Mystery Diner

One of my guilty pleasures is a TV show called Mystery Diner—where a restaurant owner brings in “restaurant detective” to help him or her solve a problem with his staff. In the latest episode, two restaurant owners were divided on which waiter to promote to manager for their new location which was opening in a few weeks.

One owner was championing a long-time waiter named Mark who he thought was excellent with customers, supportive of other staff members and detailed in his work. The other owner had heard a few rumors from staff members that Mark was messing up orders and causing confusion in the kitchen. She was championing another long-time waiter named Clark.

To make the decision, they called in Mystery Diner, Inc., which set up hidden cameras in the restaurant and watched both candidates without their knowledge. In addition, they sent in mystery diners—actors with ear pieces so they could receive instructions from the folks in the control room. These diners were asked to do things like pretend to have various food allergies, order a dessert then decide against it and ask for it to be taken off the check and/or try to order something that wasn’t on the menu.

In all these tasks, Mark’s skills shined. The other candidate, Clark, made one error—he voided a dessert charge without getting approval of his manager, but was otherwise equally skilled.

The company sent in a new waitress and she was trained by both men. Again, they both worked flawlessly.

But, then something odd happened. As Mark was entering an order into the restaurant’s point-of-sale-system, another waitress came up and gave him a hard time—told him he was taking too long and that he did this a lot. Mark was confused, but polite. He finished as quickly as he could and moved on. Jessica moved in to use the system and started by punching in with Mark’s code and erasing the order he had just sent to the kitchen.

From there, the tension with Jessica escalated. She shoved Mark when he was walking past her and eventually confronted him when he was entering another order into the system. Mark was exasperated and told her to act professional. As he walked away, she got mad and threw food at his back.

It was an unreal action—one that stemmed from one night of poor judgement on Mark’s part.

Apparently, at some time in the past, Mark and Jessica had gone on one date. He decided he wasn’t interested in continuing to see her. She decided she was in love. From that point on, there was tension at work whenever they were both on the clock.

I couldn’t help but make the parallel leap to summer camp staff training when I saw this episode. Many of you have been faced with enforcing the no-dating rule among staff members at some point in your career to avoid this type of situation—and know how hard it is to train and manage camp staff.

This issue is dedicated to that very subject—ideas, tips, and tricks to help you round out your 2015 training program and ensure your summer runs smoothly—or at least as smoothly as possible.

As for Mark, he wasn’t offered the promotion, but he was put in line for the next opening. Oh, and the restaurant now has an employee no-dating policy.

Not a bad idea.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth

Publisher