A kinda long rant...but it has a good point.

I do not get it. At all. What happened to personal accountability?  I havent seen it anywhere in forever. I've been looking, too.

I think it is just one of those cycles, they do happen upon occasion, when a lot of other people's drama ends up in my world. It really cant be helped. I employ well over 100 people & my restaurants see thousands of people a week; drama is bound to get all up in my shit every now again no matter how hard I try to dodge the bullets. I get that. Most often I can also deal with it without many complaints...Ive grown quite used to it actually however sad that may be. Long & short it usually just rolls off my back. It has to or I would either be drunk, stoned or institutionalized on a very regular (read DAILY) basis.

But in the last week I have had to deal with some of the most insanely stupid bullshit that all falls back to this one concept ~ when did it become ok to not be held accountable to anyone for anything? When did that sense of entitlement become acceptable? When did it stop being your own damn fault when you do something stupid? In a nutshell - I blame Baby Boomers. The generation above me has bred a generation below me of lazy, entitled, excuse making brats. I know that is a broad generalization, and I also know that from my own experiences there are exceptions to every rule - but unfortunately the rules still exist. And I seem to be dealing with a lot of those rules lately.

Example #1 - A line cook, lets call him Bill, is working the grill station. Its busy, its hectic, it get stressy. He is called a check & misses some stuff. Food is called for pick up, e doesnt have it, gets called out, says it wasnt called. Gets told to fire the food. He continues to bristle about it not being his fault. She tells him to do his job.  Bill turns to my Sous Chef, who just happened to be doing some shift coverage that day and was helping out next to Bill on the fry station to get the kitchen out of the weeds, and proceeds to tell him how this isnt his fault WHILE HE STILL HASNT PUT THE DAMN BURGERS ON THE GRILL to which my Sous Chef says Bill she called them, I heard them, it doesnt matter, FIRE THE BURGERS. And Bill finally did.

Fast forward an hour later - rush is over, line is cleaning up & restocking, he asks to go smoke. He goes to smoke, seems calmer when he gets back and gets to work. Sous Chef pulls him aside and tells him that in those situations just get the food on. It doesnt matter whos mistake it was, shut your piehole and fire the food.

About 20 minutes later a fully uniformed cop walks in our door. This is soooooo not awesome. No one likes it when the cops walk into a bar. Ever. He finds my Sous Chef and explains that Bill is his son, and didnt appreciate the way he was being talked to and gets all tight. SC defused the situation by explaining what happened. Yes folks...a 20 year old man called his Daddy because he screwed up at work and was called out on it. I couldnt even imagine how mortified I would be if either of my parents ever called my work or had the nerve to show the fuck up about anything like that ever. Old enough to work old enough to handle my own shit. Even worse - why didnt Daddy tell him to man up, son.  He is not doing that kid any favors. At all.

Example #2 - This cook has been having a case of the Mondays for about 3 weeks now and that is frustrating. Having to constantly ride him like a damn horse to get him to do anything  is wicked annoying. Hes a good kid, hes just lazy - but thats manageable as long as you dont have a whole staff of those. He comes in at 11am all pouty, mopey and blah. KM gives him his list. Hes been at work for 20 minutes at this point and decides to go have a smoke. KM sticks his head out the back door and tells him to go home and he can smoke all he wants to. Attitude ensues. He ends up going home in the end.

An hour later cooks Mom calls to yell at my KM, tells him she wants to speak to his supervisor because no one talks to her son that way and so on and so forth while he rants in the back ground. KM handles it, tells her who to contact.

Havent heard from Mom yet, dont know if we will. Either way its ridiculous. You cant come to work & not expect to have to work. This is our future. Oiy Vey!

Example #3 - and this one is my favorite. Six months ago guy is at our bar on a Sunday by himself. He has a few beers and some mussels, hes there for about 4 hours and leaves. Guess he got a wicked hangover, told her it was bad seafood. She finds the check & we figure its a hangover. We all have a chuckle about it.

Week later she calls again. She talks to one of my managers and they go back & forth about how its our fault he drank that much. Its an awkward conversation really, how do you address that?

A month later she calls again.  At this point I really want to talk to the husband and tell HIM to man up and call her off. We didnt do anything at all wrong outside of serve him. She rants, she raves, she threatens, they give her my email address and tell her to contact me - I never hear from her. Phew...bullet dodged.

Until today when she call and tells me a completely different story. Same tune, different lyrics. We have a ridiculous back & forth about it. Again, I dont really know what to say. I ask a few questions, to clarify the differences in the story, she isnt totally helpful but was in a huge hurry.

Im not sure what it is she would like me to do. I cannot control what her husband decides to do, and I am very sorry that he made a bad decision that led to further problems, but it was his decision, not ours. She want that bartender disciplined? And a refund and some other shit.  Me: Stunned. Passing that one off to the boss.

Its infuriating to me. Why is the world such a mess? Because it is being run by a group of people who do nothing but point fingers and place blame taking no responsibility for their own actions.

You cant call my son out for making a mistake at his job, it hurt his feelings. Yes, I can. And I dont care if I hurt his delicate sensibilities.

You arent allowed to make my son work when hes at work, hes delicate and needs special consideration. No, hes not. And no, he doesnt.

Its all your fault that my husband came to your bar, drank more than he should of, got a wicked hangover from it and lied about it to his wife. Um no.Not at all, really.

We cant give kids failing grades when they fail because itll make them feel bad. We cant make sure kids are passing all of their classes in order to be eligible to play sports because itll make them feel like failures. We arent allowed to discipline children in anyway that may actually work because reasoning with a 4 year old monster is better for their self esteem. We cant make adults do their jobs because its not fair to have expectations. If you loose your job because you suck at it you should be able to collect off unemployment for as long as you need to because you cant be expected to actually DO the job you were hired & paid to do so it must be the employers fault you suck. Its ok to expect more and do less.

Actually its not. At least not in my world. In my world I bust my ass for what I have. If I need money I get a fucking job - McDonalds is always hiring and if you dont have a job any income is better than none. I own my bad decisions and the consequences of those actions. In other words Im a grown up and I thank my mom & dad for popping me when I deserved it, holding me accountable when I fucked up, instilling in me a work ethic that allows me to earn my way and for letting me know that I am not some delicate little flower that needs to be coddled and protected. They made me tough enough to survive in a world that isnt always easy and made me smart enough to know how to make my life as cushy as I can. They also didnt raise me to believe that I was any more important than anyone else, that what I do effects everyone around me and to be aware of that when I make decisions,  that I am entitled to only what I earn and no one is going to hand me my happiness on a silver platter wrapped in a pretty bow.

Thank you Mom & Dad. As rough as I ever thought you were I could not be happier that I did not turn out a whiny, ego-maniacal tool bag.