SC - Day Boards
Bonne of Traquair
oftraquair at hotmail.com
Fri Feb 16 12:08:02 PST 2001
>Beef Barley Stew, bread, cheese and honey butter. My first thought
>was... how boring!
Well, it does sound like what most people would expect. A 'period' version
of McD's that leaves the purchasers with the feeling of, "well, it was food,
it was cheap, it was lunch. Let's move on."
You want people to leave the dayboard feeling, "Well! That was a LUNCH!"
Don't talk about his proposal being boring, talk about your failure to
communicate your vision. He must not understand that you want something
unexpected and out of the ordinary, and yet, documentable. Maybe he doesn't
understand that is allowable, or doesn't think himself up to it: let him
know that it is, and he is. Discuss the budget, perhaps he feels that the
cheapest meal possible is preferred (it often is on dayboards), let him know
there is room to show off (if there is). Discuss the time factor, maybe he
doesn't have the time to commit to more than this simple meal, maybe deputy
cooks could be taken on to help out?
Once he understands the idea, beleives that you think him equal to the task
and knows that you intend to support his ideas, he may be inspired. If not,
then what are the alternatives? He could do lunch and someone else could do
the spiffy bits. Or, if you can handle the potential ill-will, choose
another cook. Or, it may be that he does what he intends, and you must save
your vision of the dayboard until you can volunteer for that job instead of
the one you have.
Because, afterall, you are the autocrat and he is the cook. You can
encourage him to set his sights a little higher, but you can't do his job
and shouldn't try. We have talked before of the annoyance of the autocrat
trying to run the kitchen. Usually the problem is the autocrat wants a
little 'less' rather than more as you do, but that doesn't change a thing.
Past this negotiation phase, in which you will not get your own way
entirely, you run everthing except the kitchen, he runs nothing but the
kitchen.
Gee, that sounds huffy, but I'm defending the principle of the autocrat
staying out out of the kitchen. I hope you can negotiate some plan you both
like. But in principle, so long as he's not planning anything downright
inappropriate, you have to let him go with his plan as you would wish to be
allowed if the positions were reversed.
Bonne
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