Back into the hornets' nest

Coming back from vacation is usually an ok thing as far as work goes. A bit of a re-charge is sometimes necessary in life and I was looking foreword to a good couple weeks before classes start.

Of course when I returned I walked into a shit storm instead of the relaxed pace of late summer.
Recently we were given employee surveys from the corporate office, it seems like they finally wanted our opinions on management/business issues.

I refused to fill one out, I worked for a company that surveyed their employees once and they openly mocked the opinions of the surveys directly in front of the staff. No changes were made that would positively impact the business and if anything management held a grudge against the people who gave their opinions.

Well back to present day. They surveys were turned in and management released a memo to the staff with certain changes to policy as well as addressing policy that was already in place. As usual they ignored the entire concept of communication and made their usual arbitrary and petty decisions.

Most of the memo was common sense, a manager read the memo in a staff meeting and much of it was the same show up on time/have a clean uniform type deal that should be expected. There was a couple of points that they tried to rush past that clearly had some people upset.
In the last year our place of business has had a complete reversal in the culture of the restaurant. We were originally a hip restaurant (how I hate to say that, I hate hipsters) with a quirky staff that displayed their individuality in both their appearance and their personality at their tables. This was encouraged by the management and owners at the time. Short of walking in with green hair and a Mohawk you were fit to work.

Apparently this “vision” of how the restaurant is to be has changed. The memo addressed a this, and many were upset.

First off women are pretty much encouraged to dress like men, hell I’d even rather have them look like the Stepford Wives rather than the frumpy clothed, minimal make-up and no personality mold that the restaurant wants.

This is all fun and games for a corporate restaurant, but come off it, the reason many of us wanted to work for this restaurant was because it was the exact opposite of what it has become.

If you’re a male who has ear-rings, tattoos or facial hair you’re screwed as well. The memo states restrictions on the above as well.

It seems you have to ask permission from management to change hair styles, color or to grow facial hair.

That is the funniest part of the new policies to me.

You’re allowed have a beard/goatee/mustache/sideburns…

You’re just not allowed to grow them.

A bit more was mentioned on the whole scheduling thing. They reiterated that we were not allowed to call in sick and had to cover the shift with another employee, that one is always nice.
As well they are restricting the way we trade or pick up shifts from other employees. I’ve found that if the manager on duty doesn’t like the person you are trading with they simply won’t allow it.

Even more difficult is the new policy preventing shifts from being traded as long as management has shifts they still need to cover. We have been running short staffed for most of the summer, as turnover has been unusually high (I wonder why).

Every week management puts up a sheet detailing shifts that they need covered (mostly from former employees that have fled or been given the ax).

Well if each and every one of the open slots in not filled, there can be no shift changes, doesn’t matter if the desired shift is on a day that isn’t covered. Its their way of offering us an “incentive” to cover the shifts that they themselves cannot.

The issue of request off dates and such has been hardened as well. It has also been reiterated that if we need time off we are to clear it through our management and take our vacation “pay."
Since most of us are part time there is no vacation pay.

That means no guaranteed time off.

So pretty much everyone is pissed off.

Management is pissed off at us for being pissed off as well, making a shitty work environment in the last couple weeks.

Every pre-shift meeting is the same, the GM harping on unimportant issues repeatedly while the place burns around him due to the actual issues that matter. Then they ask why morale is low and wonder why people aren’t walking around with a smile on their faces.

“We want to be a place where you should be proud to work!” GM declared.

Ok, treat us like adults and at least look at issues from our point of view, not your biased view or
that of the oh so holy “guest.”

A manager shouldn’t necessarily bow to the demands of the staff, but a view that takes into concern the consideration of the staff would be appreciated. After all when one man thinks you’re an idiot that’s one man’s opinion, when the world feels that was I wonder if they might be correct.

And so it goes when you ask the opinion of the staff, instead of consideration to the issues we brought to the table, we were responded with petty regulations and petty vengeance that can only be wielded by those with middle management authority.