We ought to be further along ...

[mrdreamjeans]

These days, I have a short fuse when it comes to incompetence, and especially, unfairness. I joke about using my "outside-my-head" voice, but I'm getting tired of making allowances for the wrongs or injustices I witness. Here in my small town, all the time I get, "Sir, it's just the way things are done here in the country". It's an invalid excuse ...old ... and crap. If something is wrong or bothers me, from now on, I'm going to speak up! Bad behavior deserves consequences.

I just came from eating dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant/Steakhouse. The /steakhouse was added when the steakhouse burned down last winter and the Cambodian owner moved the menu to the Chinese Restaurant he also owns. The food is good, but the service and general ambiance (if you can call it ambiance) has been rapidly sliding. It remains a popular destination; but it's also the only game in town, at least for Chinese food.

What's set me off? As you approach the restaurant ... at the front door ... there are two long benches outside where customers can wait for tables. For the entire 45 minutes I was at the restaurant, the benches were filled with a group of 20-something year-old women, sitting around giggling, smoking cigarettes, chatting on their cells and sipping from counter drinks. In the group were the manager, the primary cashier and at any given time, four of the waitresses. All of the white staff.

Inside the restaurant, doing the actual work, were all of the African-American servers and busboys. It was very clear that work performance broke down along race lines. The more I looked at the situation, (there were several occupied tables, including one table of 20), the angrier I got. I'm refraining from describing the trashy-looking, lazy-ass white girls in more detailed terms, because it would be unkind. But their willingness to let others do their work, to cover for them, chaffed me and I was ready to speak my mind.

When I got my check from my server (who was delightful), Instead of handing my ticket to the young woman covering for the out-of-pocket cashier), I slammed open the door and said to one of the girls (interrupting her cell phone call), Are you the cashier on duty?" She replied, "One of them." I turned to the next girl and said, "Are you the manager? She said yes. I want to speak to both of you right now! Get in here!"

I told them that I had been watching them smoke and visit for 45 minutes and as far as I knew that clearly wasn't part of their restaurant duties! "What made it worse is that you let some of your co-workers cover for you and encouraged others to sit outside the restaurant with you. It looks bad. It's bad for business." (Turning specifically to the manager) "If you are the manager, I'd like to know exactly what it is that you manage." I then added that I wanted the owner's number. She replied she didn't have it. "What exactly are you supposed to do if there's an emergency like the fire that happened at the steakhouse", I asked. "I don't know", she replied. She told me she had been manager for just two weeks. I told her she wouldn't last two weeks more unless she did a more credible job ... that I understood that everyone deserved breaks, but they shouldn't be in front of the customers and certainly not at the main entrance to the restaurant.

What really ticked me off was the sense of entitlement. Clearly the white girls expected the African-American staff to do most of the work, work which I might add they were doing well and with pride. I intend to follow up with the owner tomorrow, even if I have to do so before 8am. He also owns a nearby donut shop. This guy needs to know exactly which mice are working while the cat's away! ARRGH!!!

I'm from a small town. I have a work ethic. I take pride in doing a good job. "It's just the way things are done in the country" is simply NOT an excuse and doesn't fly with me. We ought to be further along ....

Comments

[sohipithurts.livejournal.com]

Amen! You did the right thing. "That's the way it is." is not an excuse for anything.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Or "that's the way it's all been .." either ....

Thanks! I followed up this morning with the owner too ...

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

I'm confused here did the hard working black help have to share their tips with the lazy white trash?

I guess the real problem is that it is probably the only show in town, if there was another place to eat things would change quickly.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I don't think they had to share the tips, though the servers who were white certainly should be required to share tips with the busboys.

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I am impressed! In an age where Polite People do not make waves, you have definately upset the status quo. That took some guts, and I admire your integrity.

Bravo. Standing O all around.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks ... It's my own personal version of "I'm mad as hell ..." I followed up with the owner this morning before 7:30am. The manager was fibbing when she said she didn't know how to reach him ...

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Hardly surprising. You'd hardly expect her to WANT to narc on herself for falling short on the job.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

It's not over yet. I told the owner I was going to come back and see if things had improved. If not, I was writing a letter to the editor of the local rag:)

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Damn...

This boy ain't playin'!

[scottokc.livejournal.com]

Good for you for speaking up.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm tired of being nice and making nice when something like this happens. I didn't want to hear any excuses. I'm going back and check up on the situation too. If it's still the same, I'm going to submit part of my post to the local paper.

[scottokc.livejournal.com]

It's possible that the two women in question were on their break, but I doubt it. I've worked places where some people do most of the work while others do nothing and get the credit for the work done.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Yes ... but a 45-minute break, in front of the restaurant, smoking and talking on cell phones, encouraging servers with active tables to come outside and visit? Unlikely ... They were just lazy ...

[scottokc.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right. Most businesses have a specific place for employees to take a break. I think that you said that it was busy, and they usually make employees take a break when it's not busy. I thought about giving them the benefit of the doubt, but you were right to call them on it.

[bradferd23.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only one that did this... :) Good for you!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I will speak up usually and in a non-confrontational manner; however, this time wasn't it. There was something so lazy and deliberate about the manager and cashier taking advantage of their employer, and the other workers, that had me steamed.

[graphicubsf.livejournal.com]

That sucks! Good for you for speaking up.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

It did suck and not in a good way .....

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Oooo. Right on!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have been more like Lyle the Witty homosexual rather than Neil, the pissed off redneck, but it was effective. I tracked down the owner this morning before 7:30am and followed up.

BRAVO!!!!

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

Bravissimo! Regardless of it being right, that took a lot of guts. I'm very proud of you.

Hugs.

Re: BRAVO!!!!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks ... I don't know that I deserve praise ... These girls need to understand what it means to be responsible, to be congenial co-workers what a privilege it is to even have a job when so many folks are going without. I'm fed up with the lack of work ethic. A strong work ethic HAS to count for something, right?

HUGS!

[eressea.livejournal.com]

Hurray! *standing ovation, thunderous applause, glitter confetti*

I see the same sense of entitlement everywhere, and I swear it's getting worse all the time. These days, I walk out of places that don't offer at least a modicum of respect, and make sure the managers/owners know they've lost a customer. As for people who are always raving about their rights to this, that, and the other, I like to remind them that every right carries some responsibility with it.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I don't want those girls to lose their jobs, but I want them to be aware that they are working before the public eye and that eye was blackened by their behavior, shabby work-ethic and disrespect for their peers.

I followed up on the situation with the owner this morning. I will post a follow up.

HUGS!

[bookbear.livejournal.com]

And if they are punished in any way, their first whiney comment will be "BUT THAT'S NOT FAAAIIIIRRRRR!"

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Sad to say, but those girls really didn't have a sense of that what they were doing was wrong. I'm sure it's the way theyve gone through life ... and some mean ole man criticized them:)

[bearnight.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm probably a bitch, but I don't think wait staff should get breaks - at all! We have two cashiers at work. One always takes lunch at 12:00 - prime time for everyone else's lunch. The result is that we wait 5+ minutes to pay for our lunches. The place is only open 11:00 - 1:00!

Imagine sitting at dinner, waiting 15-20 minutes while your waitron takes a smoke break. I'm sure it happens, but it shouldn't. A quick bathroom break - yes. A smoke, chat, get drunk break - no.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Try 45 minutes, directly in front of the entrance, chain-smoking and talking on their cells ... that's what finally set me off.

As to your work situation ... the cashier should flat out be told you're here the full two hours or you don't have a job. You eat, when everyone else is done. Geeez ....