The Chicken Has Come Home to Roost

Gee, I hope there is no problem with the fact that the title of my thread is sort of cryptic, although anyone who has heard that saying before will have an idea of what this is going to be about...

Most of you know that up until all hell broke loose on Wall Street, I was the executive chef over at the Stock Exchange. That was about as prestigious an account as I'd ever had, and all chef positions I'd held before were just leading up to that. There were times, however...and I seriously take issue with those times...but there were times when it was pointed out to me that I was too much like a chef. I never cared for criticism, disliked anyone suggesting a better way to cook something, had nothing but disdain for people who deigned to test my soup, etc.... goddamashit, it's my kitchen, get the hell out unless you want to wash my pots! But, unless you own the joint, you're working for a client (and it sooooo used to be the other way around) and if the client wants dill in every type of chicken dish you suck it up and buy stock in the dill business. And, you spend lots of time telling your director that he has no idea how to make a decent rack of ribs and to stick to cooking the books, instead.

Ahem....I'm the director now. I had to hire a cook for my account 2 weeks ago. I didn't require the skill of a chef, but I wanted someone with as much talent as my budget could afford. I'm trying like hell not to micromanage this guy. I want him to cook how he wants to cook.....but I watch him doing things that I know a better way to do, an easire way to prep, etc.... and it's killing me!!!!! And then...and then...when I do mention something, some way I'd rather have something done I gotta worry that I'm not going to bruise the sugarplum's ego.

I get that you have to manage every employee according to that employee's strengths and weaknesses. Believe me, if I had the time, I'd cook the food for this unit...instead of cooking the books....

I feel like I have to repeat "I will not micromanage, I will not micromanage"

Go back there and smack him around!

The Giant Mojito said:

Go back there and smack him around!

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See, now, if I do that...then I'm going to have to insist he pay me....and, in light of the present situation, there is always the possibility he'll quit, and that clearly is not an option!
But I do appreciate the sentiment. If you all don't mind, I just may have to vent here to get it off my chest...

I would simply offer a suggestion how to improve something the next time he gets to you. That should tell you if he wants to learn or is set in his ways like you. In my case I learn from every one I meet in most cases and alway appreciate others input, now I don't have to use it but do appreciate it.

Glad to see you back working though!
It's always tough overseeing somebody. Especially someone younger. It seems like today's egos bruise so much easier than, well, at least my generation.

Interesting and impressive Vera. I know nothing about all you guys so I enjoy posts like this one that gives an insight to you.
Everyone is not the same. you might simply ask if he would mind a few suggestions. Being new he is more likely ot accept them than if he'd been at it for a long while.

If that don't work do what Sushi said and slap em around.

I especially enjoy the part about get the H out of my kitchen unless you want to wash the pots. LOL. too funny.

Actually, he's older than me, Chowhound...

And JoeC....I never ever let on....but I always took every criticism or suggestion (still do, actually) to heart, considering all the time that someone actually may know better than I do. I can recall many instances where the next time I did something I followed someone's advice, liking the result better than my original.

VeraBlue said:

Actually, he's older than me, Chowhound...

And JoeC....I never ever let on....but I always took every criticism or suggestion (still do, actually) to heart, considering all the time that someone actually may know better than I do. I can recall many instances where the next time I did something I followed someone's advice, liking the result better than my original.

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Ouch. That's even worse. Some old dogs just plain don't want to learn new tricks. Good luck and keep us posted.

Doc said:

Interesting and impressive Vera. I know nothing about all you guys so I enjoy posts like this one that gives an insight to you.
Everyone is not the same. you might simply ask if he would mind a few suggestions. Being new he is more likely ot accept them than if he'd been at it for a long while.

If that don't work do what Sushi said and slap em around.

I especially enjoy the part about get the H out of my kitchen unless you want to wash the pots. LOL. too funny.

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Ehhhhh..... Im a Mojito..... not a Sushi.

Just my suggestion, don't barge in while he's working to give suggestions. Set up a weekly meeting or something and bring up one or two (max!) things at a time. Lead by example, and show him what you are talking about rather than just telling him. An employee who's not willing to learn is not a good employee IMHO...

Makes sense, RobsanX....but when I see him pulverizing onions and peppers in the buffalo chopper for chili, rather than leaving with dimension so they'll add texture it's hard to keep walking...

VeraBlue said:

Makes sense, RobsanX....but when I see him pulverizing onions and peppers in the buffalo chopper for chili, rather than leaving with dimension so they'll add texture it's hard to keep walking...

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Smack him! Sorry..... Im a one note tune.

VeraBlue said:

Makes sense, RobsanX....but when I see him pulverizing onions and peppers in the buffalo chopper for chili, rather than leaving with dimension so they'll add texture it's hard to keep walking...

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If the end product is wrong for the recipe, then you should stop him right away and correct him (unless it's his recipe, then back to what I said before )... Doing something wrong is definitely different than doing something less easy or efficient.

There are books upon books about leadership. Start reading!

You will find one of the underlying themes is to let people discover better ways themselves, with your leadership guiding them.

That one second where you start giving orders? Well, from that point on, nobody will do anything without your blessing. At that point, you may as well do everything yourself. And that is not the end point you want to be at is it?

Look, as far as I am concerned, 99% of employees come to work on that first day wanting to do an outstanding job. From that point on, management generally teaches them to not do so. Latch on to that wanting-to-do-a-good-job mindset and help them excel. And reward them !!!!! Everyday with a thanks, or asking about family, etc.

VeraBlue said:

Makes sense, RobsanX....but when I see him pulverizing onions and peppers in the buffalo chopper for chili, rather than leaving with dimension so they'll add texture it's hard to keep walking...

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Ah here is a suggestion buy him a good chef's knife and not the German junk. It doesn't have to be expensive and you live close enough to make a trip to NYC based on your location. Perhaps a trip to Koren's and get him a good gyuto so he will learn to cut the stuff correctly. Now this is just a thought from a knife nut.

VeraBlue said:

See, now, if I do that...then I'm going to have to insist he pay me......

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LOL!

Lee

joec said:

Ah here is a suggestion buy him a good chef's knife and not the German junk. It doesn't have to be expensive and you live close enough to make a trip to NYC based on your location. Perhaps a trip to Koren's and get him a good gyuto so he will learn to cut the stuff correctly. Now this is just a thought from a knife nut.

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I don't mind using the buffalo chopper...but you have to know when to pull the product out.

Well I'm out of ideas so as a last resort go with Mojito suggestion, smack him in the head.

I spent 15 years managing building maintenance workers who were always in the spotlight. If something went South in the President's office, they were expected to fix the problem quickly and get the hell out of there. When I had a new employee, younger or older than me, I would coach/counsel them in the ways that we did things at that company, and explain that while there are other ways of doing the same job, THIS is the way we do it here.

Damn it, Vera, if the onion are meant to add texture to the dish, he needs to know it. Ultimately YOU are responsible for his performance, regardless of his choice in the matter. This can be accomplished very non-threateningly, by correcting the inappropriate action when you see it occurring. A simple statement in passing like "Just so you know, Billy Bob, the clients prefers the onions to add texture to this dish, so please cut back on the chopping a bit sooner for the next batch. Thanks." And then just walk away. I referred to this management style as MBWA...Managing By Walking Around. I used this system for rewards as well as corrections, and found it best to just move on after the correction, acting like it was no big deal. If Billy Bob gets huffy, then the VeraBlue management style kicks in, and he needs to be slapped around.

That advise and $.65 will get you a senior coffee at McDonalds if you are 55 or older.

You might try to think about what approach would not anger you when you were in his position, if your immediate superior wanted you to doe something different with a dish. If you can come up with an approach that would have worked for you, then just maybe it would work with him.

Just my $0.02 worth

Fred

"Free advice, free advice, it costs you nothing and it's worth the price."

Vera, Drastic situations call for Drastic measures.

FWIW...Kill him, run his body through a wood chipper (sorry-I just watched "Fargo" again) and go to Monster.com and find a young, impressionable culinary school grad.

Interview him wearing your latex Nun suit (do they call them suits?) and he'll follow you anywhere!!

I was all set to agreeing with RobSanX's advice, until I read Smoke Kings post!

I think he may be on to something there...

Oh, and I love Fargo!! William H. Macy is great in it!

Here's how today went...
Since we never opened due to the weather yesterday, all the bread (rolls, bagels, sliced bread) that had been delivered went into the freezer yesterday. He and I were the only two that came in yesterday. I did paperwork he got to do 5 hours of uninterupted prep.

This morning, we pulled all the bread out of the freezer. Most of it would have time to defrost naturally, but I needed the bagels in a hurry for service in an hour. He was his typical surly morning self....I wanted to ask him to toss a couple dozen into the proofer to warm them quicker than room temperature. He was walking past me, about 5 inches from me and I said "BillyBob, these bagels will never defrost in time to open, can you....." and he just walk right past me, and into the walk in. No 'just a minute', no 'what do you need?', no "I'm on it'...he just walked past me while I was talking and totally blew me off.
So I waited where I was standing until he came out of the box. Instead of saying 'sorry, what did you say?' or even "okay, what was it?"...he proceeded to walk back to the cooks' prep area as though I wasn't standing right there in mid sentence.
I said 'uh, Billybob, do you think you have a minute for me now?' with about as much sarcasm as I could muster without actually lashing him with my tongue. His response was curt and surly 'what...what do you want? I'm very busy" I told him want I wanted done and walked away.
I went into my office and wrote out a counseling sheet will go in his extremely new file. christona****ingcrutch, do you really think, in this atmosphere of unemployement that it's a wise move to act like such a primadonna when you are sooo new on the job?
We had the counseling session later in the afternoon. He tried to turn it around to me..that I want robots in the kitchen. We talked more and ended the conversation with him signing the sheet and accepting that it was his problem to correct, not mine.

It was a long enough conversation that I'm not convinced he fully got the gravity of. I'm not interested in hearing about his arabic background or how he respects all women..... I think this may be a problem that will have to be attended to, eventually. Since he's so new, I dont' have to follow the usual protocol of 3 counselings....two and I can terminate.
Thing is, I don't want to terminate...I want to educate and move on. However, if someone believes that walking past your boss who is trying to talk to you isn't disrespectful, we may have a problem.

Well Vera maybe the guy is just an ass... and seriously your right... nowadays is not time to mess around

I have a hard time being "boss" I have worked for a lot of people though and my feeling is this... I don't have to like my boss but I do need to respect them.

Of the many bosses I had at my last job the only one I could tolerate was to be honest on a personal level a horrendous bitch someone who I would not want to spend 5 min with outside of work... but she was talented, hard working and clear about what she wanted from me... I had no problems with her.

Seems to me you have the experience and knowledge this guy should respect and for some reason I don't doubt that you project that through confidence in your work so if this dude is already at the "counseling" stage sounds like he had a real attitude problem.

Good Luck