coulda, woulda, shoulda

It could have been a lot of fun.

It would have been a lot of fun if whoever was scheduling knew what they were doing.

It should have been a great experience, if only.  

A couple of Fridays ago my good friend Robin calls. "Hey, I'm working the Tribeca Festival (formally known as the Tribeca Film Festival). You should apply. I've done it before. It's easy and a lot of fun."

She gives me the contact info. I write. And I'm hired the same day. 

I'll be a ranger, whatever that means. It's 14 straight days of work, but hey, I don't have anything else scheduled. And besides, it's supposed to be fun.

Two days after being hired training begins. It's two and a half days, that easily could be condensed to one, if that.

Two of the days are in a movie theater where I won't be working. There is only one presenter for most of the two days. He presents without any audio or visual aids.  Most of the information is not relevant to what I'll be doing. And what is relevant, is poorly presented.

A guy stands in front of the theater and holds up his iPhone to explain how the app the rangers will be using works. I mean really. As if I — or anyone else in attendance — can possibly understand what to do watching some guy click through an app on his small phone that we don't even have yet.

I'm originally told I'll be working seven to eight hours a day, but I don't receive my schedule (despite asking numerous times) until the day before the festival opens. It's then I see the hours for all the rangers at my venue. Of the eleven days we are required to work, six of those days are for 10 3/4 hours, and two are for 9 3/4 hours. Sure, we get long breaks between movies, but there's nowhere to really go.

Tribeca Festival is spread out among several theaters. The venue I am assigned is the only one that has all its workers on one shift; all the others have two. 

That means that all rangers don't work the same number of hours.  Here's a comparison of the required number of hours worked, for the exact same job, and the exact same pay, during the 11 days of the festival:

My venue: 109.2 hours (ave 10 hrs day)

Other Venues AM shift: 88 hours (ave 8 hours day)

Other venues PM shift: 71.50 hours (ave 6.5 hours day)

So at our venue, we are working for under minimum wage, with no overtime. Week two is over 69 hours alone. Is this even legal?

14 days straight. Averaging 10 hours per day. It's grueling and very much not fun.

The people I work with are all great. Hard-working. Responsible. Easy-going. And fun. So is the venue manager and her assistant. 

Most everyone is in their 20's or early 30's. (I was mortified when one of my young co-workers casually asked, "What decade are you from?" I think she said decade, but maybe it was century.

And I do get to watch a few movies; all excellent.

But still. Robin,  who works at one of the other venues, has a great time.

Too bad I can't say the same.