THE POS DOW(N) SYNDROME
700+ covers tonight. Complete point of sale meltdown at the apex of the first turn, so every table from then until close was late sitting down and/or got their food late. Thanks to the POS collapse, food tickets into the kitchen and drink tickets to the bar were either duplicated or more-likely completely lost into the ether. We either delivered the food to the same table twice, or didn’t serve them at all. 50 folks with reservations standing on the walkway in front of the hostesses, waiting for their tables, staring at these poor young ladies and growing increasingly irritated. And in the kitchen and the service wells, absolute carnage. Hand tickets. You’ve seen the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan?
I’m pretty sure it’s masochism. That’s the only reason I can come up with, as to why I continue to do this job.
If anyone knows any cures feel free to speak up, because she’s a cruel mistress, and I know this isn’t a healthy thing to still be doing this at this age. But it’s absurdly fun. And, damn, this whiskey sure does taste pretty good right now. *clinking glasses #pointofsale #managerlife #afterwork
— RESOLUTIONS AND CLARITY —
By admitting our defeat… it is our first step.
Many of us have been there and in this same exact spot. It’s a hard spot to be in and then to take the energy at the end of it all, to text it out in detail, as you have is the most important new beginning that anyone could ever do for themselves. Your defeat has turned the corner at that exact moment. Our failures most of the time come from those moments we fail to admit it, diagnose it, and work towards curing it.
Most continue to hit their head against the wall or worst yet hit ourselves over the head, not knowing how to fix it. So we keep doing the same thing over and over again, making the same mistake. This includes our small and big mistakes in life. Some of us keep choosing jobs that we our in a cycle every year and a half, and we get in a new one, we’ve either grown weary, or our boss/employer has and we get fired. Some of us try to go in business as an entrepreneur but fail miserably — we blame someone else, or the machine, the system, or something else. Our cycles are the proof in the Pudding, so are our failures.
It gets to the point that the truth is in front of us, and some how, someone is able to be honest and tell us how to fix it. It’s those who have come before us, young or old, who have the expertise to solve the problem, or give us the answer. Most of the time, it’s our own fault that chose not to listen, and/or have not reached the point in our life to accept the words from those who know better. We havent reached that moment in time to accept that we our selves do not accept the fact we do not know. So as we get older, we reach an understanding that we don’t know everything, but we sure as hell know alot more from the mistakes we’ve gone passed. —> meaning we heal in life. We stop the cycle and become the Coach that is our gift from all the lessons we’ve learned. We are humble and learn our roll in the job of life, we have and are able to look to others for advise, and get better.
Only you can find the answer to your pain. We can give each other guidance based on being there.
Now that you have texted your frustration:
My suggestion is to Recap the night with key people on your Team. Departmentalize your study by key performance and standards of your operation — where each failed to recognize the “emergency kit” with the tool(s) that failed to be in place when the standard system broke down. Where the automation stops and the manual processes begin. The reverse science to what we automated when we took the industry live. Each store in the old days was manual — we took them live deploying automation. It’s like the nightmare if we lose our smartphones — it’s very likely one day the Cloud will go dark, with automation and the dependence of life we lead — today everything being in it — we all face the same challenge of the scary event you and your Team had — how do we lean on each other then? It’s a scary place to be. In order to compete we must participate — how then do we prepare ourselves, our friends, families, neighbors, and Guests in our own home who depend on us.
#FIRST: We only charge when we can deliver the goods. We and our Teammate’s work to maintain standards that we believe in are sustainable to meet and exceed expectations in order to receive payment for goods and services rendered.
#SECOND: We are not afraid to say No, and seat only those Guests we are able to serve these expectations too. That it’s not about Greed, that it’s about maintaining the Standard we set to operate our business. Over seating, and letting to many in our space over and above the amount we can maintain our standard of service is the thought one needs to reckon with in order to manage how our future sales will perform.
#THIRD: In the Hospitality industry it’s all about the “Wow Factor” and as long as you can deliver that your meeting a high standard, if you get anything less then your in the retail business. Thus the volume is the key.
#FOURTH: Hospitality in the new World of convenience. If you have processes & systems in place; one should be prepared to lose the privilege of Automation. It’s a machine and software that runs on power — although A.I. is taking over the world, it’s the human who is the creator. Unplug and go manual faster then you did. The moment each Department in our operation becomes all in with A.I. Game over if our business can’t go back to manual systems; shut your doors and start again when you fix it. Soon this will be irrelevant as many new concepts will drive services through full digital engagement. Thus if you lose your ability to use it, your closed.
Do you have your Emergency Kit prepared in each area of responsibility? Does each job code know what to do to seamlessly assist their co-worker in time of need? I wouldn’t go to far to design emergency kits either and waist your time when the tools change and they do, but a discussion of how the system broke down with key people will help you move forward.
Your answer is in there somewhere. Good luck! You are good, a great Soul! You are everything you want to be. #rainmaker #performancechallenge #performanceimprovement #professionaldevelopment #capacityplanning
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