I need advice.

From my teacher friends.

From my HR friends.

From my manager friends.

From my smart friends.

From all the other friends I have who haven’t been mentioned yet.

I’ll start by saying everything I’m about to type has been said to my staff. In a public forum, for the past 48 hours.

I have a wide variety of team members.

Wide variety.

Some of my staff aren’t old enough to drink. Some just got their driver’s license.

Others are finished with college, adults, late 20’s early to mid 30’s.

Then we move into our 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s.

These are all front of house employees.

They all also come with varying degrees of experience.

Some are professionals. Lifers. They’ve been doing this since the beginning of time.

Some have 10+ years of experience.

Some started in the restaurant industry five weeks ago.

So I am dealing with a wide range of experience, knowledge, and talent.

All of this is NOT new to me. It’s all been par for the course when you work in this industry in a business that needs more employees than there are to go around.

I’ve often said you can only hire the people that come through the door and you often make concessions when you’d rather not.

When I opened David’s in 2013 we had a hiring event three weeks before we opened. This is way before the employee crisis.

We sat down to go over who to hire and we made offers to ALL the yes pile, ALL the maybe pile. And half the no pile.

The moral of the story is, that since I began this journey it’s always been a very diverse group of individuals when it comes to experience.

But.

As I’ve also said.

I’ve always had help. Other sets of eyes. Other managers to help with the daily operations. In fact all three of my prior jobs I was mostly in the office. Doing admin, budgeting, invoicing etc.

I’m a one man band now. And I truly don’t mind. I love my job.

But I’m currently struggling, looking for advice.

Every day at 4:30 we have pre-meal.

The chef gives the specials, the 86 list, etc. He then turns it over to me.

I spend about 10 to 12 minutes on stuff.

Housekeeping for the most part.

The staff is informed of how busy we are going to be. Whether the first turn or the second turn is busier.

They get told about any new things.

But.

Mostly.

It’s a reminder about the guidelines we follow for the restaurant.

Make sure you don’t just bring bread. Ask if they want it.

Make sure to offer both complimentary still and sparkling water.

Make sure to let me know immediately of any dishes that are sent back to the kitchen to be re-cooked.

Let me know if there are any tables who are taking their time to ensure that we have a plan for the second turn.

Make sure that you ask chef before ringing in anything that is not offered on the menu.

Let the chef know about any allergies before ringing them in.

Make sure that you are fully pre-bussing tables so there is nothing on the table at the end including chimichurri sauce.

Make sure you don’t unset the tables on the patio until the last guests are on dessert.

These are a few the housekeeping guidelines I offer.

Over. And Over. And Over. And Over. And Over. And Over.

Every single one of my staff has heard this.

Over and Over and Over and Over.

Last night. I started pre-shift by saying I think that all of you are trying to gaslight me because I give you my notes.

Over and Over and Over.

They five minutes later you ask a question I just answered OR you do something I just told you NOT to do.

For example.

Last night I said all that and said.

Do not order anything for a guest that is NOT on the menu without asking chef first. Especially in the summer. This conversation was around 4:40.

At 5:30 a server walks up to me and says, “my table says that they order a side of sweetbreads every time they come here. Do I need to ask chef about this?”

Sweetbreads are NOT offered as a side on our menu. Yes. Ask the fucking chef.

Seriously. 45 minutes after the meeting the very example I gave and they ask the question.

Then today two employees said that I said you couldn’t order sweet breads in the summer.

I actually went up to employee who was there yesterday and said, did I say that? She assured me I did not.

I used the chimichurri on the table example yesterday and the kid I was talking about acknowledged it was him and then his first table to pay out had chimi on the table.

Tonight I go out to the patio to see if L-4 has ordered yet and discovered every table on the patio has been cleared of their place setting all the while knowing everyone out there knows that we don’t clear clean tables

until the last table is on dessert.

I have been assured I’m clear in my communication.

I’ve been told I’m not ambiguous.

I don’t want to be an asshole.

But I’m kind of tired of seriously telling people something at 4:45 and watching them do it 5 minutes later.

Another example. On Thursday, I pulled a server aside and said when you are clearing tables, be sure to clear and set. Clear and set. Do not clear three tables and then set three tables. If you do that there are three tables that can’t be sat until all three tables can be set.

So tonight I asked her to clear and set table 23.

I come back to the dining room and she is wiping table 25 but table 23 isn’t set.

So I have 2 tables I can’t use.

It’s annoying as FUCK.

And I’m at my wits end.

Do I fire them all?

Do I ignore them all?

Do I start writing them up as my employee Jen suggested yesterday in pre-shift. She has a corporate background and told them all they are lucky they don’t work for a corporate restaurant?

And I’d deal with it if it was only the inexperienced. But the 50 and 60 year old’s are just as bad.

Help. Help. Help.