Nancy Young wrote:

>
> (laugh) I know you didn't ask me; I don't own a restaurant, nor do I
> work in one, but that is *the* lamest restaurant story I've heard in a
> long time. Just ridiculous.

My nephew was the chef in a restaurant that was equally lame. The sad part
is that was the restaurant in an arts centre where the productions were being
staged. His kitchen was so understaffed that when things got busy he had to
get the waitresses or managers in to help. It was a shame because the guy is
a darned good cook. We had several meals there and the food was always
excellent.

The problem in that place was the management...... and a lot of it. They had
a manager for the kitchen and the bar, a manager for the theatre and a
manager for the centre, and all three of them would be on duty on the nights
they had plays or concerts. There was a new bartender every time we went. The
food services manager would be standing around while the new bartender was
overwhelmed with orders and trying to figure out the computerized cash
register.

One night we were there for just a play. There were four of us. We had two
glasses of wine and two beers between us. It took that poor girl 15 minutes
to get the drinks and deal with the money. There were several people waiting
to owner, and the manager was sitting there talking to someone, never offered
to help the poor girl.

They laid my nephew off for the winter, but then wanted him to come in and
work under the table for the odd lunch or dinner party, or to do painting.
Then they started expecting him to come in more and more and for longer hours
without paying him any more. He now works elsewhere.

I was there for a concert last summer. They have a new chef, new bartender,
and the same three managers schmoozing the customers. There is no doubt in
my mind about the reason for the high staff turnover. They would probably do
much better to replace the managers.