I Never Wanted to Be a Supervisor Anyway

John is a food server at the Lakeside Inn, a 200-room hotel with a coffee shop and a full-service restaurant called Hummingbirds. Two years ago, John started out as a bus person in the coffee shop, but because of his outstanding performance he was quickly transferred to Hummingbirds and made a food server.

Johns excellent record continued in his new position. John was always on time, was great with the guests, and was a real team player. When the bus persons fell behind, he helped them catch up without being asked. When another server needed help, John was always willing to take on tables in addition to his own. He also got along well with the cooks. Within weeks at his new position, he knew everyones name and was usually the center of attention in the employee breakroom.

As time went by, he won employee of the month so many times it became somewhat embarrassing.

Phil Brown, the dining room supervisor at Hummingbirds, was Johns boss.

Because John got along with the staff so well, Phil asked John to fill in for him every Wednesdayone of Phils days off and the slowest day of the week for the restaurant. John seemed to do a good job in this role. Serious problems seldom came up on Wednesdays, and if one did, John would tell Phil about it on Thursday morning so Phil could take care of it.

When Phil was made restaurant manager of another hotel in the chain, he encouraged John to apply for his position. I think youd make a great supervisor.

The job will be posted internally for three days, and Im not sure whos going to apply, but you can count on me for a glowing recommendation. Phil not only thought this would be good for John, but also knew that the company encouraged from within; additionally, it would be a feather in Phils cap if one of his employees took over his position and succeeded in it.

At first, John was not enthusiastic about the supervisor jobI really enjoy what Im doing, he told Philbut, bolstered by Phils confidence in him, he finally decided to apply. His interview was with three people: Phil; Phils boss, Alan, the restaurant manager; and Susan, the hotels human resources director. John was outgoing and personable during the interview, and after John left the room, Phil cited Johns initiative, high energy level, leadership skills, and high quantity and quality of work as reasons John should get the job. Although Alan and Susan were concerned about Johns lack of formal supervisory training, they decided, given

Johns excellent record, to give him a chance.

The next day, John went with Phil to Phils new restaurant and spent a week in training. At the beginning of the week, Phil went over a checklist of supervisory skills John needed to acquire and gave him some training materials to study.

Throughout the week, Phil helped John fill out the paperwork a dining room supervisor must deal with. At the end of the week, Phil wished John good luck, gave him a pep talk, and told him to call anytime he had a problem.

John reported for work at Hummingbirds the next morning, uncomfortable in his new suit and tie but feeling confident and determined to do a good job. It didnt take him long to discover that the biggest adjustment he faced was in relating to his former co-workers. When he was a food server, everyone was his friend and he had enjoyed all the during-work and after-hours socializing the employees did together. But now he was left out. In this and many other ways, his former coworkers made him feel that he wasnt one of the gang anymore. That was bad enough, but he began to suspect that his friends, now his employees, were taking advantage of him. For one thing, they didnt really treat him as a manager. When

Alan walked through the kitchen, all the servers and cooks snapped to attention; when John walked through, they just looked aroundOh, hi Johnor didnt acknowledge him at all and continued casually chatting. Because they knew John so well, they constantly asked him for favors: Can I trade nights with Lisa? Can

I have tomorrow off? Can Sam and I switch table assignments? You remember

Im a bowler, right? Could you please not schedule me Thursday nights? The leagues starting up next week. The requests went on and on. John soon learned that, try as he might, he couldnt write a schedule that pleased everybody or didnt have to be changed constantly. The few times he couldnt give employees the day off they wanted, some of them called in sick. John wondered if they were lying,

Of course, but he couldnt prove anything and he didnt want to think they would treat him so badly. All he knew for certain was that he felt abused and taken advantage of by the very people he used to be so close to.

Despite these feelings, John wanted to preserve his relationships with his staff, and he wanted to please his new boss, too. So he didnt let Alan know about the pressures he was feeling, and he granted almost every employee request. This often meant that John found himself doing his old job of serving customers, busing tables, even filling in for

As the first few weeks went by, he also became disappointed in Marthas performance.

Martha was the senior server on the staff, and she had inherited Johns old role as the head server, the person John counted on to be a team leader and fill in for him when he had time off. But Martha never did the little things that would have really helped him out, and never went the extra mile for anyone. Why couldnt she just volunteer and pitch in like he used to do?

That Monday morning started out like most Monday mornings at Hummingbirds extremely busy. The normally big breakfast crowd was swelled even larger by several busloads of sales executives who had just arrived at the hotel for a four-day meeting. John was at his desk, hurrying through some reports he had promised Alan would be finished yesterday. He knew it was only a matter of time before hed be called into the dining room. His three six oclock servers were trying to take care of the rapidly increasing crowd, and Janice, one of his three seven oclock servers, had called him the night before to tell him she wouldnt be in till elevenher basement had flooded and she had to meet with a cleaning crew and

N insurance adjuster in the morning. So today of all days he would be one server short for the breakfast crowd.

When Johns telephone rang right at 7:00, his heart sank. Sure enough, Sally, another of his seven oclock servers, was calling to say she was sick and wouldnt be coming in. She was a good employee who had never called in sick before, so he fought back his feeling of panic and told her to take care of herself and not worry about a thing. He no sooner thanked her for calling and hung up when the phone rang again. It was Rich, the third seven oclock server, calling in sick, too. This was the fourth time Rich had called in sick in the two months John had been supervisor, and John knew that Rich had a habit of drinking too much on the weekendin act, John used to help Rich think of excuses to tell Phil back when Phil was the supervisor. But he really did sound sick this time, so John put aside his suspicions and told Rich to come in later if he felt better.

John gave up all thoughts of catching up on his reports and grabbed the

. The only people he might be able to call in were Wendy and Maria. No answer at Wendys house. Maria was home, but she couldnt come in because she was a chaperon that morning for her daughters sixth-grade field trip. She was very sorry

Thats okay, John said wearily, and with exaggerated carefulness placed the receiver back in its cradle. It was all he could do to keep from throwing the phone across the room. Instead of six servers for the morning, he was down to three, with a bigger crowd than usual and no one he could turn to for help. Even Alan was unavailablehe was in a staff meeting with the hotels general manager. John grimly straightened his tie and headed for the dining room.

Hurrying through the kitchen, he was assaulted by the sounds of a staff under pressure: cooks yelling orders, dishes clattering violently, oven doors slamming.

He charged through the double swinging doors into the dining room just in time to see Steve, one of his bus persons, heading for the restaurants entrance, holding

A towel tightly wrapped around his right hand.

What happened to him? John asked Martha.

He was hurrying too much, broke a coffee cup and cut himself. I sent him to the doctorlooks like hell need stitches.

Great, John thought as he surveyed the situation. Every table was packed, and the roar of a hundred conversations made it almost as noisy in the dining room as it had been in the kitchen. John couldnt remember the restaurant ever being so crowded, and there was a line of guests extending from the restaurants entrance into the hotel lobby, waiting for a table.

Taking a deep breath, John threw himself into the fray. He tried to be everywhere at once, waiting tables, pouring coffee, seating guests, running the cash register, and all the while trying not to notice the frowns from guests angry at the inevitable delays in service. Each guest complaint muttered within earshotWhat kind of a place is this? Great service around herehit him like a lash. John fought down the waves of helplessness and frustration he felt and threw encouraging words at harried staff members whenever he rushed past one of them. He was in the middle of yet another long apology to an irritated guest when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Martha at the cash register, standing on tiptoe and waving to him furiously above a long line of guests waiting to pay their bills.

He excused himself with a strained smile and hurried over to Martha. Whats the problem?

I dont know, Martha said breathlessly, the register just stopped working.

John stared in frustration at the silent machine; he didnt have a clue about how to get it working again. What did you do? he barked at Martha.

I didnt do anything! Martha wailed. Its not my fault.

Its not my fault either, John snapped. Damn it, think! Did you do something before it quit?

Hey! one of the guests back in the middle of the line called up to John, I had to wait for my food, wait for my check, and now I have to wait to give you my money? Come on, do something!

Im trying to do something, sir, John said through clenched teeth.

Well, do it now, because Im tired of this crap. There was a murmur of agreement the other guests in line.

John grabbed Martha by the arm much harder than he intended and half shoved her toward the kitchen. Go to my office and get my calculator.

Martha pulled her arm away. I dont know where it is.

John slammed his fist down on the counter. Damn it, do I have to do everything myself?! he shrieked.

A hush fell over the restaurant. Everyone froze; all eyes turned toward John.

Martha blinked back tears and was starting to say something when her gaze shifted past Johns shoulder and her eyes widened. John turned around to see his boss, Alan, looking around the restaurant incredulously. What in hell is going on here? he demanded.

Later that day

Alan looked across his desk at John and sighed. What could have gone so wrong? This mornings incident was just the latest in a series of problems hed had with John ever since John took the dining room supervisors job. John didnt seem to understand budgets and was not keeping up with the administrative part of the joblate reports, botched purchase orders, unsigned invoicesthe list was rather lengthy. John didnt even seem to be handling the people-skills part of his job very well. Several employees had come to Alan with complaints that John was playing favorites when it came to scheduling. And grabbing Martha this morningAlan just hoped she didnt cause the hotel any headaches over that.

It had taken a while, but Alan had gotten Hummingbirds under control again with the help of George, the coffee shop manager. After the crisis was past, Alan had left George in charge of the restaurant and had taken John up to his office for a long-overdue counseling session. But now he wasnt sure where to begin.

John, he said finally, what happened? I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw you ranting and raving in front of a room full of guests.

Look, John said defensively, I had my hands full. You werent around, we were working short-handed, the register went deadI didnt know what to do. I was doing the best I could. I was never trained for that kind of situation.

But John, you had training. You spent a week with Phil; he said you were ready. You worked in the restaurant for two years. I dont know what else we could have done for you.

You never prepared me for an emergency like that.

But no one could have foreseen what happened this morning! Alan exclaimed. Besides, managers are supposed to be able to cope with all the crazy things that go wrong. Thats why we put you in that position; we thought you could handle it.

Well, maybe you were wrong, John blurted out, maybe you shouldnt have promoted me in the first place. John looked down at his feet and mumbled, I never wanted to be a supervisor anyway.

Discussion Questions

1. Did Phil and Alan make a mistake in promoting John? Why or why not?

2. What should Alan do about John?

3. Assuming Alan decides to keep John on as supervisor, what are the immediate steps Alan should take with John?

4. If John stays on as supervisor, what are the immediate steps Alan and John must take with other people affected by Johns outburst?

Resources: AHLEI Supervisory Skill Builders Module 1: You as a Supervisor

Read the "I Never Wanted to Be a Supervisor Anyway" case study in Chapter 1 of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry.

Write a 200- to 300-word response to each of the four Discussion Questions at the end of the case study, including:

• Application of the four components of management
• Communication principles presented in Ch. 2 of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.