Beat it

I really think FNS 399 would crumble after I leave. What with the fact that only a weak leader in Enrico (my colleague, I'm not gonna use his real name anymore) is left behind to manage the place and no Calamity Man to pick up his mess as well as a rookie as my replacement.

I actually feel bad about it knowing that my people would suffer as a result but I've done all I could and I think it's time to move on to something that would give me more positive results for the amount of effort I'm capable of putting into anything that I do.

Yesterday, one of our tenants approached me for permission to offer a new item on her menu. Even though it was within my jurisdiction to say yes straight away, I thought I did the right thing by not doing so out of mutual respect for Enrico even though I do not have a good impression of him as my direct superior and a manager of an eating establishment. I felt I should at least inform him about it as it's not really a small thing in our line of work.

So today I brought up the matter to him.

Man, this guy has a big ego. So do I like I often say but there is a time and place for that as far as I understand.

In front of me he said "Ya, ya, ya she brought it up to me as well but I had no idea what she said because it's something in Malay... what was that again?" like as though he knew all along.

The truth is, she never approached him at all. She, like many others, is more comfortable dealing with me.

The issue I have right now is because behind my back, Enrico actually chided this tenant for not approaching him first.

What Enrico needs to understand is that this is not his grandfather's business and we are not the tenants' bosses. In fact it's the other way around. The tenants are our bosses. They indirectly pay our salaries and we are service-providers to them.

This is the same guy who always says, "You know or not, I study management hor, I know this and that and this and that..." with his chest all puffed up in his self-absorbed glory.

I've got news buddy: Knowledge is nothing without application.

Understanding that the particular tenant needed a little extra help, I took it upon myself to ask her to prepare the new dish that she's intending to sell, took photos with my cheeseburger (really fat and old digicam) and then went home and took a few minutes of my World Cup time to help her prepare a DIY promotional poster. Tomorrow, I shall laminate it at my own expense just in time for Friday.

Now that's experience, humanity and common sense. Beat that.