My daughter received her first taste of the working world last night. Unfortunately, it left a bad taste.
16 years old, ready to make a good impression, trying out her first job. A local restaurant called her back to fill in their vacant hostess position. She put on her nicest dress, fixed her long strawberry blonde hair just right, and walked in confident, excited, and little bit nervous. She had the impression she would shadow someone this night, learn the ropes.
But, when she showed up, the owner (who wasn’t the one who’d hired her – in fact, didn’t even know her name) simply asked, “You the new hostess?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Follow me.”
He quickly gave her a tour of the small restaurant and outlined her responsibilities. He gave her a cursory lesson in how to work the register and where the salad plates were located. Her role was to meet and seat customers, take their drink orders, prepare and deliver salads, deliver their check and accept payment, run the register, then bus the table.
Remember, this is her first job, ever. This is her first night. She’s had no training. And the owner says, “It’s all yours.” She’s completely in charge of the front of the house!
My daughter is very smart and she adapts quickly. Through the fire she learned. In recounting her tale, she explained that she got “in the weeds” several times, but held tight. And held back tears on a few occasions. A number of times during the night the owner also reprimanded her, with a mirthless smile. “You’ve been doing this all night…you should know how it’s done by now,” was a common theme.
Upon picking her up she simply said, “That sucked!” And I heard her story. And her assessment was dead-on: The owner was a jerk and had no business running a restaurant. She called in to quit today, with my blessings. No one should accept that kind of abuse.
No matter how large or small the business, employees, whether first-timers or old pros, need to be trained. They also need to be treated with respect. Despite the rampant unemployment that’s hit our country, no job is worth being mis-treated.
Employers are in a tough spot. They need people who can do their jobs now more than ever. Reliance upon their people is what will empower survival and success. However, employers who act like this one are self destructive. Unfortunately, the owners of many small businesses are just like this guy. and they wonder why they consistently need to replace people. They wonder why customers abandon them.
Leaders, don’t be like this guy. train your people. Invest time in them. Like my daughter, people just want to work. They want to do a good job. Give them the tools, time and empowerment to do the job you want them to do.
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