Who The Hell Cares Anyway?

Three people don’t show up for work. The associates who do show up are working twice as hard to pull up the slack. The rookie manager is instantly in psycho mode. Who the hell cares? I do. Well, I do now anyway.

This is rookie manager’s time to shine! The typical situation is that when things go wrong…the people who are there are getting abused. I’ve done it a million times. I have definitely been guilty of taking out frustration on the crew that was present and accounted for. Why? Because like you reading this I am human. Now what makes me different than the typical operator? I learn from my bad choices.

I remember one morning I showed up to work ready to set the world on fire. Two hours into my shift I wanted to set the restaurant on fire (literally). Instead of embracing the loyal team members who did show, I mutilated them. I over reacted to every little thing. I was mean, hateful and most of all unprofessional.

The worst part was they stayed anyway. Even worse… when the absent t.m.’s showed up late or the next day…I did nothing!!! I was grateful to have a full staff. The one’s who were with me in the time of need got abused the whole day. The ones who didn’t care to show up were welcomed back!

If you don’t take a step back once in a while and recap some of your adventures in management you really lose the lesson learned. The lesson here is “who the hell cares?” My diligent employees were wondering that very thing. They are thinking “I show up and this asshole yells at me all day? The losers who set him off are welcomed back? This guy doesn’t get it!!”

I didn’t. I wound up losing two of those people. I had to answer to my boss and the part that sucked the most…I had to come to grips that I was WRONG!. It’s been 20 years since that day. I have since improved on this quite a bit. I can still lose it from time to time but it’s mostly theatrics. If any of my crew is reading this now…I am never theatric.

Being involved with day to day operations one has to care. It’s tricky though. You can’t be anyone’s friend. You can not be deemed as distant. The best thing I can say is to be professional and friendly. You know the drill! Praise in public and criticize in private. Appreciate those who kill it for you daily. Get rid of the jerks that don’t. It’s that simple. Your team will view this as support. If we just fill slots with bodies you will eventually lose the good ones. Is that okay?!! Never.

Who the hell cares? I hope who ever is reading this.

Make good choices.