Thread: Life After Teaching

David, glad you stopped back in to let us know how things are going. IIRC I mentioned before you left that being a restaurant manager would be a LOT like teaching. Loved the story about the grill cook, btw.

Anyway, good to hear from you. Let us know when you get that promotion.

If you can, I'd be interested in knowing what restaurant chain it is. A PM would keep it secret, and I promise I won't tell (no, not even you BeSee)

David, you're back!!! Yay!!

What happened to the piece of meat loaf he touched with his bare hands?

Keep cracking that whip and keep us posted.

We had a manager in a local that snapped and growled orders at the help until, one day, a 2 gal pot of hot oil "accidently" got spilled on him. He stopped growling or, for that matter, making much of any sounds and he is pretty hard to recognize now. Everyone there swore it was an accident and no one was held responsible.
It's a different world in many places - be careful...

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Hey David!

Thanks for the update.
My department chair came to education from the hospitality [that's what he calls it] industry. He has many similar stories.

He's sorta regretting the decision to switch careers now... Sounds like you made a good one

Good luck to you - keep us posted.

Welcome back.


When i long term subbed on the rim of the grand canyon, one of the student's father was the general manager of all the kitchens in the park, south and north rim, for the Fred harvey Company. He had some stories to tell. I think he would have liked having to deal with a glove issue. The best one he told was walking into the kitchen at one of the lodges and half the kitchen staff was prepping or in the process of shooting heroin over an empty burner. He did the job of three people that night and his two assistants did the same, because the people were fired on the spot and turned into the police.

It is a rough business, I am not sure I envy you.

If you have not read anything by Anthony Bourdain I recommend him.

[url="http://www.anthonybourdain.com/"]http://www.anthonybourdain.com/[/url]

One of my favorite writers.

Originally Posted by Mark

...snip... The best one he told was walking into the kitchen at one of the lodges and half the kitchen staff was prepping or in the process of shooting heroin over an empty burner.

...but were they wearing gloves?

Originally Posted by Mark

If you have not read anything by Anthony Bourdain I recommend him.

[url="http://www.anthonybourdain.com/"]http://www.anthonybourdain.com/[/url]

One of my favorite writers.

I concur.

I'm not sure he was focused on the gloves. The needles and spoons probably held his attention.

What happened to the meat loaf?

The portion of meat loaf was a loss the moment the grill cook touched it and the food was thrown away.

The grill cook was actually written up by the assistant general manager, who witnessed the incident. This employee has a history of similar prior incidents and management decided to finally throw the book at him.

His job will now be subject to termination if there are two more incidents within a six month period.

It will be an even bet to see if the grill cook is still with us in six months. He doesn't seem to have a great deal of common sense.

He was late to work yesterday because of a problem with his parole officer. It seems that he lost his driver's license because of a DUI ... but despite the loss of his license he has still insisted upon driving to work.

8O

And yes, duct.tape was quite correct. Supervising restaurant staff is a lot like managing a classroom. As a manager in training, I feel a bit like a student teacher as the only authority I have is the authority I assume.

For example:

• During a slow period I found three waitresses leaning on the counter doing nothing. I asked them to refill the salt and pepper shakers. None of them moved. I looked at one of the waitresses and asked her to refill the salt and pepper shakers. The waitress whined, "Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do everything?" Lest the other two wait staff feel left out, I had them wipe down the counter tops and pass window.

• On another occassion I found a gallon of chocolate milk sitting on a counter top. "Why is this milk sitting at room temperature?" I asked.

Four waitresses were standing nearby. "Look inside the server refrigerator," suggested one of the waitresses. I looked inside the refrigerator and found that an extra bottle of dressing had been spilled.

"Who spilled the dressing?" I asked.

Four pairs of shoulders were shrugged. "I dunno," came the response.

"Would one of you please clean this up?" I asked.

"I didn't do it!" complained each of the waitresses.

One of the waitresses gave me a look. "You're not my boss. I don't have to do anything you say."

Having heard these replies, the general manager came around the corner and snapped, "I want that refrigerator clean ... NOW!"

The waitresses snapped to and nearly tripped over themselves in their rush to gather cleaning supplies.

• While walking pass the grill line, I noticed two grill cooks were preparing food without wearing gloves. "Gentleman, would you please put on your gloves?" I asked.

"We don't have to wear gloves," replied the senior employee. "We're not touching the food with our bare hands."

"Company policy requires all grill cooks to wear gloves," I insisted. "We're also overdue for a health inspection and if the inspector comes by and we get gigged because you weren't wearing gloves, what do you think the general manager will do to you?"

The men put on their gloves.

Yep ... managing a restaurant is a lot like teaching. The upside of all of this is that I don't have to grade papers or deal with parents. As a manager I also get complimentary meals - so my grocery budget has fallen to next to nothing.

On the flipside, there's an awful lot of paperwork associated with running a restaurant. At the end of my shift, I have to close out the register drawers and tally the amount received in cash and credit cards. Each register drawer has to be counted out and reissued for use by the next shift. The profit made has to be recorded. Our computer system breaks down the profit as percentages of food costs and labor costs. These reports are sent to the regional director as well as corporate headquarters.

When profits are low and labor costs are high (because we had a lot of staff on duty during a slow period), management gets scolded by the regional director.

When profits are high but labor costs are low (because we had insufficient staff on hand to meet an unexpected rush of business), management gets scolded by the regional director.

Food costs are another issue. The cost of that slice of meat loaf that had to be thrown away may seem trivial but when added to the cost of oatmeal that we made that nobody ate, or biscuits that were baked that nobody ordered; all of these costs are compounded and they have the effect of reducing our net profit.

Food pilferage by employees is a serious issue because they can really destroy food costs i.e. the waitress who serves her boyfriend a "complimentary" sirloin steak without charging him, the grill cook who accidentally makes one too many hamburgers and decides to eat the hamburger instead of throwing it away, and the kitchen prep cook who forgets to cover and refrigerate a pot of chili which then has to be dumped because of concerns over bacterial growth.

All of these costs add up and ultimately reduce the store's net profit.