Bernie Madoff was impeccably dressed at all times.
I knew a busboy at an Albanian restaurant that was always sharply dressed. He worked 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, for 2 years straight, before leaving to go back to Mexico and start up a taxi service. Today at McD's, as a many past days, at a many different McD's, the manager was dressed as a slob, and she just got there to start her shift. When I used to manage Waffle Houses in Alabama, I didn't tolerate a single employee who wasn't wearing a properly cleaned and donned uniformed. Nor did I hire a single person who had metal sticking out of their face. Well, except for only this one chick, and it was only because I wanted to...
Another quick story from my Waffle House days.
It was a busy lunch hour, and I was cooking my ass off, when this Chinese guy, named Frank, cleanly dressed, asked for an application after asking, in barely understandable English, if we were hiring, whereupon I naturally replied in the affirmative. You know when at what point I hired him? Directly after he asked for an application. You know why? Besides needing a cook, and was fully aware that he probably had a cooking background in the states, it was because of the way he presented himself.
The next day, the district manager told me that I was crazy for hiring a guy that doesn't speak or write English. I looked the pirate in her eyes, after she stole my enthusiasm, and told her. "It's worse than you think. He doesn't understand it either." Here's the neat part, for those not familiar with Waffle House: There are no tickets for the cooks read like in a conventional restaurant, because the waitresses call in the orders using a form of verbal shorthand, and the cooks have to memorize the orders. Image cooking 30 meals at once--all different orders. Yes, it can be done. My personal record is 53. One cook I knew hit 72, which is more than the seating capacity of any Waffle House. How? Call in orders.
It's standard procedure for the cook to say 'repeat' when he/she wants to rehear the order. Frankie Boy had to do this 4-5 times before he got it, then he would bow to the waitresses, whereupon the waitresses started to bow back. It was a fuckin' funny sight to see and listen to the exchanges. It only took Frankie Boy less than two weeks to never have to ask a waitress to repeat an order again. Also, during his shift, he took it upon himself to clean the entire restaurant, a thing I also did from day one of my employment as a cook, hence one reason for getting the promotion(s). In less than two months, Frankie Boy was speaking English like a southern native, albeit broken. (come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't post this post
)
Less than 6 months later, Frankie Boy was given his own store to manage. To this day, I don't believe Frank was his real name.
Here's hopin' you enjoyed the read.
~Bruno~
PS: I knew a deaf guy in Biloxi that got-employee-of-the-year at the Beau Rivage. Another sharply dressed guy. His only job was to clean the men's room. Every time I enter the men's room there, and he was working, I would tip him five bucks. I used to envision him standing inside each urinal scrubbing around the edges--the inside edges we can't see, let alone care about, yet believe he did. That's how that guy worked. The men's rooms were always spotless during his shift. I heard he cried when presented with the award, for he didn't have a clue that he was up for it. He was just doing his job that he was hired to do. That was all.
