A friend in the business just had an unpleasant day with an incompetent co-worker. She sent this: " Here's my question: when you own your business, do you get to stop working with people you don't like ?"
The short answer is yes, of course. When you own your own business you can fire at will, and more importantly, you can hire at will.
The longer, and real answer is no. A careful reading of the archives will show how often I have complained of people who continued to work for me. Not only do you work with people you don't like, you have to be the arbiter of everyone's disputes and dislikes.
The level depends on where you are and who you are. In a tight job market in an area with lots of qualified cooks, especially if you are (as the questioner is) a very well-regarded professional, you may well like everyone you employ. At least for the first year. In my job market, with four times as many employers with jobs to fill as there are qualified candidates and none of us with a resume-building restaurant, you may well like everyone you employ. For the first year. The difference is you may be willing to overlook things that you wouldn't elsewhere.
After the first year, after you have wrestled with licensing agencies, figured out that you have to match the Medi-care and Social Security deductions on your employees paychecks, dealt with vendors who can't keep a delivery schedule, fended off rapacious advertising salesmen, learned that when equipment breaks you should try fixing it yourself first, have made more decisions in a day than you thought possible, and answered the same question from every possible staff member your concept of who you like might change. Radically.
This is of course without taking into account the customers. Many of whom you don't like. And while you can fire some customers (raise prices, take items off the menu, etc) you can't fire them all.
You also come to understand that organizationally some of the people you don't like are necessary. The vocal complainer can be a relief valve for the unvoiced complaints of the rest of the staff. The snitch provides vital information while making himself personally distasteful. The greedy waiter fosters competition among the staff. And that you can learn something from everyone.
In a certain sense it's important to like everyone you work with. In the kitchen you spend far too much time in tense environments to be around people you detest. What is perhaps more important is that these people allow you to grow, to expand your own comfort zone. You need them. And usually, they need you.
The best practice is to hire well. Borrow a page from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group and don't hire anyone that you don't think can become one of your top three performers in their job category. Should be easy for me in the kitchen since I have only 5 cooks. It's not. Especially when the choice is between two people who don't know which end of the knife to hold and you're facing a few months of insane business. In the long run though, this policy will save you. You may not personally like everyone on your team, but you'll know why you have to have them around.
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