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> If a waiter served a customer a half-eaten sandwich, I’d expect the manager to immediately berate him in front of the other staff in the kitchen — not take hi

> If a waiter served a customer a half-eaten sandwich, I’d expect the manager to immediately berate him in front of the other staff in the kitchen — not take him aside and say “Hey, that isn’t cool.” Gross. Korey's own words, about teaching her direct reports "accountability" by asking them to work overtime, presumably unpaid, is gross. Korey's own actions, by forcing all employees to talk publicly in Slack channels in "the interest of transparency", and then firing those who talk about problems at the company, is gross. If this level of irresponsibility made its way to the board, PR disaster in stow, you sure imagine they'd try to get rid of her quick.

bwilliams18 7y ago
I just lost a lot of respect for John. I've worked in serious NYC restaurants for years, and made a lot of big mistakes, including serving inch-worms to celebrities. I've almost always been treated with respect and kindness when I made a mistake (save for some gentle ribbing). When I first started I had a few sternly worded conversations, but they were always respectful and very clearly delivered with the intention of building me up, not putting me down. The one and only time I was ever shouted at was in private and one-on-one, and was a motivating factor in my putting in my notice a few days later. Toxic culture is never acceptable, not in restaurants, or tech companies.
- paggle 7y ago
  That’s just wrong that you got gentle ribbing if it was your fault that a worm got served to a diner. I’d prefer to eat at restaurants where such an employee was fired or severely castigated for such a screwup, but in private, and not with glee.
  - krageon 7y ago
    If you can't even mess with your colleagues after the real problems have been understood to be resolved, it's quite a stuffy workplace.
  - stronglikedan 7y ago
    > I’d prefer to eat at restaurants where such an employee was fired or severely castigated for such a screwup Well it's a good thing that employers can at least see the value in their employees, even when they gasp act human and make a mistake!
sixtypoundhound 7y ago
Honestly, I hope the employees involved file a massive class action suit against the CEO, head of HR, and the board for creating a hostile environment. Burn the place to the ground. Somewhere along the line in the past 20 years, HR and senior leadership decided they were not "managers" but "therapists". We don't discuss what happened from a process and policy compliance perspective (depersonalizing it). No - we have to turn it into a holier than thou judgement session about your values and personal beliefs. The problem is... instead of the brief burst of discomfort produced by a policy compliance discussion (which is often very impersonal), the feedback discussion becomes a very personal judgement about you by a respected authority figure that you have been conditioned to listen to. Far more painful and damaging. I went thought something similar at a former employer, a nasty web of pseudo-therapy "coaching" to help "align me with corporate values". I had an chance to leave and I took it. 30 days later, my family commented that Dad was finally smiling again.... From an ethical perspective, HR needs to RUN from anything resembling being a therapist. No mental health professional could ethically operate under the realities of their job: they have a massive conflict of interest and policy prohibitions against client confidentiality. You should never open up to HR. Period. They're not a mental health provider. If you're in HR and want to work as a mental health professional, quit your corporate job, get licensed, and operate in accordance with industry ethics!
fastball 7y ago
Sounds like racist stuff was being said in that #Hot-Topics channel. You'll notice one of the offending employees did not even try to refute that, but rather seemed to be using the ridiculous defense of "I can't be racist because I'm not white". > “The stuff you said was hateful, even racist. You no longer have a job at this company.” Emily, who is a person of color, was shocked. “That was jarring — three white people telling me I was racist,” she says. Given the things I've seen people post publicly on Twitter and elsewhere, I can 100% believe that racist things were being said and that the perpetrators felt they were immune to repercussions because the things being said were about white people.
- bishalb 7y ago
  I agree with you. It's almost as if it's racist to call people of color racist.

bwilliams18 7y ago

I just lost a lot of respect for John. I've worked in serious NYC restaurants for years, and made a lot of big mistakes, including serving inch-worms to celebrities. I've almost always been treated with respect and kindness when I made a mistake (save for some gentle ribbing). When I first started I had a few sternly worded conversations, but they were always respectful and very clearly delivered with the intention of building me up, not putting me down. The one and only time I was ever shouted at was in private and one-on-one, and was a motivating factor in my putting in my notice a few days later. Toxic culture is never acceptable, not in restaurants, or tech companies.

paggle 7y ago
That’s just wrong that you got gentle ribbing if it was your fault that a worm got served to a diner. I’d prefer to eat at restaurants where such an employee was fired or severely castigated for such a screwup, but in private, and not with glee.
- krageon 7y ago
  If you can't even mess with your colleagues after the real problems have been understood to be resolved, it's quite a stuffy workplace.
- stronglikedan 7y ago
  > I’d prefer to eat at restaurants where such an employee was fired or severely castigated for such a screwup Well it's a good thing that employers can at least see the value in their employees, even when they gasp act human and make a mistake!

sixtypoundhound 7y ago

Honestly, I hope the employees involved file a massive class action suit against the CEO, head of HR, and the board for creating a hostile environment. Burn the place to the ground. Somewhere along the line in the past 20 years, HR and senior leadership decided they were not "managers" but "therapists". We don't discuss what happened from a process and policy compliance perspective (depersonalizing it). No - we have to turn it into a holier than thou judgement session about your values and personal beliefs. The problem is... instead of the brief burst of discomfort produced by a policy compliance discussion (which is often very impersonal), the feedback discussion becomes a very personal judgement about you by a respected authority figure that you have been conditioned to listen to. Far more painful and damaging. I went thought something similar at a former employer, a nasty web of pseudo-therapy "coaching" to help "align me with corporate values". I had an chance to leave and I took it. 30 days later, my family commented that Dad was finally smiling again.... From an ethical perspective, HR needs to RUN from anything resembling being a therapist. No mental health professional could ethically operate under the realities of their job: they have a massive conflict of interest and policy prohibitions against client confidentiality. You should never open up to HR. Period. They're not a mental health provider. If you're in HR and want to work as a mental health professional, quit your corporate job, get licensed, and operate in accordance with industry ethics!

fastball 7y ago

Sounds like racist stuff was being said in that #Hot-Topics channel. You'll notice one of the offending employees did not even try to refute that, but rather seemed to be using the ridiculous defense of "I can't be racist because I'm not white". > “The stuff you said was hateful, even racist. You no longer have a job at this company.” Emily, who is a person of color, was shocked. “That was jarring — three white people telling me I was racist,” she says. Given the things I've seen people post publicly on Twitter and elsewhere, I can 100% believe that racist things were being said and that the perpetrators felt they were immune to repercussions because the things being said were about white people.

bishalb 7y ago
I agree with you. It's almost as if it's racist to call people of color racist.