Last night when doing my closing walk through i found a pasta pot scorched black and empty with a burner on high under it ,during cleanup my crew was on their cellphones 25 % of the time,seems they’re totally disconnected with the reality of where they are and what they are doing,we have a u shape kitchen and when i’m prepping on one side , there always seems to be someone on the other side on a cell phone ! Hate to be a hard liner but NO MORE CELL PHONES, check em in up front, three strikes yer out !!! Like to hear YOUR cell phone policies,
The only reason I like lockers for the employees. They must keep them locked up!
Honestly…cell phones are like an attachment to one’s body at all times now & it’s so hard to get them gone. I don’t mind for the most part, but it is annoying sometimes. It’s like a never-ending battle that I’ll never win!
My friend owns one of the busiest pizzerias in Essex County NJ and has had to put up surveillance cameras in the kitchen because when he goes off site the devices come out in the kitchen immediately and things go south. When we first open our shop in Reno, NV, there will be just my wife and I working the shop and neither of us have a cell phone. We will have a sign up - device free zone - enjoy the company of your fellow man as you enjoy your pizza:) No Big screen TV either. Just plain old quiet. We will be a very small shop and only hire a couple people with disabilities to do cleanup and prep. I wouldn’t last a day with a bunch of employees using cell phones on the job. If there is an emergency the people needing to reach them can call the pizzeria. I am old school and will not bend on this one and that is why we are setting up small and doing it our way. We are in a unique position in that we are near retirement age, have no kids, no bills, will be drawing pensions, and have a financial backer 100% behind this concept. We will be a throw back to the good old days when people talked to each other. Walter
We are going to have put some kind of hammer down on this also. At first I kinda liked them. We stopped getting personal calls coming in thru the store phones. Hey great! We need to call in someone, everybody has everybody’s number. With in minutes someone is on their way. We need to now if a driver is almost back from delivery. One call does it all. But this texting thing is a problem. I’m guilty of it to. I’ll text a manager to give or get info and then they’ll text me back. Sometimes they won’t answer me and I get pissed about it. But then I’m like wait a minute, maybe they are working or something.
Im ready to have a meeting with my guys and the cell phone issue is #1 on my list. I have a guy who answers his cell phone when people call him to tell them he is at work and cant talk right now!!! Drives me crazy!!! But I too am guilty of the cell phone so monkey see monkey do…
I’ve only had one issue with one single employee and their obnoxious cell phone usage. other than that, things have been good. The subject is covered in our orientation and they are verbally reminded their first few days on the job if the phones come out of their pockets while working.
My main guys all have iPhones, I showed them how to decline a call with an auto-text being sent to the caller that explains that they are working, and will call when they are done for the day. And we use them for kitchen timers and to skip songs playing in house, and adjust volume of needed (we use iTunes radio through a head unit)
My issue is customers with cell phones, them placing their order at the counter then they take a call right in the middle of the order. The cashiers are instructed to bypass the person with the phone in their ear and take the next in line. The customers with the phones learn quickly. We even have a sign on the wall that states “Legally carried firearms are welcomed, Cell Phones are not” with the red circle graphics around a phone, and a green circle around a 1911 pistol
that is awesome!
I finally had to implement the “stay the hell off your cell phone at work rule”. Its just ridiculous how many times I go in the back and my dish guy is texting it up. Its gotten crazy how dependent these kids are on their cell phones. My point is that when they are messing with their phone they are disconnected from work. When your on the clock your off your cell phones, that includes myself as well unless business related
I have a no cell phone for any reason at any time rule. it keeps peoples mind on the job. but if someone asks me to use their cell i usually give permission. like my head guy in the kitchen is here for 12 hours sometimes and hes calls home to make sure his kids got home from school everyday.
Most of my employees know better, but once in a while a new-hire will try to use their cell phone. If I or any of my managers see it, it gets locked in the safe. They can have it after they clock out.
I have a few employees that smoke, and some that don’t. Rather than to give “cigarette breaks” (which is unfair to non-smokers), I give “tens”- if an employee is working for five hours or longer, I allow them to clock out for ten minutes (to smoke, talk on the phone, whatever they want to do).
If they’re working eight hours or more, I give them a half hour break and two “tens”.
They’re welcome to use their phones when they’re off the clock, but not on my time.
The one good thing about smokers it that you never have to nag people to take the trash out to the dumpster. It always seem to be done. Other than that, they irritate me. I only have a few smokers so I deal with it the best I can.
Not to defend cell phones, but, to my way of thinking there is only one question: Are you doing your job well, or not? If the answer is “not”, I don’t care why, (cell phone, smoking, lazy, whatever), I will find someone who will do the job well.