How to deal with people from the past.

Today I saw someone that I hadn't seen in several years.

Our restaurant is a manager-in-training store.

We train managers.

They learn all the different aspects of working in a restaurant. They learn all of the different positions. They follow us and they help us, but they have no real power..... for the most part.

They are just learning.

Source: Pixabay.com

Today when I walked into my restaurant I encountered a gentleman that went by the name of Earl.

Earl trained at our restaurant more than 2 years ago. He was here for about eight weeks before he went on to his job as a low-ranked manager in a store far away from us.

He was very helpful because he was working during the holiday season. It was good to have Earl around.

However, by the time his eighth week was coming around I was glad to see him go.

You see, Earl had become quite a tyrant by the end of his training period.

While he didn't have any real power at our store he had all of the things that he needed to become powerful.

Not real power, mind you. We're talking about being a manager at a restaurant. People love any small amount of power that they can get their grubby little hands on though.

Earl was no exception.

So you might imagine that I was quite surprised to see Earl today. You would be correct.

Apparently he is going to be auditing our store for about one month. He will be around to help us out and to guide us in any way that we might need guiding.

Sounds great doesn't it?

He's a full fledged manager now, so he is capable of writing someone up....... and if he yells at someone you pretty much have to do what he says.

I'm hoping that I don't work very many shifts with him because even though he's a nice guy, I'm not as invested in my restaurant job as he is in his.

This is not a career for me, it's just something that I'm doing to make money.

On the other hand, he is quite a bit older and he has all his marbles in this one game. I can definitely understand that.

However, that does not make working with him fun.

Each of us has to encounter someone from the past once in awhile that we really thought we would never see again.

Sometimes it's a joyous occasion to see them, but other times we feel disappointed that we have to go through it one more time.

The truth is, we really just have to be nice to each other and keep on truckin.

Dealing with people from the past can certainly be an unpleasant business, but with perseverance and a good attitude we can get through it with a smile.