3 ms·

Given that good management can have such a dramatic effect on the efficiency of this style of burger joint, this may well be a good investment for the company.

Given that good management can have such a dramatic effect on the efficiency of this style of burger joint, this may well be a good investment for the company. I remember once going into a McDonald's, and seeing an absolutely de-optimized crew. Basically, they seemed to be trying to all use the same station at the same time, trying to maximize the length of the queue formed and minimize throughput. It literally took me 10 minutes to get a burger. Of course, this also applies to the workers under the manager as well. My wife drives me crazy in this way. There are some people who will interact in a group by modeling the future pathways, tasks, and schedule of everyone around them, then navigate those models to avoid conflict in time and space. Then there are some people who can't. As far as I can tell, my wife doesn't have a fine-grained enough internal sense of time to be able to do that. I almost stopped dating her early on, because she once kept me waiting 45 minutes in front of the locked door of her apartment, because she was having a conversation with her CEO. I also recall a recent instance cooking with her in the kitchen, and was rinsing 3 pieces of raw meat (1) -- she interrupted me between piece 2 and piece 3 and left me hanging there with contaminated hands while she washed/processed an entire leek. I also remember a band-mate of mine who couldn't "add time" in her head when travelling to gigs, so would always be late. (I know this is the specific case from conversations while planning to drive somewhere.) It was a very good lesson on how job satisfaction doesn't need fancy cafés, ball pits and slides. I think one of the best possible rewards is "good working." When people really mesh, there can even be a high. (1 - Which you're not supposed to do in the US, but I do because my wife grew up in China, so she has a much greater distrust of commercial food processing.)

paulie_a 9y ago
How does she feel about you ranting about her publicly on the internet?
- taway_1212 9y ago
  To be fair, posting on HN under a nickname is closer to writing an anonymous rant on say a toilet wall. I wouldn’t say he’s doing it “publicly”.
purple-again 9y ago
I would have left my wife standing on the porch if I was in a conversation with my CEO or other organizational top management. It’s a complete different paradigm for respecting authority that I picked up in the Military and your wife no doubt picked up from China’s strong nationality and authoritarian paradigm. No single thing has been harder about the ‘normal’ world then getting used to people who seemingly don’t even CONSIDER the power structure of an engagement let alone actively alter their behavior in the moment based on who they are talking to.
- stcredzero 9y ago
  I would have left my wife standing on the porch When you'd made an arrangement to meet them at a certain time? Man, to me that's just cold. your wife no doubt picked up from China’s strong nationality One thing that I picked up from dating then marrying my wife, is that China is waaaay more diverse and varied within its borders than most people in the US imagine. The basic philosophy towards friendship between the north and south varies, and even that is an oversimplification. One province over, the dining habits are waaay different from where she grew up. She comes from a Mandarin speaking region in the south, where before I'd heard that the south speaks Cantonese, but even there it's more complex than I'd thought. Turns out the real traditional languages are two entirely different dialects I'd never even heard of. China's not so much a nation-state, as a "civilization-state." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhUmLtlZpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhUmLtlZpw and authoritarian paradigm. Maybe there's something to that.

paulie_a 9y ago

How does she feel about you ranting about her publicly on the internet?

taway_1212 9y ago
To be fair, posting on HN under a nickname is closer to writing an anonymous rant on say a toilet wall. I wouldn’t say he’s doing it “publicly”.

purple-again 9y ago

I would have left my wife standing on the porch if I was in a conversation with my CEO or other organizational top management. It’s a complete different paradigm for respecting authority that I picked up in the Military and your wife no doubt picked up from China’s strong nationality and authoritarian paradigm. No single thing has been harder about the ‘normal’ world then getting used to people who seemingly don’t even CONSIDER the power structure of an engagement let alone actively alter their behavior in the moment based on who they are talking to.

stcredzero 9y ago
I would have left my wife standing on the porch When you'd made an arrangement to meet them at a certain time? Man, to me that's just cold. your wife no doubt picked up from China’s strong nationality One thing that I picked up from dating then marrying my wife, is that China is waaaay more diverse and varied within its borders than most people in the US imagine. The basic philosophy towards friendship between the north and south varies, and even that is an oversimplification. One province over, the dining habits are waaay different from where she grew up. She comes from a Mandarin speaking region in the south, where before I'd heard that the south speaks Cantonese, but even there it's more complex than I'd thought. Turns out the real traditional languages are two entirely different dialects I'd never even heard of. China's not so much a nation-state, as a "civilization-state." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhUmLtlZpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhUmLtlZpw and authoritarian paradigm. Maybe there's something to that.