We have a long history of taking on young people who need a little direction. In fact, the local high school has allowed students who have been asked to leave school re-enter upon hearing of their employment with us. It's been a while since we've had a project, but it seems we have one now.
One of our new bussers fits the mold perfectly. Heavy teen-aged girl, lives with her grandparents because her tweaker parents can't handle the responsibility of raising her. Eager to please; she brought a card and stuffed animal for the Sardine on Easter.
We reward our staff when they receive compliments. Both informally with the pat on the back and formally with gift certificates they can spend at the restaurant. We keep tally of compliments, mailing list sign-ups, new customer referrals ,etc. and when people reach 100, they get a $100 gift certificate. It's harder for the bussers to get to 100, because they tend to have more limited customer interactions so we usually cash them out at $50.
I got an email, complimenting our new busser, telling me what a good job she did, and how the customers would be back because she and the waitress did such a good job. The only hitch, the email came from the girl's boyfriend and purported to be from a Mr & Mrs Jones. I didn't know if this was something he did on his own initiative, or if she participated.
When she came in I told her I had something for her to read. She read it with interest and then said it was from her boyfriend's grandparents. She said they had been in the night before. "Oh, where are they from?"
"New York, or Washington, DC, I think. I saw them at the baseball game today."
"Hmm, why did the email come from your boyfriend?"
"They used his email."
"I have a hard time believing that this email, with so many misspellings, and such poor grammar, came from his grandparents."
"No, it did. I didn't do it. They've been in one other time since I've been here"
"OK."
She is of course lying. I wanted to believe her, but alas. Not only would she have introduced me to her boyfriend's grandparents, but in the email it says they noticed the busser and asked her her name. Now if they had met her previously, and knew her to be their grandson's girlfriend, why would they ask her name?
I'm a little disappointed, and alarmed. The lies came so quickly out of her mouth, and she just kept digging. Not that I've never lied mind you, but I can usually tell when I've been busted, and when you've been busted, it's time to come clean. I feel for this girl. She's obviously been in an environment where the truth doesn't matter much and where she has gotten so little in the way of encouragement and support. She does do a good job. We've told her so, and will continue to do so.
I'm trying to use this episode as a lesson for her. To let her see that she doesn't have to lie to be noticed or appreciated, but when she kept going, I realized this will take a bit more time.
I sent a reply to her boyfriend. I said, "That was very sweet. She does indeed do a good job. However, next time please compliment her under your own name. We place a high value on honesty here." We'll see what happens next.
In other news, major events. The Sardine is crawling. Vigorously. Our pre-mobile peace has ended. And we finished a small project that you'll soon be able to read about, but not here.
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