Usher Deborah McIntyre FIRED by Shubert Org

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 9:31am

If you've been going to the theatre long enough, you will know and recognize Debbie, an old school usher, who was, up until recently, working the Barrymore. She snuck into the theatre to watch Obama watch "Raisin in the Sun" and was fired for it. This is the Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/nyregion/security-and-enthusiasm-clash-in-theater-of-the-absurd.html?ref=theater&target=comments#commentsContainer

You can register a complaint with Shubert management at 212.944.3700 if you so wish (and I hope you do as this firing was just wrong). Their offices open at 10am.


Updated On: 6/12/14 at 09:31 AM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 10:46am

"(and I hope you do as this firing was just wrong)."

Qwen22, a few questions:

1. Why was the firing wrong in your opinion? What should the Shubert Organization have done?

2. Does it bother you that in addition to having used her position to gain entrance to a high security area where she should not have been, she lied about why she was there when asked what she had been doing. ("I was just there to help out.")

3. Do you think that her color factored into the firing decision at all, or, for that matter, into this story being in the NYT?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 10:51am

It's not like anybody who worked in or at a theater has ever assassinated a president before.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 10:54am

As a former usher, I would say that's a pretty serious breach of security. Especially since she stretched the truth about why she was there. I would have fired her too.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 10:57am

Yeah, I understand that she's been there for a very long time and she might have had only the best of intentions to wanting to see the President, but what if I, a normal guy who doesn't work at the theater, had desperately wanted to see The President? And if I snuck into the theater, breaching security just to get a glimpse of him? Should I not have to face the consequences?

Whatever her reasons and however noble they might have been, she committed a pretty serious violation of the rules (law?) and she's facing the consequences for it.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 11:01am

Yes. It was truly a bad call on her part. She should have cleared it with her house manager.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 11:23am

Wow. It's a major breach of security. I think people are sympathizing with Ms. McIntyre for her honest good intentions, but when one considers the potential harm that could have happened if the intentions weren't so noble, you can see why the punishment had to be so extreme. The Shuberts really don't have any choice but to take extreme action.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 11:29am

Isn't there a union involved with this? Or was this a case of just such gross negligence that the union doesn't have any say in the matter?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 11:43am

By her own admission she broke the rules and lied, so I doubt the union would get behind her to fight her case.

[nmlhats]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 5:36pm

I usher at a couple of major venues in Dallas. If any of us had tried to sneak in to any show--volunteer or paid staff--we would have been seriously reprimanded, if not fired. The HMs run a very tight ship over there, and an unscheduled usher would never have been let into the building under those heightened security conditions. Safety is #1. If you are not assigned to a show and you don't have a ticket, you are not getting past the lobby. End of story. Both the usher and the HM deserve some kind of disciplinary action. I don't know if firing is the answer, but this is more serious than some people seem to realize. She just wanted to star-gaze, and that is NOT cool for front of house staff--not to mention a security issue for POTUS and FLOTUS.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 6:13pm

"It's not like anybody who worked in or at a theater has ever assassinated a president before."

Haha, Namo, and so true, too!

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 6:42pm

"You can register a complaint with Shubert management"

Why would anybody do this? What she did is clear grounds for termination. If your reason is because she has been working for the organization for so long, then that is actually all the more reason to let her go. She has been there long enough to have known better.

She was a breach of security and she lied. If it was your company and she put you in a serious situation like this, what would you HONESTLY do?

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:04pm

Oh for Pete's sake, you people are just as awful as always. We are all theatre folk, either involved with or love the theatre. We should celebrate those who take chances; the rebels. Those who find joy there (and Debbie had a historic reason to find joy in that theatre that night, something personal and profound). So she broke some pretty big rules. Good for her. GOOD FOR HER! It didn't hurt anyone and if there was a chance it could have, security would have been a little bit better. And Jimmy, not only have many people jammed the phone lines of the Shubert Organization today, a large number of the good (and I mean good, as opposed to you nasties) people of theatre we all love have started a Facebook page to support her.

[Jane2]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:15pm

"So she broke some pretty big rules. Good for her. GOOD FOR HER!"

What is this, eighth grade?

"It didn't hurt anyone..."

Whew, lucky for that. I guess the Secret Service is stupid for not guessing that probably it wouldn't hurt anyone.

You sound so childish and naive.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:25pm

Yes, good for her. And when one gets caught, one pays the consequences. This wasn't a prank.

This has NOTHING to do with the love of theater.

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:30pm

Dear Jane2. I am only voicing the childish and naive sentiments of those theatre people you indulge in and love so much, just take a look at the Facebook page.

Granted we are all in the theatre so by definition you are correct, we all are pretty naive and childish. Thank God. Why are you the way you are?

And, Drama... it has EVERYTHING to do with the theatre.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:36pm

Are you effing kidding with your logic Owen? This is a bit you're doing, right?

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:36pm

"So she broke some pretty big rules. Good for her. GOOD FOR HER! It didn't hurt anyone and if there was a chance it could have, security would have been a little bit better."

You are kidding, right?! She broke the law, she snuck into a theatre, which is illegal in the first place, then she was a breach in the security of THE PRESIDENT, then she lied to her boss about why she was there. What would happen if you were trespassing at work and then lied about why you were there? How about if the president was there to boot? She is getting fired because that is what happens when you do something like this no matter where you work. It sucks for her that she lost her job, i feel sorry for her for having a lapse in judgment when there were high stakes, but she took the risk, and now she is paying for it. Accepting reality does not make anyone here nasty terrible people. The sense of entitlement that you seem to be championing is very concerning though. "She has been there for a long time, she deserves to be applauded for breaking rules and the law, and breaching security, BRAVO!!" That is bullsh!t, and deep down in your brain, I know you know it. If you don't know it, then you are part of what is so broken with society today.

[Jane2]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:37pm

I have no interest in looking at the Facebook page, Owen. This is a clear cut matter. There's no argument.

"Granted we are all in the theatre so by definition you are correct, we all are pretty naive and childish. Thank God"

Except I didn't mean it in a good way with you.

"Why are you the way you are? "

I blame it on the bossa nova.

I repeat what Dramam. said. This has nothing to do with theater. You and your cronies can't seem to grasp that.

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:41pm

"Except I didn't mean it in a good way with you."

I think that part is my favorite.

[Jane2]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:46pm

That's only because you don't know what the bossa nova is.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 7:52pm

Right on Owen. This is just another example of THE MAN holding us down.

Power to the people!!!

Geesh.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 8:00pm

If she was a model employee, her senority and performance record would have rewarded her with that shift. Since she was scheduled off, that tells me that Debbie has had some issues in the past. I am not a House Manager of a theatre, but anyone with common sense would know that you would schedule your most experienced, dependable, and personable employees.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 8:00pm

Double Post Updated On: 6/12/14 at 08:00 PM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 6/12/14 at 11:33pm

Jane2, I disagree with you. I don't think that Owen22 sounds childish and naive. I think he sounds like a ****ing idiot. Actually, on second thought you're right. He sounds like a childish and naive ****ing idiot.