One of the crew members in my store, M., who I have mentioned once or twice earlier, as someone who offered me feedback on my own growth, is being keyed for a management position. She's young and smart, has the ability (if not always the desire) to charm the hell out of customers with impressive service, and seems to be a pretty quick learner. Part of management is being able to hang in all areas of the restaurant. She did not know a single thing about Production, until yesterday. Saturdays are typically mellow days, we get more families and more people just out living life than people rushing a half hour lunch break from work like we get during the week.
I had the shift in the afternoon and instead of having M. work in the back Drive Thru booth, giving our customers impressive customer service, I positioned things so she was in the kitchen learning with a fairly efficient crew member named C. and I worked her position in the Drive Thru, while the assistant manager ran the front end of the store. I still have control and my hand in things, as well as training M. in the kitchen, even while working a very busy area of the store.
M. and C. had a communication difficulty - M. doesn't speak very much Spanish and C. effectively does not speak any English. They got along great though, because things are pretty simple - and I acted as translator for most of what was going on (HA! those life skills are coming in handy here!). M. picked things up really fast, and got to get a taste of production (even though I neglected to have her do E-Learning first) on a relatively slow shift. It worked out well.
The funny thing is, though pegged for management, it really did not come to anyone's mind to train M. on Production, at all. This strikes me as just a sloppy mistake, and I actually had to use politics and persuasion on a decision maker to get her the time to start learning the kitchen. It turned out well though - it's a really simple job, when just about everything is made identically. It is hot, and M. mentioned how she needed water. I personally watched her drain 3 cups of water in a row 4 different times. It sure is thirsty work.
M. did a great job, and we got a chance to talk after the shift. She liked getting the opportunity to grow her diverse skills and told me she appreciated me getting her into the kitchen so she could learn. Job well done.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Arrogance.
Often times in my life, I have been called arrogant. Many times by myself.
Some could say that I am just over-confident in myself, and a vast sense of self-confidence in nearly all situations can be misconstrued for arrogance. But it's not something being misconstrued as arrogance, some misunderstanding of my character. I am arrogant. I'm OK with it.
However, I am also humble. I may not always be able to easily admit an error or lack of knowledge, but I can almost always spit out an "I was wrong, thanks for showing me that" or "I made a mistake and I'll fix it".
I try to temper my arrogance (well deserved as it may be) with pleasantness. Who can hate someone who's nearly always right and has a great big smile and happy voice? I give of myself to my store and my fellows by trying to teach things I know, take control in situations where I believe I can provide a great solution, I build rapport between management and crew as well as our Production and Service staffs, my interests and eyes are always out for the employees there.
My arrogance is surpassed, however, by a couple people that I interact with who do not temper their own arrogance with any such frivolity as humility. One male I interact with, closely and often, has an inability to accept feedback. Or, apparently, to give feedback. If a mistake is pointed out, he turns red, puts his head down and walks away. The reaction is the same if a joking comment hits too close to home. It's ... amazingly readable. This man has a seemingly infinite capacity (like nearly all human beings) to justify, or explain, the essential rightness of his actions, instead of admitting there's a chance he can be wrong. When receiving feedback, especially of a constructive nature, he defends his actions instead of listening, he likes to explain why he did what can seemingly or actually be incorrect. My perception of these responses is a deep desire to be right, so much so as to provide a veneer of delusion that helps to create a world-view in which one really, truly is always correct, even in a situation where correctness is faced with negatory validation. Arrogant as all fuck!
A woman I interact daily with likes to present a smiling, friendly and cheerful front to nearly all. For some, however, she vents quietly or openly about what's on her mind. She is absolutely, to the core certain that no matter what venom she spews in the ears of those she believes she are in her "inner circle" that those people exposed to her bilious comments will enjoy hearing them and stay quiet about what abuse she puts forth, vicariously. The venom I speak of is her negative mental attitude, her dislikes of other people, her frustrations and angers. Her arrogance is blind, believing that whatever she says stops right there. However, people who have venom spit upon them typically do not enjoy the situation. Further, those same members of this woman's "inner circle", although not willing to tell her directly that they repeat to her targets (or perhaps only this single target) her vitriol, have often asked her to go calm down in some other way. My point is this - I know when she's talking shit about me, because her "close friends" whom she shares her negative energy with often advise me on who said what, so that I can keep abreast of the political winds of my enclosed work-world.
Again, I admit I am arrogant. The big difference is about results. My arrogance leaves the result of a better world, for everyone who occupies the space that touches me.
Some could say that I am just over-confident in myself, and a vast sense of self-confidence in nearly all situations can be misconstrued for arrogance. But it's not something being misconstrued as arrogance, some misunderstanding of my character. I am arrogant. I'm OK with it.
However, I am also humble. I may not always be able to easily admit an error or lack of knowledge, but I can almost always spit out an "I was wrong, thanks for showing me that" or "I made a mistake and I'll fix it".
I try to temper my arrogance (well deserved as it may be) with pleasantness. Who can hate someone who's nearly always right and has a great big smile and happy voice? I give of myself to my store and my fellows by trying to teach things I know, take control in situations where I believe I can provide a great solution, I build rapport between management and crew as well as our Production and Service staffs, my interests and eyes are always out for the employees there.
My arrogance is surpassed, however, by a couple people that I interact with who do not temper their own arrogance with any such frivolity as humility. One male I interact with, closely and often, has an inability to accept feedback. Or, apparently, to give feedback. If a mistake is pointed out, he turns red, puts his head down and walks away. The reaction is the same if a joking comment hits too close to home. It's ... amazingly readable. This man has a seemingly infinite capacity (like nearly all human beings) to justify, or explain, the essential rightness of his actions, instead of admitting there's a chance he can be wrong. When receiving feedback, especially of a constructive nature, he defends his actions instead of listening, he likes to explain why he did what can seemingly or actually be incorrect. My perception of these responses is a deep desire to be right, so much so as to provide a veneer of delusion that helps to create a world-view in which one really, truly is always correct, even in a situation where correctness is faced with negatory validation. Arrogant as all fuck!
A woman I interact daily with likes to present a smiling, friendly and cheerful front to nearly all. For some, however, she vents quietly or openly about what's on her mind. She is absolutely, to the core certain that no matter what venom she spews in the ears of those she believes she are in her "inner circle" that those people exposed to her bilious comments will enjoy hearing them and stay quiet about what abuse she puts forth, vicariously. The venom I speak of is her negative mental attitude, her dislikes of other people, her frustrations and angers. Her arrogance is blind, believing that whatever she says stops right there. However, people who have venom spit upon them typically do not enjoy the situation. Further, those same members of this woman's "inner circle", although not willing to tell her directly that they repeat to her targets (or perhaps only this single target) her vitriol, have often asked her to go calm down in some other way. My point is this - I know when she's talking shit about me, because her "close friends" whom she shares her negative energy with often advise me on who said what, so that I can keep abreast of the political winds of my enclosed work-world.
Again, I admit I am arrogant. The big difference is about results. My arrogance leaves the result of a better world, for everyone who occupies the space that touches me.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Pulled From Comments.
Hi - I don't have the time or energy right now to post something new - see the comment thread under "Challenge" to see where this came from, but here is some of my insight and thoughts on a McDonald's restaurant.
----
the only value that customers have to McDonald's is that of the customer of any business - profit.
Every procedure and policy put into place in a McDonald's restaurant is designed by McDonald's corporate (based on billions of dollars spent (possibly trillions) and hundreds of thousands of man-hours utilized (possibly millions)) in attempting to develop the best way to run a McDonald's.
There is no point to opening a store on any day other than to provide impressive service to customers, deliver on QSC&V, so that each customer who comes in that day is much more likely to come in the very next day and spend more money.
However, that is a short focus. There can be no qualified level of QSC&V delivered out of an untrained group of individuals working together. Without each and every employee at a McDonald's - from the guy on the grill, to maintenance, to the Front Counter crew, to the O/O - dedicated to delivering QSC&V, there is no customer service. I say dedicated, not willing. There also has to be a team spirit - human beings are easily manipulated into giving their all (i.e. becoming dedicated) when they feel a great cause to be dedicated to - when there is leadership and teamwork and their contribution is acknowledged.
Most McDonald's, from my perspective as a frequent customer of many McDonald's restaurants across the nation (I've been to McDonald's in every state east of the Mississippi except Florida and Maine), McDonald's are run by underpaid, undertrained people who see their job at McDonald's as a bandage, to stop the immediate pain of unemployment and destitution. However, now and again, there are those old timers who also see it as "what they've been doing since they were 15", and it just is their job. Also, there are an even smaller number of people who see it as a potential career. There's lots of growth to be had in a McDonald's, and the way to grow a store's volume and return visits is by ensuring that crew are dedicated to delivering QSC&V, ensuring all proper procedures are in place, and having the best trained, most accurate employees in the most important positions (Aces in their Places baby). See above to find out where that dedication comes from, friend.
A McDonald's restaurant is about customers, sure. But it's also about 24/2 (Why do we stock 24/2? So that customer orders aren't interrupted during a busy service time so an employee can go stock something that is desperately needed and absolutely not stocked).
It's all about cleanliness - I personally have boycotted at least 20 different fast food restaurants in the areas I've lived in during the past years of my life because I went in at some point and could not find a single clean table - or there was trash on the floor - or there was overflowing garbage - or the bathroom was dirty. I know many, many other people are the same way.
It's all about the procedures (every single fucking one of them) that McDonald's lays out for each and every facet of operations - because those procedures help guarantee: trained crew, fresh product, safe product, cleanliness, speed of service, reduced waste, or improved customer service. All of these effect the bottom line heavily in a McDonald's restaurant.
As for customer service, I'm not in any way inexperienced in customer service. For 2 years I worked at McDonald's as a youth, for 2 years I worked at Burger King as management (my job was to make 12 stores clean, trained and improve general operations including service), I owned and operated my own business for two years that was a direct-to-customer sales business: service was all I had, and I worked for 3 years in other various retail businesses where customer service was my primary focus. For the two most recent years of my worklife I was a telephone salesman - the only way to sell anything on the phone is to be a god of service and I had a rightful place in that pantheon. I have my chops in customer service, and in fact building rapport with people is one of my strongest abilities.
----
XOXO
----
the only value that customers have to McDonald's is that of the customer of any business - profit.
Every procedure and policy put into place in a McDonald's restaurant is designed by McDonald's corporate (based on billions of dollars spent (possibly trillions) and hundreds of thousands of man-hours utilized (possibly millions)) in attempting to develop the best way to run a McDonald's.
There is no point to opening a store on any day other than to provide impressive service to customers, deliver on QSC&V, so that each customer who comes in that day is much more likely to come in the very next day and spend more money.
However, that is a short focus. There can be no qualified level of QSC&V delivered out of an untrained group of individuals working together. Without each and every employee at a McDonald's - from the guy on the grill, to maintenance, to the Front Counter crew, to the O/O - dedicated to delivering QSC&V, there is no customer service. I say dedicated, not willing. There also has to be a team spirit - human beings are easily manipulated into giving their all (i.e. becoming dedicated) when they feel a great cause to be dedicated to - when there is leadership and teamwork and their contribution is acknowledged.
Most McDonald's, from my perspective as a frequent customer of many McDonald's restaurants across the nation (I've been to McDonald's in every state east of the Mississippi except Florida and Maine), McDonald's are run by underpaid, undertrained people who see their job at McDonald's as a bandage, to stop the immediate pain of unemployment and destitution. However, now and again, there are those old timers who also see it as "what they've been doing since they were 15", and it just is their job. Also, there are an even smaller number of people who see it as a potential career. There's lots of growth to be had in a McDonald's, and the way to grow a store's volume and return visits is by ensuring that crew are dedicated to delivering QSC&V, ensuring all proper procedures are in place, and having the best trained, most accurate employees in the most important positions (Aces in their Places baby). See above to find out where that dedication comes from, friend.
A McDonald's restaurant is about customers, sure. But it's also about 24/2 (Why do we stock 24/2? So that customer orders aren't interrupted during a busy service time so an employee can go stock something that is desperately needed and absolutely not stocked).
It's all about cleanliness - I personally have boycotted at least 20 different fast food restaurants in the areas I've lived in during the past years of my life because I went in at some point and could not find a single clean table - or there was trash on the floor - or there was overflowing garbage - or the bathroom was dirty. I know many, many other people are the same way.
It's all about the procedures (every single fucking one of them) that McDonald's lays out for each and every facet of operations - because those procedures help guarantee: trained crew, fresh product, safe product, cleanliness, speed of service, reduced waste, or improved customer service. All of these effect the bottom line heavily in a McDonald's restaurant.
As for customer service, I'm not in any way inexperienced in customer service. For 2 years I worked at McDonald's as a youth, for 2 years I worked at Burger King as management (my job was to make 12 stores clean, trained and improve general operations including service), I owned and operated my own business for two years that was a direct-to-customer sales business: service was all I had, and I worked for 3 years in other various retail businesses where customer service was my primary focus. For the two most recent years of my worklife I was a telephone salesman - the only way to sell anything on the phone is to be a god of service and I had a rightful place in that pantheon. I have my chops in customer service, and in fact building rapport with people is one of my strongest abilities.
----
XOXO
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Challenge.
I enjoy challenges. Personal, professional, social, mental. Most types of challenges intrigue me.
I find working with people, and learning new skills to be fun. I enjoy social situations in which I am at a seeming disadvantage. I like being at a moral crossroads. I enjoy challenges because they help me to grow.
I feel, as a serious salesman (which I always consider a huge part of my personality), that if you aren't growing, you're dying. Cliche, but so true.
McDonald's is a place full of challenges. There is the challenge of being polite, welcoming and smiling for each of the thousand or so customers who pass through our doors every day. Coordinating and gaining the cooperation of anywhere from 4 to a dozen people who have their own challenges is fantastic.
In my personal life, I have challenges all the time. With a pre-pubescent son who acts way too much like me (arrogant little punk) for his own good, and a 3 year old heathen girl who apparently is Princess of the Universe, and my wife who has put up with me, I am challenged every day to be the best daddy, husband, cook, housekeeper, lover, bookkeeper, and teacher that I can be. Especially challenging are the days I want to just play video games all day, and let the house fall to ruin around me.
Without challenge, we cannot grow. Very few people understand this. Or rather, many understand it and prefer the alternative. I like to grow, and feel I do a good job of tackling things in different ways so that I can come out on a positive end.
I find working with people, and learning new skills to be fun. I enjoy social situations in which I am at a seeming disadvantage. I like being at a moral crossroads. I enjoy challenges because they help me to grow.
I feel, as a serious salesman (which I always consider a huge part of my personality), that if you aren't growing, you're dying. Cliche, but so true.
McDonald's is a place full of challenges. There is the challenge of being polite, welcoming and smiling for each of the thousand or so customers who pass through our doors every day. Coordinating and gaining the cooperation of anywhere from 4 to a dozen people who have their own challenges is fantastic.
In my personal life, I have challenges all the time. With a pre-pubescent son who acts way too much like me (arrogant little punk) for his own good, and a 3 year old heathen girl who apparently is Princess of the Universe, and my wife who has put up with me, I am challenged every day to be the best daddy, husband, cook, housekeeper, lover, bookkeeper, and teacher that I can be. Especially challenging are the days I want to just play video games all day, and let the house fall to ruin around me.
Without challenge, we cannot grow. Very few people understand this. Or rather, many understand it and prefer the alternative. I like to grow, and feel I do a good job of tackling things in different ways so that I can come out on a positive end.
Busy, Busy Week.
This is the busiest week of the year for me.
I work a full string of 11-7 shifts, which means I get to work at 10:30, and leave about 8. Also, my wife and kids are going to Las Vegas this Sunday for Christmas. Also this week at work, we've got a rather important visit from a gentleman with McCorporate, who apparently decides how many and which stores an Owner/Operator's domain increases or decreases by. Further, I have until the end of this month to get Foundation training on each of the employees of my store completed (I've got about 25% of them completed) and also I need to complete my MDP program by the first week of January. It's crazy - and I haven't even mentioned the Xmas shopping and wrapping I need to do! Earlier this week, I also had two Christmas parties for work to attend - one at my store manager's house (which was exceptionally .. low key, shall we say?) and the other at Laff's Comedy Club in Tucson (which was riotous).
We've been cleaning like mad at our store, for a pitifully short amount of time. For the past three days, we've had people staying late, busting hump to get detail cleaning completed. I think the store is in great shape, and I look forward to an opportunity to shine for the owner and the corporate representative he'll have visiting us today.
I'm a bit disappointed at work, after yesterday, however. We have a manager's meeting every Wednesday morning, and after a repetition for the 5th time regarding Drive Thru service times at night, I brought something up. I told my fellow managers that I tried to think of a diplomatic way to say this, without anyone feeling attacked or anything. Three of them said, "Just say what you gotta say" or something to that effect so I said, "Listen, every single manager needs to make sure the store is clean and stocked and all the cash is straight and other responsibilities are taken care of before they leave after their shift. It's pitiful that a manager can or would walk out knowing there are drawers uncounted, or seeing the lobby is filthy or that the service or production areas aren't stocked. We're all a team and rely on each other, and no one, not even me, is not guilty of leaving the store in a sorry state for someone else to take care of. I understand giving direction to employees to get things done - but you gotta make sure it gets done and doesn't cut into customer service. If you have to stay 20 minutes extra to make sure everything happens then you do it. Or like P. (the owner) said, if you gotta stay two hours late to make sure everything gets done, then you do it." I looked around and saw nods and agreements from everyone. R. took it upon herself to get defensive, but B. quieted her down and said, "Let's not make this about any one person, Mike's right, it's all of us."
So there was a general agreement that we would all focus on .. oh I donno, doing our job? ... and make everyone else's shifts run smooth. Fast forward two hours, during which I did some training in my MDP. I was scheduled to start yesterday at 1 o'clock, which means I come on right after lunch (again) to help recover from it. At 12:20 I was going to go order a Cheeseburger and a parfait, smoke a cigarette and come on shift for my pre-shift work. B. was struggling through lunch and said, "I need some help." I took a look around and saw that, yes, they needed help, so I jumped into the kitchen, and started getting food moving out of the Production area. I did my part for the team.
Two hours later, and it's approaching the end of B.'s (the store manager!) shift and he comes up to me and gives his ever famous "do you need anything else from me before I go?" I looked at the clock and it was only 2:25. I'm thinking to myself, "I come on a half hour + early, and he leaves a half hour + early?" So I said, "Well is everything stocked and cleaned? Cause we're going to be busy and I'm not going to get a chance until Jn. gets here to stock and clean at all." He says, "Didn't you see E. stocking?!" (that was over an hour and a half before, at the end of .. HER SHIFT. My response was, "Well B., yes, I did, but that was a while ago at the end of her shift. Is everything we've used since then replenished?" He says, "You'll be fine," and I respond with, "Well I know the shake and ice cream mix needs to be stocked, we need A and B bags, and Happy Meal toys need to be stocked. Can you get those before you leave?" Infuriatingly, he is refusing to clean and replenish after his shit, then when I directly requested just 3 things out of probably 40 that need stocking his response, maddeningly was, "You'll be fine, Michael." Then he walked out the door.
I will admit that perhaps I have a misconception of what a Store Manager should be - I think that a Swing Manager needs to be basically an uber-crewperson who also takes care of light managerial duties, and I see this in action. It seems a Shift Manager needs to be an uber-crewperson who handles light and medium managerial duties, and an Assistant Manager needs to be the uber-crewperson and an uber-hourly manager who handles heavy managerial responsibilities. This means the Store Manager needs to be the uber-crewperson/uber-manager and handle all sorts of responsibilities of all those positions. Obviously the majority of them need to be taken care of by the crew people and managers they work through, but when shit gets down to it, and there's 5 people in the store, 4 of whom are absolutely tied to their positions to make the store run with appropriate customer service times and the 5th person is leaving or preparing to leave, they better be able to make sure the 4 people being left, stuck to their positions and unable to even stock a single item without sacrificing customer service or service times, won't have to sacrifice customers' best interests to go stock something that should have been stocked before.
Grr! Rant! I'm sure that if B. were having to work a 9 hour shift (heaven forbid he even stay for all of his 8 hour shift more than twice a week), closing the store and only having 4 people, he would demand that everything be in pristine, fully-stocked condition before taking over the shift. It's part of the basic McDonald's Operations procedure, it's the right way to take care of the business, and it's an expectation laid forth for each of the managers in the store except the store manager. This is why it's making me Rant. Our store manager replies on his managers to make him look great. He relies on the crew to make him look great. By look great, I mean in the eyes of the owner, who is entrusting a million dollar+ business to him daily and paying him handsomely for the efforts. There seems to be no motivation on B.'s part to put forth the same effort he expects out of everyone from his newest swing managers to the exactly-minimum-wage paid Production members of the team. Further, it seems the operations procedures laid out by McDonald's don't really apply to him.
Perhaps I've got a misconception, I will admit, of his role and duties. I'm still learning and am new the McDonald's business. I do, however, know that in our low-volume store, managers are expected to maintain crew positions as well as manage, when in a high-volume store manager's are expected to flex in and out of positions as backup, when and where they are needed. Again, it baffles and infuriates me that the Store Manager, who should be the uber-manager, is not fulfilling the same commitment that the other members of the team are fulfilling - and the assistant manager is following his example - which in our low-volume store is creating a situation where from 1 o'clock on, we're always 5 minutes behind on what we need to do. Is it any wonder we're seeing Drive Thru service times of over 200 seconds at night?
I work a full string of 11-7 shifts, which means I get to work at 10:30, and leave about 8. Also, my wife and kids are going to Las Vegas this Sunday for Christmas. Also this week at work, we've got a rather important visit from a gentleman with McCorporate, who apparently decides how many and which stores an Owner/Operator's domain increases or decreases by. Further, I have until the end of this month to get Foundation training on each of the employees of my store completed (I've got about 25% of them completed) and also I need to complete my MDP program by the first week of January. It's crazy - and I haven't even mentioned the Xmas shopping and wrapping I need to do! Earlier this week, I also had two Christmas parties for work to attend - one at my store manager's house (which was exceptionally .. low key, shall we say?) and the other at Laff's Comedy Club in Tucson (which was riotous).
We've been cleaning like mad at our store, for a pitifully short amount of time. For the past three days, we've had people staying late, busting hump to get detail cleaning completed. I think the store is in great shape, and I look forward to an opportunity to shine for the owner and the corporate representative he'll have visiting us today.
I'm a bit disappointed at work, after yesterday, however. We have a manager's meeting every Wednesday morning, and after a repetition for the 5th time regarding Drive Thru service times at night, I brought something up. I told my fellow managers that I tried to think of a diplomatic way to say this, without anyone feeling attacked or anything. Three of them said, "Just say what you gotta say" or something to that effect so I said, "Listen, every single manager needs to make sure the store is clean and stocked and all the cash is straight and other responsibilities are taken care of before they leave after their shift. It's pitiful that a manager can or would walk out knowing there are drawers uncounted, or seeing the lobby is filthy or that the service or production areas aren't stocked. We're all a team and rely on each other, and no one, not even me, is not guilty of leaving the store in a sorry state for someone else to take care of. I understand giving direction to employees to get things done - but you gotta make sure it gets done and doesn't cut into customer service. If you have to stay 20 minutes extra to make sure everything happens then you do it. Or like P. (the owner) said, if you gotta stay two hours late to make sure everything gets done, then you do it." I looked around and saw nods and agreements from everyone. R. took it upon herself to get defensive, but B. quieted her down and said, "Let's not make this about any one person, Mike's right, it's all of us."
So there was a general agreement that we would all focus on .. oh I donno, doing our job? ... and make everyone else's shifts run smooth. Fast forward two hours, during which I did some training in my MDP. I was scheduled to start yesterday at 1 o'clock, which means I come on right after lunch (again) to help recover from it. At 12:20 I was going to go order a Cheeseburger and a parfait, smoke a cigarette and come on shift for my pre-shift work. B. was struggling through lunch and said, "I need some help." I took a look around and saw that, yes, they needed help, so I jumped into the kitchen, and started getting food moving out of the Production area. I did my part for the team.
Two hours later, and it's approaching the end of B.'s (the store manager!) shift and he comes up to me and gives his ever famous "do you need anything else from me before I go?" I looked at the clock and it was only 2:25. I'm thinking to myself, "I come on a half hour + early, and he leaves a half hour + early?" So I said, "Well is everything stocked and cleaned? Cause we're going to be busy and I'm not going to get a chance until Jn. gets here to stock and clean at all." He says, "Didn't you see E. stocking?!" (that was over an hour and a half before, at the end of .. HER SHIFT. My response was, "Well B., yes, I did, but that was a while ago at the end of her shift. Is everything we've used since then replenished?" He says, "You'll be fine," and I respond with, "Well I know the shake and ice cream mix needs to be stocked, we need A and B bags, and Happy Meal toys need to be stocked. Can you get those before you leave?" Infuriatingly, he is refusing to clean and replenish after his shit, then when I directly requested just 3 things out of probably 40 that need stocking his response, maddeningly was, "You'll be fine, Michael." Then he walked out the door.
I will admit that perhaps I have a misconception of what a Store Manager should be - I think that a Swing Manager needs to be basically an uber-crewperson who also takes care of light managerial duties, and I see this in action. It seems a Shift Manager needs to be an uber-crewperson who handles light and medium managerial duties, and an Assistant Manager needs to be the uber-crewperson and an uber-hourly manager who handles heavy managerial responsibilities. This means the Store Manager needs to be the uber-crewperson/uber-manager and handle all sorts of responsibilities of all those positions. Obviously the majority of them need to be taken care of by the crew people and managers they work through, but when shit gets down to it, and there's 5 people in the store, 4 of whom are absolutely tied to their positions to make the store run with appropriate customer service times and the 5th person is leaving or preparing to leave, they better be able to make sure the 4 people being left, stuck to their positions and unable to even stock a single item without sacrificing customer service or service times, won't have to sacrifice customers' best interests to go stock something that should have been stocked before.
Grr! Rant! I'm sure that if B. were having to work a 9 hour shift (heaven forbid he even stay for all of his 8 hour shift more than twice a week), closing the store and only having 4 people, he would demand that everything be in pristine, fully-stocked condition before taking over the shift. It's part of the basic McDonald's Operations procedure, it's the right way to take care of the business, and it's an expectation laid forth for each of the managers in the store except the store manager. This is why it's making me Rant. Our store manager replies on his managers to make him look great. He relies on the crew to make him look great. By look great, I mean in the eyes of the owner, who is entrusting a million dollar+ business to him daily and paying him handsomely for the efforts. There seems to be no motivation on B.'s part to put forth the same effort he expects out of everyone from his newest swing managers to the exactly-minimum-wage paid Production members of the team. Further, it seems the operations procedures laid out by McDonald's don't really apply to him.
Perhaps I've got a misconception, I will admit, of his role and duties. I'm still learning and am new the McDonald's business. I do, however, know that in our low-volume store, managers are expected to maintain crew positions as well as manage, when in a high-volume store manager's are expected to flex in and out of positions as backup, when and where they are needed. Again, it baffles and infuriates me that the Store Manager, who should be the uber-manager, is not fulfilling the same commitment that the other members of the team are fulfilling - and the assistant manager is following his example - which in our low-volume store is creating a situation where from 1 o'clock on, we're always 5 minutes behind on what we need to do. Is it any wonder we're seeing Drive Thru service times of over 200 seconds at night?
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Ability.
I firmly believe that everyone (basically) is equally capable of being exceptional at what they do. Life takes hard work, commitment, passion and a dedication to a job well done.
I am infuriated and saddened by seeing people who are this/close to being phenomenal at what they do give up the extra effort it takes to escape the close confines of mediocrity. To see someone who works just hard enough, or someone who tries (again, trying is failing with honor) when they could so clearly just do, it makes me angry and sad and sometimes makes me want to lash out at them.
It frustrates me in a way that I can't quite put words to.
I am infuriated and saddened by seeing people who are this/close to being phenomenal at what they do give up the extra effort it takes to escape the close confines of mediocrity. To see someone who works just hard enough, or someone who tries (again, trying is failing with honor) when they could so clearly just do, it makes me angry and sad and sometimes makes me want to lash out at them.
It frustrates me in a way that I can't quite put words to.
Positivity.
I work hard to remain positive at all times while working, no matter where I am. I don't say "I try", because I believe that trying is setting out to fail, but with honor intact. In any case, I don't always succeed at being positive. Sometimes I go outside, into the back of the parking lot and curse loudly (not shouting, quite), or I'll go in the walk-in freezer and do the same thing. Sometimes, however, being the direct, blunt and authoritative person that I am, I have to confront the individual(s) that raise my ire.
I was scheduled for a close shift yesterday, the day after my birthday, which means I start work at 5 o'clock. Considering all this, I basically had about 4 hours of sleep in me when I got a phone call from B., my store manager, informing me that he had made a mistake and double scheduled myself and another manager to close tonight. He asked if I could not only come in early, but also work a shorter shift than my scheduled shift to avoid a horrible labor situation. Now, if I can do something to better my team, I'm almost 100% going to say yes. They needed me, so I agreed and rushed to get ready in less than half an hour.
When I showed up, it was just the very tail end of lunch. I went to go do my pre-shift functions, like counting our safe, verifying the deposit so far was accurate, a pre-shift checklist, etc. I got through the first step and found an error with the money (something that happens just about every single day in my store, and something that really, really irks me. Cash is the reason we show up every day, it should be the single most important part of the operation) when I was called to help out up front. Normally, I won't let anyone interrupt my pre-shift duties. I cannot prepare fully for my day if I don't do my pre-shift stuff, because that's when I prepare. It's important for me.
So I went up front to "help out", but mentioned to B. that I needed to get my pre-shift work done, and that the safe was not balanced as it should be. He looked at me and said "Well it's right, I know that." So instead of saying, "Hey we'll figure it out" or "It's possible I made a mistake (like I do every single day I work, because I don't know how to count to 1,000)", he tried to make me feel inferior and that I had made an error on something that I feel is the primary focus of my professional life. I was a bit miffed, but I got over it really quickly.
Our brief post-lunch rush wrapped itself up and I mentioned that I needed to get my pre-shift work taken care of, again. B. tells me he needs about 5 minutes to take care of something and asked me to cover his position for that 5 minutes. Next thing I know, 2 of the 5 crew members on the floor are going on break at the same time, the store manager has been gone for 20 minutes, the assistant manager was walking into the break room to speak to one of the crew members on break (I saw her!), the store hasn't been recovered from lunch (it's after 2 o'clock now), nothing is stocked, nothing is cleaned, there's no crew to deal with the customers we've got coming in to eat, and I'm standing in the front bellowing for some help, and being ignored. After calling for help like 6 times, I went to the back area of the store where both the manager and assistant manager were at and said this, "Listen I've got 3 crew people in the store and about 20 customers right now. I need help from both of you two five minutes ago. I came in early to help, not to be fucked over with a dirty, unstocked, unstaffed store, now get up front." Yeah, a bit aggressive, I know. But I was really pissed.
After this next little rush period, I told the store manager I needed to get my pre-shift work done. He said he was still busy. Our encounter went like this. "B., you called me in early. As a professional, I leave every shift clean, stocked and staffed. If there are too few people to work, or a rush, I stick around and help take care of it. You however haven't given me a chance to do the pre-shift work I have to do, you haven't even given me an opportunity to count the safe and make sure all the money is in the right places, which you and I both know it is not. You need to get the store cleaned and stocked, and I need an opportunity to get my work done. You're not treating me fairly, and you're making me rethink the wisdom of helping you out by coming in 4 hours early."
His response to my little tirade was, "Well, R. (the assistant manager) had the floor throughout lunch, and she has to clean up. Besides, the store manager's job isn't to stock and clean, that's why you're here. Besides, I'm leaving in 5 minutes."
I was flabbergasted. I respect this guy. I'm in his store to "learn" and be trained on how to be a store manager. For him to break out some straight bullshit like that stunned me. First of all, R. was in the kitchen throughout lunch, and when I asked her for help, that's where she went. That's where she was working throughout her shift. How exactly can she be responsible for the Service area's cleanliness and stock when she was in the Production area all day? Further, if the owner and operations manager can come in and clean, stock, and help with customers how the hell is it not the job of the store manager to do that when it needs to be done? I voiced my opinion to him, perhaps not in those exact words, but similar.
Great, you're the store manager and you've got things to get done. Then schedule people correctly so you have the time to get those things done. Schedule so the post-lunch cleaning and stocking can happen - with two people in the Kitchen, one in Front Counter, one in back-booth of Drive Thru and one person to run, present, cap drinks, and make fries is just not enough. When we have 2/3 of the business of the lunch rush and less than half the staff, with the store very obviously not Clean-as-you-go'd during lunch, it's not enough.
So he stocked what needed stocking (after pissing and moaning about it for a further 15 minutes, instead of just getting the job done), worked through other people to get clean what needed cleaning and then left.
Three hours later, with the assistant manager working in the Production area again, we were just coming out of an hour where we did 87% of the business of the lunch rush with only 6 people (11% labor for the hour!), the assistant manager says, "Ok, Michael, I'm leaving." I said, "Hey listen, can you make sure the kitchen is stocked and clean before you go." She threw a damn hissy-fit about how she was only in the kitchen for an hour and why should she have to clean it, there's crew members there. This time, I was fed up.
I stopped what I was doing and said, "Listen, R. we're busy. My crew members cannot clean right now because they're serving customers. I know you've had a long day, but honestly, I came in early to help you as well as B. and you should show some gratitude. Can you imagine how this day would've been with one less manager? I'm not asking you to take care of everything on your post-shift checklist, which you BY YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION, need to do. I'm asking you to clean and stock one area of the store which you've been in ALL DAY LONG. Now, if you don't think that a manager's job is to make sure the store is clean and stocked for the next shift, then fine. Let's go call P. (the owner/operator) and ask him what he thinks about it."
Here, she interjected with "You're not being fair Michael!" and I finished it with, "Listen I can't force you to do your job, it's on you. In fact, since you don't want to do your job, just go. Get off my floor, get off my time-clock, and go." I wasn't yelling, I was just speaking very pointedly.
At this point, I've got every customer and every crew member stopped dead in their tracks. R. grabbed a towel and started cleaning saying, "See Michael, I'm cleaning, I'll get everything pretty for you!", as sarcastically as she could.
I made direct eye-contact with her and said, "Hey, R. Stop. You need to get off the clock, Right. Now." There was apparently just the right amount of finality in my voice. She stopped what she was doing and left, exactly the moment her scheduled shift ended.
Now, I know I may not have been entirely right. But the thing is, I'm a professional. I'm not there to babysit other adults. I go to work everyday to help make sure my store is as profitable as can be. McDonald's restaurants are profitable because they have the best QSC&V. I ensure Quality by making sure, every day, that I am training and reinforcing training with all the Production crew members - and when I am in the Production area, I follow and demonstrate the correct procedures. I ensure Service by making sure that every day I am training and reinforcing training with all my Service team members, and make sure that I smile directly at all customers that I interact with, use a pleasant and firm tone of voice, and make sure I fix any problems following the correct procedures. Cleanliness is easy - I make sure it's a priority and actually go on travel paths every hour (or close to it). I have little or no control over Value, except making sure people get everything they paid for, their drinks are topped off, they get the right portion size for fries, shakes, ice cream and other Service Produced menu items. If I can balance all of these, and my people, product and equipment, every shift, then I am doing the best possible job of improving profitability of my McDonald's.
I assert again, fiercely, that I am a professional. This means, further, I have high standards for my colleagues. I have no place for people who are not willing to come in and do the MOST they can to ensure QSC&V. I hate slackers, I despise a lack of accountability, and I think I'm pretty much done with my store manager and his attitude of "take, take, take" with no "give". The primary function of a McDonald's manager, if you ask the McDonald's training, is to work through other people. But this also means showing respect for those people you work through, being considerate of the people who get work done for you and, very importantly, offering both Appreciative and Constructive Feedback.
None of these things are happening with my store manager - and honestly I could tolerate that if he'd be willing, at the least, to leave the store stocked and cleaned, or if he did all of the administrative functions of his job accurately, like a professional. Not a day passes that we're out of some critical food or paper product. Not a day passes in my store that we don't have a horribly unbalanced schedule, with 30-40% labor before lunch and 14-15% labor during the mid-shift. The point of this complaint is: B. has an expectation that myself and the other managers be the utmost professionals, and when we do make the slightest error or oversight, he brings a hammer down on us. When he is wrong or makes an error, it just can't be and he points the finger somewhere else. I've spent a lifetime being surrounded by inferior human beings play-acting at being exceptional, but it's still a real emotional and intellectual let-down when I discover someone who I thought was exceptional revealed for what they are.
I was scheduled for a close shift yesterday, the day after my birthday, which means I start work at 5 o'clock. Considering all this, I basically had about 4 hours of sleep in me when I got a phone call from B., my store manager, informing me that he had made a mistake and double scheduled myself and another manager to close tonight. He asked if I could not only come in early, but also work a shorter shift than my scheduled shift to avoid a horrible labor situation. Now, if I can do something to better my team, I'm almost 100% going to say yes. They needed me, so I agreed and rushed to get ready in less than half an hour.
When I showed up, it was just the very tail end of lunch. I went to go do my pre-shift functions, like counting our safe, verifying the deposit so far was accurate, a pre-shift checklist, etc. I got through the first step and found an error with the money (something that happens just about every single day in my store, and something that really, really irks me. Cash is the reason we show up every day, it should be the single most important part of the operation) when I was called to help out up front. Normally, I won't let anyone interrupt my pre-shift duties. I cannot prepare fully for my day if I don't do my pre-shift stuff, because that's when I prepare. It's important for me.
So I went up front to "help out", but mentioned to B. that I needed to get my pre-shift work done, and that the safe was not balanced as it should be. He looked at me and said "Well it's right, I know that." So instead of saying, "Hey we'll figure it out" or "It's possible I made a mistake (like I do every single day I work, because I don't know how to count to 1,000)", he tried to make me feel inferior and that I had made an error on something that I feel is the primary focus of my professional life. I was a bit miffed, but I got over it really quickly.
Our brief post-lunch rush wrapped itself up and I mentioned that I needed to get my pre-shift work taken care of, again. B. tells me he needs about 5 minutes to take care of something and asked me to cover his position for that 5 minutes. Next thing I know, 2 of the 5 crew members on the floor are going on break at the same time, the store manager has been gone for 20 minutes, the assistant manager was walking into the break room to speak to one of the crew members on break (I saw her!), the store hasn't been recovered from lunch (it's after 2 o'clock now), nothing is stocked, nothing is cleaned, there's no crew to deal with the customers we've got coming in to eat, and I'm standing in the front bellowing for some help, and being ignored. After calling for help like 6 times, I went to the back area of the store where both the manager and assistant manager were at and said this, "Listen I've got 3 crew people in the store and about 20 customers right now. I need help from both of you two five minutes ago. I came in early to help, not to be fucked over with a dirty, unstocked, unstaffed store, now get up front." Yeah, a bit aggressive, I know. But I was really pissed.
After this next little rush period, I told the store manager I needed to get my pre-shift work done. He said he was still busy. Our encounter went like this. "B., you called me in early. As a professional, I leave every shift clean, stocked and staffed. If there are too few people to work, or a rush, I stick around and help take care of it. You however haven't given me a chance to do the pre-shift work I have to do, you haven't even given me an opportunity to count the safe and make sure all the money is in the right places, which you and I both know it is not. You need to get the store cleaned and stocked, and I need an opportunity to get my work done. You're not treating me fairly, and you're making me rethink the wisdom of helping you out by coming in 4 hours early."
His response to my little tirade was, "Well, R. (the assistant manager) had the floor throughout lunch, and she has to clean up. Besides, the store manager's job isn't to stock and clean, that's why you're here. Besides, I'm leaving in 5 minutes."
I was flabbergasted. I respect this guy. I'm in his store to "learn" and be trained on how to be a store manager. For him to break out some straight bullshit like that stunned me. First of all, R. was in the kitchen throughout lunch, and when I asked her for help, that's where she went. That's where she was working throughout her shift. How exactly can she be responsible for the Service area's cleanliness and stock when she was in the Production area all day? Further, if the owner and operations manager can come in and clean, stock, and help with customers how the hell is it not the job of the store manager to do that when it needs to be done? I voiced my opinion to him, perhaps not in those exact words, but similar.
Great, you're the store manager and you've got things to get done. Then schedule people correctly so you have the time to get those things done. Schedule so the post-lunch cleaning and stocking can happen - with two people in the Kitchen, one in Front Counter, one in back-booth of Drive Thru and one person to run, present, cap drinks, and make fries is just not enough. When we have 2/3 of the business of the lunch rush and less than half the staff, with the store very obviously not Clean-as-you-go'd during lunch, it's not enough.
So he stocked what needed stocking (after pissing and moaning about it for a further 15 minutes, instead of just getting the job done), worked through other people to get clean what needed cleaning and then left.
Three hours later, with the assistant manager working in the Production area again, we were just coming out of an hour where we did 87% of the business of the lunch rush with only 6 people (11% labor for the hour!), the assistant manager says, "Ok, Michael, I'm leaving." I said, "Hey listen, can you make sure the kitchen is stocked and clean before you go." She threw a damn hissy-fit about how she was only in the kitchen for an hour and why should she have to clean it, there's crew members there. This time, I was fed up.
I stopped what I was doing and said, "Listen, R. we're busy. My crew members cannot clean right now because they're serving customers. I know you've had a long day, but honestly, I came in early to help you as well as B. and you should show some gratitude. Can you imagine how this day would've been with one less manager? I'm not asking you to take care of everything on your post-shift checklist, which you BY YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION, need to do. I'm asking you to clean and stock one area of the store which you've been in ALL DAY LONG. Now, if you don't think that a manager's job is to make sure the store is clean and stocked for the next shift, then fine. Let's go call P. (the owner/operator) and ask him what he thinks about it."
Here, she interjected with "You're not being fair Michael!" and I finished it with, "Listen I can't force you to do your job, it's on you. In fact, since you don't want to do your job, just go. Get off my floor, get off my time-clock, and go." I wasn't yelling, I was just speaking very pointedly.
At this point, I've got every customer and every crew member stopped dead in their tracks. R. grabbed a towel and started cleaning saying, "See Michael, I'm cleaning, I'll get everything pretty for you!", as sarcastically as she could.
I made direct eye-contact with her and said, "Hey, R. Stop. You need to get off the clock, Right. Now." There was apparently just the right amount of finality in my voice. She stopped what she was doing and left, exactly the moment her scheduled shift ended.
Now, I know I may not have been entirely right. But the thing is, I'm a professional. I'm not there to babysit other adults. I go to work everyday to help make sure my store is as profitable as can be. McDonald's restaurants are profitable because they have the best QSC&V. I ensure Quality by making sure, every day, that I am training and reinforcing training with all the Production crew members - and when I am in the Production area, I follow and demonstrate the correct procedures. I ensure Service by making sure that every day I am training and reinforcing training with all my Service team members, and make sure that I smile directly at all customers that I interact with, use a pleasant and firm tone of voice, and make sure I fix any problems following the correct procedures. Cleanliness is easy - I make sure it's a priority and actually go on travel paths every hour (or close to it). I have little or no control over Value, except making sure people get everything they paid for, their drinks are topped off, they get the right portion size for fries, shakes, ice cream and other Service Produced menu items. If I can balance all of these, and my people, product and equipment, every shift, then I am doing the best possible job of improving profitability of my McDonald's.
I assert again, fiercely, that I am a professional. This means, further, I have high standards for my colleagues. I have no place for people who are not willing to come in and do the MOST they can to ensure QSC&V. I hate slackers, I despise a lack of accountability, and I think I'm pretty much done with my store manager and his attitude of "take, take, take" with no "give". The primary function of a McDonald's manager, if you ask the McDonald's training, is to work through other people. But this also means showing respect for those people you work through, being considerate of the people who get work done for you and, very importantly, offering both Appreciative and Constructive Feedback.
None of these things are happening with my store manager - and honestly I could tolerate that if he'd be willing, at the least, to leave the store stocked and cleaned, or if he did all of the administrative functions of his job accurately, like a professional. Not a day passes that we're out of some critical food or paper product. Not a day passes in my store that we don't have a horribly unbalanced schedule, with 30-40% labor before lunch and 14-15% labor during the mid-shift. The point of this complaint is: B. has an expectation that myself and the other managers be the utmost professionals, and when we do make the slightest error or oversight, he brings a hammer down on us. When he is wrong or makes an error, it just can't be and he points the finger somewhere else. I've spent a lifetime being surrounded by inferior human beings play-acting at being exceptional, but it's still a real emotional and intellectual let-down when I discover someone who I thought was exceptional revealed for what they are.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
12-13! My birthday!
Happy birthday to me!
I'm 27 years old today. My amazing wife helped to make it phenomenal.
The kids and Nicole woke me at something like 6 to wish me happy birthday and give me presents! Awesome!
I got some nice shirts, a fatty box of chocolate, a really nice, solid steel watch (W00t!) and a $20.00 Gift Certificate to Bookman's. Bookman's is a used book/music store that also has a miniature selection of video games, all at awesome bargains. We have probably spent $1000.00 in Bookman's in the past two years, and today was the first time I ever used Bookman's to it's fullest potential. They have listening chairs, and allow you to read books before you buy them and such. So I sat down with the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and a nice reggae compilation and rocked out while reading most of an entire book of short stories about Warriors in fantasy stories by authors under the DAW publishing label. Awesome!
I came home and my wife greeted me in the best way, and we spent a wonderful afternoon together. After a nap, we picked the kids up and went to a fatty steak restaurant called Pinnacle Peak, and watched a Cowboy/Christmas stunt show. Awesome!
I intend to relax a bit, and read about a quarter of one of the books I got today, and my day has just been stupendous. This is the best birthday I can remember, all thanks to my wife being awesome.
I'm 27 years old today. My amazing wife helped to make it phenomenal.
The kids and Nicole woke me at something like 6 to wish me happy birthday and give me presents! Awesome!
I got some nice shirts, a fatty box of chocolate, a really nice, solid steel watch (W00t!) and a $20.00 Gift Certificate to Bookman's. Bookman's is a used book/music store that also has a miniature selection of video games, all at awesome bargains. We have probably spent $1000.00 in Bookman's in the past two years, and today was the first time I ever used Bookman's to it's fullest potential. They have listening chairs, and allow you to read books before you buy them and such. So I sat down with the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and a nice reggae compilation and rocked out while reading most of an entire book of short stories about Warriors in fantasy stories by authors under the DAW publishing label. Awesome!
I came home and my wife greeted me in the best way, and we spent a wonderful afternoon together. After a nap, we picked the kids up and went to a fatty steak restaurant called Pinnacle Peak, and watched a Cowboy/Christmas stunt show. Awesome!
I intend to relax a bit, and read about a quarter of one of the books I got today, and my day has just been stupendous. This is the best birthday I can remember, all thanks to my wife being awesome.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Busy!
No post today! Close today, early morning tomorrow for manager's meeting, which is going to be two hours before a ten hour shift that ends with receiving a delivery. Then, the next day, my birthday! Woot!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Closing on a Saturday.
The last few hours of closing are usually pretty slow at my store, but this is especially true of a Saturday evening. Although there are many Tucsonans going out to any of the two nightclubs or two strip clubs within two miles of my store, we're still located in a spot that really caters to breakfast and lunch for the 9-5 crowd.
I think I mentioned previously how I like to get things detail cleaned when I have time. I don't understand how other managers can't get the same type of things done, and then it dawns on me, very clearly, that it is because of a focused avoidance of doing any real cleaning. It has to be!
Last night, I was short one Production Team member (someone who fired themself by not calling and not showing for 3 days in a row last week), who I replaced with a young lady named T. who really wanted to learn Production. She did a damn fine job considering it was her very first time ever working Production. Every single person on my team got breaks, including myself. This almost never happens during our closing shifts with the usual reason being "there was no one to cover".
Also, I was able to detail clean our shake machine. Boy did it need it. I started by pulling it out, intending to mop behind it. I had to dust the back vents free of a 1/2" of dust, which led me to discover that much of the dust had calcified (with the lovely grease that flies in the air) and would need to be scrubbed off. After doing that on the back, I had to do the sides as well. Then I removed the side-mounted cup dispenser and discovered... well let me say it was dirty. So I cleaned all that, then cleaned the wall behind the shake machine. All told, an hour of grunting and scraping and scrubbing away shake mix from years past and I was left with a gleaming, clean shake machine. I was proud of myself. I also spent a half an hour or so getting the first layer or so of this horrible calcified mess behind our Lobby ice dispenser taken care of. I recommend CLR Kitchen & Bath cleaner! W00t. (Granted, there's probably nine more layers of calcified scum back there, I got rid of the layer growing organisms).
The thing is, I cannot understand how just about every area of our store is neglected on a regular basis by the closing managers. There's never areas being detail cleaned. I know this because each night I close, or have an extra body around to get some cleaning done, I discover all sorts of obscure and obvious things that need attention and love. Examples: the reach-in refrigerator a couple weeks ago; the front-end cup storage area; the shake machine; the menu boards; the little Cambro containers we hold customer conveniences in (in our Lobby, behind our Front Counter, and in Drive Thru); the fryer-side reach-in freezers; the inside of our Castle bins (the containers for our garbage cans in Lobby); our Janitor's closet; the "operations closet" that we keep all of our operations material. The list goes on and on, and I can't really get over the fact that it feels like I'm the only one doing detail cleaning, as I'm the only one cleaning these things.
Perhaps others are detail cleaning things that I'm not seeing. Maybe the things that I've been detail cleaning and getting cleaned on my shifts have actually been cleaned within the past couple days and what looks like years of neglect and misuse is really just a few days or at most weeks worth of regular use. It would be surprising, and honestly, we'd have to be operating 24-7 on a parallel time/space continuum where we serve thousands of customers daily.
I think I mentioned previously how I like to get things detail cleaned when I have time. I don't understand how other managers can't get the same type of things done, and then it dawns on me, very clearly, that it is because of a focused avoidance of doing any real cleaning. It has to be!
Last night, I was short one Production Team member (someone who fired themself by not calling and not showing for 3 days in a row last week), who I replaced with a young lady named T. who really wanted to learn Production. She did a damn fine job considering it was her very first time ever working Production. Every single person on my team got breaks, including myself. This almost never happens during our closing shifts with the usual reason being "there was no one to cover".
Also, I was able to detail clean our shake machine. Boy did it need it. I started by pulling it out, intending to mop behind it. I had to dust the back vents free of a 1/2" of dust, which led me to discover that much of the dust had calcified (with the lovely grease that flies in the air) and would need to be scrubbed off. After doing that on the back, I had to do the sides as well. Then I removed the side-mounted cup dispenser and discovered... well let me say it was dirty. So I cleaned all that, then cleaned the wall behind the shake machine. All told, an hour of grunting and scraping and scrubbing away shake mix from years past and I was left with a gleaming, clean shake machine. I was proud of myself. I also spent a half an hour or so getting the first layer or so of this horrible calcified mess behind our Lobby ice dispenser taken care of. I recommend CLR Kitchen & Bath cleaner! W00t. (Granted, there's probably nine more layers of calcified scum back there, I got rid of the layer growing organisms).
The thing is, I cannot understand how just about every area of our store is neglected on a regular basis by the closing managers. There's never areas being detail cleaned. I know this because each night I close, or have an extra body around to get some cleaning done, I discover all sorts of obscure and obvious things that need attention and love. Examples: the reach-in refrigerator a couple weeks ago; the front-end cup storage area; the shake machine; the menu boards; the little Cambro containers we hold customer conveniences in (in our Lobby, behind our Front Counter, and in Drive Thru); the fryer-side reach-in freezers; the inside of our Castle bins (the containers for our garbage cans in Lobby); our Janitor's closet; the "operations closet" that we keep all of our operations material. The list goes on and on, and I can't really get over the fact that it feels like I'm the only one doing detail cleaning, as I'm the only one cleaning these things.
Perhaps others are detail cleaning things that I'm not seeing. Maybe the things that I've been detail cleaning and getting cleaned on my shifts have actually been cleaned within the past couple days and what looks like years of neglect and misuse is really just a few days or at most weeks worth of regular use. It would be surprising, and honestly, we'd have to be operating 24-7 on a parallel time/space continuum where we serve thousands of customers daily.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Labor.
It's very difficult to balance the Labor percentage of a McDonald's store. This is true of every business - the goal is to maximize the profit of a store by minimizing the opportunity of wasted payroll hours. This is almost always somewhere in the neighborhood between 19 and 20%. We overshot that by a good amount in my store last month.
I'm learning that it is especially difficult to balance this Labor in a low volume store. There may only need to be 4 people on any given hours of a shift based upon sales in $, but there are also a set number of jobs that can be performed well by a minimum number of people, and in my opinion the minimum number of people to comfortably run just about any given hour of any shift is 5. There are exceptions - the first and last 2-3 hours of the day. These are easy times, for openers you show up and make coffee for hours. For closers, you clean and hump your ass to clean some more. In either situation, there's not many of customers.
However, during what I like to refer to as "Snack Time", the hours between 2 and 4, we may not be having as much sales dollars - that's mostly because we'll have twice as many customers, ordering a third as much food. Still, it's a lot of transactions and when you sell 50 Doubles and Hot N Spicys in an hour, it may not be as much money as 50 Value Meals during the lunch hour but it is the same amount of work, effectively. It takes as much time to make 10 Doubles as it does to make 10 different types of sandwiches, and each order during Snack Time has more individual sandwiches than each order during Lunch Time.
I wish all people could have some love for McDonald's Employees. I do my best to make sure every customer at the very least thinks I do a good job. There are a large amount of customers for whom I just shine, shine, shine! I like to go for the Wow. Stupid is diverse and populous in the world, however, and some people leave hating me, while I hate them.
A woman came through my Drive Thru during Snack Time today, and took a good 3 minutes to place her whole order, which totaled about $6.00 and was changed no less than 4 times. Meanwhile, a line of about 8 cars grew behind her. She came to my window holding out a bag of coins and said "Count this, it's what I'm paying you." She had a big stack of bills sitting on her lap. I said, "Why don't you pay me with a 5?" Her response was to shove the bag of coins toward me and say "I'm paying with this," So I told her, thank you have a nice day, and I'll buy her food for her. I'd rather explain a $6.00 customer satisfaction manager meal than count out 6 bucks in goddamn coins. Screw that! I told her so.
She told me I was rude and she would call McDonald's on me. I told her the number posted on the window in front of me would get her in touch with the Owner/Operator and I told her my name and explained that I was the only guy who looked like me, and the only Michael there, and could she please move to the next fucking window so I could help the people behind her. She told me no, and folded her arms like a 4-year-old. Finally, I said, as close to verbatim as I can get, "Lady, you're only fucking with the people behind you in line, and the people in the front of the store. Our interaction is done, your food is waiting for you, MOVE. ALONG." Finally after a few more seconds of huffiness she moved on.
Seriously, a bag of coins? What kind of a moron do you have to be to get angry that someone wouldn't fulfill that stupid request? Go to a bank. Spend a Saturday afternoon rolling pennies with your kids. Get one of those old people coin purses and spend it penny by glorious penny and nickel by shiny nickel. I can't believe the friend in her car didn't slap her. I would've.
The best part of my day was that this was the worst part of my day. If I'm alive, and the worst part of my day was when a 5 minute interaction set me behind maybe another 5 minutes, then I can honestly say I'm winning.
There were some phenomenal parts of my day, at least 6 different interactions with people where I felt like I had made a human connection. That's what the day is all about. In fact, looking back, that stupid bag-of-coins lady and I made a human connection as well, merely of a more base sort, less positive.
Addendum: I apologize for the swearing. It felt like a swearing day.
I'm learning that it is especially difficult to balance this Labor in a low volume store. There may only need to be 4 people on any given hours of a shift based upon sales in $, but there are also a set number of jobs that can be performed well by a minimum number of people, and in my opinion the minimum number of people to comfortably run just about any given hour of any shift is 5. There are exceptions - the first and last 2-3 hours of the day. These are easy times, for openers you show up and make coffee for hours. For closers, you clean and hump your ass to clean some more. In either situation, there's not many of customers.
However, during what I like to refer to as "Snack Time", the hours between 2 and 4, we may not be having as much sales dollars - that's mostly because we'll have twice as many customers, ordering a third as much food. Still, it's a lot of transactions and when you sell 50 Doubles and Hot N Spicys in an hour, it may not be as much money as 50 Value Meals during the lunch hour but it is the same amount of work, effectively. It takes as much time to make 10 Doubles as it does to make 10 different types of sandwiches, and each order during Snack Time has more individual sandwiches than each order during Lunch Time.
I wish all people could have some love for McDonald's Employees. I do my best to make sure every customer at the very least thinks I do a good job. There are a large amount of customers for whom I just shine, shine, shine! I like to go for the Wow. Stupid is diverse and populous in the world, however, and some people leave hating me, while I hate them.
A woman came through my Drive Thru during Snack Time today, and took a good 3 minutes to place her whole order, which totaled about $6.00 and was changed no less than 4 times. Meanwhile, a line of about 8 cars grew behind her. She came to my window holding out a bag of coins and said "Count this, it's what I'm paying you." She had a big stack of bills sitting on her lap. I said, "Why don't you pay me with a 5?" Her response was to shove the bag of coins toward me and say "I'm paying with this," So I told her, thank you have a nice day, and I'll buy her food for her. I'd rather explain a $6.00 customer satisfaction manager meal than count out 6 bucks in goddamn coins. Screw that! I told her so.
She told me I was rude and she would call McDonald's on me. I told her the number posted on the window in front of me would get her in touch with the Owner/Operator and I told her my name and explained that I was the only guy who looked like me, and the only Michael there, and could she please move to the next fucking window so I could help the people behind her. She told me no, and folded her arms like a 4-year-old. Finally, I said, as close to verbatim as I can get, "Lady, you're only fucking with the people behind you in line, and the people in the front of the store. Our interaction is done, your food is waiting for you, MOVE. ALONG." Finally after a few more seconds of huffiness she moved on.
Seriously, a bag of coins? What kind of a moron do you have to be to get angry that someone wouldn't fulfill that stupid request? Go to a bank. Spend a Saturday afternoon rolling pennies with your kids. Get one of those old people coin purses and spend it penny by glorious penny and nickel by shiny nickel. I can't believe the friend in her car didn't slap her. I would've.
The best part of my day was that this was the worst part of my day. If I'm alive, and the worst part of my day was when a 5 minute interaction set me behind maybe another 5 minutes, then I can honestly say I'm winning.
There were some phenomenal parts of my day, at least 6 different interactions with people where I felt like I had made a human connection. That's what the day is all about. In fact, looking back, that stupid bag-of-coins lady and I made a human connection as well, merely of a more base sort, less positive.
Addendum: I apologize for the swearing. It felt like a swearing day.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
December!
My blog made it through a month! Woo-hoo! Or, if you prefer, "W00t!".
Today was an exceptional day at work, starting December out right. We have a mystery shop sometime this weekend, so we had a huge amount of employees, all putting their best effort and smiles forward.
With 12 people working when we only needed 8 at a maximum, I had an opportunity to get some training done with employees. I'm working on a program to get each and every one of our employees trained on the Foundation training topics. It's not as easy it seems, to coordinate approximately 5 hours for each employee to watch the e-Learning program, review and get the first Station Observation Chart completed, then do a follow-up training session on the floor with them. However, I will get it caught up to the point that new hires can have their Foundation training completed within their first 6 shifts - that's my goal for the end of the first quarter of 2008.
With so many people working today, I was able to get 4, count them, 4!, larger pieces of equipment detail cleaned: our oven, our reach-in fryer-side freezer, and our reach-in kitchen refrigerators. This is on top of large sections of wall/baseboard being cleaned, as well as our front counter menu boards.
Honestly, I barely was on the floor at all today, between coordinating projects for all the extra people to get done and training and then I worked in Drive Thru back booth through our lunch rush. I love getting an opportunity to do nothing but customer transactions. Every other customer tells me "You have such a nice voice!" or "You're so polite! Thanks!" or, once in a while, "You're the best Drive Thru person ever!". I'm not exaggerating. I love that stuff - I know I'm great and love to hear it!
One downside to things right now is that our sales are low - dismally low. We've got absolutely no shopping centers near us! No one is Christmas shopping within two miles of my store while one of the owner's stores is inside the largest shopping mall in town, another is inside of Wal-Mart, and a third is right across the street from that largest shopping mall in town. It's very frustrating for the crew because we're usually just busy enough to be running around a bit short-handed, but not busy enough to include one more person onto the schedule. It's very frustrating as a manager, because I've got people working just a bit harder than they would need to be if we did our projected sales - because if we hit those, we'd be able to get that other person onto the schedule. Cyclical frustrations. I believe it goes with the territory, and so long as the crew are treated great, they'll be willing to work that/much harder to ensure the customers get treated great as well.
Today was an exceptional day at work, starting December out right. We have a mystery shop sometime this weekend, so we had a huge amount of employees, all putting their best effort and smiles forward.
With 12 people working when we only needed 8 at a maximum, I had an opportunity to get some training done with employees. I'm working on a program to get each and every one of our employees trained on the Foundation training topics. It's not as easy it seems, to coordinate approximately 5 hours for each employee to watch the e-Learning program, review and get the first Station Observation Chart completed, then do a follow-up training session on the floor with them. However, I will get it caught up to the point that new hires can have their Foundation training completed within their first 6 shifts - that's my goal for the end of the first quarter of 2008.
With so many people working today, I was able to get 4, count them, 4!, larger pieces of equipment detail cleaned: our oven, our reach-in fryer-side freezer, and our reach-in kitchen refrigerators. This is on top of large sections of wall/baseboard being cleaned, as well as our front counter menu boards.
Honestly, I barely was on the floor at all today, between coordinating projects for all the extra people to get done and training and then I worked in Drive Thru back booth through our lunch rush. I love getting an opportunity to do nothing but customer transactions. Every other customer tells me "You have such a nice voice!" or "You're so polite! Thanks!" or, once in a while, "You're the best Drive Thru person ever!". I'm not exaggerating. I love that stuff - I know I'm great and love to hear it!
One downside to things right now is that our sales are low - dismally low. We've got absolutely no shopping centers near us! No one is Christmas shopping within two miles of my store while one of the owner's stores is inside the largest shopping mall in town, another is inside of Wal-Mart, and a third is right across the street from that largest shopping mall in town. It's very frustrating for the crew because we're usually just busy enough to be running around a bit short-handed, but not busy enough to include one more person onto the schedule. It's very frustrating as a manager, because I've got people working just a bit harder than they would need to be if we did our projected sales - because if we hit those, we'd be able to get that other person onto the schedule. Cyclical frustrations. I believe it goes with the territory, and so long as the crew are treated great, they'll be willing to work that/much harder to ensure the customers get treated great as well.
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