So people will get off my back

Ok, so as most have you have seen, tonight was the airing of yet another bullshit reality show. With some choppy editing and a grand Hard Copy slow mo shot of me, I was painted as some kind of villain. First off, if I were to follow anyone around, and yes that means you the reader, I bet I could make you look like the biggest A-hole on the planet too. So don't go believing everything you see on TV.

Second of all, yes this happened about four months ago when I quit The Groves (for the record I QUIT I wasn't fired). I was so pissed that night, had I not needed my last check so much I never would have signed that stupid release. They had me over a barrel and since then I have been trying to get the network to not air that special. Sadly the little guy without a lawyer doesn't have much of a shot getting anything done against a big time corporation.

For months I had been dreading this night. Then last Sunday I get a call from one of my co-workers asking if I'm on TV. Food Network decided to give a sneak peek of the show and boom we're off to the races. Over the next few days I had lost two of my clients over this and I'll be very surprised if I have a job after this weekend.

I'm glad so many of you feel so righteous judging me but you can believe that this isn't over.

A televised kick in the nuts

So as some have you might have scene, I was on some bullshit show on food network. I'm still pissed about this whole thing. I lost two customers on Monday and three more since then. I'm basically being set up as a whipping boy for the amusement of the country. OK if that's how it is, let's talk about the food industry America! You think it's all so black and white? There's a bunch of shit in this business that makes me look like a saint! I didn't do anything that hasn't been done to me in one way or another!

Worst night of my life

I'm so pissed tight now I can't even see straight. To hell with food network, thats all I can say.

Why AZ bosses need to have their citizenship stripped

Ok here goes, let me start by asking what is it to be a boss?
            Is it someone who lets you do whatever you want? Is it someone who rules with an iron fist? Is it someone who helps everyone with their job? Is it just someone who is smarter and wealthier and by default are put in charge?
            My feeling on the matter is that it's none of these, or at least it shouldn't be but as it stands in our country this is the case in most places. A boss who lets you do whatever might make for a fun place to work but growth will be hard to come by as there must always be some sort of challenge for any of us to get better at our job. A person who thinks they rule with an iron fist is just fooling themselves. Trying to convince every associate that they have some semblance of control but anyone with half a brain can see right through that charade. a boss who is just smart and rich would have a better idea of how to run the biz but it's not a sure thing. So what makes a good boss?
             One word,Leadership. Can this person lead? Can they take a staff and make them better at their jobs through any means necessary? Can they help make the company's and staff's lives better through their work?
             If we want to take it a little further, does this boss want the world around them to get better? I know we all wish for a better and brighter future but someone who takes on any form of leadership knows that deep down that they have to ability and more importantly the will to make that happen.
             Hey whats one of the reasons poor people stay poor? I know there are many but lets just start with this one. Education. Now it's been shown that kids who have one parent at home to make sure their kids are staying on track do better than kids who have two parents working one to two jobs. Unattended kids have a harder time succeeding on their own, that's not a Mexican thing, not a black thing or a white thing, that's a human being thing. Now let me ask this, how much time do you think many of the business owners think about this when they determine the pay rate of their associates? I bet they do, I don't think they're being inhuman about it, but it's easier to sidestep that whole dilemma by hiring young people who don't have kids to raise. No I don't think they're being inhuman, just cowards. They have the ability to make a difference and they choose not to for fear of loosing money, their lifeblood, their identity, their God.
             I have someone very close to me that had to take a LoA due to a sickness. She had given her boss documentation about it which said she needed to be on a lighter work schedule. This gal was due for an advancement and a raise but taking on a lighter work load meant giving up on all these things she'd worked so hard for. So it came down to her money vs her health. Keep in mind she'd worked for this boss for a few years and worked her ass for this guy's company. did he return the effort? Of course not. Now he's trying to give her lighter duty with a pay cut and I bet for a difficult schedule to go with it, why? Because now she's a liability, that and I'm sure he knows he fucked up. When you have documentation about an illness and you ignore it so you can keep making your money it will bite you in the ass.
             As for the guy I work for now, I could say a bunch of stuff about him but I will say this for him, at least he cares about the staff that works for him.
            One last thing, maybe we could start a new thing . When a business owner says they ,"Make no money" we should ask them how? I mean not just asking them how come but as in,"Show me you books and let me help, maybe I can fix your cash flow problem." Chances are they wont , at that point we should call them a liar to their face and beat the crap out of them. Ok maybe not that extreme but we should call out bullshit when we see it.
           

Ok I don't want to trash a specific restaurant or anything but this post has to do with a restaurant that SOUNDS a lot like Emi's Cafe that is definitely not in the Metro Center in Phoenix AZ.

My lady friend and I went to celebrate one of those "milestone" evenings and thought we'd give the place a shot. I'm not a big fan of these corporate style restaurants but hey my sweetie wants to go and so there I am. I look at the menu and I can respect what they're trying to do with it. They have a somewhat watered down French Cuisine that does in itself stand apart from it's competition of Applebee's or Chili's or any other "'s" for that matter.

One of the things my sweetie loved about this place was the bread baskets that they set at the tables. Now I know a little something about baking so I was curious to see if it was fresh or something thawed. So we sat down, ordered, then waited...no bread.

I asked the server if they had any bread baskets, you know, like the ones I saw on the other tables. She said she'd grab one for us but it seemed like it was a chore as opposed to part of the service. The food came in the usual order. First the soup and the salad, ten the entrees. During this process dished were starting to pile up on the table. I didn't want to be rude as I'm with my lady so I just subtly stacked the dishes at the edge of the table. I'm not lying when I say this but the server never picked them up! Even as I was paying and staring at the dishes ><

It was something simple thing but man did it piss me off. Perhaps the manager would have caught it but in the hour that I was there I never saw one. another thing that pissed me off. I'll get into that in another post as far as management goes but as far as the server goes I'm going to blame the restaurants training.

A little effort goes a long way people!

Attitude and razors

You know I hate to be "That" guy but I have to get this off my chest. Since when did the city of Tempe run out of razor blades?

The last few times my Gal and I have gone out to eat in this city we've had "Scruffy young guy" as our server. I don't have anything against facial hair or any of that, all I ask is that the person who handles my food look like they gave two shits before they left the house. It's almost as if they don't even want the job they're working. I know that might not sound an unreasonable conclusion to come too but holy crap people, these servers were like 22 at the oldest! I blame the older generations like ourselves for the young peoples dismay, perhaps we shouldn't have made the air of discontent so inviting.

Ok back to the service or lack thereof. Listen folks, I've been in this business for nineteen years and  regardless of what you think of me I KNOW how to make a restaurant run in the black and I'm telling you this," Everything matters!" When it comes to the FoH or (Front of House) you have to have a close eye on every aspect of their work, from the look in their eyes to the cleanliness of their uniforms because they all send out a message when the guest walks in the door. For that reason you as a boss have to look for the weed in your garden that will spread quickly and choke out the roses you've worked so hard to grow. Seriously all it takes is one crab ass to ruin a whole shift for your crew.

Don't believe me? Next time you go into work make sure you are giving out an angry vibe and in thirty minutes everyone on your staff will be in a shitty mood. Even the person on your crew that is always happy and beaming with light will turn into a quiet somber little mouse that runs from everything. after you've done that try the opposite. Come in with the best attitude in the world, as if it's your birthday and every friend from the past and present are at your job and they're going to spend the day working and smiling right beside you. You'll find that it's much harder for that positive vibe to spread but when it does holy shit is it a beautiful thing.

That "Vibe" is as important an asset of your business as your cooler or your safe  because you'll never succeed with out it.

Heavy is the Head

Morning everyone,
I thought I'd start out the day reflecting on what it means to be in charge. I know there are a lot of people out there who have many issues with their boss. I know there are a lot of people who think their boss is just some jerk who has no idea of what they're doing. You know what that is?

Your cowardice, plain and simple.

It's been my experience that all critics tend to be scared shitless when it comes to stepping out of the shadows and actually doing something to either fix a problem or heaven forbid, improve a situation. It's almost as if they're back in High School trying to get something over on their teacher if only to prove that they can outsmart the one person in the room who is trying to help them. Does anyone else find that logic asinine?

Let me break it down this way:
If you think your boss is an idiot. Perhaps they are but they're still smarter than you.


Your boss acts like they know everything. They know more than you.


Your boss can be a mean jerk. If they get crabby maybe it's because they have the weight of the business on their shoulders and you don't.


I bring this up it's because I think subjects like hese needs to be addressed. Topics left unsaid tend to fester and rot in the workplace. It might not feel good to bring up but sometimes you have to remind the staff that they should try to see things from your point of view from time to time.