Ice Rinks Need a Playground

I’ve touched on this several times. Ice rinks are a family place, but not everyone in the family skates. Siblings of skaters run madly about the lobby and ice rink, wreaking havoc where ever they go. They lock all the bathroom doors, stick their fingers in the spigots of the water fountains and coffee machines, leave clothing strewn throughout the building, spill food and drinks all over the floor, break anything that can be broken, steal things off the snack bar counter and front desk, open all the sugars and creamers, throw stuff at the tv screens, and scream as loudly as they can. Not because they’re mean, just because they’re bored. Many siblings don’t skate and have nothing to do for hours.

It’s not so bad during the day, when more adults are working in the building. At night when the young bucks are in charge, all hell breaks loose. The nighttime rink employees sit behind the front desk with their chairs facing away from the lobby, collecting a paycheck for doing nothing.

I suggested a fenced, outdoor playground several times. I doubt Todd even considered it or passed the suggestion to corporate management. A playground would have solved many issues and given kids a creative way to burn energy. A few rinks tried setting up a little floor hockey area, but that didn’t go well and was soon dropped. The best way to keep kids out of trouble is to give them options. McDonalds learned this early on. Take note, hockey franchise.

My Employees are Your Employees

Back in the Olden Days, when I was in high school, my Dad came home one night and was talking about some decision that was made at work and how he disagreed with the plan. I asked him why he didn’t just do what he thought was a better plan. He explained to me that the company was paying him to do a job, whatever the company decided that job should be. It was the best work advice I’ve ever gotten. I’m not saying I keep my ideas to myself, I’m saying when the decision is made I do the best job I can do to support the company’s needs. Does anybody think this way anymore? I can’t tell you how many employees I had that absolutely refused to follow our kitchen procedures because they knew a better way to do everything. Even people I thought were my friends, who came to me when they were destitute, were defiant.

We hired a lot of high schoolers, for most this was their first job. Many times, their parents would come apply for them, but I told the parents their kids would have to apply for themselves. It took a lot to train the kids, many had never cooked before, or even washed their hands. So we always hoped people would stay a while after training. Some did. Some didn’t. Some quit and went to work for the rink. So my employees became their employees.

People are free to work where ever they wish. Even if they hadn’t gone to work for the rink, they probably would have quit anyway. So I don’t have a problem with that, except for one thing. Todd knew he was interviewing my employees and he was my landlord. In the spirit of keeping a good relationship, I truly expected him to make sure the kids knew they should give 2 weeks notice and work for us those 2 weeks and then start their new job with him. Instead the kids would quit and start their new job the next day or give 2 weeks notice and call in sick for every shift. I would come in to work their hours and there they were sitting at the front desk working for Todd. They didn’t look very sick. I would have been happy to give Todd a copy of their schedule so he could work around it for 2 weeks, but he wasn’t interested in working with me on this issue at all.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was glad to get rid of some of these employees. It saved me from having to fire them. Still, it left me in the lurch for employees to quit so abruptly. I don’t blame any of them for changing jobs, the rink job was so much easier than cooking food and cleaning up a kitchen. Like I told you before, the rink employees didn’t have to do much. They checked in a few people and then sat around the entire evening. There were no mature adults working the front desk to encourage the employees to keep the lobby clean or police the bleacher areas. Working at the rink was like getting free money for doing nothing. Changing jobs was kind of a no-brainer. I just think it could have been handled with a little more respect from Todd.

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.

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.

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.

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?

People Say They Want Healthy Food and Good Prices

Pierre said he had talked to lots of people and they all said they didn’t patronize the snack bar because it was never open and the food was expensive crap. They wanted yogurt, string cheese, smoothies, and salads. I loved that. I wanted to provide decent food at a decent price. We added all those things and more. Yet, we got almost no business from the figure skaters. There were 2 or 3 parents that were wonderful to us, but the rest just ignored us.

I finally told Pierre we just couldn’t cater to the figure skating crowd. We were eating so much expired food, we had to stop carrying yogurt and string cheese completely. Even Pierre’s friends and students didn’t support us. They bought from us maybe once every 6 months. The rest of the time, they would send someone to make a Starbucks run – and there wasn’t even one close by. So much for our fancy coffee machine. They would leave and come back with fast food fried chicken nuggets and then complain about being on a diet, when we had very good chicken nuggets from the oven.

Our 8 ounce coffee was $2.25 and 6 ounce chicken nuggets was $3.25. And they didn’t have to burn gas or time to buy from us. Still, they didn’t support us. It was brutal. And I was really starting to understand the importance of a ‘No outside food or drink’ policy. We were very reasonably priced for an arena environment. And yet, people who were in the arena for hours everyday didn’t support us, not even Pierre’s closest friends.

People say they want healthy food that’s reasonably priced, but do they really? Try filling a vending machine with healthy choices and see how much you sell and how much you eat yourself. I was so disappointed that we weren’t more popular. My mistake here was believing Pierre without talking to people myself. It might not have changed anything as people often say why they don’t do something but don’t change when that obstacle is removed. But talking to people may have given me a different perspective.

A Coffee Machine Costs How Much?

You must have coffee and hot chocolate in an ice arena. We opened the restaurant so quickly Pierre brought in a Keurig so we would have hot beverages. The Keurig was ok, but we needed something better long term.

There is one major coffee machine dealer in the Dallas area. Pierre, Robbie and I took a field trip day and headed over there to look at coffee machines. On the way, Robbie found one on craigslist for $4,500.00, if I remember correctly. It was barely used and sounded like it was in good shape. We looked at similar models at the dealer, which listed for $10,000-12,000. Talk about sticker shock. It’s coffee! Well actually, it’s coffee, espresso, latte, cappuccino, and hot chocolate. I guess Starbucks really has changed the world. I don’t drink coffee so I don’t get it.

It was very important to Pierre that we offer good coffee. I’m sure a lot of the parents wanted it, too. There are some people who are so stuck on Starbucks that they will never be your customer no matter what you do, but I’m sure there are also people who just want a good cup of coffee without having to get in the car to go get it. So we decided to buy the used machine. Robbie was sent to pick it up and try to get it for $3,500 + a bunch of Dallas Stars tickets. He took the coffee machine straight to the dealer for service. When they delivered it, they taught us how to use it and how to clean it every night. I have to admit it was a fabulous machine and we made the best hot chocolate in town. I can’t speak for the coffee but we did get a lot of compliments. We did not spend $1,000 on a milk refrigerator for our coffee machine. We bought a used Red Bull fridge and drilled a hole in the side for the milk tube.

It was also our goal to attract daytime customers with good coffee and a quiet place to work with free wifi. It was Pierre’s job to get the word out that we were open during the day for lunches, parties, business meetings, and people who just want to hang out and drink coffee while working on their laptops. After all, why pay rent on a big space when you only use it about 3 hours per day. The way to make money is to utilize your space to the fullest, not just expect the parents and skaters to eat there everyday. And honestly, only small children want pizza everyday.

To Fry or Not to Fry, That is the Question.

In most rinks, there are two distinct groups – Hockey Players and Figure Skaters. Hockey players tend to be carbo-loaders. They are usually male, play hard, and eat hardily. Figure skaters are always on a diet. They tend to be female, practice obsessively, and eat like birds. And of course, you have a lot of moms hanging around the rink and they are often on a diet, too. Previous food service at the rinks had been pizza, burgers, and a lot of fried foods. Mostly junk food. We wanted to change that.

I have been fat my whole life. I have probably lost the weight of several people in my lifetime and always gained the weight back. It’s a horrible struggle, so it was extremely important to me to offer healthy choices in our cafe. Pierre said he had talked to a lot of figure skaters and they all said they didn’t eat at the snack bars because the snack bars were never open and never had healthy food they could eat. I made the decision not to use the fryers or the grill at all. We would cook everything in the ovens, even the burgers and fries. Pierre and Robbie thought that was a great idea.

Since we opened in 2 short weeks, we only had pizza, wings (Hunt Brothers also does chicken wings), and a few other choices. After the big hockey tournament, we could add more menu items. And we did, but everything had to be cooked in the oven. I thought the oven french fries were great and we had a lot of people tell us how happy they were that we didn’t have fried foods. Parents didn’t have to say ‘no’ to their children when they wanted wings or fries because our food was virtually grease-free.

There is a big down side to this plan. The ovens can get very backed up when the restaurant is busy. We were only using 2 ovens and there were days we could have used 3 or 4 to keep up with business. We had asked the rink to pull out the fryers and grill to give us more room, but they refused. I’m still glad we chose to forego the fried foods. After all my struggles with weight, I want to help others make healthy choices.