As managers it is difficult to embrace our mistakes. Nobody wants to be wrong, or rather nobody wants to admit to being wrong. Once you are the chef you can no longer say, "Sorry Chef!" and move on. The more responsibility you have is the more your shit stinks. Every mistake might as well be under a microscope. Your every flaw is exploited. The reason for this is because your mistakes affect everyone.
I like to think I am able to remain humble and accept when I am wrong, but I know that in the heat of the moment I am like everyone else and want to give reasons why it wasn't completely my fault. The truth is we as managers also have to embrace the fact that when our staff makes mistakes it is our fault just as much as it is theirs. Every person below you under your jurisdiction is another version of you. If your cook sends out a well done filet in place of a rare, then it is your fault just as much as it is theirs. The next in command above you is not going to ask the cook "What the fuck?" They are going to ask you.
I am writing this because I got a direct order today to manage the hours of somebody who up to this point for a year and a half has been managing their own hours. This person is a work horse and as we all know it is more important to focus on creating the best end result than the time it takes to do so. Up to about three weeks ago hours weren't so much an issue. Right now it is important we track and manage hours as best we can and allow no overtime. Even though we had a last minute super VIP event I can't use that as an excuse. I have to accept that even though he didn't warn us that he surpassed 40 hours, then 50 hours, then 60 hours, it is totally my fault. I will have to face the heat on Monday. All I can really do is apologize and hope they don't scrutinize my managerial duties too much. I'm on salary so a 60 hour week happens to me a lot and nobody will ever notice. I worked 3 weeks straight in September and yet my superiors had no idea. When my Chef di Partie works a 60 hour week in October it will require a series of emails and a eventually a meeting. I will take the heat, just as my Executive Chef will have to take it as well.
Part of me wants to blame it on the last minute events and a lack of consistent planning, but the reality is that it is in fact my fault. In turn it is Chef's fault, and then again the restaurant manager's fault, and then again the owner's fault. When I think about being in the owner's shoes I won't blame him if he is livid when he sees the reports on Monday.
What sometimes stinks worse than our own shit is the reality that our employees and those under our jurisdiction generally don't and will never understand the real gravity of these situations. After all in the end it isn't their ass. It isn't they who are going to battle for themselves. It isn't they who are reporting to the boss. All they have to do is say, "Sorry Chef!"
Thank you Mr. Minor
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6 comments:
This person obviously needs to be there if they are working 60 hours a week. Tell them to hire another person, then they can pay two people 40 hours instead of one person 60. If they are that good make this person Lead Line cook and put them on salary.
Good luck on Monday Chef
Last week did require those hours, but we have a catering staff who are only working 20 hours each and need more.
Sometimes we rather do things ourselves than explain and manage someone else while they do it. That is what happened with our CdP (who is a manager) and the amount of hours he was working was overlooked in the process. It was unintentional, but still not good for those of us who are "supposed" to manage him. The reality is that we can't call ourselves managers if we can't even manage ourselves. Also, we can't call ourselves managers if we ignore the problem.
If the Chef de Partie is a manager and knew that his/her overtime was that substantial, he/she should have made mention. I'm a strong believer that no management positions should be hourly, though I know that it is sometimes unavoidable in seasonal foodservice.
I remember when I was the salad bitch at a local brewery back in the late 90s and I would get phone calls from corporate (though they had only one unit at the time) about my OT. It was almost impossible for me to finish my job between 8:00 and 4:00 without fucking the night crew. It might have been a total of two hours/week and I was the one getting yelled at instead of the EC, SC, CdC or anyone else in a very title conscious kitchen.
Like I said, it was an irresponsible oversight, but not one done with intention. However, it does put chef and myself in a bad position so I am rather annoyed by it. We will fix it and move on.
Were you referring to BBC?
I wouldn't consider it an oversight if the work needed to be done and there was no one else to cover. The aforementioned restaurant was not BBC, but it is funny you mention it. The (former) owner is perhaps the biggest labor Nazi around. He's on his fourth restaurant now (the other three RIP) and, go fucking figure, he has a hard time finding BOH to work for him. When I was EC of his first installment, he would call the restaurant, ask how many cars were in the parking lot, and, based on that, tell the manager to tell me to send someone home. This would be around 6:30. OT was not allowed and I totally understand that. If you overorder a nonperishable product, the money isn't lost, just misappropriated. If you schedule poorly, those labor $ are gone. In hindsight, I should have added a part-timer to the mix to keep everyone safe from entering OT. Most recently, when opening his fourth and current installment, kitchen staff racked up some pretty hefty hours for obvious reasons. He refused to pay them OT and I believe his rationale was that it wasn't his fault that opening day was delayed. Starch and PD can tell that story better.
When I was with DSI, because of the union contract OT was anything more than eight hours per day. Couple that with a long-timer that made $19 straight pay and scheduling becomes your biggest headache by far. How do you concentrate on putting out high-quality product when your brain is consumed with getting the job done with personnel constraints?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 10:03:12 AM
You know, I am really glad I did work at BBC, only because I would not have met Starch and in turn work with Dux. It was such a hassle when we first opened. I have never seen a such a huge lack of organization. We didn't even have working ovens two days before we opened. I had to fight and fight in order to get straight time cash, instead of the true OT we were supposed to get. I will let starch tell more, but you would think Der Fuhrer would have learned his lesson by now. I guess he will continue to burn bridges as long as people continue to build them...
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