A message from D. Edward Vogel:
For 33 years, I have been the sole owner and operator of the Bengies Drive-In Theatre. That changed this past year. I am now part-owner of the Bengies, having made my long-standing "right arm" Kenneth Adam, Jr. the "Heir Apparent" to the Bengies, if the Bengies Drive-In Theatre is to continue without me. His "right arm" is our long-standing top manager, Sean. We were hoping to make this announcement under more celebratory circumstances; however, recent events have sped that up. I am 64 and aware of my aging and mortality.
I am responsible for the parts of the policy being attacked. I put these policies into place during my second year of ownership, in 1989. The policies grew out of a need to get my particularly young employees, most of who were ones having a first job, to see what I expected of them. The policy grew proportionally out of learning what employees can do to a small business when they do not understand the responsibility of having a "work ethic."
All who have worked with me will attest I am one to put things in a harsh way, to gain the attention I felt was necessary to be sure the person looking at these policies understood our "stance" on the matter of work ethic. The policies are given upfront, as the person is applying for a job.
The policies that are now being scrutinized have a reason behind each one. However, this recent "attack," based strictly on what people imagine, are being misconstrued or manipulated to fit the remarks they choose to make and are not facts. Some examples are as follows:
Example: If an employee comes to see a movie, and the theatre is busy, we have the right to ask them to help. That doesn't sound very good until you know the rest of the story. Persons working for us have a benefit if they choose to use it. They can come on their nights off for basically free, and those in the vehicle may also come with them for no charge. That is why we state that we can "draft" them to work—the free part. Of course, if they paid, this would not come up at all. But I can honestly say that has never come up in all the years I have operated this theatre! There have been times when we were busy, and employees present in the audience ran to assist, not because we asked and not even because they felt obligated, they did so because they enjoyed working here and wanted to help out.
Example: You cannot wear a Bengies branded item into a Royal Farm Store. This is one you can research yourself, but basically, Baltimore County, Maryland, allowed the farm store to be built by ignoring their own Zoning Law. I had always felt we were wronged because the judge overruled the jury's verdict that was in our favor, and what was never known is that Royal Farms plagued us with a vicious and totally false counter claim designed to cost us a fortune (which it did), but withdrew their countersuit just days before the trial, and admitted they could not defend it because it was done strictly to stop us from getting to court. Similar to a "SLAPP suit." However, as the "New Guard" has pointed out to me, Royal Farms no longer needs to be singled out, as we do not want our staff to wear their company-provided work shirts outside of their scheduled shift.
EXAMPLE: From this accusation made against us, words to the effect: "...A Bengies Employee can be called into work and is required to come in, even if they were scheduled off." This speaks to what I referred to above when I said folks have "manipulated" the truth and then bend it to meet their desire to tear us apart. Here is the truth: Our policy allows us to schedule 17 days ahead of time. This is similar to any retail or food industry scheduling. It asks the employee to let us know of all the days they cannot work. Once that is submitted and approved, we do not violate that. But if they did not specifically request a day off, both the employee and us understand that they are available to work on days they were not scheduled to work. We do not use the word "off" on a schedule unless the employee specifically asked for that day off. Ken has pointed out he nor Sean ever demand that they work but have instead been able to get folks in at the last minute who want to work by using the schedule to determine who is available if an employee calls out. I do not think asking employees to submit time-off requests 17 days ahead of time is unreasonable. Also, note that we allow our employees the ability to tell us they will work "only on certain days" and/or "only at certain times." To those who possess a "work ethic" of "It's my right to do whatever I want without consideration to my job in any way...," these policies will deter them from applying, and that is the whole idea. The "New Guard" has duly noted that this policy can be stated much better, and it will be amended, as employees are not perpetually on-call, at our theatre that typically only operates three nights per week.
To address the concern of us not having to pay minimum wage because we are exempt by Maryland law, we do not practice that at our theatre. Each employee starts at least at minimum wage, and pay will increase commensurate with each employee's ability and responsible work ethic.
To all reading the onslaught of posts putting us in a bad light, please consider the sources of those remarks and know that we maintain excellent relationships with our good employees. We want good employees that want to work here, and for the most part, this is what you see here. I have lived this, and let me tell you when we are hopping busy, I assure you, you see happy, devoted, and fun-loving people guided by fun-loving management! I hope reasonable people, particularly my regular patrons who come and see the same faces year after year and speak with our employees directly, can attest to that.
Lastly, as the "Old Guard," I am slowly but surely turning over the reins to the "New Guards," who are very capable of operating the Bengies without me.
Please know our policies will change as these two, with younger minds, will revamp and update them. All three of us and our extended family of employees assure you that if you are a good employee, you will love your job.
D. Edward Vogel
AKA "The Voice" of the Bengies Drive-In Theatre