Shift Manager.

A couple months ago, I posted about the week my store manager, B., was out of town, and how the shifts went. That was a great learning experience, being tossed into the fire to see how well I fared. Since then B. has offered me the opportunity to run shifts with up to 10 or 11 employees scheduled on my own, with his supervision, basically every single shift I work that's not a close (and then I am running a difficult shift as well, having only 4 people including myself) . It's actually opened my perception a bit to his teaching ability - or ...

I'm quite confused as to B.'s intentions and which of us is actually in control of me running day shifts. I remember sometime in early December working an early day shift, and being stuck to a position (2nd cashier) during lunch and being primary cashier before and after lunch. I did not like it at all. Throughout the next 3 weeks I basically worked closes or late day shifts, and did not really have to worry so much about lunch, and was basically running the floor whenever I worked.

In January, I started working many day shifts again, and I chose, I remember clearly making a conscious decision, to run the lunch shifts. I positioned crew, I ran the orders, I delegated responsibilities, I controlled the lunch and it was pretty good. I remember the day, B. and I were looking at each other going "Man, we didn't even do $450 for our hour" at about 1:00. We looked, and even though our lunch hour felt slow to us, we did $600. We made it feel easy, and I know it's because I communicated to my crew exactly what they were doing, how much time they had to do it in, and the offered a solid reward (a free dessert item to all the Production Crew if we hit our goal). How easy is that?!

If I were in B.'s shoes, I'd allow my "Guy" (the manager under my wing) an opportunity to run the show, while being there to offer guidance or help if they need it (or, to take over if my "Guy" crashes and burns, LOL!). That would make me a phenomenal teacher! I know I'd have a hint of ulterior motive, or rather a benefit for me personally that I would indubitably take advantage of - being able to run a stress-free lunch hour with MY GUY! W00t! in charge. That's if I were in B.'s shoes.

Then again, often, I am in B.'s shoes. Tonight, M. is the closing manager (almost a manager), who I mentioned previously when she was a new crew member because she took control and action. I just got off the phone with her at 10:00, to make sure everything was good, offer her an opportunity to ask questions, explained a process based on her questioning, and gave her encouraging praise, as well as offered her my trust in her ability to do a good job.

Fuck, I should be writing books.

High Power.

I'm a high power kind of guy. I move alot, I do alot, I identify many tasks and delegate my ass off. That leads to me having to follow up a ton and deliver feedback all day long. I also have my own responsibilities that are delegated to me. My customers consume much of my attention and energy, almost as much as my crew do.

I was asked the other day if I'm "always this hyper" by someone. I'm really not hyper. Hyperactive implies a certain lack of control to the force with which one focuses and then refocuses on things around them. I'm passionate, and powerful. Absolutely, not hyper, because my attention is directed, focused like a laser beam, and quite deliberately moving all the time, to ensure that I'm taking everything in and getting everything taken care of. There's quite the difference.

Yesterday, I went to ServSafe class, and tested for certification. I'm confident about 89 of my 90 answers, and about 75% confident about the one I'm not certain of. I can't remember what the question was, but I remember feeling just a little unsure when I answered one of the questions.

Overall, the ServSafe class was pretty solid. Nearly all the topics covered in the test were covered in the class, I sat next to B., the Assistant Manager of one of our stores, and the sister-in-law of my O/O. She's a solid individual and had some good questions, and some great answers. We had lunch on the corporate credit card, nothin' fancy, the bill between B., another B. from my store, and myself was probably $25. But, we had some conversation and it was good. Again, she's a real solid individual and I'd love to get an opportunity to work with her.

I'm working on getting some solid individuals in our store, and removing two of the weaker elements, which is the staffing goal for every month for our entire organization. The hardest part is identifying who our two weakest team members are. I actually know who they are, and they're both managers.

Another Great Day!

So I woke up and was very, very tired. I've got this horrible pain in my sinuses and upper lungs. So do something like 1 in 1,000 Tucsonans. It's not really stopping me, but I am tired as hell, in general.

I met S., a new trainer who works for the guy who owns my McDonald's and 4 others in Tucson, with a growing collection of McDonald's restaurants. She was a phenomenal, positive person. It was a blast meeting someone with a passion for what they do. She's also one hell of a thorough trainer.

Throughout the day, which I arrived for at 9:30, I just felt a happy and fun day coming on - most of my days are. Right from the start, she was clear and presented well. She seemed like a solid individual. In return, I presented well and followed up with an exceptional performance during lunch. Our lunch started out with S. and myself in the Production Area, where S. discovered an issue with our grills, and with a quick text message or two and a phone call, she had three guys there tearing our grills apart and making them work on the hot-damn double!

Right at the tail end of this, B. called up to me and had a bit of panic in his face and voice said, "Mike I need your help up here!" I looked around where I was, saw that I was not crucial to the situation, told the team I was going to the Service Area and I assessed. There was a deep line in our Drive-Thru, a deep line at our Front Counter, one cashier, one presenter and B. doing fries and taking orders in DT, with no one to run. Within 45 seconds the situation was well in hand. I got someone on fries, asked S. to take orders on Register 2, and I had assembled about 15 orders in 3 minutes. What a great time!

Later, S. told me something that made me pretty proud, as already I respect this person's opinion. She said, "If I came in, just came in to your store, I would have thought you were the store manager." Hell yeah, cause that's how I roll.

I am driven to succeed and exceed in as much as I can in my life in small part because I love to have praise, which for me directly translates into an ego boost. My confidence is pretty arrogant.

This Guy's Blog.

My best friend is coming to visit me this weekend (and visit the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show). I'm off from Friday to Monday. I'm taking a hit in pay but I'll certainly enjoy the free time.

In the meantime, I learned today to manual clean or brush clean our shake/ice cream machine today. I had a good time and enjoyed the sense of a job well done, even though I was being hassled over "how long" it took me to do. B., the store manager, admitted the syrup lines definitely hadn't been cleaned in the 7 months he was there, and probably not for a good while before, either. Syrup line cleaning will happen every week while the full brush cleaning will occur every two weeks. With me in control of it, I have a feeling that it will be done like clockwork.

Tuesday, I take on another new responsibility as well. I will be conducting a full food inventory every Tuesday night for the last 2-3 hours of the day, then arriving early on Wednesday for our manager meetings. It'll be a blast.