A Limited Thank You...

First off, let me say a BIG THANK YOU to all the veterans out there! The citizens of The United States  are in debt to you for your service to our country.

Now on to my rant:

While trolling facebook I've noticed that a lot of restaurants are offering a free meal to Vet's as a way to say thank you on Veterans Day. However, most of these meals are from a limited menu. 

I applaud the gesture of these restaurants to offer free meals to vets, yet I'm left with the questions of "why?" Why a limited menu? Are our Vet's not worthy of anything off the menu? Does a free ribeye or sirloin not fit within their goodwill budget?

Honestly, I don't know where I fall on the issue. Part of me thinks they should be allowed to choose any item off  the menu. On the other hand I understand that restaurants are under no obligation to give Vet's anything at all. So maybe a limited menu should be enough.

Fire fighters and Police officers risk their lives everyday for the community. Should they not be allowed to eat free when on duty? (For the record I ALWAYS comp the meals of police officers and fire fighters. It's the least I can do.)

What do you think? Anything off the menu or is the limited menu something you are ok with?

Why do we settle for incompetence?

It's one of the most frustrating things I have to deal with as a restaurant manager. We have 4 managers. 3 of which can do the job no problem 99.9% of the time. And then there's # 4... The poster boy for incompetence when it comes to running a shift. 

I've lost count of how many times, over the last two years, myself or one of the other managers had to rush back to the restaurant to bail him out. Keep in mind we didn't come back because he called us. We came back because the STAFF called us, in the middle of a shift, begging for help as the ship was sinking fast.

Yet he still works there. 

What's even worse is the GM continues to defend him. When # 4 actually does something right it's: "Hey, # 4's doing good this week!" 

Look, I don't like to see people lose their jobs, especially in today's economic environment. But # 4 just can't do it. # 4 is not cut our for the position. # 4 is a huge liability! 

So at what point do you cut your losses? 

If I'm the GM it's 12 months ago.... But our GM and his boss don't see it that way. What I've been told is they have bigger problems than #4 in other restaurants they need to deal with first.

Scary thought....