i have a busperson/server who just recently graduated high school. last summer, she did some serving for me, but was not the most enthusiastic nor competent person i had in that position; however, i wanted to give her a shot and it was a bit slower than normal, so i did. i was happy when school started up full-time again.

she wanted to serve again this summer and as things would have it, i had just recently hired someone to fill in and she is working out quite well. this did not go over big with my girl, but that is the way things are and i could not wait an additional month (at the time) to have her out of school and working for only two months prior to leaving for college -- that, and the reasons stated above. so she has had nothing but an attitude since then.

she had to go and find another job. she is working as a busperson at night and has been habitually late since then - my husband just mentioned it to me this past weekend. he told her to be on time (early, even) on Sunday (Father's Day) because we are usually very busy on the holidays. i had the extremely amazing timing of being there when she came through the back door to start her day.

she was miserable. all day.

i said "It's Father's Day -- Happy Faces!" got glared at.

saw a party of 4 leave my restaurant because nobody acknowledged their existence. i immediately got up and said "if max is busy with another customer, it is really okay for you to say good-morning to someone waiting at the door and let them know it will only be a minute or so before they are seated..." got glared at, again.

called intermittently throughout the day, found out she had worked until 2:30 a.m. and had not much sleep. somehow, this was our fault? also found out she was miserable, all day, and did not so much as look in my husband's direction or speak to him once. he was deserving of this?

one key item to mention: her mother is one of my managers at the hospital.

~sigh~

we had to fill out a questionnaire at the hospital last week regarding "who is our customer?" and gave our input as to how to improve relations with patients and co-workers. this is a pay week for the restaurant and i am seeking opinions: do you think it is silly to put this type of questionairre in the envelopes along with my employees' paychecks to get feed-back and have them do a little self-evaluation (as a group, so nobody is singled-out) or should i just seek out this girl and nip it in the bud about what is going on in her life, try to look at things from her perspective and see what can be done, if anything, to improve her attitude?

or should we wait and see if she is late this weekend coming up and let her go if she is?

personally, i am leaning along the lines of the self-evals because it can make us all stop and think about what we are doing, how we can improve, even in a little cafe setting (which is waaaaay more about customer service than simply giving a cup of coffee...)

your thoughts most welcomed - i will be intermittent with my responses as i am off to the hospital in a few minutes, but would appreciate objective perspectives :)