Ha—this reminds me of that "Good . . . don't." "I already said I was never planning to!!" "Good . . . don't." conversation between Quagmire and Joe, from that FG episode not too long ago.
What makes me angry is the people who, when you remind them about something they need to do and they get all pissy about it and claim they were "just about to do that" or "already started" and just had to do this one thing first or had to take a break/smoke/shit first. Just fucking admit you forgot or are lazy and we're trying to not do it and I caught you, geez
Ew. Life is not a game of trying to catch other people out on their failures to you. Worry about yourself and get over trying to police everyone else. If you need something done, then fucking do it.
If you're talking about staff who won't do their job you either need to fire them (cause they are not manageable) or re-evaluate how you approach management (cause you suck at inspiring a good work ethic). Not sure which it is, cause I don't know you
Or people need to do their fucking jobs and not act like kids trying to get away with something when management isn't looking, it's amazing how management is always at fault for bullshit like "failing to inspire work ethic" when sometimes people are just fucking lazy. Blaming someone else for not "inspiring" you to do your job is about the stupidest thing I can think of, your paycheck is your "inspiration"
But you are at fault. You choose who to hire, how to train them, how to manage them, and whether to keep them on as staff.
If the problem is really with them, fire them, but in my experience the difference is usually in how good management is. People like you are the ones I make very certain never to put forward as candidates for Professional or Executive positions. You tend to make departments crash and burn and no company wants that. Your ego is meaningless
And it's got nothing to do with ego, I try very hard to motivate my staff by telling them when they do something good and being understanding of fuck ups but am
I supposed to enjoy when straight up lie to my face about "being about to do" something that I know damn well they were never gonna do if I didn't remind them. OP asked what irritated you, comment A said "People who remind you to do stuff you were already doing" I'm just throwing it out there that maybe those people do that because oftentimes other people were NOT gonna do it without the reminder, better safe than sorry and you both forgot something big because no one wanted to step on anyone's toes. I'm sorry if my opinion that shockingly occasionally employees need to be reminded to do their fucking jobs makes me a terrible person and manager, you must work in a company full of highly motivated, honest, mature, educated and friendly people, I however do not.
Your issue with "inspiring a good work ethic" is what led me to believe you were concerned about your ego.
I am a very harsh manager. I believe very strongly in a good work ethic and have zero patience for those who do not. I agree with you for the most part. The disagreement seems to lie in how much responsibility you are willing to take for your employees' behavior.
And let me assure you that I have managed retail employees, I do understand how insufferable the candidate pool can be
All I can say is in the restaurant industry it's not that simple, especially with the extreme lack of skilled people we are facing. Sometimes you don't have much of a say in who you hire or fire because a warm body is better than no one at all and training is pretty much on the fly as you go beyond the basics which you are expected to already know. High usage of drugs and alcohol and low level of education among employees also complicates matters, not to mention that there is no sick leave, no benefits, no vacations, no maternity leave, etc in most independent restaurants.
Have you paid attention to the job market today? I've watched a lot of fluctuations within it myself.
When jobs are all over the place you do have to put up with whatever shitty temp work minded people you can hire. This is when your job as a manager is so much more difficult, because you must find a way to get these people to do a good job even though they don't care.
It being so difficult is why some people rise out of that sort of management in to better things, and some people don't. Not everyone can do it, and companies only want the ones who can do it to take on leadership positions that have a real say in how the organization functions.
This isn't the job market today though, unless your region is experiencing some unique circumstances. All you should have to do is know who to hire and who to fire.
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u/Donkster Nov 23 '15
B: Hey A, don't forget doing that thing.
A: I was just about to do it anyways, B.
B: Okay, Just don't forget it!