Paradise Regained
Well, today's primary feature was my big meeting with the manager at the Chick-Fil-A in Cherrydale. Earlier this week, the assistant manager informed me, with no rancor or acrimony, that he no longer wanted me to work at the unit. Effective immediately were his precise words. So just like that, I was let go, with no prior notification, no notices, and no warnings that I had done anything to merit being fired. The manager was across the country at a CFA seminar in California and had apparantly passed down word that he'd been wanting to meet with me as soon as possible. I suppose the assistant took the assumption that this was the message he'd wanted to deliver.
Wow! Big newsflash! I'm NOT fired!
Right off the bat, the manager tells me I'm not fired, and I was never supposed to be fired. It seems this was all the outcome of one huge miscommunication. First of all, I was right that issues like new workers being hired and the January slump in sales that affects all restaurant businesses were factors in their lessening of my work hours. But what he'd wanted to talk with me about was basically an update on the standards and expectations that he wants from me on his staff. He laid out a few potential problem spots that others had brought to his attention that he wanted to address with me. Things like moving at too slow a pace, difficulty adjusting my work routine from the Greenville Mall CFA to his free-standing unit, and things like that. He admitted that a big part of that was his fault and the fault of the team leaders for not doing their jobs in coaching the new crew members, working close with them until they could move at the same fast pace that this restaurant demands.
I agreed that those were definitely areas I could work on, and I thanked him for bringing them to my attention. He again apologized for the huge mix-up in the intended message, and to make up for it, he would go ahead and pay me for those hours I was supposed to work this past Monday night (they sent me home immediately after I had received the news, TEN MINUTES into my work shift). I greatly appreciated the gesture, and I thanked him again for his generosity and the professional way in which he handled it, and we shook hands and departed.
WELL! ... this changes everything. No wonder it felt so unbelievably wrong to get the pink slip so suddenly and abruptly. Going into the meeting, I had almost resigned myself to thinking that the reason was merely downsizing and nothing more than that. With lots of new people coming in and not as much labor to spread around, it was the only reason that made any sense. Surely if it was something specific that concerned my performance on the job, they would've warned me or notified me beforehand instead of simply going ahead and terminating me on the spot. But hearing this news changed the whole nature of the meeting. Instead of it being closure to my short-lived tenure at the Cherrydale Chick-Fil-A, I'm now inclined to believe it signified the start of a new beginning.
So, long story short, I've still got my job, and I'm now even more determined to raise my work to a higher level of efficiency. If he wants me to work faster, then I'll do just that, even if I make mistakes every so often. Hey, it's how you make progress in the business world: by learning from your mistakes. But I'll just keep at it and at it until I achieve the speed level he desires. That's my way of saying, "I get the message, loud and clear. I like this job, I feel that I deserve this job, and I'll work harder than ever to prove that your faith and trust in me is well founded."
Anyway, that made my day. The rest of today was blissfully calm and peaceful. HIS Radio is so awesome.
Song of the Day: Mark Schultz - "He Will Carry Me"
Verse of the Day: "O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saving, "This is the way; walk in it." - Isaiah 30:19-21
Wow! Big newsflash! I'm NOT fired!
Right off the bat, the manager tells me I'm not fired, and I was never supposed to be fired. It seems this was all the outcome of one huge miscommunication. First of all, I was right that issues like new workers being hired and the January slump in sales that affects all restaurant businesses were factors in their lessening of my work hours. But what he'd wanted to talk with me about was basically an update on the standards and expectations that he wants from me on his staff. He laid out a few potential problem spots that others had brought to his attention that he wanted to address with me. Things like moving at too slow a pace, difficulty adjusting my work routine from the Greenville Mall CFA to his free-standing unit, and things like that. He admitted that a big part of that was his fault and the fault of the team leaders for not doing their jobs in coaching the new crew members, working close with them until they could move at the same fast pace that this restaurant demands.
I agreed that those were definitely areas I could work on, and I thanked him for bringing them to my attention. He again apologized for the huge mix-up in the intended message, and to make up for it, he would go ahead and pay me for those hours I was supposed to work this past Monday night (they sent me home immediately after I had received the news, TEN MINUTES into my work shift). I greatly appreciated the gesture, and I thanked him again for his generosity and the professional way in which he handled it, and we shook hands and departed.
WELL! ... this changes everything. No wonder it felt so unbelievably wrong to get the pink slip so suddenly and abruptly. Going into the meeting, I had almost resigned myself to thinking that the reason was merely downsizing and nothing more than that. With lots of new people coming in and not as much labor to spread around, it was the only reason that made any sense. Surely if it was something specific that concerned my performance on the job, they would've warned me or notified me beforehand instead of simply going ahead and terminating me on the spot. But hearing this news changed the whole nature of the meeting. Instead of it being closure to my short-lived tenure at the Cherrydale Chick-Fil-A, I'm now inclined to believe it signified the start of a new beginning.
So, long story short, I've still got my job, and I'm now even more determined to raise my work to a higher level of efficiency. If he wants me to work faster, then I'll do just that, even if I make mistakes every so often. Hey, it's how you make progress in the business world: by learning from your mistakes. But I'll just keep at it and at it until I achieve the speed level he desires. That's my way of saying, "I get the message, loud and clear. I like this job, I feel that I deserve this job, and I'll work harder than ever to prove that your faith and trust in me is well founded."
Anyway, that made my day. The rest of today was blissfully calm and peaceful. HIS Radio is so awesome.
Song of the Day: Mark Schultz - "He Will Carry Me"
Verse of the Day: "O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saving, "This is the way; walk in it." - Isaiah 30:19-21
posted by david @ 2:29 PM
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