Respect

A friend of mine was asked to audition for this company and declined. I am very proud of him for saying no.

The reason I am proud of him comes from a conversation I had with the director not too long ago. In a nutshell, he was going on and on about how wonderful my friend is (which is true) and said how he would like for him to audition. The director then added that he had absolutely no intention of hiring my friend as there was no need for a rope act in the new show, but you know, maybe for the next show… Three or four years from now.

Considering the director forgot my name after I’ve worked with him for four years, I’m not sure that in three years he’ll remember ever having seen my friend, let alone be holding a place for him in a show that’s barely even a concept.

I know the director thinks his company is a big deal, but it is arrogant beyond words and completely disrespectful to a hard working artist to waste their time having them audition for something when the person conducting the audition knows full well there is no job possibility waiting.

It costs money to get to an audition. I should know. I flew to France from Canada to audition for this company. In the end, I had to buy a second plane ticket because the first airline wouldn’t accept my wheel. But at least I got hired. My friend? You don’t waste someone’s time and money like that. You don’t give someone false hope like that. And knowing how this company works, I’m amazed they even bothered mentioning that they had no intention of hiring him.

The longer I’m here, the more I see the lack of respect this company has toward its employees. In the beginning, there were some things that I thought were just quirks. But the longer I’ve been here, the more I see how messed up things are here and how in any other work environment, none of this shit would fly.

I don’t doubt that there are other companies that are much worse. Really, the overall conditions are quite good here. If you were to look in for a short period you might even think it’s perfect. But on a human level, there’s something seriously wrong lurking just below the surface. No matter how happy and shiny people look, private conversations reveal otherwise. And in the end, I think a lot of it comes down to respect. And if you aren’t one of the Associates, you’re probably not going to see a lot it.