She Runs The Shift, But Another Manager Keeps Taking Over

On Reddit’s r/OfficePolitics, a shift supervisor at a restaurant has detailed how she is having difficulties with another manager. The latter, she says, regularly ignores her instructions and decides things unilaterally while she is in charge. The OP said they work in a busy food-service restaurant which has multiple management levels. In the post, the supervisor changed the specifics of her story for anonymity, but she occupies a position known in the company as a Shift Captain, who is in charge of the whole restaurant. Then comes a Kitchen Captain who mainly looks after kitchen operations.

The supervisor said that she had undergone extensive management training at a different location. Only after that was she promoted to Shift Captain.

However, her colleague, whom she referred to as Vanessa, was promoted swiftly but still needs to develop as a Kitchen Captain. The main conflict, as the supervisor explained, comes up when she is in charge of the shift. Apparently, at that time, Vanessa often redirects the employees after she has given them their tasks. The former allegedly interrupts the training process and takes part in the discussions about shift expectations too.

The situation escalated when Vanessa was training a new employee, Ethan, on a difficult kitchen station. During Vanessa’s break, the supervisor checked Ethan’s progress and showed him how to decide whether another batch of food was needed. The supervisor said she also demonstrated the food-safety procedures to prepare the item(s) and then let Ethan do the task himself. But when Vanessa returned, she tried to take over parts of the process. Later, employees told the supervisor that Vanessa gave Ethan conflicting instructions and did many tasks for him.

Subsequently, the supervisor allotted closing responsibilities to the team. Ethan was expected to clean his station independently, while Vanessa would handle other duties. But Vanessa objected, saying Ethan was new and did not know how to do every task. The supervisor replied that Ethan had already cleaned the station and needed to start work independently now. Still, the closing reportedly took about 45 minutes longer than expected, as Vanessa did more unnecessary cleaning.

The supervisor also said the general manager has told managers that they are a team and should treat each other respectfully. At the same time, the supervisor said management has told her that employees in higher positions are expected to help train Vanessa.

Redditors had a variety of views. Several claimed that the supervisor should set clearer expectations and document the incidents that keep happening. Others felt that she might be hurting Vanessa by giving direct instructions to the kitchen staff and proposed that the two managers should work out their responsibilities with the general manager.

Another suggested that the matter be regarded as a performance issue by clearly explaining what is expected. That would allow Vanessa to address concerns privately and give employees some consistency.

At present, though, the OP is staying with the company as she is still in school and does not want to make it personal.