had talked to us before believing some rumor and taking such drastic action. Later, we found out we had a liquor license during that time. We never received our approval letter; a wine salesman showed us our license on the website. Either way, we weren’t breaking the law and some very lucky customers got free beer.

The question here is, what happened to our liquor license letter? Did it get lost in the mail? Was it sent to our rink address and the rink employees thought it was junk mail? I don’t know. I do know we had to pay a penalty for not reporting liquor sales during the time we didn’t know we had a license. You have to file a report even if your sales are zero. This incident, along with previous encounters with our landlord, made me feel like our landlord would do anything possible to hinder our success.