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Dealing with poor management....*rant*


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Teacher's Pet

I work in a very upscale tavern/restaurant in a VERY wealthy part of New Jersey. Being one of only a few restaurants in the area, we are the "popular hangout" of the locals here, who have no problem flipping their BLACK Amex cards at us after an evening of drinking and dining......

 

The people, for the vast majority, are excellent tippers (20-25%, sometimes more), and with a few exceptions, really aren't overly demanding, even considering their "status".

 

As is the case in much of fine dining, waiters have it VERY easy. Rarely (except for during the day) do waiters so much as TOUCH plates of food, they primarily smile and take guest orders, and bring over drinks and coffee. The busser and runner staff do 90% of the actual "physical labor". Bartenders (such as myself, a waiter/bartender), have more work to do, just by the nature of bartending, but we have almost every modern convenience available (including our own dishwasher within easy reach of the bar).....

 

For the most part, we all make good money, but......the establishment is poorly run, from a management perspective. I've been a restaurant manager, so I know poor management when I see it.

 

The owner of the restaurant is a fairly well-known chef who used to run a place in NYC. He has created a very impressive menu that has caught the eye of several "style" and food-related magazines (we are going to be in a couple of magazines soon)... EVERY dish comes out of the kitchen looking picture perfect. When it comes to running a kitchen, I've never seen anyone do it better. I would imagine the kitchen staff would have something to say about this, but since I've never actually worked IN the kitchen, I don't have a lot to go by.

 

What he lacks is "human resource" skills. It is very obvious that this is the first restaurant he's ever OWNED, because some of his "concepts" as to running the operation are very impractical, and even unfair......

 

On Friday and Saturday nights, employeers are required to park in a municipal parking lot which is about a block away. The owner "purchased" several parking spots in the lot for employees to use on the weekends, and we were issued parking tags. It turns out that (and I'm still not sure how this happened) we have the WRONG tags, and for a while, many employees were getting $85 parking tickets for "Parking Without A Permit".

 

Recently, I was the lucky recipient of one of these tickets. Knowing I had a permit to park, I called the courthouse and plead Not Guilty to the ticket, and was given a court date, which was this past Monday.

 

So, instead of going home (it's an hour drive to work each way for me) at 5pm, I had to wait until 6:30pm to dispute this idiotic ticket. I had to meet with the local prosecutor. I showed him the ticket and the permit I had, and he explained that we did not have the "proper" permit tags, but because it's obvious I do work there and am entitled to park there, he dropped the charges, and told me I'd simply have to pay the $33 in court costs (because of a not-guilty plea, I technically had a "trial" which had to be paid for)..... I figured no big deal, the boss will repay me because of his oversight in giving the wrong parking tag.

 

The next day, I showed the receipt to the owner, to which he replied, "Why should I reimburse you? It's not my responsibility." I tried to politely explain how it WAS his responsibility, being that I parked where HE requires us to, and used the parking tag that HE issued. He still admits it's NOT his fault. I was furious, but I let it go, because I had bigger "fish to fry", so to speak.......

 

We have a manager who is about my age. Every restaurant I have ever worked in has a manager like her. ***NO EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER***. This woman has NEVER waited tables, tended bar, NOTHING. Until coming here, she has NEVER worked in a restaurant in ANY capacity, but apparently she got the job because of her "management skills" she supposedly has and the fact that she is a "connoseur (sp) of fine dining". Basically, she is a self-proclaimed expert on all things involving restaurants.

 

And boy, does she let us know that. Time after time, she'll actually WATCH me behind the bar, correcting everything I do (please note - I am a professionally-trained, state licensed bartender with a food and alcohol handlers license I had to WORK HARD to get), but of course, she knows more than me....... It's so annoying! She does the same thing in the kitchen. She bases all of her judgement on what *she* likes, being the "diva" she is. Of course, I ignore her and do things MY way, or when told otherwise, the OWNER's way, though he even admits he is not an expert on mixology (the actual name of the study of bartending). He gives a lot of recommendations and suggestions, but of course, he signs my paycheck, so I have no problem using his ideas, and he even DOES listen to mine at times.

 

Now, while it seems like this manager is just an annoyance, it has gotten to the point where she is costing me money. I work 6 days a week (Monday-Saturday), and usually 2-3 of those days are double shifts where I waiter at night, or sometimes cover the bar, depending on what we need. Those 2-3 waiter shifts are HUGE money for me (our menu is NOT cheap, and our customers tip accordingly), and honestly, not a lot of work (as a waiter, I average sometimes close to $50 an hour for a 5-6 hour shift - not bad for smiling and looking pretty!).

 

Here's the problem. At about 4pm, when we are preparing to switch to the dinner shift, if she is managing the night shift, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, she will come out of her ivory tower of an office and just say "Oh, ******, I don't need you tonight, you can just go home at 5 when (the other bartender) gets here". She'll then just run back into her office.

 

So, for no real reason (I don't accept "overstaffing" as a reason, since she ONLY does this to ME), she takes me off my very-profitable night shifts. In the last 3 months or so, she has done this no less than TWELVE times, even twice in one week on a week when I had two of those shifts! She doesn't even apologize for the fact that I lose, on average, about $200 (maybe more!) every time she decides to do this, and frankly, I can tell she couldn't care less.

 

Now, I work very, VERY hard for that place. As the head daytime bartender, I spend half of my day preparing the bar for the night shift. We do everything FRESH there, so I spend a LOT of time making fresh items like bloody mary mix, sour mix, margarita mix, sangria, whipped cream (from scratch!)... and now, my newest project, mulled red wine (if you know what it is, imagine having to make a gallon of it every single day - hell, I'll share the recipe later lol)... I don't think ANY of the other bartenders know how to do these things. If I were to take time off, or quit, they'd be stuck, especially since no one would WANT my shifts because of all the extra work involved... (daytime tips aren't THAT bad, really, but I also get a good base salary as well - by bartending standards, for all the extra work I do)... I also have to stock DOZENS of bottles of wine from our fairly extensive wine list, stock beers, clean the beer taps, receive/process/sort/store liquor deliveries, etc... All in a day's work - EVERY DAY. If you ever thought bartending was about just pouring stuff in a glass, think again. :p

 

Anyhow, more than once, I've brought this up to the general manager (who actually knows his stuff, and isn't a complete tool)..... Apparently, he's "spoken to her" about this, and when he does, things cool off for a while. He KNOWS I'm pissed, because he knows he's given me a lot of duties, and my "cushy" night shifts are basically my reward, since I was hired as a bartender, but in order to keep me, he's been throwing some prime night shifts my way, because I told him I need to make $X in order to stay. The problem is, 2-3 weeks will go by, and she'll just start cutting my shifts again, and again I have to bring this up to him.. it's a never-ending cycle. The last time I brought this up to him, he just shook his head and said "I guess I'll just have to schedule you on nights when I'm here"... That makes no sense... Of course, I'd RATHER work the nights when he is managing, because he doesn't annoy me constantly, but why can't he just instruct her that my shifts are NOT to be tampered with? We have part-timers (college students mainly), and NEWER people who don't have this done to them, so I KNOW she does this to me as a personal attack. Why..... I'll never know, and I don't give a rat's ass, but I will NOT let this broad (yeah, I said "broad") take money out of my pocket because she just feels like singling me out. I'll say it - I'm the best this place has, the general manager KNOWS it, the owner knows it, hell, the kitchen knows it, since I almost NEVER have food sent back because of a careless mistake, but they do nothing to stop HER from "abusing" me.

 

I don't want to have to leave my job because of a moronic, inexperienced person like her, but I have 3 mouths to feed (mine, and my 2 cats lol), and I'll be damned if this c**t is going to affect my lifestyle.

 

*deep breathe* Now you see why I come on here stressed so much. :)

 

NOW.......

 

Somehow, I know my issues with her aren't over, so going forward, if she were to do this to me again, what should I do/say?

 

I'm thinking that the next time, instead of just waiting to talk to the GM (her boss), I'm going to confront her directly and openly about it. I don't like "making waves", especially with someone so stubborn it wouldn't change a thing, but it's time someone put her in her place.

 

Of course, I'd do it with a smile on my face, and poison in my heart. ;)

 

Just be lucky folks, if you were to walk in the front door of my job, all you'd get is a great meal and some awesome drinks.

 

I get heartburn.

 

-tp

take this job and............*shrugs*

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So if this doesn't improve you're going to quit, right? So then you have nothing to lose by talking with her and letting her know how you feel. So go for it. Be polite but be honest with her.

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melodymatters

Aw sorry TP, I know these insecure " know it all" types, and restaurant people can be the best, or the very worst !

 

This type, you have to kill them with kindness !

 

I would find a time to be alone with her, and just lay it all out. The key is the timing and the tone.

You need to ooze confidence and charm, and win her over.

 

I've found the people I have clashed heads with in the past have also beome some of my strongest allies. It's worth a try, you NEED to change the dynamic.

 

Hey, in a note of commiseration, when Real estate really hit the skids here in FL, I figured, I like bartending, I've always done it on and off or part time, I'll just get a full time bar gig to pay the bills while I figure things out.

 

in Ny ( upstate no less) I got 8 an hr Plus tips. HERE...? they don't PAY you, it's a privilage to work for them, and you get to stay an extra hour every night mopping their floors and cleaning thier bathrooms !

 

uh.... yeah, thats why I'm heading back north and back to school !

 

Good luck to you TP, keep us updated !

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