Sunday, March 30, 2008

The In"VINCE"able Force

One of my managers at work is a consummate Drill Sargent.He can rally the troops, or break them down to the point of submission. Another former military man... I can guarantee that he has probably never been late for anything in his entire adult life. If punctuality is his strong suit, I don't know what in the world we could possibly call his work ethic. Some of the servers either can't stand him ( a sign that he is a good manager) or fear the crap out of him. Being a lifer, I get along great with him. As I have mentioned in previous posts... the harder you work for our company, the better you are treated. I know one thing for sure... he is determined at all times to make sure all of our guests have a positive experience at our store, and leave feeling satisfied and happy (even the guests that don't really deserve it). This is the main reason I quit being in management... I just couldn't stomach it anymore. But he does, and the guests love him. When he is in the window expediting food... it gets DONE ! We will have Captain Cunningham on the kitchen side of the window, and our drill sarge on our side of the window... Let the shouting begin! He will call you out when you don't carry your weight, do your job, or support the team effort. Sometimes even I don't agree with his decisions, but at the same time I realize that he in fact IS my boss; in charge of making the decisions, and as an employee, it is my job to follow his directions...no questions asked, no comebacks needed... JUST DO IT! The good thing about him is that if you do a stand out job, he will be one of the first ones to pat you on the back, and say "Well done, soldier." If you do a bad job, be prepared to "drop and give him 50. " He looks amazingly like Dave Chappelle ( another one of my heroes) and it doesn't hurt to have a celebrity in our ranks. One of the things that most all our servers don't understand is that when you have a boss... they ARE YOUR BOSS. There is not room to quibble, bitch about or question their authority. They are the ones making the choices, and taking the fall when they have to. Sometimes I wonder who will need the defibrillator first... Captain Cunningham or the Sarge?? We may have to get two of them, just to make sure we are covered. He is a "STRICTLY BY THE BOOK" kind of manager. And if you follow the rule book as closely as he does, the problems disappear, the shift runs smoothly and the job gets done. It's no wonder that "Desert Storm" went as well as it did... He was over there. Maybe we need to send him to Iraq.... Cause I don't see it as going too well at this point. He would have the insurgents running for their lives, and they wouldn't even have to look back, because they would hear his thunderous threats, and would be shaking in their turbans.If all the employees would JUST follow the rules and instructions that management gives them, whether they agree with them or not...our little "battlefield" would run more smoothly... and we'd have a LOT less casualties. Till next time... COTTON

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