There was a time when movie theaters decided to stop popping popcorn. They started bringing in huge bags of pre-popped popcorn and dumping the bags in their bins to look like it was popped in-house. Popcorn sales plummeted. Why? No smell. The first step to popcorn sales is to walk into the theater and be engulfed in the awesome smell of popping corn. Few can resist the enticement of that wonderful smell. As you know, theaters fired up those kettles and went back to fresh-popped corn. And we love them for it.

There was a Christian Ministry Hockey Camp at the McKinney rink every summer. (May have been a branch of Hockey Ministries International.) Our first summer to have the cafe was 2015. We didn’t know about the camp until they showed up on a Monday morning. We asked what we could do to get their business for a day and were told they had already made arrangements for the entire week and wouldn’t be needing our services. (Obviously, Todd had not encouraged them to use us when he was making arrangements for their camp.) They also explained that we would get no business at all for the entire week, as they encouraged the kids not to bring any money. We still wanted to be nice to them, in hopes that next year we would be chosen to provide lunch one of the days of the camp. (That never happened.)

Monday, they brought us all their coolers and asked for ice. We filled the coolers with ice and returned them to the counselors. Then they asked if we would fill the coolers with water, too. We didn’t have a faucet tall enough to fit the coolers under, so there was no way we could fill the coolers. I suggested they ask the front desk where they could find a faucet that would fit the coolers. The counselors were not happy with us. I don’t know why. We didn’t build the kitchen or plan how the faucets would work. Besides, why are they expecting a disabled senior citizen like myself to carry around heavy coolers??? Especially when they made it clear they would not be doing business with us. At Bible study time, the counselors set up their circle of chairs to block the entire cafe counter. I had to ask them to move. How rude of them to block our business in that big empty lobby.

Tuesday just before lunch, the counselors asked us for a knife. We only had one and needed it for our business so we couldn’t give it to them. That doesn’t even include the fact that everything in our kitchen is sanitized and who knows what they’ll decide to use our knife for or the fact that people forget to return things and we only had one.

Wednesday just before lunch, the counselors asked us for buffet serving spoons. We didn’t have any buffet serving spoons. We’re a pizza place and you don’t need serving spoons for pizza. The counselor started yelling at me. Obviously, we weren’t helping her because they weren’t giving us any business. While there’s definitely nothing wrong with that, it wasn’t the case at all. They were just asking for things we couldn’t provide. We did fill their coolers with ice everyday because that was something we could provide. As we say in Information Technology, a failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. They had to send a counselor to the store to buy large serving spoons, while their food got cold. So sad, they could have had hot pizza from us.

Thursday midday, several of the counselors went out and came back with a trays of Starbucks coffee. We had a fancy coffee machine that some people liked better than Starbucks, but the counselors had to let us know where we stood with them. I sure wasn’t feeling any brotherly love from these so-called Christians. I call them ‘Entitled Christians’ and I sure wouldn’t want them influencing my kids.

Fortunately, I had learned from the theater popcorn debacle. Monday, when the counselor told me the kids would not be buying from us, I took that as a challenge. All five days, just before lunchtime, we baked fresh chocolate chip cookies. Those kids with no money bought a lot of cookies. Just before their afternoon breaks, we popped fresh popcorn. We wanted that smell to hit the kids right in the face as they exited the ice. They bought popcorn, too. I’m so grateful, the kids did not reflect the hate the counselors projected.

I wanted to see the cafe in Euless. It looked good and there were signs everywhere saying no outside food or drink. Euless is very supportive of their business partners. I wasn’t expecting to see Pierre, but he was there. He was on the ice, coaching, so I didn’t run into him. Thank goodness.

Seeing Euless made me wonder if McKinney was more supportive of the cafe now that I’m gone. It was so difficult to go into that building, but I forced myself. I looked around and left. It was just amazing to me how much money Pierre had put into the cafes after getting rid of me. If he had participated from the beginning, we would probably have a terrific business. However, I didn’t see any signs restricting outside food or drink. I’m still sure Todd is more supportive of Pierre than he was of me.

The more I look into the cafe, the more it seems that Pierre intentionally used me to front this business for him. When my money was gone, he walked in and took over our functioning business. That’s why I continue to research Pierre. No one cares when one person gets screwed. It’s too hard to prove intent. But if there are others screwed by the same person, a pattern emerges and intent can be proven. My goal is to find out if there are others out there, taken by Pierre. If you have had dealings with Pierre, please contact me. Especially if things didn’t go well.

I had a dream of running a cafe and bar. I worked my a** off to make that dream come true. Many times, I could hardly walk after work, and even the next day. Only to find out my partner was working against me, setting me up to fail. Setting me up so he could walk in and take the business for almost nothing and turn it into an asset for himself.

Last week, I had a dream about Pierre. While it has no basis in reality, I think it says a lot about how I feel about Pierre. In my dream, Pierre was in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror, washing his hands and face like he was getting ready for work. He was talking about continuing to be a coach. (When we were first starting the restaurant, Pierre said he was going to quit coaching except on Wednesdays in Euless. However he continued to coach on other days in the same facility we had the cafe.) In my dream, Pierre explained that he would continue to coach because it made it easier for him to con money out of the parents. As I have chronicled things that happened at the cafe in this blog, I think my heart sees Pierre more clearly now. I hope people will read this blog before considering doing business with him. I not saying they shouldn’t do business with him; I’m just saying they should be aware, they should be wary.

Last week, I was watching Bar Rescue again. The featured bar was only about 15 miles from my house. I really wanted to see one of the remakes in person. So yesterday, a friend and I drove over to Char Bar for lunch. It looked just like what I saw on TV. I don’t know when the remake happened, but the place looked just like the finished product on Bar Rescue.

The first thing I noticed was the seating. As a senior citizen, I don’t do stools well; I prefer regular tables. All the tables were high-tops. There wasn’t one regular table in the entire bar. To me, that’s a big mistake as it almost eliminates several demographics – seniors, small children, short people, etc. That’s a lot of people to exclude when you’re trying to make money.

After being seated, I asked the bartender if he was there for Bar Rescue. He seemed pretty happy to say no. He also commented negatively on the lack of regular tables. My friend and I tried a couple of the signature drinks, which were very good. The food was good, too. The meat was tender and juicy and the bbq sauce completed the flavor. Even the coleslaw was some of the best I’ve had. And we all know, only your mom makes good potato salad and coleslaw. That’s because you develop a taste for your mom’s version and other versions never seem to taste right. I’m glad we went. It gave me a better feel for the show and why they weren’t interested in helping us.

I believe Kyle became aware of Pierre’s deceptions a few months before Pierre and I parted company. Maybe that’s why Kyle considered changing jobs. I don’t know for sure, but I feel confident that Kyle was not part of the conspiracy in the beginning. Kyle was a good person who worked hard to make the business successful. I think Kyle continued to put his whole heart into making the cafe successful for Pierre, too, and I wouldn’t expect anything less of him.

However, there’s a big difference between working hard and drinking the kool-aid. Recently, I saw that Kyle and Pierre have multiple business ventures together and have even opened a second cafe. I want, desperately, to warn Kyle to be careful. But I can’t. It’s too late. And Kyle is an adult after all. He saw what Pierre did to me. I’m sure Pierre has made disparaging comments about me in Kyle’s presence. Maybe Kyle is too young to understand that previous behavior suggests future behavior. Maybe Kyle thinks Pierre is his friend and would never do anything like that to him. Maybe Kyle is right. I truly doubt that. When someone like Pierre shows no regret for taking advantage of the elderly, they are likely to do it again. Fortunately, Kyle is young enough to recover financially if Pierre decides to screw him, too.

Maya Angelou said something like, when someone shows you who they really are, believe them. I agree with this wholeheartedly. We tend to want to give people second chances, third chances, ad infinitum. But I say, if you give people excuses to be bad or treat you badly, they will continue to be bad and treat you badly. Make sure you have boundaries and walk away when people refuse to respect your boundaries.

I’m not saying Kyle should walk away. I’m not saying Kyle should not be friends with Pierre. I’m just saying Kyle should never forget that Pierre is not trustworthy and take that into consideration in all future dealings with Pierre. Kyle should never go all-in on anything with Pierre. Kyle should never drink Pierre’s kool-aid.

In 2003, Dallas sponsored the National Figure Skating Championships. It was my first time to be on the board of the Local Organizing Committee. I certainly learned a lot about figure skating and parents. Before that, I always wondered how one soccer dad could get in a fight with another soccer dad and maybe even kill him. Now I’ve met parents that I truly believe would kill someone over something stupid at a competition. Maybe this should have been a warning to me about going into business with Pierre, but it went unheeded.

Todd Eldridge helped us promote the championships. On one of the arena walls was a poster of Todd skating with a local skater. After the competition, I took the poster home. It was a little torn around the edges due to the scotch tape, but still looked good.

While I ran the cafe, Todd moved to Dallas to coach and some of his students were at the McKinney rink. I took my poster to the rink in hopes of getting it autographed. One day, Kyle the bartender saw my poster and wanted to throw it out because he thought the ragged edges made it trash. I explained the edges could be trimmed and the poster could be framed after I got it autographed. It took me a while, but I finally worked up the courage to ask Todd to autograph my poster. I was so excited. Well, I forgot to take the poster home. Working at a restaurant makes you very tired and you forget things. Not long after that I left the business and still forgot my poster. I searched my house but it wasn’t there so I know I left it at the rink. I went back and asked Kyle for my poster, but he said it wasn’t there. I don’t know if Pierre kept my autographed poster or tossed it in the garbage. Kyle knew I wanted that poster. After all they took from me, I can’t believed they didn’t call me when they found my poster. Some people just don’t have a heart.

I was sharing my feelings about the restaurant with a friend who’s a security guy. He explained to me that all Operations people have master keys. Now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense. In an emergency, Operations needs the ability to go everywhere and do anything to abate the emergency and execute rescue efforts. I’m still questioning whether they need a master key that fits buildings they don’t work in, but that’s just because so many Operations employees stole from me. I’m sure I would have no problem with this practice if I had not had such a bad experience.

So why doesn’t this company hold its employees to a higher standard? Why was stealing such an acceptable behavior? You know if the employees were stealing from me they were stealing from the company, too. In fact when Lee worked for me, she gave me office supplies that her husband brought home from his job at another rink. Maybe the company just makes so much money, they don’t notice or care when things disappear. They can afford to buy more and still make good money. And doing something about theft would take effort on everyone’s part. So it’s just easier to do nothing.

There has to be something strikingly wrong with corporate culture when management not only allows theft, but also makes the tenants feel like they are the crazy ones for thinking theft is wrong and wanting it to stop. Pierre worked for this company for years. He had to have known this would be a problem but never said anything. That would explain why he never put in his seed money. The more I learn about this multimillion dollar company and its employees, the more disgusted I become. I will do my best to never spend a dime with them.

The thing that bothers me the most about this whole cafe affair, is how much I underestimated the dishonesty of everyone involved. And the degree to which the Good ‘Ole Boy system goes to ignore/coverup dishonesty – not caring whom they hurt. Yes, I look at the world with Rose-Colored glasses and I’m glad I do as the world would be so depressing otherwise. But I’m still in awe of how bad it really was. I guess deceit breeds deceit and all these people ended up in the same place because humans are attracted to others similar to themselves. And there I was, floating in the middle of the deep end, surrounded by piranha.

Even if I had known everyone who worked for the Dallas Stars would have a key to our restaurant, I don’t think I would have anticipated the extent of the risk involved and stopped the business before it started. Since Pierre had worked for the Dallas Stars, I would have expected him to raise a flag if it would keep us from being successful – but back then I didn’t know he would be part of the sabotage to failure.

We were struggling to form a viable business and yet we had to spend money we didn’t have on security cameras just to survive. An expense I hadn’t anticipated. There were security cameras all over the building so it never occurred to me to ask if they worked. The building was only 5 years old so I assumed everything was in working order. And of course I had no idea at the time how much I would need them. Only after theft was running rampant did I learn the cameras didn’t work. Of course Todd was not interested in having them repaired or maybe he just turned them off intentionally. Todd didn’t work a 40-hour week, so he sure wouldn’t want that verified by cameras. I was at the rink all day everyday, so I feel comfortable saying he was hardly ever there. I would have seen him or his car at least once in a while. Todd stole from my restaurant. I know this because I came in and caught him in the act a couple times. He sure wouldn’t want that on camera. He protected his thieving employees so he wouldn’t want the camera seeing them entering our cafe after-hours. After all, it’s difficult to tell your employees not to steal when they can see you enter the cafe and steal yourself. And when I went to the corporate office with pictures, nothing happened. I didn’t expect them to fire the people on my word alone, but I did expect them to get the cameras working and put the fear of Jesus in the hearts of the perpetrators. It doesn’t take much to tell the employees we’re fixing the cameras and you’re fired if you enter tenants’ quarters when the tenants are not there. Stealing should not be tolerated. And you know if they were stealing from me they were probably stealing from the rink as well. No one cared. And that doesn’t even take into consideration that they were stealing from a disabled senior citizen – me. How low can you really go!

When my friends get excited about hockey season and post pictures of how much they love the Dallas Stars, all I can see are thieves and misogynists on skates. It’s like a knife to the heart, but I can’t tell my friends how to feel about hockey or ask them not to give their money to the Stars so I just move on. It’s difficult to forgive and forget. And part of me doesn’t want to because I sure don’t want to fall for anything like this again. Please be careful about starting your own business and with whom you associate.

On Tuesday, a GoFundMe popped up on Facebook. It was for Lisa, a coach at the McKinney rink. I like to help friends in need, but Lisa was not my friend – not on Facebook and not IRL. In fact, when I had the restaurant she often treated me as though I were inferior and a pain in her side. She didn’t even know me and treated me that way, so I have to think she was influenced by Todd, the General Manager of the building.

The GoFundMe said Lisa was in the hospital for a throat infection and needed money to pay bills. Part of me wanted to help her, but I had questions. First of all, the GoFundMe was started by “Dallas Stars”. It didn’t say who was in charge of the fund and I need to know that before I donate. Many of her fellow employees stole from me so how do I know Lisa will actually get the money. Second, doesn’t her employer (Dallas Stars) provide health insurance, especially in a dangerous job like skating? I know there are always personal expenses even with health insurance, but it all seems a little fishy to me. Why isn’t the GoFundMe from a friend or family member? That would give it more credibility for me. Third, the goal is $10,000. That seems like a lot for someone who should have health insurance and short term disability, maybe even paid vacation and sick time??? I’m probably being too critical since she was never kind to me yet I feel guilty for not donating. I won’t be sending any money to Lisa.

Do you ever wonder where your donations go? I do. Everyone wants your time and your money these days. We work hard for our money and are constantly barraged with donation requests. And there are so many scammers, sometimes it’s hard to know exactly whom you’re dealing with. Fortunately, there are groups out there publishing their research on charities. Look for charities that have a very high percentage of donation distribution to their actual mission. Anyone using 10% or less on administration costs is a good cause for donations. Charitywatch.org is a good resource when investigating a new charity.

I bring this up because something happened that surprised me after I left the bar. The skating rinks were sponsored by Dr Pepper while I was there. I talked about our issues with them in earlier posts. All I want to say here is that I’m sure Dr Pepper paid to have their name in big letters on the sides of all the buildings. I had heard that their contract was ending in a year or so but didn’t think anything of it since I was leaving. Much to my surprise, the new sponsor was Children’s Health. Really? I don’t know how things work, but I’m sure that wasn’t free to Children’s Health. Do donors want their money to go to a billion dollar sports franchise in order to have Children’s Health plastered on the walls of skating rinks? And are they hoping for a lot of injuries to generate income? After all, you need a reason to go to the hospital. You don’t just wake up in the morning and decide to spend money at a hospital. Maybe this is a common thing and I’m out of touch with how things work. I don’t know.

I also do a lot of research on the Unclaimed Property websites of various states and Children’s Health and other hospital systems have thousands and thousands of dollars sitting out there. I guess they never check even though most accountants know about the Unclaimed Property website. I’m sure hospitals use the website regularly because they have to send money to the state if an employee never picks up their last check or a customer doesn’t cash a refund check. Maybe they wouldn’t have to rely on so many donations if they managed their money better. They should check that website regularly. If you’ve never checked it, you should. Even if you’re good with your money, you may have family members who aren’t and you may find lots of money for your family. Check it.