“Other duties as described” - fetching food from sometimes hours away despite there being food trucks, catering, etc. Coffee was another one, wasn't part of our job description & even more personal things like laundry or dog walking. Sometimes they still do the dog walking if it was a cute dog & it was an excuse to go outside probably to try & see some guy they wanted to hook up with. I was never given a job description but I am sure the "other duties as described" were used. We were in a job that required us to be on time to take care of transporting people & yet the concern for timeliness was gone quickly when they wanted something. Often staff was set up to get in trouble either for amusement or sometimes so they could have a dutiful servant who would do whatever was asked of them without question. "George & Jehmal - Hangout 2016" after they were "caught" doing illegal or dangerous things, often after management caught them or demanded they do it. Often the people who were continually asked were people of color & the manager asking was always on some kind of fitness kick yet couldn't muster the gumption to burn the calories to do it themselves. Not getting paid for things like this became a more common issue as well & if you brought it up the whole thing was turned back on you, that they thought you wanted to help a friend etc. I couldn't be blackmailed into working for free or doing things, not within my job description. Doing that brought an avalanche of issues onto you as well. Once you did bring it up, no matter how professional being disagreeable even if you were polite about it was the end of your job & for the duration of the project you were made miserable & then work completely slowed down for you because behind your back you were gossiped about and managers alluded to things like "theft" or other dangerous things. They never came out & said it but you would find out months later what they were saying about you. It is one thing to be helpful & if you boss is a decent person you often don't mind but when you know that this person is just involving you in power plays for the enjoyment of it, when you see them openly doing unethical things to people to get a servant & abusing, company resources and times to get that it becomes obvious. I watched other managerial staff lose their job for this kind of behavior but then watched others do it constantly. They hid behind being busy & stressed out & not able to leave their desks yet they left when they wanted to smoke, walk someone's cute dog, or just wanted to go chat with a friend suddenly they have all the time & energy to go do those things, including workouts. True they had a lot to do they overbooked themselves on things & were often working on other festivals or events they often were not even bothering with the work in front of them due to greed. They refused to let any work go to other people sometimes even going so far as to leave not only the site but the country to go work 2 festivals at once & again as staff we were expected to keep this lie from administrators, other staff & it was beyond frustrating it was dangerous & illegal yet they got to keep their jobs. Why no one wants to get sued for discriminating against a woman or have a Gloria Allred show up in the courtroom. Administrators knew & didnt' care & wont until a bunch of people end up hurt or dead. They have tracking devices on everyone so they know.
drugs, sex & rock n roll: Those things are for the talent yet most of the talent don't have time for any of it, so by default, the management thinks they are rockstars by default & live & act like that. Mary Jo - a drug addict who was in charge of lives & an entire department for 2 decades. Shari a drug addict who lost out, George campos - drinking, Jehmal drug dealer, Renee got fired. Security never checked for drugs, I suspect the festivals makes "other" money off drug deals, they check people to be sure they don't bring in their own drugs so you can buy theirs.
security was there to control staff more than they were the attendees. "Albert" story, Ellie. No real protocol was every set down by them about how to deal with terror attacks, etc. When I told them about security issues I had no one bothered to listen, let alone provide me with something safe.
violation of labor laws, coercion to work for free.
safety, non existent. Managers who not only leave the site but leave the country to work other festivals & expect you to lie for them. Security treated like dogs & even assaulted by each other & themselves.
Paying to work- no reimbursements for travel, etc. Yet you are expected to work, often you break even & even if you are "offered" the job you know you better accept if you don't you stop getting called altogether for anything. Why aren't these simple low skill jobs offered to locals who can do them just as easily and who could use the opportunity to get their foot in the door?
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Mary Jo, Shaynee etc being responsible for getting people jobs on tours etc despite one failing to do well on them and another never touring ever. They were also not good people either they often got fired yet the touring industry keeps taking their lead on who to hire instead of actually conducting interviews etc and doing it that way. Everything is corporate now so you would think they would find a new approach.
How much did I make off these things? I learned what Mary Jo, emily & jasper make and it wasn't much.
More and more tours and music are hiring people on for one job then having them do 2 or even 3. When I was working at the Shrine with Bill he did that to show how much money he was saving them. They didn't care. My last year at Coachella I ended up doing way more than I was paid for, Nikki Minaj's tour and the PC who was storing her stuff in her apartment. Angelique who was asked to do 2 then 3 jobs on boy george, Michelle who does VIP, PC and wardrobe on tours.
They have the money they just don't want to pay. Lots of free labor wherever they can find it.