#2 - the next one
or maybe i've already forgotten one?
there have been so many. so many that have caused me to curl up inside and wish to leave. to run.
so it's surprising i forgot those 3 months.
it started on valentines day, the year 2000. my 2nd "film" job. working as a talent agent's assistant, in toronto.
for someone who is notoriously evil. any talent in the city who has been rep'd by this person, or is currently rep'd by them, knows the fear.
she's easily described as cruella de'ville's twin with less hair.
while i worked there i:
1-had many, many, many things thrown at me, including water bottles, garbage and change
2-she would scream at me: "GO BUY ME CIGARETTESSSSSS" with puffs of cigarette smoke coming out of her mouth (yes, it was currently illegal to smoke in the work place, yet, she kept puffing away)
3-did i mention she had cancer? and continued to smoke? and lived? (who can do that? PURE EVIL)
4-she loved to go through new submission head shots to write on them with sharpie, circling "problems" on people's faces, calling people fat pigs/ugly/trolls/"WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!", and she'd rip up the headshot photos afterwards. she'd make us keep the self addressed return envelopes damn stamps. and she'd never use them.
5-she would allow her clients to hold for her on the phone for hours. once, while i was there, for 3 hours. i'd check in once and awhile and the talent would be like: "i really need to talk to her, this is the only way."
6-she was banned from the pub across the street from her office for public drunkenness and generally disruptive rude and mean behaviour
7-talent would call, and when they realized it still was me, they kept telling me: "you have the new record!!" no one had lasted as long as i ended up lasting (3 months!) in a very long time. some people would quit at lunch on the first day. they would go to lunch and never come back. it was THAT bad in there.
8-i eventually quit, i gave her 1 week of notice, which made her extremely mad at me, and i just, i'm pretty sure, finished it? she may of ordered me to "never come back" but the other people working there were happy they got some notice, and didn't blame me at all for quitting. they actually were amused that i had left my notice of quitting on her desk, and i went to lunch. they thought i wouldn't have the guts to come back, but, i did (i needed to be paid). so i let her yell, i ignored it. i should go back through my other writing and see what happened. probably wrote about it somewhere.
9-when the other agent quit soon after i did, crazy agent sued her. i had to write a witness statement, that was used in court to prove that it was a poisoned work place. glad i was able to offer my support, because that work environment was insanity when crazy agent was actually in the office, or even when she wasn't. i was used to getting screamed at on the phone, and expected to start work at 0900 and end work when ever crazy agent wanted me to leave...sometimes midnight. all for the big pay of $500/wk :)
10-i'd look out the window and sometimes see another filmmaker, a famous filmmaker (EDIT: it was Norman Jewison). and hope, someday, i'd be able to work some where normal in the business. at the time i just thought i was "PAYING MY DUES".
there have been so many. so many that have caused me to curl up inside and wish to leave. to run.
so it's surprising i forgot those 3 months.
it started on valentines day, the year 2000. my 2nd "film" job. working as a talent agent's assistant, in toronto.
for someone who is notoriously evil. any talent in the city who has been rep'd by this person, or is currently rep'd by them, knows the fear.
she's easily described as cruella de'ville's twin with less hair.
while i worked there i:
1-had many, many, many things thrown at me, including water bottles, garbage and change
2-she would scream at me: "GO BUY ME CIGARETTESSSSSS" with puffs of cigarette smoke coming out of her mouth (yes, it was currently illegal to smoke in the work place, yet, she kept puffing away)
3-did i mention she had cancer? and continued to smoke? and lived? (who can do that? PURE EVIL)
4-she loved to go through new submission head shots to write on them with sharpie, circling "problems" on people's faces, calling people fat pigs/ugly/trolls/"WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!", and she'd rip up the headshot photos afterwards. she'd make us keep the self addressed return envelopes damn stamps. and she'd never use them.
5-she would allow her clients to hold for her on the phone for hours. once, while i was there, for 3 hours. i'd check in once and awhile and the talent would be like: "i really need to talk to her, this is the only way."
6-she was banned from the pub across the street from her office for public drunkenness and generally disruptive rude and mean behaviour
7-talent would call, and when they realized it still was me, they kept telling me: "you have the new record!!" no one had lasted as long as i ended up lasting (3 months!) in a very long time. some people would quit at lunch on the first day. they would go to lunch and never come back. it was THAT bad in there.
8-i eventually quit, i gave her 1 week of notice, which made her extremely mad at me, and i just, i'm pretty sure, finished it? she may of ordered me to "never come back" but the other people working there were happy they got some notice, and didn't blame me at all for quitting. they actually were amused that i had left my notice of quitting on her desk, and i went to lunch. they thought i wouldn't have the guts to come back, but, i did (i needed to be paid). so i let her yell, i ignored it. i should go back through my other writing and see what happened. probably wrote about it somewhere.
9-when the other agent quit soon after i did, crazy agent sued her. i had to write a witness statement, that was used in court to prove that it was a poisoned work place. glad i was able to offer my support, because that work environment was insanity when crazy agent was actually in the office, or even when she wasn't. i was used to getting screamed at on the phone, and expected to start work at 0900 and end work when ever crazy agent wanted me to leave...sometimes midnight. all for the big pay of $500/wk :)
10-i'd look out the window and sometimes see another filmmaker, a famous filmmaker (EDIT: it was Norman Jewison). and hope, someday, i'd be able to work some where normal in the business. at the time i just thought i was "PAYING MY DUES".
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