In a video that made its way onto Reddit and then Gawker this morning, an AMC employee working the concession stand films a prank. His manager told him to throw away some Milk Duds, but he has some other ideas about how to actually accomplish the task. As far as pranks go, this one is pretty harmless. But what can it tell us about teen employees and managing them in a movie theatre environment?
The video brings to mind concerns that Keith Wiedenkeller (an executive of AMC) often talks about in his "People Factor" columns. How do you inspire and motivate workers? And how do you deal with a teen workforce?
I think this kind of goofing off could mean a few things:
1) The teen loves his job and his workplace, and has a good boss that appreciates humor now and then.
2) His boss has no control over his employees, but goes along with the behavior because at least that way he feels like he has control.
3) The supervisor would hate the prank, but the teen likes to irritate him (in which case he was very stupid to put the video on the Internet).
The best-case scenario would be #1. In an interview with a Cinebarre manager Victoria Karol last year, she emphasized to me the importance of a fun workplace where people enjoy clocking in. Pranks can build a group identity and a sense of being part of a team. When the concessions are sold and everyone is tucked away into their theatres to enjoy the show, there just may be time to do something else besides sweep the floors. What do you think? Did the employee exercise poor judgment by putting the video on the Internet? Is the prank itself harmless or a sign of an employee who goofs off too much?
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