What I learned -- From My First Boss

This week the blog is going to deal with valuable first lessons I had and how important they are to growing a business as a leader.

I had my driver's license for a month and it was time to get my first real job that wasn't delivering newspapers, cutting lawns or painting chicken coops. Those were just hard work with little income to show. My first job was as a dish washer in a family restaurant. My father told me the best employee's are those seen and not heard. I was to keep my head down work hard and that would make the best impression on my boss.

I had worked my job for three weeks and it was time I handled the business of a Friday evening dinner rush. I got word shouted back to me the waitress station was out of clean dinner plates, so I stacked about 80 dinner plates in four stacks on my cart to take down the hall way to the empty station. As I was loading the last of the plates I heard another person holler they needed the plated right now. So down the hall I went in a hurry.

I reached the end of the hall and took a sharp left turn; only the plates did'’t turn with me. The cacophony in the full dining room came to a complete silence with the sound of dozens of dinner plates crashing on the tile floor. I was now an employee who most definitely had been heard.

The sickness in my stomach was awful and my mind was trying to figure out how I was going to tell my father I had been fired from my first job. The first person I saw walk around the corner was my manager, Mr. K, as we all called him.

He walked to where I was standing and looked at the pile of broken plates on the floor. He looks me dead in the eye, and then back to the plates on the floor. I wanted to die. He then noticed two plates were still on my cart. He picked up one of the plates and held it in front of my face, and then smashed it into the pile. He looked at me and grabbed the other plate and held it in front of my face. Then smashed it into the pile.

I had no idea what the heck was going on until he spoke, "Russell how many times have I told you if you are going to do something do it all the way. Now get this mess cleaned up." And, off he walked back into the dining room.

I never heard him mention that incident again in the following couple of years I worked for him. He didn't give me grief about the money I cost him with my over exuberance to do my job. He taught me a great lesson: when an employee makes a mistake when trying to do their best, make it a teachable moment and move on.
Executives would have more loyal employees if they only responded in this manner.