Letters to the Editor
Sandra M
Published Letters: 578 Editor's Choice: 139
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move on, but do what you can to not leave the current company high and dry
[Read the article: Should I stick with a failing business out of loyalty to my boss?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If the new job didn't feel quite right, then you shouldn't jump ship until you've done more due dilligence. But it's not the new opp that doesn't feel right - in your own words, it's the act of leaving a boss and job you like that doesn't feel right. This is just emotion. Recognize it, honor it...and leave.
You can show your boss your loyalty in the way that you leave: give him the news in person. Tell him how much the job has meant to you, and what you've learned from him, and how this learning has made the new opportunity possible. Give him four week's notice and offer to train your replacement. Within reason, answer questions by phone or email from the boss or replacement for the first couple of months of transition.
If your boss is as good as you say, he recognizes that it's the nature of business to lose good employees. It will strengthen him/his business to meet this challenge; and if he can't, well, it might be time for the business to fold.
I think another poster said this but it bears repeating; if you are truly irreplaceable, your boss has really mismanaged his business. Any operation should be able to withstand the loss of an employee, even a good/key one. Succession planning is critical to the survival of a business at any stage, not just the beginning.
Exit with consideration and grace. And try to remember this moment; some day YOU will be sitting on the other side of the desk listening as your top employee, the one you spent tons of money/hours training, can't suppress the sparkle in his/her eye as s/he tells you s/he is aobut to move on to bigger and better things. It's hard to lose good employees, but it's the nature of the business beast to adapt to change or die.
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Sometimes hamburgers do change lives
[Read the article: The minimum wage went up, so the owner cut my hours!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I was 15 I got a special permit to work and got a job at McDonald's. I worked there through high school, and in the summers and Christmas breaks all through college. It was a good job - believe it or not, it wasn't easy. There is a lot to memorize - McDonald's has a 'way' to do every single thing, including how many times to fold the bag over at the top before handing it to the customer (three times, so that it can't unfold and let the heat out of the bag). I learned a lot about dealing with difficult, irrational and not very intelligent people - both behind and in front of the counter. I learned about efficiency. And from my manager, Greg, I learned how to be unfailingly courteous even in the most trying circumstances. This is a lesson that served me very well later on in corporate America - imagine, emulating a 25-year-old's polite manner translated to high scores on 'leadership' at a Fortune 40 company years down the road.
There was a woman that used to frequent all three of the McDonald's in town. She was usually out of her mind on alcohol or drugs or some combination. We all called her 'witch woman' because she was so beastly to the counter girls - she always ended up making somone cry before leaving the store. My manager, Greg, never refused to serve her though - when I asked him why, he said "she's already sunk low enough, I'm not going to refuse to let her eat at McDonald's on top of everything else." One day, a few years into my McDonald's experience, I waited on a pleasant-looking woman. She gave me a nice smile, asked me how I was, and then said " you dont' remember me, do you?" I looked closely and couldn't believe it - it was witch woman! But now instead of missing half of her teeth, hair and mouth in a snarl, and skin like old leather, she was a nice, pleasantly attractive middle-aged woman. She apologized for her behavior of the past - she gave me a brief accounting of her hard times, and then asked to see the manager - 'the tall one with the curly hair." She told me that if it hadn't been for him treating her like she was as good as anyone else, even though she was actingi about as bad as a human being could act, that kept her hanging on during her dark times. She wanted to thank him. When she finally met up with him she gave him a check for a thousand dollars, which must have been quite a sacrifice for her. He had the grace to accept it, and used the money to close the store for a few hour and throw a party for all the employees, with her as a guest of honor. The woman brought her daughter, who was about 10 years older than me. They were so happy, and proud. And so humble, that even the guys in the grill, usually a sarcastic lot, refrained from making easy fun of them. It remains one of the nicest memories of my life.
It's easy to look down on working at a fast food restaurant. But, someone has to do it. In no way does it limit your opportunities later on down the road - I worked executive management positons in three Fortune 40 companies.
Personally I'd rather work at a bookstore than a fast food restaurant because I love books and would have a lot of built-in entertainment during 'down time'. But, I disagree with the knee jerk reaction that fast food restaurant jobs are something to stay away from. You can learn in any environment if you're open to it.
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We already have Canada without women ...
[Read the article: No woman's land]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...it's Alaska!