• My boss by a long shot. It seemed like he’d been promoted past his realm of competency and wanted to be demoted, but didn’t want to take the pay cut associated with it. The result is that there was a lack of communication on his part which left me guessing as to how I was supposed to be doing my job. Then he’d complain because I didn’t do something right, or I didn’t get something done when he was expecting it. He seemed nice, aside from the fact that he seemed to be unintentionally sabotaging any effort I tried to make to be a productive worker; except that I always felt like I was talking to someone who was trying to decide if I’d taste good. I ignored it and tried to do my job, but as a projectionist, you’re locked in a dark, very noisy room by yourself for hours on end.

    My mental health started slipping, I got written up a couple times, and then I asked for accommodations. I figured I was pretty safe doing that, everyone at the theater was nice, the chain was small, had a good reputation with customers and staff, staff felt comfortable being gay, trans and/or enby in front of customers in Texas so I thought, they shouldn’t have a problem with making accommodations for my depression, anxiety and adhd, right? That’s when I found out why I felt like he was trying to decide if I tasted good or not. He did the whole song and dance of “okay, we can work something out” while suddenly seeming annoyed (as opposed to his normally somewhat happy, albiet potentially cannibalistic demeanor).

    Two weeks later I get fired for something he’d never asked me to do and he comes up to the booth with the theater manager while wearing the most triumphant look on his face, before announcing to me that it’s a shame that I’m not a good fit for the company and that we’ll have to be parting ways. I asked if there was anything I could do to fix the situation and the theater manager seemed apologetic and genuinely upset and started to say something only to get cut off by my boss who told me that there was absolutely nothing that could be done (as a projectionist, I was kinda in a pseudo-managerial role, the managers technically couldn’t tell me to do anything, nor could they fire me, but I had to have a good reason if I ignored them or wasn’t properly communicating with them). The manager apologized while he was escorting me out and told me he knew it was bullshit, but he couldn’t do anything because neither of us were under him. He also mentioned that he’d been frustrated with my boss since the chain began reopening after COVID, but that he had seniority and been with the company since it’s founding, so it was basically impossible to remove him.

    Yay.