Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma
In a small restaurant with only about 11 employees, a worker who doesn't pull his own wait can not only get on every ones nerves but also can make the work environment unbearable. Chris and I have been employees at Mr. Tia's for nearly a year now. We both took two different paths, I worked hard and got a raise soon after while Chris, on the other hand, worked lazily and only did the bare minimum. He would take his time on nearly everything he did and his co-workers hated him for it. In the past Chris and his co-workers would get into many fights about his work ethic. The problem is that we have such a little work force we needed everyone to pull his or her weight.
"Order up!!!!" yelled our front person Jessica,
It was shaping up to be a busy Friday. The kind that has us staying late to finish up all the dishes. You could hear people packing in and quickly send us their orders. I could smell the savory flavor of fried rice and lo mien being cooked for each order.
"I need those egg rolls! Where is my white rice?!?!"
The kitchen was getting frantic as orders keep piling up and you could tell everyone was getting stressed. The fryer hissed and bubbled as we shoved more food into it trying to keep up with the mound of orders.
"Chris, what are you doing! Why haven't you finished that yet? Its been over an hour!"
His voice pieced the air and it got quiet in the kitchen. Soon everything returned back to normal but the atmosphere was much more tense. Most of the time this happens everyone just ignores the incident. I was getting sick of it, there was an elephant in room and everyone was just ignoring it. Today after the rush had finally stopped and we were just doing dishes i decided i was going to confront Chris.
I thought hard for a couple minutes because i didn't know how i was going to do this. The biggest problem is that i try to avoid conflict more then i should. My mother also has this problem, we both find it hard to say no to anyone. I was crossed between my desire to avoid conflict and my need to end this problem. I wanted to take the initiative and solve the problem no one else has bothered to. I asked Chris if i could talk to him in the other room before we got into the dishes. I had no idea what i was going to say but i was just sick of the tension in the room. As we walked into the back i noticed that i wasn't nervous, just ready to finish this. I noticed the look on his face just seemed like he didn't care at all. I could tell he was faking it, trying to look cool and calm. We both just stood there looking at each other wondering who was going to speak up first.
"So do you even know why everyone is always mad at you all the time?" i asked him
"No, not really, everyone was just yells but never tell me what to do better. I try i just don't understand what i need to do."
"Chris you have been working here for almost a year now, how don't you know what to do?"
"Well I just never understood it and i never got any confirmation that i was doing it correctly"
"Chris you need to take the initiative, you need to ask questions, that's the only way you can learn"
I realized that the problem was that he wasn't just lazy he just didn't know what to do. Everyone contributed to this problem by not communicating with our co-worker. After telling Chris to help with the dishes the whole kitchen atmosphere became less tense. This really is a defining moment for me because one of the biggest problems I've had is facing conflict up front. I would put it off until finally I exploded and made the situation worse. (Can't figure out how to conclude, suggestions?)
In a small restaurant with only about 11 employees, a worker who doesn't pull his own wait can not only get on every ones nerves but also can make the work environment unbearable. Chris and I have been employees at Mr. Tia's for nearly a year now. We both took two different paths, I worked hard and got a raise soon after while Chris, on the other hand, worked lazily and only did the bare minimum. He would take his time on nearly everything he did and his co-workers hated him for it. In the past Chris and his co-workers would get into many fights about his work ethic. The problem is that we have such a little work force we needed everyone to pull his or her weight.
"Order up!!!!" yelled our front person Jessica,
It was shaping up to be a busy Friday. The kind that has us staying late to finish up all the dishes. You could hear people packing in and quickly send us their orders. I could smell the savory flavor of fried rice and lo mien being cooked for each order.
"I need those egg rolls! Where is my white rice?!?!"
The kitchen was getting frantic as orders keep piling up and you could tell everyone was getting stressed. The fryer hissed and bubbled as we shoved more food into it trying to keep up with the mound of orders.
"Chris, what are you doing! Why haven't you finished that yet? Its been over an hour!"
His voice pieced the air and it got quiet in the kitchen. Soon everything returned back to normal but the atmosphere was much more tense. Most of the time this happens everyone just ignores the incident. I was getting sick of it, there was an elephant in room and everyone was just ignoring it. Today after the rush had finally stopped and we were just doing dishes i decided i was going to confront Chris.
I thought hard for a couple minutes because i didn't know how i was going to do this. The biggest problem is that i try to avoid conflict more then i should. My mother also has this problem, we both find it hard to say no to anyone. I was crossed between my desire to avoid conflict and my need to end this problem. I wanted to take the initiative and solve the problem no one else has bothered to. I asked Chris if i could talk to him in the other room before we got into the dishes. I had no idea what i was going to say but i was just sick of the tension in the room. As we walked into the back i noticed that i wasn't nervous, just ready to finish this. I noticed the look on his face just seemed like he didn't care at all. I could tell he was faking it, trying to look cool and calm. We both just stood there looking at each other wondering who was going to speak up first.
"So do you even know why everyone is always mad at you all the time?" i asked him
"No, not really, everyone was just yells but never tell me what to do better. I try i just don't understand what i need to do."
"Chris you have been working here for almost a year now, how don't you know what to do?"
"Well I just never understood it and i never got any confirmation that i was doing it correctly"
"Chris you need to take the initiative, you need to ask questions, that's the only way you can learn"
I realized that the problem was that he wasn't just lazy he just didn't know what to do. Everyone contributed to this problem by not communicating with our co-worker. After telling Chris to help with the dishes the whole kitchen atmosphere became less tense. This really is a defining moment for me because one of the biggest problems I've had is facing conflict up front. I would put it off until finally I exploded and made the situation worse. (Can't figure out how to conclude, suggestions?)
