Respect at Work

4 months ago, a young man walked into a well-known chain ‘restaurant’ to start his first shift. As he walked in, he was nervous, excited and a little unsure of what to expect. A mere 4 hours later his first shift was over, and he made his way to his mother’s car. A little afraid to ask, his mother said, ‘how was your first shift’, to which he replied ‘it was so much fun’ with a level of energy and excitement that was palpable. What did you do his mother asked, to which he replied ‘I made drinks, washed up and prepared orders. The crew were so nice and friendly’.

The young man was enjoying the job and the team so much that after 3 weeks he told his mother he was going to ask for an additional shift.? His mother said that she would be supportive of that as long as his schoolwork did not suffer, to which he replied ‘don’t worry mum I got this’. His mother was so very proud of this young man’s work ethic and his excitement and enthusiasm to get to work early each shift and learn new things. He was loving the work, and the customers were appreciative of his efforts – often giving him compliments about the service they received from him.

2 ? months into the young man’s employment there were some changes - a Crew Coach and a Store Manager transferred in from another store.

By the 3rd month the young man’s mother started to notice a change in her son. His energy and enthusiasm had waned, and he was no longer ready for work early or excited about going to work. When the mother asked her son about the change, he shared that with the arrival of the 2 new managers things had changed. The woman’s son was being spoken down to or ignored; he was being given all the jobs that no one liked to do and was told he was not capable of performing his tasks at the desired level. He was continually being put down and singled out.

After tolerating the behavior for 2 weeks the young man decided to talk to the shift manager about the situation, and he was told that if he didn’t like it ‘he could go cry in the corner’. Not wanting to lose his job, or his shifts, the young man decided to let it go and get on with what he had been asked to do.

Sadly, this story is not from 10 years, or even 5 years ago, this story is as recent as Sunday night in an inner-city suburb of Melbourne. You see, the young man in this story is my son. He is 16 and this is his first part time job, his entry into the world of work, his exposure to leadership and culture in action.

While I am disappointed about how he has been treated, and that the behavior of others has had a financial impact on him (he has dropped that specific shift), I couldn’t be prouder of the way he has handled himself and the situation. He has shown maturity, resilience and leadership beyond his years, and well above that of the Manager and the Coach in this specific store.

We all deserve to work somewhere where we feel safe, valued and included. We should all feel comfortable speaking up when things aren't right and have a level of confidence that our leaders and managers have the knowledge, skills and attitude to carry out their roles with competence and professionalism.

…As for the job – well for now he has dropped that particular shift but retained the others while he searches for something else. In the words of my son 'I got this mum!'