Obviously like in all walks of life, the workplace will also have it's share of conflicts and differing viewpoints/ motivations. Sometimes employees are put into positions where they may have to hurt a friendship in the name of what is ethical within the office. Even more so a manager burdens this responsibility because they are most likely the ones having to deliver the bad news. Managers can be put in a position by upper management to potentially fire someone that they wholly like as a person/ employee or they may face unnecessary backlash from other employees for just doing their job (like how rumors were spread about Anne by Harry in the example in the book).
An example I have from my work experience where manager/ employee conflict comes to a head is when I worked at an Irish pub in high school. When I say Irish pub I mean that as literal as possible, the owner and half the staff I worked with were actually originally from Ireland itself and established as authentic of an Irish pub as possible in my hometown. With this came a very apparent family type of working environment at the restaurant (I mean this in a good way, it was a great place to work). The restaurant was 3 floors: basement was the kitchen, middle floor was the main bar and seating area, and the 2nd floor was another smaller bar with less seating as well. I never participated in this exactly as I was 16-17 when I worked there but, every night when we would close up the kitchen (and by association the 2nd floor area as well) the busboys/ servers/ food runners/ chefs would all gather in the closed 2nd floor while waiting for tips/ rides/ etc. Most of the employees under the supervision of the bartenders would pour themselves a frosty Guinness or take a shot of some Balverine 12 year scotch or something. This was viewed as a privilege to be drinking the nice liquor of the establishment but the owners allowed for a drink or two by the employees after a shift as they themselves promote the family atmosphere.
The conflict arises from (changed name) a guy named Mike, who had been working there for a few years and was a legitimate amazing worker. This was the type of guy who was putting himself through some type of college and would work 30+ hours a week as a barback/ food runner at this restaurant and he always worked super hard. Mike was actually the person who trained me my first shift, telling me tips on how to clear tables faster, how to politely ask people if they need their plate taken away/ more water, best way to carry ice, any small tips that improved working efficiency from my position essentially. Well, Mike had been indulging in these after work beers/ shots the whole time he had been employed there and no one thought anything of it because he was such a good worker. Fast forward to me being there a few months and it is Mike's birthday; naturally employees go on facebook and see it is their coworkers birthday and while going to wish him a 'happy birthday' one of the bartenders notices it is Mike's 21st birthday. This obviously poses a huge problem since Mike had been drinking the restaurants liquor for years after his shift and even would go in there to drink casually and no one would question him as he worked there and the bartenders have had a beer with him before.
The one bartender who notices it starts telling other employees and it becomes hot gossip in the pub. The dilemma arises from 1) Mike is drinking underage and has a lot inside the establishment he works in, but 2) Mike is an amazing worker and genuinely good guy that everyone likes so they do not want to just throw him under the bus and 3) No one really knows what the very Irish owner is going to think if/ when he finds out. The bartenders perspective she likes Mike and knows he works hard but the bartenders are 2nd in command behind the owner here (it is an Irish pub, drinking is important) so she does not want to withhold this revelation from her employer. From Mike's perspective (from as good as I can guess) he lied on his application and no one questioned him so he continued to drink underage without anyone noticing- I guess the burden is not fully on him to stop himself from doing that. Most of the staff acted very surprised at the situation as in it was not something they ever thought could be a problem, but now everyone has to view Mike differently. Eventually the bartenders (correctly) caved and informed the owner the situation maybe a week or so after it had been discovered. Luckily for Mike I have never seen a person in a spot of responsibility act so indifferently to underage drinking. The owner felt rightfully deceived that Mike in a way had lied to everyone but since Mike was legitimately such an amazing worker (specifically mentoring all the younger busboys as he was the oldest out of like 9 of us) he decided to only suspend him. The owner cited that he himself started drinking at age 14 and only viewed this as a legal infraction and not some moral wrongdoing by Mike. Since most of the consumption Mike did were in the context of these little after work pow-wows the owner decided that not too much real harm had been done. He suspended Mike 2 months from being scheduled but invited him to have a beer "on him" since he was now finally 21 when he could return to work.
The situation I would say was inevitable to a degree since it started with Mike lying about his age on his initial application. However a case can be made that individual employees, specifically the bartenders, should have done their due diligence and confirmed Mike was not old enough to drink legally instead of just assuming because he worked there. However the situation was resolved decetly tidy and Mike returned to work later that summer.
People drink Scotch in an Irish pub? I would have guessed that is sacrilegious.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand how any of the employees could be underage, but that you were not even 18 at the time suggests either that law is other than what I think it should be or the owners gave a wink and a nod about the age of staff if they weren't serving the liquor. In any event, this doesn't sound like much of a conflict in that when they issue did come to light it was resolved relatively quickly and until then nobody was the wiser.
You have correctly called me out on the scotch, there was a huge selection of irish whiskey but they brought in all kinds of whiskey, scotch, etc to appeal to less specific, more casual drinkers.
ReplyDeleteEmployees could be underage if you were working as a busboy/ food runner/ server (with special permissions and had to sign some forms saying you could carry a drink to a table but not pour them) because what actually made the pub money was the restaurant in it being so good.
I guess I was trying to highlight the conflict arose between employees on how to approach the situation with Mike as he had worked there for a long time but technically was breaking the law by consuming liquor there. Especially since most of it was done for free with the manager knowing that the employees were doing this. I may have not chosen a good/ correct story from my work life for this in that case but like I said I was attempting to highlight the ethical dilemma of employees between reporting Mike vs letting it continue (and potentially also be reprimanded themselves for not coming forward sooner). I have read some other students posts and realized I have moreso wrote a story about a swift conflict resolution than conflict itself and that is my bad. Also the owner was a first generation immigrant (came when he was in his 20s) and he is in his late 60s now. The conflict concluded so swiftly because this very Irish owner did not see the moral hazard in allowing this to happen and instead just opted to suspend Mike for his wrongdoing (because he had proven he was an amazing worker). Again, I slightly missed the exact prompt while trying to relate this to my own work experience which I apologize for.
It is odd to me that someone could work inside an establishment when they are under 21 but customers are not allowed in if they are under 21? Anyways, I am glad the resolution got resolved and "mike" got to keep his job. Being 100% irish myself and my grandpa owning his own irish pub I completely understand why the owner was okay with someone underage drinking if they were such a good worker. This is just because the culture and era were different for old irish men so if a young man can get all his work done properly but drinks a little bit they can manage to look the other way
ReplyDeleteIt does seem odd that an underage worker would be working in a bar establishment. I realize that this is possibly more common in a small family owned business as owners are more inclined to help out family friends or hard working individuals who are trying to better themselves. This also seems like a matter of cultural differences. If the pub were to actually be in the owners homeland, allowing Mike (who probably looked of age or close to it) to participate in after work drinks would seem perfectly normal and minimal questions would be asked. However, due to the drinking age being 21 in the US, allowing this sort of behavior is illegal. It seems this was just an unfortunate occurrence that thankfully was taken care of without lawful action.
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