Have you ever had a job that you actually really enjoyed and then a new owner or manager comes in and screws everything up?
Think about it, even if you aren’t one of these people; major change in the work place would make you feel upset and uneasy, wouldn’t it? How would you feel if some new guy came up to you and told you to do something you have never done before or tells you to do something differently from the way you are used to? You might feel like you have to work even harder to make a good impression or you might feel like your job is on the line.
Now let’s worsen the situation a bit. What if this new owner or manager doesn’t care what is fair and what isn’t? What if they don’t care about how good of a job you do or how long you have been working for their business?
Unfortunately, this is the way business works. It’s all about the money and to most businesses, the employees don’t really matter. However, my job requires a different attitude and mindset than some others may.
I work directly with kids at a birthday party place. I like what I do and really enjoy the people that I work with. I have actually met some of my best friends just from working there. The only manager we had was a close friend of mine that I grew up with and was the nicest person I’ve ever worked for. I never thought I would say it but I actually enjoyed going to work.
Just three weeks ago, a new owner with the biggest crush on money has come in and for lack of better word, cleaned house. He fired half of our regular staff, our manager and a few behind-the-scenes people just two days before what turned out to be a very hectic and frustrating weekend shift.
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones that got to stick around.
His love for money was made apparent when he said to some of us that part-time employees are a “dime a dozen” and any one of us, no matter how good we are at what we do, could be replaced.
What I feel he does not understand is how to work with mostly teenagers in a kid-friendly business. Although the money does come first, I feel like he does not understand that you need to have the personable, fun-loving attitude that we as a staff have to work there. You can’t just go out and pick anyone up off the street and assume they are going to work well with kids.
To his credit, he is a very smart business man. Excluding my work place, he owns five other businesses; he obviously knows business and knows how to make money. I don’t know the attitude of his employees at his other businesses and I don’t know how he handles them, but I do know that we are different.
Ever since he has taken over, party scheduling has been poorly managed, hours have been drastically cut and he hasn’t even bothered to learn all of our names.
According to workplacepsychology.net, two of the top five reasons why employees stay at their place of work are because of good, organized management and just to work for a particular individual who is supportive of them.
That being said, you have probably figured out by now that the staff has not been very thrilled with the way things have been recently.
My co-workers and I are all children at heart, which is why we work so well together. Now if only the owner could see what we see.
