A collegial workplace
Image: View from the vestibule of The New Penelope on Sherbrooke Street, 1967. François Dallegret (photographer), copyright 1967. Courtesy of François Dallegret
Credit: Interview was conducted in 2005 by Harriet Eisenkraft with Richard King about her newly deceased brother Gary Eisenkraft. (The interview was featured in an article for The Globe and Mail newspaper.) Courtesy of Harriet Eisenkraft.
Duration: 0:45 min
Richard King was a friend of Gary Eisenkraft who also happened to work as doorman at The New Penelope on Sherbrooke St. In an interview with Harriet Eisenkraft, Gary’s sister, in 2005, he talks about the layout of the club, the workforce organization and the atmosphere during his shifts.
Transcription:
Richard King: So I was inside the, the vestibule [of The New Penelope]. There was a door. From the customers’ point of view [as they entered], [the] ticket booth [was] in front of them, [and the] door to enter the club proper [was] on their left. And I was just inside that.
Harriet Eisenkraft: So what kind of employer was Gary, if he was your employer, so to speak?
Richard King: Well, you know, Daphne [a New Penelope employee] was really the one I was supposed to report to. In those days, you know, no one made a big deal. You got paid and that was, you did your job, you got paid. And that was that.
Harriet Eisenkraft: Uh-huh.
Richard King: Daphne was more concerned about the waitresses than me. So I don’t remember, you know, I really have no memory of Gary or Daphne as employers. Nominally, they were my boss, but I don’t think any of us saw it quite that way.