That actually sounds like a really good idea and i'll definetly consider using it in the near future. My only concern is how to deal with the emotional outburst that is sure to follow when she realizes she has no idea what she's doing and needs to find someone to blame. Something like "if you knew it wasn't going to work why didn't you tell me in the first place" kind of nonsense even though i probably already tried to. Another thing is how would you deal with being told "go do something" as an order when there is no work to be done. I'll lay out the events of my shift today as an example:
I can, once again, tell you how I handled it, but YMMV. They did, in fact, get very upset with me for making them look foolish, so I made a statement and suggestion along the lines of (hard to recall from memory from so long ago) "I'm certain that you decided to hire me for being more than just a body to work in your establishment. I can be instructed on what to do, or how to do it, but not both. If you'd care to empower me, and choose the former, I will use all of my resourcefulness to ensure that the work is done properly in a manner that meets or exceeds your expectations. If you choose the latter, of telling me how to do it, I am not the right person for the job."
They were shocked that I would be so direct with them, but also being a businessman, he respected my viewpoint and actually knew that I was right since he had hired me away from a competitor based on my reputation of being a "doer" and only needing general direction on what was to be done.
get to work it's saturday on a long weekend so it's very slow during the day, handle the tables that come in and do some meaningless cleaning just to appear busy for as long as possible.
3:00 pm rolls around which is the time i'd leave at normally if it was slow as having a lot of people on and no work is financially taxing on this restuarant (note that is actually why i asked to leave, getting paid to stand around is fine with me at this point but I dont mind this womans husband and I dont mind helping him out in this way). I'm of course told no because it may be busy later on.
5:20 and still very slow except now the night staff has arrived meaning there is more money to be dispensed for still very little to no work. (note my shift officially ends at 5 and staying late is just something that has to happen to deal with rushes if neccessary which obviously wasn't the case). I ask again if i'm still needed and my boss (now very annoyed with me for some reason) asks in a snarky tone if I have somewhere to be because obviously my only incentive to want to leave work past my scheduled time has to be selfish and not the fact that her ignorance is costing her money.
6:15 some people have actually came and there was enough work for everyone to have at least something to do up until this point. After everyone is taken care of (note i've not only been handling all of my tables but also helping others with theirs if they were pre-occupied when dishes needed to be removed or whatever, not a really big deal just being a teamplayer and helping out) I go into the waitress/waiter station and stand still for quite literally less than 3 seconds. If pressed to count mississippi's you may have gotten to two if you were lucky) when i'm spotted not moving and yelled at being told to "do something". This was quickly followed by my boss telling the head cook to tell me to clean the bathrooms (end of day duty supposedly I had to do it as a punishment?) and go home as I was being useless).
Now in this specific scenario I realized my help wasn't needed for over 3 hours, one of which was after my scheduled hours and twice mentioned this to my boss before i was finally scolded for the issue and sent home. I don't know what I could have done differently to placate her as I literally said straight to her face "It's pretty slow and there's nothing to do, do you still need me?" and when she finally realized on her own that I had nothing to do somehow it was my fault.
Interesting side note the headcook told me she said something along the lines of "He did nothing all day with pay and is still being useless" as if it's my fault that the restuarant had very little business.
Being persecuted for things I have no control over is very irritating and if the money wasn't so good i'd find another job asap but until I can find something with equivalent pay or until i get fired which isn't to unlikely at this point I need to manage. If anyone has any advice on what I could have done differently please share.
Sorry for such a long post
You, and I hate to say it... work for an IDIOT manager. Anyone that essentially says "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean," is liable to get a good piece of my mind for being so utterly STUPID.
I will not stand for having my integrity or work ethic questioned, so if I had heard them say that, I certainly would have stood up for myself and explained in no uncertain terms that I, noticing how slow business was, had asked to go home on more than one occasion for the very reason to save the company money, but was told to stay on the clock.
Further, I would have explained that I understand their frustration with business being slow, but it's neither fair, nor professional, to take it out on the employees. Complaints go UP the chain... never down.
I don't know your type, but I suspect if it was me, I'd actually learn about the business, what steps they currently employ to attract customers and see if I could come up with ideas to spur business and suggest to them. For example, if you're in a strip mall or something of the sort, suggest a one-night only promotion where you could have designed and printed flyers for a % off the bill or a free adult beverage/dessert and walked around the front and passed them out to potential customers.
