Oh boy, the guy who wanted my promotion.... ack!

It's not an issue yet but on Wednesday it is going to be so I thought I'd ask for some input now so I have a few strategies up my sleeve when I have to deal with this guy on Wednesday.

Nothing has been announced as yet regarding the changes in the kitchen so no one really has a clue as to who will be moving up etc. A few people that I have told know, and there are alot who see the obvious so I think the news will not come as a surprise to them and they don't worry me. So this guy still thinks the job is his and he is already acting like it is his. It took everything I had in me yesterday to bite my tongue and not tell him to get off of his soapbox because he didn't make the promotion but I think on Wednesday he may just get his eyes opened.

So he opens on Wednesday and I am in at 7am.. both the current KM and AKM are off that day so it's all on me and I have to the orders etc as well as the soup of the day. (someone else is doing my mise but I actually cook the soup .. it's amazing how adaptable we can be when we have to!;)) I'm fine with that and dealing with servers, drivers and owners but HE is my concern.

HE likes to be in charge but doesn't like to take charge (responsibility) it that makes sense and makes a HUGE show of doing precious little. He likes to call board (that is going to change next weekend.. me and the new KM are going be doing it as it is on us and not him how the plates go out) and when he isn't calling board he is constantly going over the board caller to show off how good he is. I have more than once said to him.. do NOT sell a bill unless I see all the plates because things are missing when you do that.. and does he listen.. nope not at all. And it's little things too.. he likes to find the smallest fault with a plate someone puts up and he sells eggs that look like rat crap and he thinks it's fine and when he's told his eggs look like crap his reply is what do you want me to do and I actually looked at him once and said... get a set and remake them, would you PAY FOR eat this rat crap?.. Oh boy I can go on and on about this one.

Waste.. he is the king of waste.. instead of flipping eggs to plate them if the side facing him looks bad, he remakes the set... the way I was taught by the chain traniers even is to only remake if you break a yolk or it looks bad.. period. Most times we can flip to plate and it looks really good. He puts on tons of hollandaise sauce and we end up tossing it as it separates and looks inedible after a while and he does the same with baked beans and same thing.. we toss them. He has been told to do less but being a lazy F he doesn't.

He is not going to be happy but I am going to be training people for the open and he is going to find his open shifts greatly reduced. As far as the new KM and I are concerned the best workers should open and also... opening is a privelege not a right and it needs to be viewed as that. This guy thinks it is his God given right to open. Take yesterday.. he picked up a shift and saw that I had the open and was after me for it... I did give it to him as I really didn't want my daughter up at 5am to come to work with me but he needs to learn to work the shifts he is given.. period. ( I also ended up with the same hours I'd have had if I opened so it was no skin off my teeth to sleep in)

When he focuses (and it has been seen on occasion) he is fairly good at what he does.. honestly not the type of worker I want in my kitchen but we're minimally staffed at the moment so we have to put up with him.

The nice part of me feels bad for being so hard on him but if any of you work a shift with someone like this (and I know all of you likely have) you'll get what I am saying

So.. for Wednesday... one owner is on holidays the other has Wednesdays off but I am going to ask him tomorrow if he will be and and I will tell him why. I'm going to ask him to take Thursday as his day off this week if he doesn't mind as I may need his backup on Wednesday and I'm pretty sure he will do that for me. I know I am going to need backup because it will hit the fan with this guy and he will be there for me if I need him.

After reading this far.. please if anyone has any advice as to how to handle this guy (besides showing him the door....lol) I would love to hear it and I appreciate any advice etc that you all with much more experience at this than me can share!!

Thanks for listening and thanks in advance for your input!

Thanks, guys. My best bet is to ask the owner to be there in case I need his backup as I am pretty sure I may and as for why they haven't announced the changes I am not sure. I think it will go up mid week but in my opinion it needed to go up on the weekend so everyone would have been aware.

I will definitely speak up and correct him when I see him doing things I don't care for (like the cell phone/computer thing) and if he doesn't like to be corrected well I guess there isn't much that I can do about that and I may have to pull rank. I do like this guy as a person but as a worker... well enough said on that.

As for speaking openly about him on an open forum... I'm not too worried. I think I may have described a number of cooks out there on any given day... I didn't name names or restaurants and well if he does stumble across this I hope he sees it as a heads up and smartens up before we have to smarten him up.

I did cave and gave him my shift and it was pretty selfish of me too. My daughter started on Saturday doing the bus and she was in for Sunday about three hours after opening so if I were to open she'd have been there crazy early so it was in my family's best interest for me to cave but this guy needs to learn that he needs to work the hours he is given and we definitely have to work on that with him.

If we can just get a few things thorough his skull we would have a good opener on our hands.....

They haven't officially announced it yet because one of the owners is on vacation and the new KM wanted to wait until he was back from vacation to announce the changes. It's been "unoficcialy" announced but it it's obvious to most who is going to be named for the postitions.

The new KM and I did alot of talking today and we have come up with some changes that will hopefully make things smoother for everyone. We have to make a new list of opening duties because the current one doesn't include changes we have made for the weekdays since we opened and tasks that have been added to it. Either he or I will be training openers from now on, and we also have to make a few changes to the schedule to accomodate my new position. Our closing list needs to be updated too to reflect the way we do things during the week now.

As for this guy I'm just going to go in, and do my job. He is good when he focuses and I do like having him in the kitchen because despite all of his shortcomings, he can comfortably do most of the stations. I do see that he has leadership potential in him, but he has to definitely work on his work eithic if he wants to move forward in the kitchen. Hopefully the new KM and I can work with him to help him bring it out, but alot has to come from him too.

I forgot to mention.. we're also planning a mandatory (hate to put it that way but we want everyone to attend and realise its importance) kitchen staff meeting after things are announced so we can hear from the staff what they would like to see in the kitchen and start to build a team together.

Thanks!

I'm not going to lie.. this guy can frustrate the heck out of me but now I am in a position to be able to change that and I am definitely going to work on it.

This is the first place our owners have ever had and I think they have to deal with alot of stuff from the chain when it comes to management changes. (our chain keeps a big hand in all of the locations as they want to put forward a certian image) We got our district manager's blessing today so she is aware of what is to come and now that we have that we can start telling people. Also I think out of respect to the current KM they may not be saying much. She is definitely leaving some big shoes for the new KM to fill.. she is amazing and I am very happy to have been able to work with and learn from her.

I would never ever open a chain if I could avoid it. I see the long hours our owners put and well if that was going to be me and I have always said this... MY name would be on the door and I would be the CEO as well as chef.

I definitely will. If he cleans up his act I can see him in my spot in a few years but he has to earn it and not take any second of it for granted because as fast as promotions happen, so do demotions and we always have to remember that.