Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome

I thought all Canadians were nice people, but I guess every group has their bad apple. Max and his brother both worked at the rink. His brother was a wonderful, supportive guy, but Max was a young 20s, full of himself goalie who thought he was king of the dome. When I first met Max, I liked him. We gave him free leftovers almost everyday. He bought from us regularly and we gave him a discount. We even named a pizza after him – the Max Special – which was all the meats with extra bacon. I thought we had a good thing going. Then, he started calling me names – Aunt Jemima, Harriet Tubman, etc. I certainly was in good company with these names but it was the idea of saying them with disrespect.

Pierre booked a private party, the only outside party he booked in 2.5 years. It was a lawyer running for Judge. It wasn’t a campaign party, just a get-together with his volunteers to buy them dinner and pay for their kids to ice skate while he signed up the volunteers to distribute signs and pamphlets over the next few weeks. We had to be careful about these things as our building was owned by the City of McKinney and had to remain unbiased. The lawyer had gotten permission from the front desk ahead of time, but the people working that night took exception to the party and Max even threatened Kyle if we didn’t shut it down. Max and other employees kept saying ‘Todd said’ whatever and Todd called Pierre, but neither one of them showed up to help sort out the issues. The solution ended up being to close a see-through gate about 10 degrees. It was the stupidest thing ever and I’m sure the private party members never came back after all the to-do. The party went well after we moved the gate a little. The fallout came later. Parents started coming to me, individually, telling me Max was telling them not to buy from us and that I was a bitch. Max and Pierre were close, so I told Pierre. Pierre said he would talk to Max, but I don’t know if he ever did or what he said because the bad-mouthing didn’t stop.

When we reported Will for stealing, the impudence got worse. None of the male rink employees would buy from us anymore and they were horrible to me. And worst of all, Todd would leave Max and some of the other young guys in charge at night. They didn’t keep the lobby clean, even when people vomited on the floor and tables. The male employees stole from us after we closed at night, except I don’t think Max ever stole from us. These young guys weren’t mature enough to run a business and shouldn’t have been left in charge. And they should have been taught to respect the tenants and help us build our business as it means money for all concerned.

Kyle and I both mentioned to Pierre that he should stop hiring Max to work at his seasonal ice rinks. You can’t reward someone for bad behavior, Max disrespected our business and me, Pierre’s business partner; how could Pierre hire him for anything??? So it’s no surprise when Pierre hired Max once again, that I texted Pierre asking how could he hire someone after being disrespected like that. Pierre sent me an email, offended that I would send a text instead of an email – I still don’t know why a text is rude and an email isn’t. And Pierre pretty much told me it was none of my business. Once again, no support from Pierre. This whole restaurant was Pierre’s idea and yet he didn’t have our best interests at heart.

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.

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.

What is Marketing?

The dictionary says marketing involves promoting and selling goods and/or services. Pierre told me over and over that he was Marketing. When we first opened, Pierre spent some time taking free pizza to the businesses around us to let them know we were open for lunch and dinner. Since we were in a relatively undeveloped area, that didn’t take much time. Pierre gave free coffee to coaches and parents to let them know our coffee was good and encourage them to buy from us. That was definitely a good start. After that, we saw little evidence of him doing anything.

Our building was right next to a bunch of baseball diamonds. I took pizza to the owner one day and told him we would like to advertise to their teams. He invited Pierre and me over for a tour and gave us 3 options – give him flyers to put in the tournament packets, pay to put up banners, or take over their food stands. Pierre never did any of these. We did get a little business eventually but not much. I also researched online and found a list of local clubs with their phone numbers. I gave it to Pierre and asked him if he would call one a day to let them know we could do club meetings and parties. He said he would call at least 2 a day, but I don’t think he ever called any. He did bring in 1 private party in 2.5 years and he paid for a bunch of his friends to come watch a football game once.

We finally got our liquor license in October, 2015. Kyle was all gung-ho to get the bar hopping, but not much happened. Kyle got Pierre to spend about $200 on some signs, but Pierre never got the city permits to hang them. It was clear Pierre’s idea of marketing meant to doing nothing. I got the sign permits in less than 2 weeks. Kyle and I partnered with the Allen Americans so our name would be on the banner during their games. Kyle and I started finding places to list our bar online. Kyle and I started contacting groups to let them know we could hold meetings and parties. But it’s hard to do all the day-to-day business and marketing too. Pierre could have done all of this from the comfort of his own home at times convenient for him and yet he did almost nothing.

Every once in a while, Pierre would man the cafe so I could do something else. If I came in that day, I would find him sitting in the bar talking to students and parents. He didn’t set up for business by turning on all the machines and prepping the stations. I guess he made a few sales because people would come to me later and say they needed to pay for some food because the cash register wasn’t working when Pierre was there. Who knows how many people didn’t come back and pay, as Pierre made no list or notes. Nothing was broken, Pierre just didn’t want to remember his training on the equipment.

Pierre told me over and over, that we just didn’t understand his role. He was Marketing. Obviously, that didn’t involve sales. And if you ask me, it didn’t involve promoting either. I partnered with a guy who didn’t put in his seed money, didn’t work in the cafe or bar, and didn’t promote our business. Mistake, mistake, mistake. I’m an idiot.