When I was very young I had the good fortune of owning a restaurant and nightclub. My partner was an expert in the food and beverage industry. I was kinda like a front man. Well one night we were closing and we found 4 prime ribs (approx. value $240 each) in our dumpster wrapped in aluminum foil. It was obvious the cook was going to come back in the middle of the night and retrieve them. My partner asked me what I thought we should do with the cook. Without hesitation I stated that we should fire her. I mean It was close to $1000 in theft. He agreed, but said we should sleep on it and we would meet in the morning.

The next morning came and as we talked about it he once again asked me for my opinion. My position had not changed. He said he agreed and proceeded to throw me a white apron. I asked him what the apron was for and he said we needed to go in the kitchen and cook because when we fire the cook there was no one left but us.

I got It. It was then that I realized that maybe it wasn’t necessary to fire the cook so fast. My partner made me realize that maybe we should wait until a time of our choosing, like after we hired someone else then let the other cook go. Like I said I was very young. The lesson here for all you young managers is when you have a situation where you find it necessary to relieve someone of their position make sure you have all of your bases covered. Your time can be put to much better use by managing, not cooking!

I have never forgotten that lesson and it has served me well throughout my career.