Working with people who simply don't care

[Toiletduck]

300/day? WOW........I"m depressed now

 

[chobochobo]

300 a day!

Sorry, had to say it.

 

[ruben]

FWIW I know a lot of people who were unmotivated and/or lazy in a entry level job who have gone on to become quite sucessfull in life and their career.

 

[bigbadbuff]

For a lot of people, if they know they have little chance of advancing, or don't plan on making a career out of that particular job or with that particular company, they simply aren't going to give 100%.

I think I'm significantly underpaid and I have little to no chance of advancing in my current situation; and yet, I'm ok with that b/c I like the job and I like the people. I am still finishing school so this is a great 'tweener' situation for me. Hopefully opportunities will be there later on, but if not, I feel like work ethic alone would get me a job over many other people, for many of the reasons referenced in this thread.

 

[cuffthis]

For clarification, the $300/night is before tip out (10% to bartender, 15% to the food runners). That nets $225.

That's still not bad for essentially 4-5 hours work. Their shift starts at 4pm but the first hour-hour and a half is all opening stuff as the customers don't usually start coming in until after 5:30pm. The last hour (10-11pm) is spent cleaning up.

Most tips are about 20% and many times they are higher.

That was my point in starting this thread. The money's pretty darn good, we're very easy people to work for, and it's one of the most popular places in town.

Am I asking too much to simply show up on time, attend staff meetings and events, etc? Maybe I've simply spent too much time in my previous career around way over achievers that I've forgotten what normalcy is.

 

[most_def]

Not everyone is defined by their job. But I guess doing a good job should be a main priority of every worker.

 

[LA Guy]

FWIW, your situation is not uncommon in the food industry.

 

[insanestyle]

Guys, showing up for work on time, staying late, working through lunch, mean very little. If the person performs at or above par, who really cares. Oh I know.. sure Dilbert bosses out there are dime a dozen and believe you me they do care. However, I know guys who get more done in a couple hours work than people who spend 10+hrs a day at work.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by insanestyle

Guys, showing up for work on time, staying late, working through lunch, mean very little. If the person performs at or above par, who really cares. Oh I know.. sure Dilbert bosses out there are dime a dozen and believe you me they do care. However, I know guys who get more done in a couple hours work than people who spend 10+hrs a day at work.

WEll if you've never owned a restaurant I'm sure you wouldn't understand the frustration. Arriving late means you have to rush things when you do arrive and that they may not be done before the rush starts. He's counting on a pre-defined number of people to be there to to get things done in the limited amount of time before customers start showing-up and expecting to be served. It's not acceptable if someone is still setting-up when he's supposed to be finished with that and serving customers.

Customers don't say "hey he seems like a nice guy, but why isn't he serving us." They say "if they're not ready to serve at this time, wtf did they open so early?" Not being setup on-time could very-well mean being backed-up when the rush starts. Ya, there are terrific waiters out there that can get a lot more done, but none of those wonder-waiters have ever been students in my experience. In fact, they were very uncommon.

Im' not sure how he's running it. 300 bottles is a lot for someone to know. Normally you'd have a sommelier for dealing with stuff like that, but since it IS a wine bar, it makes sense that there be more than one perosn that can talk about them. I've never been to a wine bar so I don't know how they usually operate compared to regular restaurants.

Either way, calling him Dilbert doesn't add to the conversation. He seems like a nice guy and I'm sort of amazed that someone would come-out and say it's fine to show-up late if you work hard. I bet that would go-over real well at an bank or law firm too... I mean it's just a really great attitude to start with. ;p

 

[Tiranis]

Originally Posted by insanestyle

Guys, showing up for work on time, staying late, working through lunch, mean very little. If the person performs at or above par, who really cares. Oh I know.. sure Dilbert bosses out there are dime a dozen and believe you me they do care. However, I know guys who get more done in a couple hours work than people who spend 10+hrs a day at work.

It's like you just came into this thread, didn't read the OP and then posted. What the hell are you even talking about?

This isn't an IT or office job where staying late will make up for something. This is a restaurant, staying after the restaurant closes is hardly any use.

 

[Gunner]

I can sympathise with this problem. It really does throw off the entire evening when people show up late or call in sick.

My advice is to be very picky when hiring people. And, like a lot of the other posters have mentioned, do not hesitate to cut out the dead weight.

As for students, many dont care because they are expecting wealth and glamour after they graduate. So waiting tables means nothing to them. Which leads to all the lame ass excuses that cause so much frustration.

 

[GQgeek]

Ya, I questino the decision to hire students. Is there nobody more mature that you could hire? Start phasing the students out...

 

[Dirk Benedict]

I was once a bartender as well as a bar manager. A common tactic for chronically late employees was to give them the slowest shifts (less tip $). It worked quite well.

 

[odoreater]

The crew is only as good as its chief. Sorry to say man, but sounds like they are late and lazy because their boss tolerates it. I say let the heads roll.

 

[Journeyman]

I think that you essentially have two choices - the "involvement" strategy or the execution strategy.

The latter strategy is that espoused by Odoreater above - give them a warning about their behaviour, make it clear that they have a short period of time in which to prove you wrong, and then fire them if they don't clean up their acts.

The former strategy is to confide in them, and to appeal to their reason and to their conscience. Let them know that they are important to your business, and that you rely upon them to turn up on time. Impress upon them that they have an important role in your operation and that they therefore bear partial responsibility for your success or failure. Tell them that since you need to know that you can rely upon them, that they must be able to be punctual. If that doesn't work, move onto the Odoreater strategy...