Lakota's Philosophy(Policies & Procedures-continued)SCHEDULING1. YOUR SHIFT - Once again, it is 100% your responsibility to know when you are supposed to work. The schedule usually gets posted on Thursdays. We also email them but not everyone has email so the schedule that's posted at the store is a fail-safe. Look at the schedule for the week and get a copy of it, put it in your organizer, or tattoo it somewhere obvious. Be sure to get approval from management for shift swaps or changes of any kind. If someone no shows on a shift that you were scheduled for, guess who's responsible? Of course, all of our shifts are important but the morning shift sets the tone for the whole day. Don't work morning shifts if you're not a morning person. Please, please don't party late the night before an opening shift. Alert, well rested, cheerful, and absolutely ON-TIME workers is what the morning shift requires.
2. TARDINESS HAPPENS - Look, nearly everyone is late once in awhile, but what can really make your fellow workers steaming mad is when they don't even get a courtesy call. At least that way they know what's going on. It's your responsibility to be on time. That one time when everything goes wrong and you're running late, get your cell phone out and make the call. It's the right thing to do. Under normal circumstances, please get to work early enough to have a smooth shift change. You should have time to say your hellos, find your pay-check, blow your nose, and go to the potty. You know, just allow yourself a few moments to acclimate. Get a bite to eat before your shift if you need to. Then put the troubles of your world behind you and get on your game face before you step behind the counter to begin your shift. You will find that everyone is much happier when you "have your shift together", especially your own amazing self! NOTE: No matter what, if your co-worker doesn't show up on time (or at all), and there's no courtesy call, we need to know pronto! We can't fix it if we don't know it's broken! We simply will not tolerate persistent tardiness. 3. VACATIONS - It really is important for you to request your time off in advance. Do your best but we would like to have at least one month notice. Scheduling is a tough job, tougher still with unpleasant surprises. Please remember that only a supervisor can cover a supervisor's shift. 4. REQUESTING TIME OFF - Requesting time off cannot be verbal. Please record it in the "request off book". Remember, it's a request until it's approved. We will do our best to accomodate you. We must have as much notice as you can reasonably give us (for obvious reasons). Holiday Breaks: Requests for more than a week off are very tricky and need management approval. Please keep in mind that what you're asking may not always be possible. Summer Break: If you are leaving for more than 3 weeks at a time you need to talk to management for two reasons. 1. We need enough time to cover your shifts... 2. So that we can gather information needed to actually guarantee you that many consecutive days off. Once again: Please be advised that granting your request may not be possible.
Here are the guidelines for using "The Request Off Book":
5. ILLNESS - Coming up with tickets to your favorite concert is not a good reason to call and tell us you have the flu. Nor is a self inflicted illness, such as a hangover. IN CONCLUSION: We cannot stress enough the importance of being reliable. Tell us the truth about your situation and do the best you can to fill your own shift. If you can't, then show up and tough your way through until someone relieves you. We're asking you to be 100% mature and responsible for working every one of your scheduled shifts unless you are seriously ill. I'm giving fair warning to all would-be employees of Lakota: Do not continue with the hiring and training process if you are not reliable. It will just be a huge waste of everyone's time. We will very quickly rid ourselves of people who don't show up for work. The list of resultant headaches are really bad news for everyone concerned and training new people is very expensive. Enough said.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSYou have just created the most perfectly mouth watering, sent straight from heaven Latte; I mean this is God's perfect gift of coffee delivered to the world through your loving hands. You notice a slight glow over the drink as you hand it over to your customer with great pride and the perfect gracious attitude of service well performed. A few minutes pass and much to your horror, the person returns saying - "Excuse me but this is made wrong and I don't like it." O.K., In your mind this person is dead wrong, I mean wrong to the point of serious delusion, and for what possible reason? A. Craving a machine Latte from Breaktime? B. Just enjoys bitching? C. Wouldn't know a coffee miracle if it bit-em in the backside...? The fact is - it doesn't really matter. Out of all the people we serve, you can count on a small percentage of them being ignorant of coffee perfection. Plus, it's important to remember that everyone has different tastes, so please don't make the customer wrong, at least not out loud. We stand behind our products with a refund or replacement. Even though YOU and I know the drink was perfect, we also stand behind our commitment to pleasing our customers. Your grim responsibility at this point is to soothe and smooth, first yourself (quickly), then the customer in question. It's time to bite your tongue and rise above. "I'd be happy to remake that for you. Can you tell me how you'd like it made?" Okay, Okay, I know, this is probably a tough call. If you're saying something like this while you're biting your tongue, you'll probably sound like you have a sock in your mouth anyway. The point is to be as sweet about it as you possible can. During my many years in the bar and restaurant industry, I gradually trained myself to look at these situations as opportunities to tolerantly and patiently come from an attitude of service. I don't know if that helps you or not but it served me much better than letting myself get all twisted.
I also noticed that people threw a lot of cash my way.
PROBLEM PEOPLEAs It Turns Out, The Customer is NOT Always Right!It's bound to happen. It's probably inevitable. Someone is going to come in to Lakota and push every button you've got and some you didn't know you had. They may be obnoxious, loud, drunk, homeless, or mentally disturbed. If and when this happens, just get a manager. If no manager is available and you are on your own, then just quietly accommodate them to the best of your ability. If for one second you think the problem is beyond you or that you are in danger, just pick up the phone and make the call. We have emergency numbers posted. Know where they are and don't hesitate to make a 911 call if you feel imperiled. No sense in getting your face ripped off if you can make a simple phone call instead.
DEALING WITH CAMPERSAlmost everyday at one time or another, we have to deal with a "Camper". You mean they pitch a tent? No, no, this is a person who sits at one of our tables for hours, drinking water or horking down food from a sack lunch or from someone else's business. If someone is taking up a table but does not have a product of ours, ask them how they are doing and if you can get them anything... kind of act as a wait person. No need in pressing too much if we're slow but check back occasionally, so that they get the point that it's not okay to take up our real estate without buying anything. Please don't be rude to them but at some point you may have to be pretty blunt, especially when we're busy. Something like this might be good: (quietly...) "We're coming into our busy time of day and we really need to clear tables for our guests who want Lakota products. Is there anything that I can get you?" You are free to come up with an approach that you feel comfortable with but we need to get the point across without being rude. No sense in upsetting anyone if we don't have to. The hope is that they will buy something, be impressed with the customer service, and come back to us again. Back to Top!
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