Undercover Boss
I started out in the real estate industry, doing deals here and there until I had enough savings to buy my first restaurant. The restaurant was well-established in the Seattle area and I do still own it along with a couple others now.
I try to treat my employees with as much respect as I can and I do try to keep the pay high enough so that employees can actually afford to eat in my restaurants, as they are somewhat expensive and higher-end.
Now, keep in mind that I am a relatively absentee owner now because the restaurants are owned by a corporation that I head, so I have no idea who a lot of the employees are. I know most of the managers, but the turnover rate for the servers is relatively high as most are college students.
Needless to say, I don’t get to know them very well. One day, I decided to do some undercover management where I go through and judge the service and the quality of how the servers help the customers and the clientele.
I took my wife in to one of the restaurants so we could grab some dinner and observe the employees and management. Well, the service was awful and I was sorely disappointed.
Toward the end of the dinner, I got the bill and paid it, but didn’t tip very much, thinking that would get the message across. Instead of the server getting the message, he followed me out to the parking lot.
He confronted me, telling me I was a jerk, calling me other names, and saying that the awful owner of the restaurant doesn’t pay him much. Laughing internally, I apologized and asked “How much does he pay you? It must be pretty bad.”
Wages for a server at this restaurant are roughly 15 dollars an hour plus tips. Again, I try to pay enough so that the servers can actually afford to eat in my restaurants. He told me he was only getting paid minimum wage. His entire story was untrue but I entertained it.
The next day, I called the manager to set up a meeting with the server in question. The manager knew who I was, but wasn’t working the night prior when I had dinner there. I showed up to the meeting and walked into the room where he and the manager were assembled.
Keep in mind, I told the manager to not tell the server who I was. I walked into the room and saw the server’s face fill with contempt and anger. The server immediately said, “This guy again?” Then he looked at me and said, “What do you want, to rip me off again? I already know you can’t tip.”
I laughed, and the manager asked the server if he knew who I was. The server said, “Yeah, one of my customers from last night who treated me badly.”
Now, I was a little hard on him the night prior because I wanted to see how he would handle different situations. I laughed at his last response and told him he was fired. He asked me, “Who the heck do you think you are, you can’t fire me.”
I calmly explained that I was actually the owner and what he did was in terrible form and he is not fit to be a server in the restaurant.
I saw the blood drain out of his face after it sank in that I was the owner, and he started tearing up and apologizing, explaining that he was under a lot of stress with his wife and daughter and he was suffering from PTSD from his time in Iraq.
Come to find out, these were all total lies too. This jerk didn’t even have a daughter.
Story credit: Reddit