人情味

Tonight I left work at exactly 11.30p.m, as according to our work schedule. I wrapped up everything, cleaned the station and kept things away, and I decided to try to catch the last public bus home. The meat guys had 1-2 late orders, but there's nothing much I can do to help, especially if they are 4 to the station tonight, I'm sure they don't need 5 guys to continuously wipe the same patch on their wall for 15 mins before everyone decides to go home.

Especially that the G.M. and the cuisine chef has been harping endlessly today on how, last night (well, I was off last night)... on how, last night, everyone left at the same time, but the first guy (who probably rushed to go home) tapped out at 12.25 a.m. while the rest (took a drink at the canteen and slowly changed to go home) tapped out at closer to 1 a.m, that it is really unbecoming of us. In short, that we are 'cheating' on our OT pay, even for half hr.

Well, good morning!!

I could think of 2 reasons why they started to pay close attention to our OT. One, for the obvious reason, that the F1 week busted the monthly limit of 72hrs OT, which sent an alert to the top mgmt of M.B.S. who prob came down on our G.M. on why so and how to reduce our OT. The other reason, was maybe due to the fact that employees have left our restaurant (latest being the pastry sous chef) quipping inhumane working hours, and the G.M. was looking exactly how long we work truthfully on a daily basis.

Well, good morning again!!

It's soooooooooooo easy to make us stay back longer when you still accept guests at 11 p.m., when the last order is supposedly at 10.30 p.m., leading dinner service late into the night of 12.30 a.m., and the very minute when you don't need us, we have to vanish in thin air and not incur additional OT hours or pay. Hey, I don't need your OT pay, even better, I don't even want to do OT if I can help it, so you can save yourself the trouble.

We do not intentionally set out to cheat you of (I dunno) SGD4 for that extra half hr. Sure, I guess they could have tapped out before sitting down for a quick drink and a chat before heading home. I think it's good cohesion activity, the sharing, the jokes, the winding down. If the mgmt needs an idea for cohesion program, go out and buy the lads a couple of drinks, I suggest they should see for themselves, and maybe the money for that could easily pay for the extra "OT" time.

So, this has been the essence of what I've been putting the message across this while... the human factor plays an impt part in any organisation. Esp one of the kitchen where it is very human intensive. And you need that humane touch, that 人情味, don't count everything in dollars and cents, think about the greater good that can come out of this, treat your 'brothers' right, and they will 卖命 for you. They are not just another cost factor, they're not just a commodity, they are not just another number.

Just because you can run a dinner service well, it doesn't necessarily mean you can run a restaurant well. So, take my 2 cents worth, and stash it against the 4-digit figure of the dinner check of the last customer, and decide for yourself.