Just Sayin' - Vol. 3

Well ladies and gents, due to the events of two weeks ago, I am officially back in the restaurant game.  Yay me! (depression font).  Anyone who has worked in "the industry" already knows that there are 34,499,498,090 things that are potential gear grinders, thus, providing me with endless material for this segment.

The number one annoying aspect of working in a restaurant is lazy/clueless/illogical management.  This profession can be extremely stressful and fast paced at times, but on the same note, it is not exactly rocket science.  There are really a handful of objectives for a restaurant manager, the big ones being keep the guests happy, the staff motivated, and run a smooth shift.

Sounds easy enough, right?  In my career in the service industry, it seems that for some "managers," those basic objectives are difficult to accomplish.  It also seems that the further removed I get from my first job in the hospitality industry, the more the quality of the run of the mill manager decreases.

To help correct this epidemic, I have decided to compose a list of basic steps a numb-skull, ineffective manager could utilize to not suck so much in...well...life.  Let us begin.

1. Know Your Staff - There is nothing worse than having a manager that does not know where to put his/her staff on a floor plan.  For those of you that don't know, a floor plan is basically a map of the dining room that shows where each servers' section of tables is.  It is a sort of like a measurement of capabilities, stronger servers will usually get bigger, more challenging sections.

How do you know what servers belong where if you don't take the time to make some basic observations?  Get your ass out on the floor and take a look and see who is consistently messing up and who is consistently holding things down.  Make table visits, check with guests to see how the service is.  Keep an eye on the sidework chart, see who is struggling to balance their front of the house and back of the house responsibilities.

Putting the wrong people in the wrong sections is a quick way to mess up the flow of the night.  Pay attention!

2.  Be Consistent - Do not make a rule one day, then not enforce it the next.  That is the quickest way to lose the respect of your staff.  It shows a lack of seriousness on your part. If you are consistently calling it fair, and the rules are universal, everyone will know what to expect, which will minimize confusion. Don't bend either way.

3.  Do Not Make Blanket Punishments - There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, worse than when the whole team reaps the consequences from one person's fuck up.  Don't abolish smoke breaks just because one idiot gets caught taking advantage and smoking at the wrong time.  That 3 minutes of nicotine is how some servers stay sane.  Call that one idiot out, make an example out of them, you'll gain the respect of the staff.  

That's all you get for now.  One, because I got out my frustrations, and two, because as Bishop Don "Magic" Juan says, "the game is to be sold, not told."  Most of this shit is common sense anyway, so stop trying to be a "boss" and be a manager.  You're welcome.