In The Spirit...

With school coming to a close and the holiday season in full swing I was looking to see how people get into the holiday spirit. I have a lot going on in my life right now and I wish I could just ban the holiday season this year out of my life. I don't have the time to think about it and just don't want to be bothered with it. Somehow it is creeping around me every where I turn. I have never before been this way and normally I love the holiday season because it means friends and family time, but I just can't get into it.
So I am looking to get some insight on how to have fun with the holiday season and not be a grinch...

Lay Offs

It happens to many people but you'll never think or expect it to happen to you.
Thursday my mother was laid off from a customer service rep job that she has been employed at for over 10 years. Even after that long she never thought she would be laid off from the company. However, as the company is facing some changes and reorganizing they decided that the job that my mom has done for so many years wasn't a necessary expense for the company anymore. My mom knew the company was doing a reorganization but wasn't concerned with it because there are only three people that do her job in the district. Thursday morning she went into work and was informed of the changes that were being implemented. They allowed her to email a few individuals and pack her things. My mother left the company with a smile on her face because she knew if she got upset it wasn't going to get her anywhere. My father owns his own company and my mother already does work for him, so she is going to work full-time now for him. The company that she was working for offered her a severence package for one year. So looks like my mother will be taking a break from work (other then my father's company) for a little while and just enjoy life.
When life throws you lemons...make lemonade and put an umbrella in it :)
Never think you are prepared for the day in front of you...
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/severence-package.asp#axzz1eA2Jebx8

Pies and Cakes

As I have mentioned I work in the hospitality industry. The restaurant that I work for makes our own seasonal pies and some of our cakes. Currently we are selling whole pies and cakes especailly for the holiday seasons. Our thought behind this was to get the attention of those customers who travel up here to visit with friends and family during the holiday season who may find it difficult to make a dessert at home and pack it for traveling. The seasonal pies and cakes that we are offering are:
Dutch Apple Pie                                       
     

Pumpkin Pie
  


Mixed Berry Pie                                     Carrot Cake                     
    

And My personal favorite:
Triple Chocolate Cake


We have been advertising at the restaurant by using table tent cards and also by posting on the restaurants facebook page. I am not sure we are connecting with the customers, but I also believe that is because for Thanksgiving most customers enjoy their own personal homemade desserts. I was looking to see if anyone could suggest any other way for us to reach out to customers to get them to pre-order Thanksgiving desserts. Also, if anyone would like to order one of these homemade desserts for Thanksgiving or any other time, please let me know :) They are delicious!!!

Work @ Home

When you get into the world of work you begin to realize how much time you will spend at work compared to your home. You will realize how much of your time you spend with other people and how to take all that in. One of the things that becomes a challenge is when you have been promoted to a managerial position because ultimately this means that you put in more time at work and have to be there for other people. This can change your life at home when family or significant others don't understand. If you love your job and you enjoy the work that you do, work will not feel like work. Your time spent at work will just feel like anyother part of your life because you enjoy the time there and it'll feel like you are just living your life.
So, when you enjoy what you do and don't mind working the crazy long hours, how do you handle that at home with friends, family or a significant other when they begin arguing with you about working to much? Especially when you don't feel that the time you are putting in is too much time, then what?

Personal Problems in the Business World...

In my first blog I mentioned that I had recently been promoted to the Dining Room Manager of the restaurant that I work for. We have hired a few new employees that have only known me as their manager, which is actually rather nice. One of the girls was having an issue at home the last few days and wasn't her bubbly self at work. I knew something was wrong but when I asked her if she was ok, she told me things were fine. I am not one to pry into people's lives and if you tell me that you are ok then that is where I am going to leave it. However, I have with my staff told them many times that if they ever need to talk to someone, even just have someone listen to them and not say anything, not to hesitate to pull me aside. I am a great listener and I know that sometimes it is just a relief to be able to speak what is on your mind.
The other day this employee, lets call her Carol, begins to tell me that she needs to take Sunday's off from now on. I asked her if things were ok and you could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. She was trying not to cry, but I could tell that she needed to say somethings and we needed to talk about her not working Sunday's anyways. So I told the other employees that we would be right back and I brought her upstairs into the office. She informed me that her family (husband and children) are having a hard time dealing with her going back to work because she was a stay at home mother for so long. She was also having some issues with her husbands ex-wife and dealing with the children's after school activities schedules.
After letting her get out everything that she was thinking and that was on her mind, her night turned around and she seemed to be in a better mood. After our initial talk and again during the night and one more time before she left for the evening, she apologized to myself and the owner for being crabby and bringing her personal life and problems into the restaurant and not being able to leave it at the door. I kept telling her that it wasn't a problem and we all have our days. That being said: I don't have a problem with bringing personal problems into work especially when it is your work or schedule that is conflicting with your home life or visversa. We do all have our bad days and need our quite days when life isn't where we want it to be etc. However, I do agree to leave problems at the door when they are going to make you mad and you are going to become irritable, crabby, start arguments or make the work environment uncomfortable for other employees.
Seeing that everyone will be entering into the "Business World" in a short time, I was hoping this would be a great opportunity to get some insight on others thoughts behind bringing your personal life or problems into the business world or atmosphere. What do you think?

How close is too close...

I am already and have already been out in the business world as I am a non-traditional student. However for many seniors that have not ventured out into the business world I thought I would put out the question of how close it too close?
Going out in the business world and working with a group of new individuals can sometimes be a difficult transition for many people. When you finally land a job you will be working with a group of new people that you will want to get to know and want to work well with. Sometimes, because you want to be liked so much, you may open up to these people more than you expect or want to share things or talk about your personal life with them. This is where my question comes into play.
How close if too close to get to people that you work with? Is going out for a drink or having dinner with them outside of work functions possible? How much of your personal life is appropriate to share with the people that you work with? What are your thoughts?

Think About It...

Steve Jobs.....When you read this name what does it mean to you?
Until this past week, when a coworker informed me that he passed away, it didn't mean anything to me. I knew that he was the creator of Apple, but didn't really know much about his life. I believe that there are people in this world that put themselves out there for others to see and to learn from. Steve Jobs was this kind of man. Through his life he started a company, helped it grow and got fired from that company without it affecting his ambition. With one company behind him he turned around and started another one, well actually he started two more. This is one thing that I have already learned from this semester is to never allow failure to keep you down.
After the death of Steve Jobs on Wednesday October 5th, a close friend of mine had seen his commencement speech that he gave at Stanford University in 2005 and forwarded the video onto me. There are three stories that Steve talks about and with each one you learn something about him as a person, about his life and possibly about your own. So today, I share Steve Jobs's speech with you because it opened my eyes up to the world and to this thing called life...

A Great Experience

Prior to becoming the dining room manager of the restaurant that I work, the owner received a phone call from SOCO Magazine. For those of you who may not know, SOCO Magazine is a magazine that does reviews on local businesses throughout New England in order to inform consumers of new and different places to eat or see while traveling or in their own town. The magazine was going to come into the restaurant and review the business and food. My boss, the owner of the restaurant, and I had been discussing the opportunity of me being promoted to dining room manager at this point and he asked me to wait on the critics. As honored as I was to have the opportunity to meet and wait on a food critic it was a nerve racking thought. I didn't know what the critic was really going to be reviewing, except for the food, and the owner had asked me to wait on them because he had the confidence in me that I would be able to answer any questions that they might have about the business or the kitchen and food. The evening before the food critics reservation the owner made the announcement to the staff about my promotion.
The critic made a reservation for a Sunday evening at the restaurant in July. A Sunday evening was chosen because they didn't want the restaurant to be overly busy but wanted to experience a "normal" evening. The owner and I decided to place them at a table where they would be able to look around the dining room and have access to other customers to give them the opportunity to talk to other customers. When they first arrived they brought in a camera and lights to set-up on the table in order to take photos of the dishes that they chose to try. After they were seated the owner went over and spoke to them about a few dishes that we feel are our more popular dishes with our customers and he talked about the renovations that had just been completed throughout the restaurant. He also informed them that I, the dining room manager, would be taking care of them. The critics asked me a few questions about the restaurant, the waitstaff and a few of the menu items. The critics chose to sample three or four of our appetizers (Bruschetta, Crab Cake, and Oyster Casino a special that we had that evening), three entrees (Veal Oscar, Mediterranean Sautee topped with Portabella Mushroom and Chicken Kiev) along with two desserts (Strawberry Shortcake and Triple Chocolate Cake). The critics seemed to love everything they tried and had the opportunity to talk to some of our other customers that were dining with us that evening.
Among having the opportunity to meet with the critics and learn a little more about the business and SOCO Magazine I was able to get some insight on some of the other reviews that they have gone to in the past. This experience was one that I will not forget and I was and still am very honored that my boss gave me the opportunity to be a part of a great event in his business. Before the critics left we were informed that the article would be in the August issue. Needless to say on the morning of August 1st I was on-line at home on the SOCO Magazine's website looking for the article. If anyone ever has the chance to be able to do be a part of helping the business that they work for and have the opportunity to show how much they love their job to a critic, don't take that experience for granted. I never would have thought this opportunity would have fallen into my hands especially in a small town like Campton, NH. I have included the link to the review of the restaurant and a few photos.
http://issuu.com/soco/docs/aug11?mode=embed&layout=http%3A//skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&pageNumber=1

Being Promoted...

I began working at the restaurant about two and a half years ago. I spent about three or four months hosting which allowed me to really learn the ins and outs of this particular restaurant. This wasn't the first restaurant that I had worked in however, every restaurant is run differently. Once the owner felt that I had become comfortable with the atmosphere of his restaurant he promoted me up to a waitress. I love the hospitality industry because of the fast paced environment and being able to talk to, work with and meet new people everyday. After two years of working and attending school full-time I was at a place in my life where I needed to begin thinking about what I was going to do in another year when I would have my degree. Where was I going to go from here? What job was I going to look to pursue? About the time that I was doing a lot of thinking in this area of my life and career, my boss and the owner of the restaurant posted an Ad on the restaurants Facebook page about looking for a dining room manager. Needless to say I saw an opportunity and I went after it.
After about four months of talk with the owner about the position and what it would entail and how things within the business would change, the promotion was finally announced to the staff. There was many mixed emotions throughout the staff and business. This was something that had been discussed with the owner and I so I was partly expecting it. It took more getting use to then I thought it was going to take. I also had become close with many of my co-workers when I first moved up here because they were the people I spent most of my time with. Unfortunately I did loose friendships because of this promotion, but my career and my dream job is worth more to me then the friendship of someone who can not support me or be happy for me. Each day has become easier as I have been able to grow in the position and become more comfortable with my work and my authority.
The suggestion that I have with other people that may soon be in this same position or maybe in the position of being promoted over co-workers is that you need to believe in yourself. Believe that you got the promotion because of the work that you've done and the dedication that you have shown to your supervisor. You got the promotion over someone else because someone saw something in you and you just need to keep working hard and stay focused on your job and not worry about the drama that may come about.
My question is does anyone have any suggestions to make the transition easier and have any thoughts about keeping your head up and believing in yourself and the work that you do?