So this has been eating at me for a while now and I need to put it out there so the truth is circulating as well as the theories and the bullshit. Everything you read here comes from me. This is Butch, not HUGE. HUGE is a happy place that overflows with positivity, but Butch is furious and has to address this - I hope you understand.
We fired Cody - I had to do it but WE had to fire him, take his keys and eventually ban him from the building entirely. He will never be allowed inside our theater ever again.
It began as simple customer service problems because of his rampant exaggeration, which started as just being overly dramatic about every tiny thing and quickly turned into outright lying and just fabricating whole events, some of which were important to theater operations - like just making up "fights" with customers or people that were "pissed off and drunk" that he always managed to talk down or fend off in his stories.
That was irritating and got to be worrisome but we chalked some of it up to immaturity and some to just trying to impress people.
We also had to do it because he was putting the theater at risk by:
- not carding people (read: pretty girls) at the bar
- giving away free beer to people (read: any performers he wanted to like him and random pretty girls) to the tune of dozens or more drinks in a single shift, despite being told directly by Board members that it was not allowed under ANY circumstances. He claimed to be buying drinks for people, which I will get to in a moment, but even when told directly to stop he gave away at least 12 drinks not an hour later.
- Drinking (sometimes heavily) while working, when confronted he began hiding it better but was drunk by the end of his shift more than once
Once we started trying to address his behavior and talking to people that worked with him we started getting bits of information that we hadn't before - little things that nobody thinks to mention because they're seemingly normal until you put them together with other seemingly normal and completely contradictory stories.
Then we realized that he had been stealing from the theater by:
- Stealing the drinks he was sneaking during his shift
- Skimming from the bar when bar tending - he would "buy" drinks for people that totalled more than what any other bartender at HUGE makes in tips during a shift and still walk out with more cash in "tips" than any other bartender we have here makes.
- Sneaking back into the building after the staff was gone - either claiming he was staying to clean (but would then text me saying he was tired and would clean up the next day) or coming back to the theater drunk after going to the bar or a party, letting himself into the beer room where he stole alcohol and drank alone in the theater after hours.
- Stealing out of people's lockers
- Stealing cash out of the safe at least once
He wasn't working any other job and claimed to pawn things when he had money, but when stories came together it was obvious that he had even skimmed money from the theater to "donate" back to the theater to get his name on a plaque. Yes. That's some low shit.
So - why am I posting all this?
I've listened to all kinds of reasons why I am "not supposed to" or how I need to "be the bigger person" or how this is "nobody's business" and it would be unprofessional to make this public. It all sounds like the Winklevoss dude from the Social Network, going on about some social code and how things "just aren't DONE" while getting soundly fucked over and just taking it and thinking he's holding the moral high ground - which always makes me ask myself why the hell I would ever do something that stupid.
The problem is, shit like this continues to happen in the absence of someone saying something - that is precisely what allows someone to float from person to person, or group to group and claim one lie after another. While I know it's not my (or HUGE's) job to put a stop to some mentally ill kid's endless parade of bullshit - I feel I do have a responsibility to the people that he continues to interact with.
I know that if we say nothing and keep it to ourselves and only tell people something neutral, that allows him to keep trying to deceive our people - and I feel bad enough that we made our people put up with his behavior for so long because I thought he was just a misguided but dedicated kid - I hate sitting here quietly holding onto information that people should have out of some antiquated and misplaced notion of how I should not air dirty laundry in public.
I have always been open about every part of what I do here, why do I have to suddenly be less open and honest because someone else is a compulsive liar? I cannot accept that.
And it's not like I didn't try it the other way - after we let him go and took his keys, but before we had found out the extent of what had been happening - he was allowed to come see shows at HUGE like any member of the public - and it was just more and more lying to people here to try and stay in their confidence - People that I wanted very much to protect from having to put up with it anymore by letting him go.
He was told that our statement on the matter would be neutral, and it was.
We simply said that he was no longer volunteering for HUGE.
He came in with stories of how he just needed time off and decided to give his keys back. When confronted by people that knew the truth, it turned into a lie about being caught using drugs in the theater - because if he couldn't appear innocent, he had to try and appear hardcore or something - and even sent me messages complaining that I had put him in an awkward position because what I told people didn't match what he was telling people.
I told him to try telling the truth. He is unable to hear advice like that.
His prime concern was and still is finding out how much people know so he can continue doing the same shit. It continues to snowball because nobody thinks to ask about things and someone like me - in the unlucky position of having to be in the middle of a lot of his lies and knows the truth - isn't "supposed to" say anything and doesn't.
The good news is, once we acknowledged that something wrong was happening, people started taking notice and asking about things that just didn't seem right - and the more that happened the more we found out. I want very much to be done with this and put it behind me, but I keep finding out more and more shit he was pulling here and I can't stand it.
People still continue to check with me about his lies - because he's telling people some outlandish shit - and lies upon lies have started to turn up about even the simplest things about himself.
People come ask me if he's bullshitting them because he said that he works for some anime company, that he's in a TV series, that he's playing the main room at First Ave, that he got invited to do stand-up, that someone flew him out to Las Vegas, that he's moving away - and they end up finding out that he lied to them about who he is and where he was from and they never thought to check stuff like that
BECAUSE WHY WOULD YOU?!?
That is why all this is being posted here - if you know the kid and have contact with him, you should know there's a reason to mistrust absolutely everything you hear. Everything. Not just the big stuff that sounds too crazy to be real. Everything.
I hope he stops, because I don't want him doing this to anyone else.
People keep asking me if I'm worried about him and saying they hope he gets better.
I can honestly say I don't care.
I care about this place and our people and he is no longer one of our people.
That is his doing but I had to do this part.
He came into this place under the guise of helping out and we thanked him while he fucked us over. He was (and most likely still is) stealing from people that have given us everything. I am aware that what we have here at HUGE and what I am able to do with my life has been given to me by those people. I appreciate it, and the people that make it happen, every single day - And he stole from them.
There's no end to how angry that makes me.
So I'm trying to put a stop to it.
4 comments:
As angry as he makes me, I still can't help but feel incredibly sorry for Cody. There are obviously some serious issues going on there, and I hope he eventually gets help and is able to straighten out his life.
Thanks Butch. Thanks for making Huge into such a great place and sorry you had to put up with such BS.
I feel sorry for him to some degree, but even more sorry for the people that end up getting royally burned. If he keeps acting like this, less people will feel sorry for him. Keeping this a secret would probably be the worst action to take for everyone involved. It sounds to me like he doesn't think that he needs help, which is the most dangerous part. People may get uncomfortable about hearing the truth, but just glossing over the signs is what leads to suicides down the street and kids hacking your classmates into bloody chunks. Hopefully someone that reads this is the one that can convince him to see a professional so that he stops hurting others and himself.
Oh wow. That's...just wow. So messed up.
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