Managers with no Experience
After serving 20 years in he army, and leaving as an SFC I was used to being in charge of a group of guys (45).
I retired after 20 years, and decided to pursue a degree in Restaurant management, and to attend Culinary school (spent 12 of those years in europe…miss the food!). I landed a cooking job in a restaurant in Cambridge…my first day on the job this 22 year old little snot gets in my face and begins yelling at me for not knowing where the shallots were, rather than explain to me the where’s and how’s of finding my desired shallots he began telling me…I don’t know what they taught you in the army but your unorganized, and you work sloppy, you’d better get your act together, because we don’t have room for slackers…
I wanted to grab that little shite rip his throat out and ask him the question again…
he went into attack mode…and finally asked me what makes you think your a warrior anyway????? you spent 20 years in the army…I’d like to see how you operate under fire….hahahahahhahaha.
So I showed him, I worked very very hard…did an impressive ob, this guy says not bad for an army guy, but not good enough to be a cook.
Now I had no desire to deal with a stupid little punk who thought his shit had no smell, but this guy could not throw down…he was no cook….buty he sure had a mouth….
One day a week later as I was speaking to the GM the punk came up to me and told me to go empty out the trash, I went outside, and he wanted to know what I was talking to the gm about…..I told him…well your going to be fired, and I am taking over your spot.
He got irate, told me I was the one who was fired, and to gtfo before he callede the cops….I told him 6 of my 7 brothers were cops in the greater boston area…which of them or my other buddies should I call???
Then he poked his fingers into my chest, with a hearty "let me tell you something..JAB JAB JAB….with that I crushed his fingers together, and put him on the ground….I told him I could beat the shit out of him…or we could forget that this happened….I let him up, he took a swing at me, and then I took care of him.
He was just an incompetent and abusive as#%*e, (much like the army leadership) but rather than take the time to accentuate the positives, he seized on the little stuff, and tried to make other people feel stupid.
I don’t care who you are, but if you show a desire to do your job, do not know all aspects of that job, yet grind at it everyday….I will always have your back.
Comments
That sounds so familiar. It is always who you know not what you know. I worked at a Kentucky state park restaurant for several years. I witnessed tons of nepotism while working there. We had a guy that retired from the Army(where he was in charge of like 40 guys)and got a job as a cook(technically chef 2 when its the state)he was a manager. He was a very hard worker but he was used to people getting things done. He butted heads with another cook(the cooks were all supervisors)his first night because he told the nineteen year old dishwasher who happened to be dating the other supervisor to WASH DISHES instead of sitting with her butt on the food prep table. The nerve of him!(sarcasm). The other cook complained and the Army guy was not kept after his probationary period. The real kicker is the last night he worked(they waited until the very last day to tell him he was fired) he was the only cook that showed up because the others were partying with the dishwasher and her friends.
In the restaurant industry, it’s not always what you know. It’s who you know. Hence your problem with a boss that has never been in the trenches. I worked at one of the best restaurants in Boston (cough cough..Charlestown) for two years. I asked others.. Is it a requirement for a manager to be mean, insulting, and make girls cry? When my good friend said… you don’t want to get into this, I objected. After 2 years in Charlestown, I left and managed another restaurant for about two years. I did it to prove to myself that you can be a good/strong manager and not have to be mean or make your staff feel bad. Currently on goes my struggle to find a good owner that sees the passion in me. (FYI- for those that ask why am I still not the GM… my restaurant was sold and the new owners didn’t want to pay 50k+)