Thursday, September 04, 2008
Oh, I couldn't leave it at that. And naturally, it didn't end there.
First of all, notice how every time they talk to me, their reasons for calling me to the carpet are different? They insist that it's been the same problem all along, and I'm just not improving. I'm like, "Really? Do you think it might be because your expectations have yet to be defined?" The whole "meeting" was just (mostly Patty) covering their asses and twisting every word I've ever spoken to them into something different.
For example, the last time I talked with Jim and Patty, they told me they knew I'd told somebody (oh, the espionage they've engaged in!) that "I'm not a cook!" At that time, I laughed and said, "Isn't that the way gossip works? Yes, I did say the words "I'm not a cook", but they were followed by, 'I CAN cook, and I'll do whatever is necessary, but I'm not a cook, I'm a pastry chef, and that's something entirely different. So you see, your informant is taking my words out of context to make it sound as if I'm throwing a hissy and refusing to work, but that is clearly not the case." They seemed to accept my explanation and took it no further. Then yesterday, BossMan brought it up again, clearly implying that I had told other employees that I was refusing to do certain tasks. I was given a statement to sign to that effect and I refused--I edited it to clearly state the remaining sentences that they are conveniently leaving out and signed "with edits only". Assholes.
The thing they're insisting on is that I don't take enough responsibility in the kitchen (yes, that's right, Manager #5 in a kitchen with only 3 hourly employees, and I haven't figured out what to "own", and you're SURPRISED?). Fine, I can take some ownership if you like, but I want it clear to everyone in the room and every employee (mgr or not) what is and isn't my responsibility. So write me a clear list of duties. Cut the vague "supervise food production" bullshit, because that doesn't float when every employee producing food can run to one of 4 other managers and get a different opinion and override me without even knowing it. And I can't police what everyone's doing constantly to see if they're really doing what I told them to because you've insisted I spend the majority of my time slicing tomatoes and frying burgers.
So I went to R this morning and said, "Hey, they're pushing me to "take" stuff from you. That's not how I operate. This is your kitchen, and I am not going to push you out. I want YOU to find a comfortable split between the daily/weekly duties we do and let's find a better way to split it evenly so they're off my back, and I haven't backstabbed and stolen from you." She rolled her eyes: "I was just in the office, and Patty was standing over Shannon's (bossman's assistant) shoulder and THEY were writing the list FOR us. It seems neither of us gets a say in the matter." Assholes.
Then she asks me if they talked to me about changes in my pay. "No." More eye rolls. It seems they've told her they're taking her off salary, but she's not allowed overtime. Actually, nobody in the company (save the people in Bossman's office, of course) is allowed overtime. At our little "P&L Discovery" meeting, we were all lectured about how deep in the hole the company is at the moment and everyone had to cut hours and overtime was FORBIDDEN. The hours they're slashing are INSANE. For example, in the kitchen I'm in, she gets only *3* hourly employees: a cook, a cashier and a deli/grill cook. The kitchen I came from has 2 cooks, 2 cashiers, a grill/deli, an assistant mgr. and a dishwasher/salad bar person. Yes, they do a little more than double the cafeteria business, so I can see cutting hours or one or two staff members, but we still have to be open the same hours, still prepare the same foods, just less of it. And the hours these 3 people are allowed to work pretty much dictate that both R & I will be staffing half the kitchen ourselves and then cleaning up at the end of the day by ourselves. Or well, now that she's hourly and can't work OT, that means ME. By my fucking self.
And just two weeks ago they threw a big catered party at a country club to celebrate a company VP's 20th year with the company. More than $3000 worth of imported seafood served to 20 people (I'm certain that a great deal of it was thrown away), and NONE of it was paid for by the company, it all came out of our kitchen's account. And they want to know why the budget is off? Perhaps if you took your finger out of your ASS and smelled it, you'd figure out what's going on, ASSHOLES.
Then R dropped another bomb: last month when they moved me, I saw the writing on the wall and started job hunting. Doing so revealed a job listing that exactly described Patty's job, to the letter. I was flummoxxed. R said she just found out that in the midst of all these labor cuts (even though BossMan already has Patty and Shannon as assistants), they hired a 3rd assistant (at $16.40/hr, equivalent to about $4/hr more than any of the kitchen managers make) who happens to be BossMan's girlfriend's sister, and now they're looking for someone to be Patty's boss. Huh? Patty's boss is BossMan. No, no, Sassy: see, Patty has a difficult time talking to the big wigs of the company. She's not comfortable speaking publicly, and her communication skills are lacking [An example: an actual verbatim email from her: "You go girl! Sales was great!" And at the last meeting: "We was supposed to get done by April, but we wasn't done until mid-May."] So they need to hire someone above her to do the speaking for her. Yes, there's the logic that got this company more than $1.5M in the red: when you hire a director of dining services and she completely lacks a major skillset, the obvious only solution would be to hire a BOSS to take on that task for her. Yes, they can't afford to pay a couple of dishwashers making $8/hr an hour of overtime every week, but they can afford another salaried employee making more than $45k.
OMG, people. Please fire me. I'm ready to chew my own leg off to get away from you.
First of all, notice how every time they talk to me, their reasons for calling me to the carpet are different? They insist that it's been the same problem all along, and I'm just not improving. I'm like, "Really? Do you think it might be because your expectations have yet to be defined?" The whole "meeting" was just (mostly Patty) covering their asses and twisting every word I've ever spoken to them into something different.
For example, the last time I talked with Jim and Patty, they told me they knew I'd told somebody (oh, the espionage they've engaged in!) that "I'm not a cook!" At that time, I laughed and said, "Isn't that the way gossip works? Yes, I did say the words "I'm not a cook", but they were followed by, 'I CAN cook, and I'll do whatever is necessary, but I'm not a cook, I'm a pastry chef, and that's something entirely different. So you see, your informant is taking my words out of context to make it sound as if I'm throwing a hissy and refusing to work, but that is clearly not the case." They seemed to accept my explanation and took it no further. Then yesterday, BossMan brought it up again, clearly implying that I had told other employees that I was refusing to do certain tasks. I was given a statement to sign to that effect and I refused--I edited it to clearly state the remaining sentences that they are conveniently leaving out and signed "with edits only". Assholes.
The thing they're insisting on is that I don't take enough responsibility in the kitchen (yes, that's right, Manager #5 in a kitchen with only 3 hourly employees, and I haven't figured out what to "own", and you're SURPRISED?). Fine, I can take some ownership if you like, but I want it clear to everyone in the room and every employee (mgr or not) what is and isn't my responsibility. So write me a clear list of duties. Cut the vague "supervise food production" bullshit, because that doesn't float when every employee producing food can run to one of 4 other managers and get a different opinion and override me without even knowing it. And I can't police what everyone's doing constantly to see if they're really doing what I told them to because you've insisted I spend the majority of my time slicing tomatoes and frying burgers.
So I went to R this morning and said, "Hey, they're pushing me to "take" stuff from you. That's not how I operate. This is your kitchen, and I am not going to push you out. I want YOU to find a comfortable split between the daily/weekly duties we do and let's find a better way to split it evenly so they're off my back, and I haven't backstabbed and stolen from you." She rolled her eyes: "I was just in the office, and Patty was standing over Shannon's (bossman's assistant) shoulder and THEY were writing the list FOR us. It seems neither of us gets a say in the matter." Assholes.
Then she asks me if they talked to me about changes in my pay. "No." More eye rolls. It seems they've told her they're taking her off salary, but she's not allowed overtime. Actually, nobody in the company (save the people in Bossman's office, of course) is allowed overtime. At our little "P&L Discovery" meeting, we were all lectured about how deep in the hole the company is at the moment and everyone had to cut hours and overtime was FORBIDDEN. The hours they're slashing are INSANE. For example, in the kitchen I'm in, she gets only *3* hourly employees: a cook, a cashier and a deli/grill cook. The kitchen I came from has 2 cooks, 2 cashiers, a grill/deli, an assistant mgr. and a dishwasher/salad bar person. Yes, they do a little more than double the cafeteria business, so I can see cutting hours or one or two staff members, but we still have to be open the same hours, still prepare the same foods, just less of it. And the hours these 3 people are allowed to work pretty much dictate that both R & I will be staffing half the kitchen ourselves and then cleaning up at the end of the day by ourselves. Or well, now that she's hourly and can't work OT, that means ME. By my fucking self.
And just two weeks ago they threw a big catered party at a country club to celebrate a company VP's 20th year with the company. More than $3000 worth of imported seafood served to 20 people (I'm certain that a great deal of it was thrown away), and NONE of it was paid for by the company, it all came out of our kitchen's account. And they want to know why the budget is off? Perhaps if you took your finger out of your ASS and smelled it, you'd figure out what's going on, ASSHOLES.
Then R dropped another bomb: last month when they moved me, I saw the writing on the wall and started job hunting. Doing so revealed a job listing that exactly described Patty's job, to the letter. I was flummoxxed. R said she just found out that in the midst of all these labor cuts (even though BossMan already has Patty and Shannon as assistants), they hired a 3rd assistant (at $16.40/hr, equivalent to about $4/hr more than any of the kitchen managers make) who happens to be BossMan's girlfriend's sister, and now they're looking for someone to be Patty's boss. Huh? Patty's boss is BossMan. No, no, Sassy: see, Patty has a difficult time talking to the big wigs of the company. She's not comfortable speaking publicly, and her communication skills are lacking [An example: an actual verbatim email from her: "You go girl! Sales was great!" And at the last meeting: "We was supposed to get done by April, but we wasn't done until mid-May."] So they need to hire someone above her to do the speaking for her. Yes, there's the logic that got this company more than $1.5M in the red: when you hire a director of dining services and she completely lacks a major skillset, the obvious only solution would be to hire a BOSS to take on that task for her. Yes, they can't afford to pay a couple of dishwashers making $8/hr an hour of overtime every week, but they can afford another salaried employee making more than $45k.
OMG, people. Please fire me. I'm ready to chew my own leg off to get away from you.
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