I worked at the Manchester Apollo for just over 6 years. It was a really cool gig venue-not too big and not too small. As it was an evening job and it was mainly seasonal work, I would work at whatever day job I was doing at the time and then work there in the evenings for extra money. A lot of the times when I was out of a day job, I would do day work there. Having 2 jobs really wasn't as tiring as it may sound. Even though there would be many times when I would start my day job at 9am and then not be home until midnight. The thing about the Apollo was that for the first few years, it didn't even seem like a job. As I really like live music, it was brilliant working there and even when there would be artists on that I didn't like, the atmosphere would always be amazing. Because I was there that long and felt really comfortable whilst I was there, it kind of felt like a 2nd home. After about 2 years of working there, I became a supervisor and was in charge my own little bar near the front of the stage. This lasted for about another 3 years-until the introduction of the new bar manager. The Hooker.
I will get to how she got her name "The Hooker" later on.
When I first met The Hooker, I thought she was a bit odd looking. I try not to judge people when I first meet them but a lot of the times I tend to be right in what I think of them. The first thing I thought was that her presence made me feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because I was nervous about having a new manager-I just knew that this person wasn't going to be a good person. Her aura was giving me a lot of bad vibes. Oddly enough, I also felt that unintentionally, everyone also made her feel uncomfortable. This wasn't because she was new-it was almost as if she knew then that she was a bad manager and a bad person. She obviously wouldn't want anyone to know this so for the next few months she would be completely fake. By laughing at peoples' lame jokes, being overly "nice" and sucking up. It would really make me cringe. Now I know this could be classed as a completely natural thing to do as people want to fit in with the crowd. But it was the first step to becoming the evil conniving bitch that she became well known for.
As I was a supervisor at the time, things were ok . But I was the one that was being sucked up to. Anyone that actually knows me would know that I really hate this. I would much rather prefer someone to just....be themselves. Is that too difficult for them?? Anyway, this didn't last too long. Any person who has worked will tell you that being a good manager isn't about making friends, it's about getting the best out of your staff work wise. Eventually it seemed that The Hooker would be doing completely the opposite to this-hence her being a crap manager.
Going back to being intimidated, it seemed like it was most of the staff who had been there a long time that most intimidated The Hooker-me being one of them. Slowly but surely, she used her "feminine" charms to even higher authority and started to get rid of people who had been there a long time. Normal staff who had never really done anything wrong. For example one girl she got rid of because she wanted to go out with her ex boyfriend-no real reason was even given as to why she got rid of her. But it was clearly because she was intimidated by her as she was probably seen as a threat. When she did go out with this guy (he happened to have a bigger nose than Pinocchio on a bad day), she promoted him to a supervisor! Eventually I knew that she wanted to get rid of me and it wasn't going to be easy so she tried to make life at The Apollo as miserable for me as she could so I would leave. She yelled at me once when I started giving breaks to people-even though some of them had worked nearly 6 hours without having one-her boyfriend not being one of them of course. I recall Pinocchio having an extra long break in fact.
We eventually started arguing and having a lot of disagreements. Alcohol and money would go "missing" and she would never take responsibility for this and would always try to blame other people. Also, when my bar was quiet, I would go and wander around seeing if anybody else needed help. She was such a crap manager that I took it upon myself to do this. She didn't like this and one time when I was away from my bar, she decided to take £50 out of the til without telling me. Of course, my staff behind the bar wouldn't bat an eyelid if a manger takes comes to the til and takes money out of it as it could be a cash lift or for change or something. So at the end of the night when I cashed up my til, it was £50 down. Exactly £50 which I thought to be strange. Naturally I searched the other staff members and found nothing on them. Repeatedly asked them what had happened for it to be so much down. They of course didn't know anything and I went up to the office after a lot of stressing out and told The Hooker that it was £50 down. She then started yelling at me and then eventually told me that she took it to teach me a lesson not to leave my bar. I just flipped out and called her "A Fxxking Hooker" and stormed out of the room. The next day I was demoted, put on a different bar and that's when it all started. I would now and again be able to supervise but only if I was good and only if I sucked up to her.
One day I was really ill but came into work anyway. For some reason I got put on a different bar and I cashed the tills up at the end and remember couldn't waiting to get home. The next day, The Hooker told me the tills were £50 down (conveniently exactly £50-sound familiar?) and that I couldn't be supervisor anymore! Funny how when I cashed up, the tills were right, when The Hooker double checked, it was "£50 down." I really despised this woman. Strangley enough, she seemed to be getting uglier as time went by (I remember reading in another Roald Dahl book called The Twits and there is a bit that says "if you have ugly thoughts then you will look ugly) and hairier. Yes, that is what I said. Hairy. She seemed to be growing her own field on her face. She started getting rid of other people-normally the people who were unwilling to kiss her arse and so I knew my time was coming soon. It's weird to think how much time and effort I put into that place only to end up being treated like crap. I really should have left when she started being a bitch and when I didn't enjoy it anymore. But the problem with me is that I am so stubborn and I didn't want to let The Hooker beat me and leave the place. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who I became close with had left or even been fired. I didn't really have many people who would stick up for me. Then came the day when The Hooker got finally got what she wanted.
It was Diwali and during the day I had gone out for a couple of drinks. 6 hours later when I was completely sober, my shift started. I'd mentioned to someone after they asked how my day was that it was Diwali and I had been for a couple of drinks at midday and that I knew we were short staffed today so I still came in when I should have had it off. The Hooker heard this and 15 minutes into when my shift had started accused me of being drunk! Unbelievable. So I got escorted out of the building in a humiliating way. I was suspended for about 3 weeks before being fired. Like I said, I had nobody left who would stick up for me. A few weeks later I got some revenge by writing the following letter, making about 50 copies and sealing them all in Christmas cards and getting someone to take them in the building for me (sorry Christian but I didn't trust anyone else). Before I did this, there were rumours going around that I was going to do something like sabotage the electrics at a gig or hijack the beer delivery. However I am not James Bond. Here is the letter:-
Hmmm, reading stuff. Sometimes it's good to read stuff.
This time, it really IS over. In a good way!!!
Can't really say it's much of a surprise as the bar manager has been trying to get rid of me for ages. It's no secret that we NEVER got along. I wonder why?? A clash of personalities?? (Although she's hardly even got one). Maybe it was an INDIAN thing (we are a strange bunch sometimes and are hard to understand). Or maybe it's because she's jealous because my facial hair is better than hers?? I recently switched from Mach 3 to Fusion. Maybe she could try that?? Or perhaps a Flymo lawnmower would be more appropriate for her??
The whole way the saga turned out has been pretty disgusting, especially after CONSTANT HUMILIATION. The GOOD NEWS is that I don't have to work with any two-faced scummy DINGBATS, or any people who think that they're more than they actually are. (you know who you are you idiots-stop DELUDING yourselves) and most of all, NO MORE HOOKER! WHOOP!
There have been good times (not been any for AGES) and there have been bad times. There have been some pretty messed up times too, one of many examples being the time on the Mars Volta gig when I was put on the rear stalls bar and "money went missing" and then the very next day I was demoted. How fucking convenient. Obviously all just a blatant lie. Sick twisted and disgusting. Unfortunately, lately, there have been too many sick, twisted and disgusting things there. Like favouritism - one rule for some people, another rule for other people and then a whole separate rule for me. NOBODY GETS TREATED THE SAME. In my book, that would be classed as -unprofessional-
I can't even say that I'm going to miss the place. Lately it's been one of many things that's been making me EXTREMELY UNHAPPY. BUT! Now that I'm not there, it's definitely a step in the RIGHT DIRECTION.
I guess this time it really is GOODBYE FOREVER.
Peace, Love and AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooo
Mukesh!
Now apparently, The Hooker managed to get most of the letters but a few got passed around to the staff. I got told that The Hooker was "very upset". I remember my beautiful friend called Jenni who said to me that it was brilliant as "every time she (The hooker) looks in the mirror, she will check for facial hair and think of the letter for the rest of her life."
