Sometimes over the years, I've had some pretty tricky bosses.
One in particular I remember quite well. His name was Earl, and he'd
been in the restaurant business a good many years.
I'd been working for him for a couple of months and noticed that the
place was really out of control. The manager wasn't doing a good
job at all! He wouldn't enforce any discipline in the kitchen.
One day Earl came in with a seedy looking guy.
"This is Terry," he announced, "an old friend of mine. He's rather
down on his luck and needs some work for a while. We need a dishwasher
so put him to work."
The manager begrudgingly said "I suppose so!" and Terry joined the
crew. While the other people were showing him the wrong things to
do I was showing him the RIGHT things!
Terry worked with us for about two weeks, then one morning he arrived
at the door when I did early in the morning. He was dressed in a
business suit, clean and shaven, and looked like a totally different person!
"Good morning Gerald!" he announced. "Would you mind accompanying
me to the office? I need a witness."
"Sure!" I remarked, totally bewildered.
We went into the office and Terry announced he was the new manager,
and that the old manager's services were no longer required, and that he
was to leave immediately. He could call the boss to confirm what
Terry said.
The old manager did so, gathered his belongings and quickly departed.
"Thank you, Gerald," Terry announced. "Return to your duties."
I got set up and watched as the rest of the crew trickled in.
As they did so, several new people arrived. When everybody was there
except one guy who was always late, Terry came out of the office.
He pointed to two of the cooks and two of the dishwashers, and said "You,
you, you and you...OUT OF HERE! You're all done!"
"You just can't fire us like this without warning!" one of the
cooks complained.
"You have a choice," Terry answered. "You can be fired or you
can be arrested. It's up to you and that goes for the rest of you.
We have enough evidence to charge you all with grand theft if we want to,
but we don't want to waste your time as we will never recover any of your
property. The choice is yours. If you want to contest
your dismissals you may do so, but it's for your own good you don't."
He walked over to the remaining cook and introduced two other cooks.
"You're now head cook," he announced. "I want these gentlemen
trained to do it right. No more of the sloppy work that we've been
getting."
"Yes sir!" Al announced, and led the cooks off to begin training
them. He then called over two others and introduced them to me.
"Gerald, you're now head dishwasher and stock man," he announced.
"You have charge of everything that does not pertain to cooking.
I want you to train these two gentlemen for the morning work and then train
Peter and the new night people for the night shift. There will be
an appropriate increase in pay for these new duties.
"Gee, thanks!" I complimented.
"No thanks necessary," Terry answered, "we appreciate the work you
do here!"
Notwithstanding the rest of the time I spent on this job was enjoyable,
though it still had it's problems...EVERY job does. But it's a lot
easier when you're working with cooperative people. It sure makes
things a lot smoother.
THE END
Faith is not by traditions or ceremonies, or by learning. Faith is by belief. A man can perform all the ceremonies that are customary to his people. He can do all that is right all of his life. But if he does not believe, if he does not hold what he does in his heart sacred, he has no faith, no matter how much he is praised, no matter how much he is admired. If he does not believe he is not with God.