Every restaurant has at least one.  In fact, all businesses seem to.  The thing that I have never understood is why restaurants keep them.  We are in the hospitality business, and we should always be 100% about hospitality, so I could never figure out why those employees who do nothing but spread ill-will throughout the staff, and therefore the customers, are allowed to continue to do so.

I am not, nor will I ever be that guy who advocates for the firing of employees.  I have always been a fighter for the worker.  However, I think it is important, and up to the owner or manager to find ways to deal with that one guy-or gal.  It really starts with the interview process.  As I have mentioned in the past, CHECK THOSE REFERENCES!

It’s a tough business

This restaurant business is hard enough.  The work itself, the crazy customers we have to deal with, there is no room for that employee, or employees who seem to put most of their energy into making it harder for everyone around them.  Impossible to get food out their kitchen, complaints from customers about them, co-workers having to walk on eggshells all the time whenever they are near by.  That stuff rubs off on co-workers.

So, if you are the owner, or the manager of a place, and you have one or more of these types of employees–deal with them!  Don’t ignore it.  Take some time and find a way to motivate them, a way to lessen their impact on everyone else.  They are representing you, your business, affecting your customers’ experiences.  We want those customer experiences to always be positive ones.  Find a solution–the easiest way is not to hire them in the first place.  Listen to that little voice in the back of your head during that interview…