I work for a privately owned movie theater as an “unofficial” Head of Customer Service. I have been with the company since 2018 and was brought back in mid-2021 as the sole customer service representative as we were in the process of reopening. My responsibilities include:
– Responding to ticket inquiries through our help desk.
– Outreach to guests who require further assistance.
– Operating the phone calls for all four of our venues.
– Management of past promotional material after Covid.
But what’s expected of me goes beyond the above-mentioned responsibilities. I also serve as a manager/floor supervisor in addition to being the resident front desk associate.
I am utilized as coverage for other departments including concessions, ushering, box office sales, and have even washed dishes when our dish washer never showed up. It’s gotten to the point where I am scheduled specifically to cover any given area and am still expected to do my own work.
I’m technically a corporate employee but still fall within this grey area of *almost* management. In fact, our corporate team operates in a separate building across from the venue I work at, yet my department (Customer Service) is the only one that operates on site.
Our team is small, really small, like three people. It isn’t perfect, but it works. There was a long period where it was just me juggling an extensive list of inquiries and demands from both the company and customers until I begged for assistance.
Since then, I’ve had little to no guidance, meaning I’ve had a string of “bosses” who were more so people I report to while still doing my own thing. And it worked. With implementation of external resources on my behalf, I have organized and mapped a fluid sequence of service on how to navigate pretty much any scenario that comes my way.
A couple months ago a consultant was brought in as my “pseudo” boss. His goal was to turn the department into a more streamlined area where myself, management and guests would all be well connected. Although the product is not fully there, it has become probably the most organized and fluid the company has ever seen. We’ve not only produced incredible results but have saved the company TONS of money. This was a lot of work and has been an uphill battle to get everyone throughout the company on the same page.
I made it very clear when the consultant was brought on board that this would be something I’d help with as I am the most experienced in the department, but that I would need to see the work I’d put in reflected in my pay. It has been seven months and in between that time, the department has changed drastically, all-in part for the work my team has done. I have yet to see that work reflect in my pay. Granted, I am an hourly employee but still push 40+ hours a week. The closest thing I’ve had to a raise was $1.00 In December/January and I strongly believe that was due to minimum wage going up as I have never had the opportunity to speak with my HR department. They literally just sent an email saying they’ve authorized this raise without discussing my rate of pay with me. Again, this is a privately owned company, so a lot of their practices aren’t on par to that of massive theater chains, or so I think.
For further context, I am a huge movie buff. And what this company offers is a unique experience such as in theater dining. I believe the product they are pushing is unique and have advocated for them for quite some time. I have made choices to stay the extra hours, temporarily walk in the shoes of management when a relative of theirs had passed away, and work towards improving their sequences of service as it is a product I believe in… Additionally, I am the only one of the three Customer Service representatives that work weekends. I adore most of the people I work with, not to say some of them lack in their departments; but they’re decent people… most of the time. At the end, they’re the only ones keeping me sane with how grossly underpaid I am.
All in all, I’m at a crossroads. I don’t know how many more times I can bring up to them that I feel they need to pay me properly, but I’m reaching my limit. I do everything they ask, produce effective results, yet a recently employed staff member who turned to a floor supervisor within 6 months is already making more than me.