"Common Sense does not apply"

Apparently, it is not neccessarily a given that if an employee doesn't show up for a shift or abandons a shift, that said employee will lose his/her job.  In fact, from an employer's point of view that employee just quit their job.  Yet, the State of Oregon does't allow common sense to get in the way of good old fashion coddling and beauracracy. 

According to the State, 1 - employee must have had a warning (in other words, they have had to have done this at least once before so I could warn them that it is wrong not to show up for work), 2 - did the individual know their job was in jeoparday? This is where common sense does not apply - because unless I have an employee manual specifically stating that if an employee is AWOL they will lose their job - they either get to keep their job or they will actually receive unemployment benefits.  3 - What were the circumstances of why the employee didn't tell you they wouldn't be working their shift? Unless they were hit by a car or had a heart attack - I'm sorry, but there is no reason to not take a few seconds and make a phone call.  I have never in my life just walked off a shift.  Finally - an employee is eligilbe for 2 years after walking away from a job in this manner for benefits, even if he/she has had a job since then.  This is perhaps the most galling aspect of all this as it's been almost a year and a half since the situation to which I am referring occured and suddenly is now an issue.  Why after all this time, and holding a job in between, should I be held liable for this person's financial well-being?

Employees have rights, and I do my best to make work environments as good as possible as well as not being a dickhead boss (I've worked for them in the past).  Employers should have rights too.  I should have the right to fire an employee that abandons a shift without fear that it will have an adverse financial affect on me.   Employees at my bar are a close knit family and we all depend on each other to do our jobs.  Those who cannot handle that need not apply.

The cost of doing business.

The price of running your bar can be high, on many levels.  Of course, the most obvious costs are financial.  Running a bar is not cheap.  Every time you think you’ve got some bills paid off and maybe you’ll have a couple months to let some money just build up in your bank account something happens.  Something always happens.  Whether its equipment that needs repaired or replaced, an employee quits and you have to train someone new, a new music licensing org finally catches up to you and starts threatening you, someone or something will always have their hand out. 

When the occasional starry eyed romantic walks through my doors and dreamily wishes to have their own place someday I do my best to stomp on their dreams and tell them what a terrible idea it is.  I feel a twinge of guilt when I see I’m ruining their fantasy (most people never make it out of the fantasy stage anyway) but mostly I’m doing them a favor, especially the ones who have never even waited tables or served a drink in their life.

Hand in hand with the financial sacrifices come the personal sacrifices in time spent doing just about anything else.  Your days “off” are spent paying bills, planning events, marketing, etc… For someone in my position it is difficult to leave town for more than a night or two so long extended vacations are few to none.  And that’s ok for now, 3 year olds are easy to entertain and you don’t need to do much to impress.

I think the biggest price comes in the relationships that get mangled along the way.  My marriage – yeah, that was a big one.  But friendships too.  You make friends with employees and with customers.  But there’s a funny line that gets crossed from time to time and suddenly you are just the owner.  You have to be the asshole – or maybe you act like one.  But you are the owner and you pay dearly when those times come around.

At the end of the day, you are the boss.  It is your job to listen to everyone complain when things didn’t do their way in your bar.  It is your job to glue together the strands of information from hazy, drunk memories and turn it into something you can trust. It is your job to have a ‘talk’ with an employee about something you just wish to God wasn’t an issue. It is your job to make a decision and act upon it.  Once that has happened there can be no apologies.  Stick to your guns! It’s definitely a recipe for pissing people off and maybe that’s just part of your job too.  

Don’t get me wrong, I have formed some tremendous friendships with people I would have never known were it not for The One Horse.  It is one of the things I love most about the bar ownership thing.  It’s just tricky business when things go awry because you don’t have the luxury of just being someone’s friend, when they get upset with you it is suddenly a matter of customer/owner and that often brings some pretty severe consequences with it. 

Out of all the costs -  money and time - those I can handle and manage.  Their normal and I don't love them but I understand them and accept them.  The cost of just being the boss is probably the one I didn't figure on or know about getting into this whole business. It's the most difficult to quantify and yet at times the most costly of all.