Labour Day at the Movies

It's time to change reels

Here’s the Boyd Drive in, in Kelowna. Well, actually, Rutland. It was owned by the Boyd family, the second drive-in in BC. It eventually was renamed “The Rutland Drive-In”, then the “Kelowna Drive-In.”

So I never actually saw or visited the drive in above, but I did have my first job at the Kelowna Drive-in. Sadly here’s the only picture that I can find.

Someone on Facebook mentioned Norm, the projectionist:

A neighbour of ours, Norm(?) was a projectionist. When we went to see The Sound of Music, he invited us up into the projection room. I remember the huge reels and he taught us about the small dots in the corner of the film which was his trigger to switching from one reel to the next. I watched part of that movie (the marionettes scene) through the small window in that room. I always remember that every time I see that movie.

I used to carry dinner up from the snack-bar to Norm. I was amazed at the size of the film reels, and the projectors, and by how insanely loud everything was. It was the 1970s, so Norm, of course, was more or less deaf.

The little grey building under the screen was actually home to… oh my God, I have no recollection of a name, but he must have had some hand in keeping things running, or perhaps cleaning?

The manager was a guy named Jerry. Looking back he was probably an OK boss, but at age 16 I was, in retrospect, already becoming somewhat obnoxious. I was absolutely, positively sure that I could run the place better than him.

I worked the box office, collecting cash from movie-goers and handing them their tickets from the cash register. I learned how to count money - an actual skill - and how to store it in the safe in the floor. I learned that sometimes you had to brace yourself when other theatres were running “The Sting” but we were forced to get by with something decidedly less popular.

I learned how to hang the words up on the outdoor sign showing what we were playing, and I learned how to cook hamburgers and fries. I learned that a single teen-aged girl driving a car with the trunk dragging near the ground, almost certainly was sneaking in three or four friends without paying.

And of course I learned how to smoke Colt cigarillos, drink beer, and learned what back seats in cars were for.

I also had my first experience at being an asshole employee. I had decided it was time to cease being exploited by the corporate overlords at the Kelowna Drive-In, and instead of just resigning I decided to go out with a long, detailed, and I am sure terribly pissy letter exclaiming my issues with Jerry’s management style, and how glad I was to be rid of him.

What I didn’t anticipate was that when I went back in to pick up my final pay packet he wiped the grin off of my face with a great slap.

No real harm was done, but looking back I can say that slap across my face probably was the thing that made me a life-long believer in trade unions, and collective bargaining, and workers’ rights.

It was a moment, at age 16, of “Whoa!? The Boss can actually HIT me?” That realization has stayed with me up to today.

You won’t often see it really discussed in Canadian media, but employers run the gamut from benevolent to downright nasty. Most land somewhere in the middle.

Yes, there are companies that understand the value of a good employee, and try to build a long-term relationship, but there are an equal number who just want to pay as little as possible and who see all employees as replaceable.

These are the companies that have taken to hiring immigrants on bogus education visas because they’re really cheap. These are the companies that lay-off their Canada-based employees and subcontract out phone-answering and support to whatever Asian phone-banks are cheapest.

And, perhaps thankfully, these are the companies that often wind up whining about how hard it is to make big profits in Canada, while refusing to understand that supporting Canadian workers, and Canadian customers, is what built their businesses in the first place.

So on this Labour Day head out for the day, and look for the businesses where the employees are smiling, and look healthy and stress-free, and where it feels like you’re being treated with respect and gratitude, not just eyed for more profit.

We do have choices in what we buy, and where we buy it. Those choices can go beyond price, and extend to how a company treats the people who work for it.

And of course: look for the Union Label.

Make no mistake. If you’re enjoying a holiday today it’s because of Unions. If you work an eight-hour day, and five-day work week, it’s because of Unions. If you have an annual vacation, and health and safety rules, and if you’re less likely to be killed or injured at your job, it’s because of Unions.

None of these things happened because of the generosity of employers or government - they were forced on them by striking Union members.

And I, for one, think that is a good thing, and I thank them.