You know, I had supervisors who were very tough on us about working, but at the same time, it wasn’t PERSONAL. I knew I could count on one of my supervisors to help out, and I genuinely liked her. I understood she had to enforce rules she didn’t like from time to time, and I never resented her for it.
Quite frankly, as for working late-it depends. Do you have minors working? THAT’s a big thing. Do you live in a safe area?
Although, it sounds like they’re late because they’re fooling around and goofing off, rather than working.
You’re a dumbfuck, County. You have just the type of attitude I expect from a fucking union worker. She’s not supposed to be her worker’s BUDDY, she’s supposed to be their MANAGER. I believe she has humanity, but also the self-preservation to make sure her workers aren’t robbing her company blind or blatantly breaking the rules(which, they of course, were).
I don’t think making them do their job, expecting to do it without insubordination, and making them follow rules violates “humanity”, or makes her unrealistic.
For Christ’s sake, get a grip, Teamster. My dad was a Union Shop-Steward, but he didn’t condone not following the rules or not enforcing them.
This is unbelievable. If his Shift Supers can do that, then his job is unnecessary, and he should be fired. I don’t care HOW nice he is, that GM is not a good manager.
Oh, please. Enforcing the fucking rules is being a tight-ass? I hardly think so. So she watched them over the video - big fucking deal. Obviously they can’t handle being left alone and that’s what she learned from that video.
As far as the sodas, it prevents them from drinking in inappropriate areas ON THE JOB - personally, I don’t want to see some food service worker take a swig of Coke, wipe his mouth and then pick up my fries and hand them to me. It’s unsanitary. And yes, I realize this probably wouldn’t happen all the time, but even once is one time too many.
Amber, I’ll also add - enforce what you tell them. You can’t back down. It’s not quite managerial experience, but I was my high school drum major - when I tried to be friends with my bandmates on the field, it didn’t work. They took advantage of me (and believe me, I was a fairly meek person - it was easy to do so) and so it was my ass on the line with the band director. When I finally got angry and started enforcing all of our rules and not taking any shit, guess what? The band members shaped up, and I was told by a few that they had a new respect for me because they’d never seen me with a backbone.
If they don’t want to work, fire them. I know you’re in Montreal, but if the job market is as bad as it is in the States, there will always be workers to replace the ones who leave.
I can contribute two cents as a worker in a hamburger place.
I can say that the managers at our place are quite good. They help out when I am the only one up front and I have to make someone’s drink, refill someone else’s drink, redo a third person’s drink, and still take care of the rapidly-increasing line while the phone is ringing. (I’m sure everyone in this line of work has had something like this happen a few times.) They are strict, but not mean. They don’t let people be late, but if someone forgets a hat, they let you borrow one (but only once). We get free soda and half-price meals as a company rule, and the managers are by the book. The place is clean (The health inspector brings his family to eat), and it isn’t uncommon to hear laughter from the kitchen. All in all, the managers make it a relaxed but professional place to work. It doesn’t feel like a chain gang (or at least what I think a chain gang would feel like), but it isn’t a party. It’s really just a matter of walking the fine line so many have pointed out.
Not union worker - union official, of course I wasn’t born that way I just experienced a number of tight ass managers. As far as breaking the rules, well you and another tight ass got bent over that. We are talking about a free coke at a Wendy’s; not protocal for WMD lab. You anal retentive types kill me.
That shit about the name tag - gimme a break, somebody gonna fine people for that when they make minimu wage or whatever.
Gotta clean the place to the mgrs specs or miss the metro - I’ve dealt with plenty of people who should never be given any power over another human being - and guess what - they are the type who would rather watch employees on a video rather than take a break themselves.
People do what is expected of them and this “manager” is getting exactly what she expects - she is creating her own problems.
As far as me being a dumbfuck - well that’s a compliment from another one of you tight asses. The pricks who robbed Enron spent a lot of time enforcing the rules about employees not being allowed to sell their stock. If you want to: Bite me.
Amber, I agree with you.
With one small exception. The exception is not getting the cashier out of there. I myself have sent people home, only to face the same problem. In one case I told the person, " It would be best for you to leave Now, while you still have a job." Another time I actually had to have the police remove the person. So, stick to your guns.
What some people don’t understand is that theft is theft. The employee who steals food today will continue to steal food. They often become brazen enough to steal Anything they can.
We had an employee whose drawer was pulled unexpectantly by the manager. Oddly enough she was $12.00 over. This was really surpriseing. She usually was short by a dollar or more.
Another employee was caught taking 15 happy meal toys. This might seem like a big crime. But, most restaurants , especially fast food, don’t make truckloads of money.
You can’t tell me that the employees don’t know they need their nametag. I’m sure that some actually forget them. I’m also sure that some “forget”, because they don’t want to wear them in the first place.
Your nametag is part of your uniform. It may be a small part, but every small part effects the whole presentation. If you show up looking like hell it reflects on the store. It looks bad to the customers, who will go elsewhere for their meal. It looks especially bad for mystery shops. If you receive a bad shop it is the manager who gets the blame.
To me it sounds like you are doing the job that needs to be done.
It also sounds like you’re doing a helluva job.
So, is it your position that stealing from one’s employer is not wrong, or is that the official union line? Either way, do you have any explanation for why theft is acceptable in this instance? Is it just that “sticking it to the man” is a moral imperative?
I actually agree with this. Not for the reason you seem to, assuming I’ve managed to comprehend what you said, but because it can be a legal hassle (generally, you have to ensure that your employees knew in advance that they could be docked, and you have to ensure they still make minimum wage, whatever it is Up There). A better solution is just to charge them for each nametag you make up, and then comp the first one. If they ever don’t show up with a nametag, make them a new one and charge them full price for it.
The suggestion that minimum (or even “minimu”) wage workers should get a disciplinary break simply because of their pay rate is far enough beneath contept that I will not bother to comment on it.
What the fuck does the one have to do with the other? If Wendy’s cloned Neron Caesar and put him in charge of the closing shift, it would still be that shift’s responsibility to close the store properly, since it can’t be done until the end of the day. Moreover, basic cleanliness is not comparable with fascism. Incidentally, your implication that Amber is some sort of Big Brother type is just plain wrong, so far as I can tell. She isn’t watching them to get her jollies, she’s sacrificing a part of her own supposed break to keep people in line. It’s apparently necessary, if they’re using the first oppurtunity to write obscenities on store property.
According to Amber, her employees are not doing what’s expected of them, which is the entire point of her complaint. She had someone refuse to leave the store after she directly ordered them to do so - did she create that problem? Is that employee doing exactly what’s expected of them?
I don’t particularly care to, thanks. Are you actually fucking saying that because one group of people, who had some money, did one truly bad thing, that all lower-paid workers are and should be allowed to fuck around whenever they want? Are you saying that their employers who are evil for not allowing this? Has it been mentioned frequently enough that you’re a dumbfuck?
I think, if anyone asks me again why I, as a reasonable human being, would prefer not
to see union “representation” of my employees, I will just print out your posts here and show them, and say, “Because, inevitably, it would be this guy.”
I can see both sides of this, really. Yes, an employee-manager relationship is inherently, by definition, unequal. Yes, these people are hired to do a certain job and follow certain rules. But at the same time, your manager is always telling you that this is a team, no, a family, and we’ve all got to pull together to get this done. You’re a valuable part of this company, and we couldn’t do without you, but we’re only going to pay you $5.25 an hour, and we’ll fire you at the drop of a hat.
That dichotomy was the big thing that drove me nuts about working retail and food service. They wanted me to have the loyalty and dedication that comes with being a valued and respected partner, but to also have the subservience of a serf.
Have you ever considered being totally frank with these people? Talking to them like rational human beings? Telling them, “Look, I know you normally don’t do this stuff. But those are the rules, and I’ve got the new GM breathing down my neck to make sure you guys follow them. We can either follow the rules and all keep our jobs, or I’ll start firing people to protect myself.” Or saying, “Look, if you guys don’t wear name tags during your shift, I’m the one who gets chewed on. If I keep making three or four a shift, I’m the one who gets chewed on for it. And, honey, if my ass is getting chewed for your inability to remember your nametag, you can rest assured that your ass will be getting chewed, too.”
It can’t possibly hurt, and it might help a great deal.
County, you’ve proved all of my points, thank you.
How does following rules make someone a “tightass”? Even the Union doesn’t allow theft, insubordination, disrespect and not following uniform specs, so where does this stupid attitude come from?
Woah, bad, bad idea. I mean, with good, reputable employees who just need a little direction this might be possible, but these kids covered up the security camera and then told their manager fuck you. I don’t think they’re going to be motivated to help *Amber in any way. More than likely they’d make each shift a living hell for her in hopes that she would get fired. Uh-uh. No way.
And the whole thing about family, and being a team, it all depends on the managerial structure and the makeup of the staff. As an asst. manager I could view my role that way, and sympathize with my staff. I mean, hell, I was a CSR once too, I worked my way up. My duties were exactly the same as theirs, only I had the added responsibility of being accountable for everything on my shift. But there was always a difference of power, and you can’t whitewash that. You’ve got to approach your employees in a way that lets them know that ultimately, you make the rules, not them. If they play by them (and they’re really not that hard or demoralizing) then we’ll hold up our end of the bargain - but the reverse has to be true as well. By the time I was promoted to Store manager, I could still have that kind of relationship, but only with my managers. There was a great power difference between me and my CSRs. I was still doing the same job they were, only I had many more added responsibilities. I was in the pit with them, checking out customers, cleaning the store, and I was always the first to take care of overflowing toilets, or really abusive customers. But I also was accountable for the books, merchandising, payroll, scheduling, inventory, etc. etc. When I had really good employees that I knew I could trust (keyword here, folks) I allowed them a great deal of independence within the standards and policies. I empowered them to make the call on credits, refunds, duties, etc. If I knew I could trust them, I asked them what they wanted out of the job, and helped them attain that. But the kids Amber is talking about are obviously not ever going to get to that point.
Is it possible you have been a little harsh with the new GM who dared to take 2 weeks off so soon after being reassigned to this store? Might s/he have had plans, possibly even prepaid for a trip, before being reassigned? And maybe whoever made the assignment agreed to the vacation? And certainly should have stepped in to back up the shift supervisors. And didn’t.
A whole lot of conjecture going on here, but I’ve seen it before.
Ahhh, barb b, here is the part where it is revealed that even GMs are as serfs to the corporation.
In a perfect world (for TDL Inc, which owns Wendy’s), GM should have cancelled/ignored his plans and taken his vacation some other time. As XJETGIRLX will no doubt tell you, sometimes big business demands enormous loyalty. And I’m willing to bet that the district manager would have preferred that the GM choose his store over his campsite.
And I think county missed the part where Amber only recently became a manager, and these employees were problematic even before her promotion. She is inheriting someone else’s bad leadership.
If I read this correctly, Amber is a shift manager. As such, she really should not be attempting to change store policy to appease her shift. This could lead to animosity between shifts and shift managers. In the absence of permission from the new GM to do things like this, she is entirely valid in enforcing the rules. It sounds like Amber is on the right track to dealing with these rejects.
In my position, I currently have about 90 people working for me. The family or team atmosphere is a great way to go about it. Experience has taught me that it is best to enforce all rules in the beginning. Make sure everyone is capable of being part of the team and doing of their job properly. Once it is clear that everyone can follow rules and do their job correctly and efficiently, I relax rules as appropriate, and if need be I firm them up again if things get out of control.
Of course, creating animosity could be exactly what you are after county. As long as you keep employees and management at odds no one will realize just how useless you are.
After reading County’s posts, I have a mad urge to relocate my entire operation to whatever Third World country whose language doesn’t include the words “labor union,” and I don’t even own a fuckin’ company.
As someone who has been both the manager in similar situations, and the rabble rouser in many, many more situations, there’s two good solutions.
First of all, like any group, there’s probably someone who’s the leader. I know you think you are, but that’s just a title. Each little clique in there has a leader. It may not even be this person who is directly causing the trouble, but they’re really the source.
You’ve got to deal with this person. And, really, not in a bad way. Cut a deal. Seriously. Tell them to straighten up and you’ll give in by doing…whatever.
The second option, of course, is to clean house. Fire the whole lot of them. Of course, as a restaurant, you really can’t do this very well. Maybe kill one shift at a time?
Just trying to be helpful.
PS. Anyone else find the handle Upside Down Amber to be a turn-on, or is it just me?
