Article December 16, 2002 Issue

WHEN WORK BECAME A BATTLEGROUND

Ed Goewert

As chief engineer and head of maintenance at a 30-year-old hotel, I give a lot of attention to time-worn equipment. Our kitchen, for instance, is still running on its original appliances.

About a year and a half ago we got a new chef. He was disappointed, to say the least, with the kitchen. I did everything I could to keep things safe and working for him. But he never thought it was enough. In his opinion, I was "doing nothing."

The chef blamed me and developed a dislike for me. In the mornings when I greeted him, he ignored me. Soon my general manager was urging me to "do more" to help the chef. I learned that he and the chef had become friends, and the chef had complained to him about me. My job reviews began to suffer. After this conflict developed, my job review said that I "didn't communicate with the kitchen department." And there was another area of trouble growing out of the chef's borrowing tools from our workshop for his personal use. When we needed them, the tools weren't there.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

News beyond the headlines