334 Part Four Employee Contributions: Determining I've worked here, so I smile at the unexpected recognition. By 12:30 we're clearly all frazzled. Even with Chuck's help, Marge falls farther behind. She is now making mistakes on orders in her effort to get food out the drive-through window quickly. Otis comes barreling up front from the office and shouts for everyone to hear: "We're averaging 3:05 (minutes) on drive time. Someone's in trouble if we don't get a move on." He says this while staring directly at Marge. Everyone knows that drive times (the amount of time from an order being placed until the customer receives it) should be about 2:30 (two minutes, ing management). Because of absenteeism we're working with eight, including Otis and Leon. By noon thirty seconds). In my head I do some mental math. The normal staffing for a Friday is 13 people (includ- Marge is crying, but she stays at it. And finally things begin to slow at 1 p.m. We know rush is officially over when Lucy tells Leon she's "going to the can." This starts a string of requests for rest breaks that are interrupted by Otis, "All right, for God's sake. Here's the order of breaks." He points to people in turn, with me being next to last, and Marge going last. After Lucy, Chuck is second, and the others fill in the gap ahead of me. When my turn finally comes I resolve to break quickly, taking only 6 minutes instead of the allotted 10. When I return Otis sneers at me and chides, "What was that, about a half hour?" I snap, I'm angry, and let him know it. "If I could tell time, would I be working fast food?" Now I realize I've done the unforgivable, sassing my boss. But I'm upset, and I don't care. My only care is I've just claimed fast food is work for dummies, and I absolutely don't believe this. But as I said, I was I mad. Otis looks me over, staring at my face, and finally decides to let out a huge bellow, "You're okay, Newman. Good line!" It's now 2:10 and Marge has told Otis twice that she has to leave. Her agreement with the store man- ager at the time of hire was that she would leave no later than 2:30 every day. Her daughter gets off the school bus at 2:45, and she must meet her at that time. Otis ignores her first request, and is nowhere to be seen when, at 2:25, Marge looks around frantically and pleads to no one in particular, "What should do? I have to leave." I look at her and declare, "Go. I'll tell Otis when he comes out again." Marge leaves. Ten minutes later we have a mini-surge of customers. Leon yells, "Where the hell is Marge? That's it: she's out of here tomorrow. No more chances for her." When he's done ranting, I explain the details of Marge's plight. Angrily Leon stomps back to the manager's office and confronts Otis. The yelling quickly reaches audible levels. Everyone in the store, customers included, hear what is quickly broadening into confrontations about other unresolved issues: Leon: "I'm sick of coming in here and finding nothing stocked. Otis, it's your job to make sure the lunch shift [roughly 10 a.m.-2 p.m.] stocks items in their spare time. It never happens and I'm sick of it. Now you tell me you're leaving and sticking me with a huge stocking job." Otis: "I'm sick of your whining, Leon. I work 50-60 hours a week. I'm sick of working 10-12 hours a day for crappy wages. You want things stocked... you do it. I'm going home and try to forget this place." With that Otis drops what he has in his hands, a printout of today's receipts so far, and walks out the door. Leon swears, picks up the spreadsheet, and storms back to the office. I finish my shift and happily go home. No more Burger Boy for this burger boy. 1. What appear to be the problems at this Burger Boy? 2. How many of these problems could be explained by compensation issues? 3. How many other problems could be lessened with diligent use of rewards other than pay? 4. Are hours of work a reward? What might explain why I was happy to be working 20 hours per week, but Chuck was unhappy with 30 hours per week? How might schedules be used as a reward?