Continuing Threats and Coverups

Some of the corporate employees had kids who played hockey at our rink. While I really wanted to discuss our issues with corporate and the rink employees, I tried to be respectful of their family time at the rink. I don’t know why I wanted to be respectful of them when they were so clearly disrespectful of us. I guess I still had hope that if we did the right thing and treated people well, eventually they would do the same for us. Now I just feel stupid for respecting our landlord and all the rink employees.

One night, Damon was at the rink with his kid(s). I didn’t want to discuss work problems during his family time, so I asked him to call me when he had time. He asked what I wanted so I pulled out a picture of one of the rink employees in our cafe early in the morning before we opened for the day. He excused the employee’s actions using the same words Todd had used so I knew they had talked and were prepared to defend the rink employee. So I invited Damon into the kitchen and showed him the employee was nowhere near the ice machine in the picture. Damon works at the corporate level, so now the theft cover up goes all the way to corporate. Then the threats began. Damon explained that they had installed new TVs in the bar and they could take them out if we weren’t feeling grateful. What? Is he saying we should be grateful they were updating all the rinks and just let their employees steal from us with no complaints? Now, I’ve been threatened by Todd AND Damon. Is that how hockey franchises work? They just take what they want and lay waste the rest of the world?

At one point in this conversation Damon said, “What do you want from me?” I bet every one of you reading this blog can answer that question. So, why can’t Damon??? Was he not listening all those times I talked to and emailed him and Todd??? I want the employees of a multi-million dollar hockey franchise to stop stealing from me, a senior citizen investing her retirement money. I want the employees of a multi-million dollar hockey franchise to abide by our contract, including staying out of our space when we are not there. I want a multi-million dollar hockey franchise to fix their security cameras and protect our assets. I want the employees of a multi-million dollar hockey franchise to stop harassing us and treat us with the respect we give them. I want my organization and my landlord’s organization to be mutually supportive of eachother’s success. Apparently, I want too much.

The Intervention

After 18 months in business, Pierre, Todd, Kyle, and I were meeting to air out our differences and ‘start over’. Little did I know, I was walking into an intervention. First, Pierre and Todd talked about how important it was to have a good relationship. As usual, Todd went into his little speech about our success was good for the rink. I just smiled, swallowed my skepticism, and tried to overlook the fact that he had been saying that the whole time he was sabotaging our business. I didn’t want to undermine the chance to make things better. I needed the stress of bad landlords and bad rink management to dissolve into dust and blow away.

Next, we talked about Max telling all the parents not to buy from our cafe and bar. Todd’s response was that Max was very loyal to him. What does that mean? Max only badmouthed us because he liked Todd? Was it Todd’s idea? How does that fit into ‘our success is Todd’s success’? Does that mean Todd is not going to make it stop?

Kyle brought up a few points about the bar. Each time I tried to talk, either Pierre or Todd would cut me off and go on with something else. Here I am, the one with the most to say, not getting to talk at all. I’ve been robbed, threatened, and sabotaged and I don’t get to let any of it out before we start over?

At one point, Todd brought up our hours so I explained how our open hours came about. Todd decided to be offended at what I said – I don’t know how anyone could be offended at our choice of hours. So Kyle jumped in and explained that Todd’s reaction wasn’t what I was saying and went on to talk about our hours. Todd was then ok with our explanation. It’s ok if Kyle says it, but not ok if I say it. Kyle was the only one who defended me during the entire meeting. The rest of the time, Pierre and Todd just cut me off.

Todd needed to leave but he wanted to clear the air on some things that really ‘bothered him’. Once again, he repeated his same petty grievances. After 18 months, can he not just get over it? That’s what they’re asking of me, after all. Todd reiterated our huge business mistake of not listening to him and frying our French fries. Todd, the food service expert, who allows his employees to stick their dirty hands in the ice machine to get ice for ice packs. The same ice we use to serve beverages. We’re supposed to hang on his every word and do his bidding? How in the world can someone hold a grudge against you for not frying French fries? Does it get any more petty than that? Is that the biggest control freak move on the planet? And then Todd had to hurry out for another commitment. I guess we have wiped the slate clean and are starting over. Really? One good thing did come from this meeting. Before Todd left, he assured us our success was important to the rink and he intended to partner with us to keep us informed of events and make things better.

I was devastated. The air was perfectly clear to me. No one was going to listen to me, ever. Nothing was going to change. Pierre, my partner, was not truly a partner and did not have my back. My retirement money was almost gone and there was no light at the end of the tunnel, not even an oncoming train to put me out of my misery quickly. I went home and cried.

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.

Worst Managed Rink in the World

Pierre taught lessons in this building at least once a week, so I trusted him when he said opening the cafe was a good opportunity and this was the best facility in the chain. He also reminded me regularly that Todd was never around and certainly not trustworthy. Like I have said before, I had no idea how bad it could really be.

It’s true Todd wasn’t around much. I was there all day everyday and I hardly ever saw him. On one side, that’s a good thing because he was very disrespectful of me, his tenant. However, there was also a downside to his absence. During the day, he had some women running the show. They may not have smiled a lot, but they were very professional and knew their jobs. Evenings and weekends, the kids took over. They may have looked like adults, late teens and early 20s, but calamity reigned. These guys sat with their backs to the front desk and chatted most of their shift. This band of miscreants wasn’t welcoming or helpful. They didn’t enforce the rules or take care of business – and many of them stole from our cafe.

Max, the ringleader, would call me names and tell parents not to buy from us because I was such a bitch. I don’t think he ever stole from us, but not sure about that. (Your landlord should never campaign against your business.) I brought this to corporate’s attention, but Max was not punished and later he was promoted, and the harassment continued. One night someone vomited in the lobby and there was a trail leading into the bathroom. People had to step over it all evening because the employees didn’t feel like cleaning it up and there was no adult working to teach them to do the right thing. I brought this up with corporate, but it continued to happen. Who wants to buy food when there’s vomit on the floor? And some of the boys stole from us after we closed for the evening.

It’s truly heartbreaking when you give people free leftovers almost everyday and a discount on everything they buy, just to be treated like dirt. My mistake here was not hanging out in the lobby at various times of day and talking to people who were there regularly. At this point I felt trapped in hell. How can your landlord be so dedicated to your failure?