New Faces

This week brought the end to a long tenure by a valued staff member. It's always a shame to see someone go, but the addition of new and promising staff members is exciting. Everything that goes with such a change is felt especially in such a small and tight knit organization such as ours. Mostly, it causes me to think back on various times I was a new employee. It can be a strange transition for even the most seasoned service professional. Every restaurant is different and offers new challenges to the new faces. As the chef, I try and approach each new staff member as an opportunity to improve on how I handled the previous person in his or her position. I've long felt that dealing with the people around me is the most difficult responsibility of a leader, and approaching each new person with a fresh outlook helps serve to improve my style and hopefully improve the overall quality of the restaurant at the same time.

This week also brought the first time someone left their bed on our patio. I've always suspected our front porch would be a comfortable place to set up camp, but never actually tried it. It would seem from the picture above that someone did give it a go. It took some convincing to make everyone believe that I had not actually slept on the porch so as to be at work earlier the next day, and in the end I disposed of suspicious blankets and pillows followed by a severe hand/lower arm washing.