Dealing with people

Depends on the situation (as in who she is close with) but you could take it to the Chef during downtime or before service starts.

i agree with mredikop. but make sure that your not the one thats going to look bad when you take it to a chef. if it only happens every once in a while then i would just deal with it but if its a constant, everyday thing that has been happening for a while then talk to the chef. if its something new that has just started happening then i would talk with the person about as far as cleaning up after themselves and see if it stops before taking it to a higher level. GL.

-Aaron.

I'm one of the worst tattle-tales. I can't stand when people do a mediocre job. It sounds like you have a lot of people in your kitchen, so it's more difficult to keep track of all of them. I'd definitely talk to the chef if it happens more than once. I can't stand things like that.....

Although, my chef thinks I complain too much about the performance of others, however he has no problems with MY performance so I feel justified (and yes, I try to keep the complaining down)

Fledgling, if I were your chef, I would want to know why you are wasting company time observing the performance of others, when that is my job, not yours. Any time spent observing others is diluting your focus and diverting it from where it should be.

Chad, I would just have a talk with your coworker and explain your point of view on the situation. I think you are probably correct in that she doesn't realize how her behavior is affecting others. Don't wait for it to become a problem, take care of it while it is still simple human interaction.

Have some leadership skills, take her to one side and just be straight and say ''listen your performance is pretty low and i need you to step up a gear'' Hopefully she wont back chat you, if she does take a claw hammer to her face. Nine times out of ten she will work better afterwards, unless shes still in hospital.

This type of commentary is stupid, immature and irresponsible. If you can't say things that are constructive please just find somewhere else on the internet to be a jerk.

Me, I'd talk to the KM about the lost manhours involved in cleaning up after her or doing her job instead of being able to do yours while you're on duty. It's the KM's job to talk to the employee about poor performance. Not yours & not the head chef's. Talk to the Kitchen Manager.

I am a very focused worker and my chef tells me I have good performance... however I *will* vocalize my opinion about a coworker if he/she is interfering with my job. Chef got on to me the other night because I ended up having to plate an extra 350 salads for a banquet because those who were supposed to stay and double check the amount had clocked out without permission (and, clearly, miscounted the count of the salads, unless the waitstaff took off with them). I did not complain about doing that, however I said something to the effect of, "The ones that show up late are also the ones that go home without the job done? How much can we get away with?" One was an hour late, the other showed up 2.5 hours late... I don't know when to say something and when not to, but I'm learning.

I think Daiz meant it as a joke but you're right that was a little over the top.

I think you should always try talking to the person yourself first, privately, maybe over drinks after shift. If that doesn't work or they try to take a claw-hammer to you then escalate to the Kitchen Manager or Sous Chef depending on your structure take it to whomever is YOUR direct report.

If none of that works just accept the things you cannot change and keep on truckin'. The better you do the worse the other person looks.

LOL Dont worry its just English humour, altho it works.

If you have someone not pulling there weight in a kitchen dont be all pally and soft touch else they will laugh at you.

From a political view

Chad Aaland,

If you could try taking to her and tell her why the way she is working interfers with your work.
Tell her in a nice way and dont forget to mention that it would really help you if she would change some of her habbits.
Dont forget to mention her that you are helping her to lift things for her.
You can also ask her to help you for your banquet in return since your are cleaning up for her.

I think this is a very nice way to take care of this problem. also try to fix this problem by finding a solution that is beneficial for the two of you, a win/win solution. Because right now you are in a lose/win situation and she seems to be on the win side.

however, if you decide to turn the table around and be on the win side and her on the losing side, she might want to turn the table around again, and this little conflict could grow and become an intestinal war.

one last tip, every decision you make when solving a conflict, must be perceived by the majority of the employee (superiors, co-workers...anybody in the joint) as the best solution. the reason is simple, if you solve this problem by making this a win situation for you and a loosing situation for her and this becomes an un-popular way off seeing this conflcit solved, your image will suffer and you will have more people against you.
The solution you will find must reflect what the majority of the people in the enteprise finds accepteble and the solution you will find must be defendable on the all ethical point of view.

I hope I this will help you.

keep your own side of the street clean, shell be gone in time...frustrating? YES

That is good advice. If you handle it by makeing her out to be the bad guy (even if she is) you don't come out on top. You should talk directly with her. Don't have a blanket conversation - catch her in the act - be specific about what she is doing that is effecting you negetively at the time it is happening. Do it in a nice way and perhaps she will respond in kind. If you ice the cake by letting her know your trying to help everyone stay in the chefs good graces, she may thank you for the input and continue to try and get it right in the future.

It's pretty hard to not observe certain things, at least, like someone leaving meat scraps and breading all over a prep table on a regular basis, or trashing the walk-in floor when they do a stock rotate and walking away from it.