Last Friday was payday at House of Blues, where I work for the Production department, and when I got called to my boss' office I wondered what was up. I hadn't been late, I have NEVER called in sick, and I hadn't broken any rules recently so I was a bit confused.

I walked into the boss' office and he handed me my paycheck, in an envelope as usual. There was another envelope attached to the paycheck envelope and before my boss relaxed his grip on the stack of 2 envelopes, he told me that certain employees were going to get this extra envelope on their checks this week. He then told me that he wanted to personally tell me the contents of the envelope before I read the memo inside.

He then went on to tell me that an audit was done on hours worked by all employees of the venue. This audit evaluated hours worked between the months of April and September, 2006. The hours were tallied, then an average was taken to determine average hours per week during this time period. The letter inside the other envelope was a memo from the Human Resources department stating that, after auditing my hours for that time period it was found that my average hours worked per week was under 32, and for this I will be penalized. The penalties they are imposing on me are as follows, and these penalties go into effect 1/1/06:

Loss of right to accumulate, and redeem vacation hours

Loss of health insurance

Loss of dental insurance

Loss of vision insurance

And it didn't even mention what would happen with the money I have contributed to my 401k account.

So... I now have the rest of December to decide whether or not I will stay around as a part-time employee, or take a stand and resign my post. Either way, one thing remains true; I will not have health insurance in 2007 unless I purchase it myself.

By the way: I have worked for the House of Blues Corporation since 1998

Thanks a lot, HOB!!

What is their company motto????

Oh, yeah!!

"Help Ever Hurt Never" PLEASE!!

I go see bands live at the house of blues rather often.
sorry to hear all that tho

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When the stress burns my brain just like acid rain drops,
Maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop!

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Do me a favor:
DON'T GO THERE ANYMORE

Help me take money out of their money-grubbing pockets

ya know what. if it can do some good, i might as well not go anymore.
not my loss, and if anything, i want them to lose now!

you got me on yo side brothah

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When the stress burns my brain just like acid rain drops,
Maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop!

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

It CAN do some good! The more people I have on my side the better. I mean... if your FAVORITE band is playing there and they haven't played in years, or you will never get to see them if you don't go to THAT show, then by all means go to the show. But honestly, who wants to pay $4.00 for a bottle of water at a concert? If people start thinking,
"Oh! 'so-and-so' is playing the House of Blues tonight! Let's go! Oh, wait remember that guy from can.com who they treated like shit? Let's NOT go"

Thanks! Tell all your friends!!

I'm pissed about this (as if you couldn't tell)

Do you know how many peeps got the letter??? Why are u averaging a day a week missing???

Many got the letter. At least 5 others in my department, I know of at least one security guard that got it, and one bartender.

I am an audio guy, and there are 7 other audio people there that management tries to schedule. Some weeks you get more work than others because they are always trying to 'rotate somebody in'. In addition, they make it a policy to consider 32 hours (not 40) a full week. This way, they never have to pay overtime because if they only schedule you for 32 hours and a show goes over or something, there are still 8 hours to play with. In the process, the employee's average goes down. (did that even make any sense?)

Long story short, I don't make the schedule

They can't take your 401K from you - that's your money.

It's very rare that "part-time" people get any benefits in most corporations. Pensions are being eliminated, as are retirement medical benefits, in many corporations.

One thing you can depend on: there's no guarantees anymore.

First off, I have been a FULL-TIME employee since 1998, secondly, your whole post didn't seem to show up. I'm wondering what will show up on the quote.
Do you think they will just put the value of my 401k on my last paycheck or something? (because I DO intend to quit)

wow - now your comment about the pins and t-shirts saying house of blues gives me the blues isn't even there. What's happening here?

he has 5 mins to edit...

401 is yours,,,you need to roll it over into a new tax deferred plan or take it and pay taxes on it...

companys change policys all the time,,,it is not uncommon to keep taking from the employees...

That's crappy. But that's corporate America for you.

Work sucks. I feel for you. I don't have a house of blues to boycott - I've only been twice in my life - but that is completely crappy.

Wow yeah thats really fucked up. Our Health Insurance policy in America is extremely fucked up. Federally Funded insurance charges the least amount of money and they try to shift the costs onto private insurance, like yours. So the premium is getting higher and higher for insurance so businesses are making it harder and harder for you to get it. Really messed up. The number one reason people in our country go bankrupt is because of hospital bills.

People try to blame being poor on being LAZY. Whatever, that is fucking stupid. If you are poor and need to go to the hospital, and you don't have health insurance, you are going to get a HUGE FUCKING BILL. It's like, WE ARE MAKING PEOPLE POOR!!!!

I don't know where I was going with this. I get really angry sometimes over things like this though..

I am sorry, I will be boycotting those mother fuckers!!!

Doesn't Guttermouth play at the House of the Blues occasionally? In California or something?

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Life is like a roll of toilet paper....you never know when it'll end.

House of Blues hosts shows for virtually any band seriously.

I saw Incubus play a show represented by the HOB in Seattle..

House of Blues WAS the second biggest producer of live concerts in the country, with Clear Channel/Live Nation in the lead.
As of 1/1/07 Live Nation will own House of Blues. They have been finalizing the sale for the past few months, and I suspect that some of these changes I am complaining about with employment status/benefits, etc are a result of rules imposed by the 'new regime'.
I'm pretty much over it. There is plenty of touring work for me out there. As a matter of fact I got a call on Monday from a friend asking me to go out and do a 6 week tour starting mid January. Usually jobs in my industry are far and few in between during the Winter months, so I am taking this as a sign that things will be better with less House of Blues in my life. I have decided to not quit the job altogether, but to stay around on a more limited availability basis and make some money off of them while I still can.
After all... $$$ the allmighty dollar rules all!!

New House of Blues slogan: Help ever, Bend over!!

Well did you know that you had to have 32 hours or more? Cause I mean 32 hours a week really aint shit if you dont got much goin on in life and even though you didnt have to work but coulda gone in, thats your fault. But I dunno im tired and thats my short two cents.

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well if I lived there I wouldn't go. Thats some bullshit if I ever heard it. If I were you i'd either A) Cut him like a dirty foreigner or B) Quit your job and go somewhere they will appreciate you.

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I Love You Robby!

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like, victory. Someday this war's gonna end.."

- Kilgore (Apocalypse Now)

No, what you have to do is to have them roll it over to either another 401K or an brokerage account like an IRA. If you don't and just cash the check yourself, you have to pay quite a hefty tax penalty for withdrawing it.