Keep the job or ditch the job?

Many of you know I have been working as a Tech Director for a theater for the past few years.  When I started the job I was single, lived with mom and dad after my divorce, and I was looking for any reason to A) get out of the house and B) occupy my brain and not think about divorce things.  Now I have my own house, single again, and trying to occupy my brain to not think about the breakup.

The net result is that I overgave to the job and now I'm having trouble getting control of it.  I have expressed to my boss and the board that I'm considering resigning and they have all responded with something approaching, "good god, please don't leave."  I know I'm liked, but I'm not feeling appreciated and here's why:

- no access to money.  After three years I finally got them to get me a debit card so I had some actual purchasing power, but they are micromanaging it to death.  The treasurer wants to only put $400 in it at a time (my typical orders for materials sometimes approach $2000) and he wants detailed spreadsheets of every single screw, piece of lumber, and can of paint that I will spend during the build process.  Any of you who have done work like this knows that your list changes daily, the designs change, the director wants a [insert ridiculous furniture piece here], etc.

- general micromanagement.  The board has no idea how to run a theater.  They have successfully hired a dream team (new exec director started last month) and they need to step back and trust.  Instead they keep making major decisions about the theater without consulting the staff.  I learned the other day that they plan on renovating the theater (good) and moving all of my props and set pieces to offsite storage (terrible).  I had to step in and put my foot down that every time I have to build a show I will not be making 6 trips across town in my own truck to get couches, platforms, and 12' wall flats.

- general lack of awareness.  A few weeks ago I was in the throes of building a massive show.  I had four volunteers feverishly building, I was cutting lumber as fast as they were assembling, there were 30 people rehearsing one show in the theater, 12 more rehearsing the next show in the rehearsal room, and the chair of the building committee came in to inform me that "tomorrow we're getting all the lights upgraded to LEDs so reach out to this guy to let him know when he can come in."  I just stood there with my mouth hanging open.  He wanted a crew with two scissor lifts to come in and halt production on everything.  They just have no idea what happens inside this building.

So I'm planning on having a meeting with the new exec director and the board chair to politely lay the smackdown.  I'm going to ask for a raise, overhire budget, and for the treasurer to just give me the berkeleying money for a show and leave me the heck alone.  He's always welcome to check up on things, but the other day I spent $900 to build a show (for which I had budgeted $3000) and he lost his E36 M3.

I'm also looking at scheduling for my Online Master's courses and wondering if I should just call it quits.  There are several conflicts.  Because it's a clinical counseling degree there are internships and residencies that happen at very unfortunate times in our theater season.

I'm also looking at my deep craving for travel and wondering if I should quit and get some journeys in before starting school. 

I'm torn.  I have enough saved away to make living pretty easy for a while but I also see a good future with the current staff, just need to get the board reigned in.

Have the discussion with the board. If they are willing to compromise enough to make you happy, keep the job. If not, you are in a great position to explore other options, including travel and school. 

^

that.

what she said.

Raise or walk

IIRC you are working long hours for peanuts.  Plus, you do a great job.   Of COURSE they love you.   I don't think I could take the micro-managing. 

This sounds like something to take up with your boss first, before going directly to the board.

Mojo nailed it. Have the talk and see where it goes. 

If it doesn't go how you want, you are in the position to walk. Do so.

I did bring it up with the boss first.  We've had multiple conversations about it.  The board is also aware that I'm thinking of ditching.  Its a small company; just 4 of us on staff and 6 on the exec board.  Word travels fast.

In reply to Curtis :

Maybe you can demonstrate your value by calling in sick for a week before a play?  

Curtis said:

I did bring it up with the boss first.  We've had multiple conversations about it.  The board is also aware that I'm thinking of ditching.  Its a small company; just 4 of us on staff and 6 on the exec board.  Word travels fast.

Correct me if wrong, it kind of sounds like you know how it's going to go. 

If you aren't happy and don't feel appreciated, and you have the means. Bail. Get in the Masters courses you want, and pick up side jobs as you feel necessary for some additional income.

I think you're really asking three separate but related questions:

Question 1 is:  If I get the raise and autonomy I want, is this a job that I want or CAN to keep while devoting the right amount of attention to my masters studies?

and

Question 2 is:  Even if I get the raise and autonomy I want, would I rather go travel before digging in on the masters program since it will be my last opportunity for potentially a long time?

and

Question 3:  If the answer to Question 2 is "I want to travel" is it even fair to push for the raise autonomy since I want out anyway?

From what you said, it seems like you couldnt really keep this job AND focus on the masters program and internships etc.  If you can afford to focus on studies, then not working seems like a better bet to me.  Especially since school seems like a good way to broaden your circle of friends and all that, which would be harder to do if you were also working.  By the way, I didnt weigh on on the other thread, but I think you'd be better off keeping your inheritance as a rainy day fund.  It gives you more flexibility, so that if you cant find part time gigs during studies you have a fund to live on.  once you finish the masters, you can use the fund to take an awesome trip to  celebrate.  This is about flexiblity:  once you pay down the mortgage you cant get the cash BACK. 

If you can build a set, you can build a house.  The need for qualified contractors is thru the roof.  Hell the need for warm bodies is thru the roof.  Get a home improvement contractors license if you don't all ready have one and go out on your own.  The main reason I became a plumber was so I could be around and watch my kids grow up.  Never missed anything they were involved with, and made as much if not more money than working a 9 to 5.  Nobody is going into the trades.  Kids nowadays all feel the need to go to college to get a "good" job.  Use to be a time when all the flunkies in high school went into the trades.  Those days are gone.  The flunkies stay home and sponge off the govt.  The smart kids go to school.  Nobody left to swing a hammer, pull wires, or solder pipes.  The going rate here in Mass is around $100 an hour for plumbers and electricians and $75 for a carpenter.

tr8todd said:

If you can build a set, you can build a house.  The need for qualified contractors is thru the roof.  Hell the need for warm bodies is thru the roof.  Get a home improvement contractors license if you don't all ready have one and go out on your own.  The main reason I became a plumber was so I could be around and watch my kids grow up.  Never missed anything they were involved with, and made as much if not more money than working a 9 to 5.  Nobody is going into the trades.  Kids nowadays all feel the need to go to college to get a "good" job.  Use to be a time when all the flunkies in high school went into the trades.  Those days are gone.  The flunkies stay home and sponge off the govt.  The smart kids go to school.  Nobody left to swing a hammer, pull wires, or solder pipes.  The going rate here in Mass is around $100 an hour for plumbers and electricians and $75 for a carpenter.

This times a thousand, milllion, billion, berkeleymillion

I have worked as a contractor before.  I really hate that work.  But you're right, it makes money.

There is a similar need for theater work.  I can make money by picking up load-ins, strikes, and building stuff all the time.  It is a little painful to think about leaving my friends and a potentially great future at my theater.  For that reason I don't want to burn bridges.  Its not like a business setting where "raise or walk" would be well received.  These people are cherished friends more than bosses.

The need to get this Master's however is really calling me hardcore and I don't see the two fitting together.  So I'm afraid that my declaration of things I need at the theater will be such whiplash that they won't understand that it is a fair request as opposed to leverage.

I think a perfectly viable situation is if I were the over-hire person.  If they find another TD and hire me for the bigger show builds.

I know the old saying of "everyone is replaceable."  In this situation, I'm really kinda not.  They can find a warm body, but the learning curve is insane and I can't think of anyone who can do what I do.  We have spent the last few years really elevating the quality of our productions and I have been able to grow along with it.  Its a bit of a paradox.  There are plenty of community-level TDs who could do community-level sets, but we're way beyond that.  I think to replace me they would honestly have to source someone from NYC, but they can only offer about $35k.

And therein lies the crux of the issue.  The sets I build and my experience is worth 60k.  But we're overachieving in a theater that makes milk money.

Having been on a board of directors for a community theater, I feel your pain. Problem is you have a lot of Warring fiefdoms and people who cherish their perceived positions of power. Not an easy line to walk. I'm sure you'll make the right decision both for yourself and the theater.

tr8todd said:

If you can build a set, you can build a house.  The need for qualified contractors is thru the roof.  Hell the need for warm bodies is thru the roof.  Get a home improvement contractors license if you don't all ready have one and go out on your own.  The main reason I became a plumber was so I could be around and watch my kids grow up.  Never missed anything they were involved with, and made as much if not more money than working a 9 to 5.  Nobody is going into the trades.  Kids nowadays all feel the need to go to college to get a "good" job.  Use to be a time when all the flunkies in high school went into the trades.  Those days are gone.  The flunkies stay home and sponge off the govt.  The smart kids go to school.  Nobody left to swing a hammer, pull wires, or solder pipes.  The going rate here in Mass is around $100 an hour for plumbers and electricians and $75 for a carpenter.

Amen to that!  Electricians and other trades can earn similar money here in Minnesota without the $50-60,000 student loan debt.  Plus some unions retire their workers at 55 with full pay and benefits.  

Curtis said:

I have worked as a contractor before.  I really hate that work.  But you're right, it makes money.

There is a similar need for theater work.  I can make money by picking up load-ins, strikes, and building stuff all the time.  It is a little painful to think about leaving my friends and a potentially great future at my theater.  For that reason I don't want to burn bridges.  Its not like a business setting where "raise or walk" would be well received.  These people are cherished friends more than bosses.

The need to get this Master's however is really calling me hardcore and I don't see the two fitting together.  So I'm afraid that my declaration of things I need at the theater will be such whiplash that they won't understand that it is a fair request as opposed to leverage.

I think a perfectly viable situation is if I were the over-hire person.  If they find another TD and hire me for the bigger show builds.

I know the old saying of "everyone is replaceable."  In this situation, I'm really kinda not.  They can find a warm body, but the learning curve is insane and I can't think of anyone who can do what I do.  We have spent the last few years really elevating the quality of our productions and I have been able to grow along with it.  Its a bit of a paradox.  There are plenty of community-level TDs who could do community-level sets, but we're way beyond that.  I think to replace me they would honestly have to source someone from NYC, but they can only offer about $35k.

And therein lies the crux of the issue.  The sets I build and my experience is worth 60k.  But we're overachieving in a theater that makes milk money.

I like and appreciate your attitude. While you are concerned for your own future you don’t want to hurt others to achieve your goals.  

Perhaps if a Masters is important you can act as a supervisor and provide basic guidance while others learn your skills

My sister and her ex went through a similar experience ten years ago at a production theatre in GA. He was the set guy and she was the costumer.

He started off sending text messages to the boss when he got to work, left for lunch, got back from lunch, and went home for the day. Simultaneously he took a picture of his watch and truck odometer when he got to work and when he went home.  After a couple of weeks my sister whipped up a spreadsheet using those data points to document his work hours and mileage on his truck.  As you know when you calculate hours your salary is no where near even minimum wage,  and in his case the mileage on his truck was @500 miles/week on top and they didn't reimburse for fuel.

They had a big meeting and presented three options: big raises, hourly pay including overtime,  or pay per job. In addition they asked for either a theatre owned vehicle, the government mileage rate reimbursement for the miles on their truck, or all supplies to be delivered  (big $).  When the board saw hard facts and had everything actually spelled out they got raises and a donated minivan with a hitch and an enclosed trailer. 

They also pushed for and got two days a week off. No calls, no b.s., two days where they were both off limits. That was the hardest thing to get,  because everyone in the theatre wants to be making changes and twitching about something all the time, right up until the curtain goes up. Putting their feet down on that was tough for everyone at first, but it shifted a *lot* of that "poor planning on your part emergency on mine" stuff back onto the directors and every person at the theatre benefited. 

For you going back to school that would maybe be a direction to look as well. If you open shows on Thursdays for the weekends,  maybe you don't work Monday and Tuesday, ever. That gives you a couple of days during the week for school.

Odds are pretty good your board is all people who have day jobs. Present to them reasonable expectations that your job gets treated like theirs, and that you have earned the right to be treated at work the way they expect to be treated at work and they might actually listen.  Just remember that the difference between a whine and a complaint is if you also present a reasonable solution for the problem.  No one likes the whiner, but it's hard to argue with a reasonable solution. 

Curtis said:

4 of us on staff and 6 on the exec board.

That's your problem right there.  By all means have the conversation with the board, but do not expect miracles or accept less than you need to make the job worth doing.  You hold the cards.

Curtis said:

These people are cherished friends more than bosses.

I'm not totally clear if 'bosses' rather than 'boss' means the 6 person board, the 4 person staff, or a combination of the two...But if any of the bosses in question are not trusting you to do your job without micromanaging, and/or are not going up to bat on your behalf to get others to trust you to do your job without micromanaging, this might not be as true of them as one would hope. 

In reply to Curtis :

I don't think you are torn at all. You've made your decision, and a raise ain't gonna fix it. 

Time for greener pastures. Leave while it can still offer some wonderful memories. 

If you don't leave now, you will be more and more unhappy (albeit with a bit more money)

Any thoughts on set building for TV/movies instead? My neighbor does that all around Atlanta. Come on down here, we have the best Craigslist cars and lots of great schools to get your degree.

Oh, and quit the job. Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

In reply to Curtis :

I need to challenge you a bit. Please don't take this the wrong way- remember, I spent a lot of years in theatre doing what you do, and completely understand the relationship aspects. 

However, these people are not your friends. They are the people who are taking advantage of you for the services you offer so they can feel good about themselves. They are holding you back from achieving the goals that are most important for you. They are expresssing through their actions how little they care about you, and that they actually only care about some BS "love of the theatre" that gives them some kind of warm fuzzy, at YOUR expense. 

Stop selling yourself short. 

One more thing.... you are replaceable. There will be 5 people standing in line for your job the minute you give notice. 

If you want to maintain the friendships, serve on the board as an equal, not as a peon. 

You are not describing a healthy work environment.  You are describing a corporate codependent environment.

Tough love. And yes, I totally understand what that love and passion feels like. 

Go do some traveling, get your Master's, and pour into people in a different way than you currently are. 

Luv ya, man. 

I agree with the tough love.  I have an agenda typed out for our meeting.  I'll present the things I need, push for the option I want, and see where the chips fall.

slefain said:

Any thoughts on set building for TV/movies instead? My neighbor does that all around Atlanta. Come on down here, we have the best Craigslist cars and lots of great schools to get your degree.

Oh, and quit the job. Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

It is a thought.  I'm not sure about relocating at this point but it is an option.