Its a Boomerang, Mate

Throughout the first three chapters of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry, out of the management styles I found boomerang management to be most relevant in the society of today’s restaurants. In my experience I have had to deal with this two times, one of those times involving myself as a manager. When I was hired at the Melting Pot in Annapolis, Maryland, I was hired as a part time prep cook and a full-time server. After a year of getting close with people in the front and the back of the house, I found the opportunity to move up to kitchen manager, which I did. This required me too work full-time in the kitchen, managing mis amigos. I say amigos because I was the only Caucasian in the kitchen. I had become very close and developed good friendships with a couple of my co-workers. This included having fun outside of work, not just on the job. But as I took on the job of a kitchen manager, I had to supervise my once friends and co-workers. I approached the situation as I would before I was promoted, and continued to be friends and occasionally go out with my subordinates. I learned that this was not the correct behavior of a manager. When you try to be friends and a manager at the same time, your authority goes out the window and no one takes you seriously. After a week or so of feeling that I was not going to be able to do my job right, I had to make an example. I was previously aware that one of the dishwashers was coming in drunk all the time. I gave him a warning as manager that if he does it again, he will be fired. Subsequently, the next day he came in drunk, and I fired him. It was at that point that people started taking me seriously. Did I feel bad? Yes I did, but I felt that I gave him a fair warning and he took me for a joke. That happened to be a Friday night, and I did not have anyone to fill in. We were understaffed in the kitchen as is, so I did help with dishes when busy and managed when they weren’t backed up. After that incident I had gained respect needed to successfully manage, and I still had my friends outside of work. It was a great balance and the restaurant seemed to run a bit smoother from that day on.