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?
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4 comments:
Michael,
It's hard to find a McDonald's with a really proactive, hard-working, balls to the wall store manager. Having worked for two franchises I can contest to this. I think they are trained to be as hands off as possible. I know store managers have a lot of responsibility on their hands, but you are right. They need to step it up and take one for the team like the rest of us. I work for a pretty decent store manager now. I have only been there 6 days, but so far so "ok". She is nice and supportive, she is flexible, she always steps in when a certain area needs some help, and she helps keep crew morale up. However, she understaffs at night, and when approached about it, she turns us over to the 2nd assistant manager (who is stressed out to her max as it is). When 4 o'clock comes around, she just vanishes like the wind. I was told on my first day, to not go to her with problems. She refuses to train me, or schedule an extra person at night (there are several people who are willing to close who she won't let close) so that I can be trained by the closing manager. It's a good thing I'm a fast learner, and learned all of the closing paperwork in one night, because it's been ridiculously busy at our store. I still haven't been trained on production, and I go solo the day after christmas. She acts like it's not her problem, then she acted surprised when I told her I didn't want to close 5 nights a week. I explained why, but I don't think she understood. She said she'd see what she would do, but I'm not holding my breath. First of all, no manager should close 5 nights a week unless they truly want to, or it's their only availability. It's too stressful, and it kills any chance at a social life. My fiance and I spend absolutely no time together anymore. We work exact opposite shifts. It's frustrating. Anyway, now I'm starting to rant. Personally, if I were a store manager (and no, I as well as anyone doesn't want to put in 60-70 hours a week) I would want to put in the few extra hours a week to make sure the business I was entrusted with was running smoothly. There's a reason why McDonald's turnover is so high, and it usually starts at the top. When the store manager leaves at 4 and says "not my problem" that puts stress on the other managers, which puts stress on the crew. My closing crew has just about had it, as have I. The store manager can't see the big deal about it, but when you are neglegted, you can only take so much. Best of luck to you, and happy holidays.
Thanks for the comment! Just too busy a day, and I'm too tired to respond right now but I have a few things I do want to say - later.
That sounds exactly like my store manager. Nothing like having a store manager who sits in the office all day, even when we're pending orders.
One of the first things you learn in Business Management is that people will get away with what you let them get away with.
The situation and your positioning will determine if the appropriate response is confrontational, political, or social jockeying.
You need similar counters to his one-liners and you need to create your own "manager-speak" with your own implied messages.
This is an area is where new inductees fail to communicate within the norm effectively.
No matter the industry, interpersonal communication and efficacy broadcast on the same channel.
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