DON'T PUT PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE - THE T.G.I.Fridays Story Part 7

I have stayed away from writing as we only have Four more parts to tell so much. We need to leave room for What Friday's could do to survive. If you want some good reading just GOOGLE the demise of Friday's and you will see some startling articles. Like "Operation Swill" in New Jersey were 29 restaurants were serving Rubbing alcohol and food coloring as Scotch. Remember in the first parts of this series when I mentioned to my Boss that the Bar Manager was shorting the liqour from the Fridays favorites in the large batch recipes and then at the service bar. I was told to shut the #%@# up. Your supposed to learn from your mistakes in life, not putting a different spin on cheating paying Guests. Fridays is rewarding bad behavior. I highly recommend reading Kitty Jay and Debra Kelly's article titled, "The Real Reason TGIFridays is Strugling". They have a part about the treatment of people and that is what we will be discussing today and in part 8.

I have had the Honor to serve under (Military) and work for some incredible leaders. What most people miss in this business is when you empower you managers and employees to run it like they owned instead of ramming PERCENTAGES and NUMBERS down them 24/7. What you end up with two different results. Then when you look at their most recent "People of all Stripes" campaign. It states , "We celebrate all the people from all different walks of Life, who come together to make TGI Friday's such a unique and special place." I would have loved to have gone back to that Friday's???? After you read the following please tell me how they can put out that statement.

When Friday's was truly in its infant stage and no internet or cell phones to be found, makes what you are about to read makes it that much more of a Story. You have to remember surviving as a Friday's manager back in the day was serious work. So anyone who was not used to the volume easily fell by the wayside. The Nashville Friday's was the busiest place in town. On one particular Friday night the General Manager decided he had had enough. No notice or phone call to Texas. He just walked out and handed his keys to the Host on duty. He happened to be A Vanderbuilt college student working part time. Finding the Number to the Texas location he called and and they told him to lock up and someone would fly up and meet him the next day. Management was obviously impressed with his actions and offered him a management job upon graduation. I met him when I was the KM of the Newbury St. , Boston Friday's when he came in as a Vice President for an all store meeting. (Aha! Another thing Friday's did away with that changed the culture. All Store Meeting`s.) I was immediately impressed with how he felt his audience and pumped them up with stories of the history that he was a huge part of. I didn't get to actually work for him until we both left Friday's and I learned so much from him opening 20 restaurants in three years and going public! We both went our separate ways and I reached out to him in 2018 and we met for dinner with our wives. He was waiting on having triple bypass heart surgery and just lost his life's savings in a failed Restaurant venture. I went to find our waitress to give her my credit card and he had already beaten me to it. So here is a guy who just lost everything and is waiting on life saving surgery picking up the check? That says a lot about his character and he is still full of his personality and telling stories from the day. He mentioned to me that he was having a hard time finding work. He said he applied to be a host at Friday's but never got a call. Now fast forward a year and I am in my interview for a managers position at Friday's. The person interviewing me tell me his name and that he keeps coming in for a host position. But it was insinuated that he would not be hired? "People of All Stripes" , except ex Vice Presidents who have opened a couple thousand restaurants in their careers? He expressed to me he just wanted to be part of something to supplement his Social Security. If I didn't know him and he walked in with the energy and smile that was him, I would not only hire him but figure out how I good use his experience to better the restaurant. It's a team effort, your all ways looking for ways to make the team stronger. You cannot be afraid of hiring someone who has more experience than you. The rest of this story is extremely hard to tell because I know the people and moreover I know that they where the kind of people you want in your life. So After more tries that you could count and only getting rejected for a host position, he and his wife plan to move South to a more welcoming climate. They pack what little they have and head to the Carolinas. Imagine the stress, failed Restaurant, loss of all they had , home, retirement, open heart surgery and you can't catch a break and get a Job as a hostess for a company you know so well. So the first day on the road ends and they stop at a roadside Motel for the night. He got up the next morning to walk the Dog and comes back to find his wife he met at college on the floor having suffered a massive Heart Attack. This did not need to happen. Two shifts greeting guests would have given them both a place to make them feel at home. She died and he is now without the person he spent his entire adult life with. Shame on Friday's for not backing up the propaganda they are trying to sell. To Friday's I say you missed and opportunity to step up and actually welcome someone of his "Own Stripes" back home to where he started. You can't hide behind meaningless words when you continue to reward people who are committing serious acts of the opposite of what your preaching. I think of that wonderful night when we had dinner with our wives and remember the two memorable people who shared so much. I had sent and email to the CEO and COO of Friday's around Christmas about this and other serious issues and only heard back from the COO. He sent me to human resources and nothing was done to discuss any of the issues. I could write ten parts to this series on the acts of out right bullying and shaming people in front of their peers that happens daily. The next part is going to be about me and my times at Friday's. Then tell me if this "People of All Stripes" campaign is a last gasp effort to be relevant. Have your cup of coffee Friday morning and read my story. Make sure your sitting down. As I am not holding anything back including a Black Live Matter moment that was criminal.