MGMT

Believe it or not, troublesome guests aren’t the worst people you have to deal with as a server. At least you know that once the check is dropped and paid they’ll be gone and out of your life (sometimes forever, sometimes not). There is another sort of evil element in the restaurant business and this one doesn’t go away quite as easily: the manager. Now, I realize that everyone, regardless of their job, likes to complain about their boss but restaurants are a rare case where employees generally make more money than their managers. This can be a source of frustration for the manager and frustration can lead to conflict. And it often does.

Abraham Lincoln said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

Many of the restaurant managers that I've worked with have been great people that have used the job as a good resume builder. Others have let the job go to their head, using their position as a way to control and abuse people. With low expectations for upward mobility, especially in smaller family-owned restaurants, some managers can become consumed with their feelings of inferiority and unleash against a poor and unsuspecting staff. Tearing people down, even when they’re doing a good job, is a great way for these people to feel better about themselves and forget, for just a minute, about their own shortcomings (both in their career and in life).

I recently left a job because of one of these animals. I had worked at this particular restaurant for quite some time. Longer than I had ever planned on working in any restaurant, really. The money was consistent, I had an ideal schedule, and I had some amazing regular customers. For the most part, I enjoyed it and I actually cared about the restaurant. Over my time there I had several disputes with the GM, but we got along for the most part. I think that we were even friends at one point.

And then he went to the Dark Side.

Spending fifteen hours a day locked in an office with your future father-in-law (yes, he was engaged to the boss’ daughter – and she made more money than him – another source of frustration) will make your brain weak. It might even make you feel like less of a man. Eventually a once (relatively) well-rounded individual became a robot focused on “perfect service.” Now, I firmly believe that providing perfect service is the restaurant’s (and server’s) ultimate goal for every guest experience but he took it too far. It consumed him. Chasing pregnant waitresses around on busy Saturday nights, yelling at them in the sidestand because they forgot to mark a table with a soup spoon is unacceptable behavior. It creates a tension in the restaurant, and amongst the staff, that the guest can perceive, thereby undermining our goal of perfect service. Duh.

Upon learning of said waitress’ pregnancy -
Idiot GM: Ooh, I’m sorry to hear that.

This guy generally laid off of me and left me to my own devices but the rest of the staff would always tell me about the awful things he would say and do to them. Over time, as the offenses piled up higher and higher and his behavior became more and more crazy, my opinion of him fell until the respect that was once there dried up entirely.

The resentment bubbled for months before the inevitable showdown.

Taking him up on his “open-door” policy, I approached him about his troubling behavior. Having been friends at one point, long ago, I tried to talk to him as such. Unfortunately, there is no sense of reason inside the mind of a monster. Instead of a conversation, he baited me into an all-out argument. The words that came out of his mouth were lies. Concoctions of a deranged mind.

So that’s how it was going to be.

The restaurant simply wasn’t big enough for the two of us anymore.

I offered my notice, saying that I would leave at the end of the year. He responded by telling me that I could leave right then and there.

And so I did.

Anyway, in honor of the title of this post, here's a video! Enjoy!