I like to believe I have a good work ethic. As a matter of fact I know I have a good work ethic and have been complimented on it by numerous instructors, bosses, chefs and co-workers over the years. I am also new to the corporate world. Well, I have been in it for a little over a year now, but I still consider that to be fledgling territory. There is a drastic difference between the worlds of privately or independently owned restaurants and the corporately owned. Never in my life would I have thought I would prefer independents, and most likely not for the reasons other people would. Let me explain. My last job was for a family owned restaurant. We made everything from scratch. We worked hard, long days. There was no, "I've worked 4 hours and now I'm entitled to my fifteen minute break." You worked because there was always work to be done. We never worked anything shorter than a 10 hr shift. If we had time to sit down and eat between lunch and dinner we did. Otherwise we ate on our feet. In the winter the kitchen was cold as hell, in the summer it was hot as hell. None of that mattered. We cared about the product. We cared about the food we were putting out.
I feel very alone in this ideal where I now work. Few of the people seem to take any pride in their work. They are also terribly spoiled. They complain about having to work too hard, yet don't even stay for a full 8 hour shift or are constantly calling out sick. I have found one person every day sitting in the cafeteria watching the World Cup while on the clock. Even more mind blowing for me is they were pissed off at me for calling them on it. As a matter of fact I was even dragged into the Human Resource director's office for telling this person, "This is your second warning in two days. The next time I will write you up." Granted, I did say this in front of the other staff and I should not have. I should have taken him aside and spoken to him. Still, I don't believe employees should take it upon themselves to take a break, on or off the clock, without consulting their supervisor.