Time to Sing a Different Song
Posted by estiator at 8 August, at 14 : 15 PM Print
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N.KOLITSAS Business Coach
For this month’s column, I thought I would review a new song by one of America’s highest earning recording artists. So, you’re asking yourself: What does a restaurateur/ restaurant consultant have to say about a pop song? Well, when the song is Beyoncé’s newest release, “Break My Soul,” plenty. “A bunch of my friends are all quitting their jobs,
”I was recently told by one of my key staff members, a young woman at the end of her 20s.
Why? I asked.
“Because Beyoncé told them to.” Well, in a way, at least.
In today’s woke madness, work is characterized as an evil, and not having to work if you don’t want to, by extension, now seems to be a human right. Take note, my friends, we are witnessing the end of the American experiment and it’s happening right now, right before our eyes. But let’s back up…
There are two parts to what made America great: liberty and opportunity. And one with- out the other would not have produced the greatest country that history has ever seen. But opportunity is only good if you have enough people who are willing to work hard and turn that opportunity into something. If not, it’s just a flat concept. Meaningless. A hollow promise. It’s up to the individual for the promise to be realized. It’s not something that just falls in your lap because you’re entitled to it.
But Beyoncé’s song would have us believe otherwise: “Now, I just fell in love, And I just quit my job, I’m gonna find new drive, Damn, they work me so damn hard, Work by nine, then off past five, And they work my nerves, That’s why I cannot sleep at night… You won’t break my soul.”
It’s up to the individual to work hard for the promise to be realized. It’s not something that just falls in your lap because you’re entitled to it.
“Is there any way I can please have my job back?” That was a request from one of my former servers. A nice kid with a big heart. Customers loved him. And I really need servers. But the answer was a flat “no.” He’s over 30 years old, and from a good Greek home. When he worked for me, he was never on time (once he actually showed up 90 minutes late). And he spent more time watching the butterflies than doing his part. It was obvious that the job just got in the way of his life. It was breaking his soul. And every time I speak with him (he calls once in a while to check in), there’s always this great next job on the horizon. And then it’s gone. A few months ago he called to tell me that if I needed him to pick up a few shifts, he could do me the favor of covering for a server now and then. But I would need to give him a couple of weeks’ notice. Yes, because servers always give me a couple of weeks’ notice of when they will call out. I’m not blaming the kid—he just serves as a prime indicator of what is wrong with the country in this moment in time. I worry about his generation. He’s in the prime of his working career, and he is not producing anything. Zero. Zilch. And he is becoming the rule rather than the exception.
“Release ya anger, release ya mind, Release ya job, release the time, Release ya trade, release the stress, Release the love, forget the rest.” This song’s deleterious message is the product of a society with a warped value system. Our culture has it all wrong on many levels, and whose words we heed is just the beginning (although it’s where we’ll start and end for the purposes of this column). Where other cultures place great importance on the elders of their society, ours worships youth and ignores the aged. This, of course, is completely backwards. What can a 20-year old say about life? They haven’t even begun to live it. And the wisdom of an 80-year-old who has seen struggle, has seen highs and lows, has lived through peacetime and wartime, has experienced booms and busts, is ignored.
Of course, Beyoncé is no teenybopper. In fact, she’s an astute businesswoman (who I’m sure has a ravenous work ethic, and hence, her success). A component of that astuteness is knowing what her audience wants to hear—in this case, a youthful anthem against working an eight-hour day.
Constantine Kolitsas is the president of CNK Consulting, a restaurant consultant and coaching business. He can be reached at 203-947-6234 or at ckolitsas@gmail.com.
