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My workplace--I'm still at the pizza restaurant, due to the crap economy--has fallen prey to the Drama Monster. It's hard to place the exact point when this began to happen, but somewhere along the line business dropped too low, and the powers-that-be started cutting back hours, understaffing the store. They probably would have fired most or all of us, except too many people have been quitting and they can't hire and assimilate new people fast enough to compensate for losses.
Anyway, with staff too low, we're having a hard time getting everything done in terms of prep, cleaning, et cetera. Inevitably, one shift manager had to leave something unfinished for the next shift after a busy night. The next manager resented this, and in a very mature retaliatory way left something else undone; it might have been something petty, like dishes. It doesn't matter. Fast forward two weeks, and there's some sort of passive-aggressive lower-management spat going on. And it's accumulating power at a dangerous speed. Soon I fear it will attain a critical mass of bull**** and become a Black Hole of Hissy-Fits, engulfing everything near it. It might even spread to other restaurants somehow. I cannot quite fathom how this piddly-ass high-school hooey can build up this much power, but it does. It has a life of its own. It FEEDS!
Currently we have three shift managers, whom I will call Peter, Paul and Mary (this is just for illustration, on the off-chance somebody wants one; I wouldn't give a damn myself, if it didn't threaten my job security). Peter has a lot more experience, and has been working solo for weeks. If it weren't for this current crap he'd be an excellent manager, almost ideal. Paul and Mary are newly promoted, and tend to work jointly. I gather Paul has some sort of criminal record and Mary is only eighteen, so together they form one trustworthy person. Or something. During Peter's shift, Peter *****es nonstop about Paul and Mary, and refuses to do more than the bare minimum required by his job. Paul and Mary, well, they aren't particularly effective anyway, so when they're sabotaging Peter a lot slips through the cracks, deliberately or accidentally. Just last night (a slow night), Mary told us all to be careful what we say around Peter as he can't be trusted. You can probably imagine most of the details. It's a lot like Poly at its worst, only there are paychecks involved so there's reason to care.
Only four regular workers that I know of are free of the horse****: myself, the two Latinos who know they are more valuable than any manager and intend to keep their jobs regardless, and an unusually sensible teenage girl. What do you all suggest I do about this? Thus far I have simply said "I'm staying out of this" during the kvetch-fests, but I don't know how long that will last. I'd simply tell upper management that there's a perfect storm of asshattery brewing, except I fear that will only implicate me in this crap and I don't know what they can do short of firing all the managers. But if I do nothing, the persistent backbiting is likely to drag the restaurant completely under. A pox on normal people and their damned intrigues! Er, present company excepted.
Anyway, with staff too low, we're having a hard time getting everything done in terms of prep, cleaning, et cetera. Inevitably, one shift manager had to leave something unfinished for the next shift after a busy night. The next manager resented this, and in a very mature retaliatory way left something else undone; it might have been something petty, like dishes. It doesn't matter. Fast forward two weeks, and there's some sort of passive-aggressive lower-management spat going on. And it's accumulating power at a dangerous speed. Soon I fear it will attain a critical mass of bull**** and become a Black Hole of Hissy-Fits, engulfing everything near it. It might even spread to other restaurants somehow. I cannot quite fathom how this piddly-ass high-school hooey can build up this much power, but it does. It has a life of its own. It FEEDS!
Currently we have three shift managers, whom I will call Peter, Paul and Mary (this is just for illustration, on the off-chance somebody wants one; I wouldn't give a damn myself, if it didn't threaten my job security). Peter has a lot more experience, and has been working solo for weeks. If it weren't for this current crap he'd be an excellent manager, almost ideal. Paul and Mary are newly promoted, and tend to work jointly. I gather Paul has some sort of criminal record and Mary is only eighteen, so together they form one trustworthy person. Or something. During Peter's shift, Peter *****es nonstop about Paul and Mary, and refuses to do more than the bare minimum required by his job. Paul and Mary, well, they aren't particularly effective anyway, so when they're sabotaging Peter a lot slips through the cracks, deliberately or accidentally. Just last night (a slow night), Mary told us all to be careful what we say around Peter as he can't be trusted. You can probably imagine most of the details. It's a lot like Poly at its worst, only there are paychecks involved so there's reason to care.
Only four regular workers that I know of are free of the horse****: myself, the two Latinos who know they are more valuable than any manager and intend to keep their jobs regardless, and an unusually sensible teenage girl. What do you all suggest I do about this? Thus far I have simply said "I'm staying out of this" during the kvetch-fests, but I don't know how long that will last. I'd simply tell upper management that there's a perfect storm of asshattery brewing, except I fear that will only implicate me in this crap and I don't know what they can do short of firing all the managers. But if I do nothing, the persistent backbiting is likely to drag the restaurant completely under. A pox on normal people and their damned intrigues! Er, present company excepted.
ACK!
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