What you're doing wrong in an interview... and in your life.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Great thread Red, here are my toughts as somebody who owned and operated a business with over 300 employees.

want you to be able to do the job. That is not the same thing as making good grades in school. It means you know how that particular industry operates, what your place in it is, how your work affects others down the line, and you can hit the ground running, producing from day one. I am, after all, paying you from day one.

I also want you to tell me the things you can't do, so I dont' expect you to do them and get upset when you cant' achieve the goals I've placed for you. Learn to know your strenghts, and allow me to help you with your weakness.

I want you support my business. That might mean taking on extra responsibilities at times. It does mean not calling in sick because you want to go fishing, and not bad-mouthing the business after hours. That guy you are talking trash about me to in the bar might be the next potential customer. It means helping out filling the void when someone does call in sick. It means doing your job as efficiently and perfectly as possible to increase the bottom line.

And your performance will direclty affect the ammount of money I decide to give you at the end of every year, bonus or raise. I agree here 100%. I don't need you to like your job, ( although I why are you here otherwise?) but I won't tolerate you bad mouthing my business to potential customers.

■I want you to be honest with me. I do not want a "yes man"... all that does is let me go off on a wild goose chase that will cost me money. I want someone to tell me when I ask what they think of a plan and why. I want someone who will let me know when they have a problem that might affect their job... that way I can plan for possible contingencies arising from those problems.

This is a big one. Do not under any circumstances not tell me something is wrong, even if it's your fault. It will cost me money and I much like anybody else can have crappy ideas. Your good ones will be rewarded. I don't care if you got hired yesterday to answer the phone, you see a problem, let me know.

■I want you to come in on time, every day, and do a full day's work. I'm paying you a full day's pay.

Yup.

I want you to know your place. You are an employee... you come to work, put in your hours, get your pay, and go home. That's fine, but understand that I spent sleepless nights trying to put together business plans, argued with investors, invested my money, my time, my talents, went without because I needed equipment or materials that came before my home life, all without a guarantee of even getting paid, just to make my living and in the process create that job for you. Advice is fine and wanted, but the final decision is mine.

I was always the type who respected those who didn't brown nose me. Who didn't give me respect just because I was the boss. I don't give it unless it's warranted and I never expected it from my employees. I've fired people and re-hired them after they stormed into my office and told me off for how much of a dunce I was being.

Passion and logic go a long way.

Everything else is 100% and anybody who came into an interview with these values and these ideas in mind when I ask the tought questions, you are hired.

I had a womenone time, never forget it, worked for me for 10 years after I hired her, I asked her what her biggest fault was, she said she was Vain, and needed a mirror on her desk in order to be able to do her job.

Was it silly as all hell? Sure was, but I appreciated the honesty and the blutness. Best secretary I ever had and probably ever will have that one was.

~Tenth

Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by antonia

Sometimes that is the best way to handle it.

But if I am trying to work with someone who wants a "yes-man" (which is what I thought you were alluding to; apologies if I misread your intent), that will eventually mean I will have to agree with something I know is wrong. That is a lie, and I'm just not very good at it. Now, saying my objection and ending it with, "but it is your decision" I have no problem doing. That has always worked well for me.

I ended up leaving my last job when he hired one of his female friends on as the manager. She knew nothing about bars beyond being drunk in one and had never ran a nightclub. I could have dealt with that the way I dealt with the last manager-Doing all her work for her (lol), but she ended up making a thief the head bartender. I quit because I wasn't going to have someone who stole from me giving me orders. Funny enough, two days after I quit the thief got into a fight with the cook and was arrested and fired. I've had to leave other positions due to people serving underage patrons, drug use and the general soap opera that is a badly run bar.

It's a job I will probably never go back to unless I own the damn bar, but I learned a lot of human nature from that business. I learned most people are vain and need to have their ego propped up. I could never do it, so I just said nothing.

That's a big issue I think in today's working world. People hiring friend's and family, trying to be nice or fill a spot with a known face. Regardless of the reasons it's kinda turning into a huge issue. You have so many people working jobs they haven't a damn clue how to do.

Gaining employment is now a networking game, of who can I befriend who has a company or place of employment that I can work for? Now many may be " Whats wrong with that ? " well, think about it, it's draining jobs from people who would best fit them, for people who will best fail them.

I love my friends, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna work with them, and family.... HAH I already was forced to grow up with them, I'm not spending 40 + hrs a week with em.... But somehow that's not that bad of an option for people, I dunno, maybe i'm rambling, but maybe i'm also just disgusted with the way society evolves.

reply to post by Moneyisgodlifeisrented

This is the new face of employment in America, they just want to get as much work done for the least amount of price paid out.

There's nothing new about that.

If you are qualified in a field where 10,000 others are also qualified, and there are 5,000 potential jobs, then you have to be in the top half of that group to get a chance to work. Qualified means the same thing it means when you are shopping for a TV: will it do a good job and how much will it cost. If you have a choice between a 50" plasma that costs $500 and a 52" plasma that costs $10,000, you're probably going to get the 50" set.

If you are more expensive than the other guys, you won't get the job. Period. It's not the employers being mean; it's the employers trying to make a living just like you are.

But if you are one of 10 in your area qualified for a job and there are 20 potential jobs, you have a job. As long as the employer can pay you what you want, they will. Just like in a Christmas sale, consumers fight over the last few items they want and will pay outrageous prices.

If you want a good high-paying job, pick a field where you don't have much competition. My son had a job with a decent starting wage three weeks after graduating high school. My chosen profession went computerized and I didn't, so I have had a much harder time.

But whatever you do, don't go in with the notion in your head that this guy sitting across the desk is just trying to use you as much as they can for as little as they can. You'll give off vibes that will make it pretty certain you won't be called back afterwards.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


Nice post! It really made me think. However, I would argue with the general tone. For example, it would be a big black mark against any employer if they assumed I was doing something wrong when in fact they had no idea whatsoever what I was doing or who I was. (Maybe the title of the post should be fixed to say "What you MIGHT be doing wrong".)

Here is what I want from a prospective employer. It is a short list.

# I want an employer who recognizes that I choose to work for him rather than his competitor.

# I want an employer that can act as my friend and not my slave master.

# I want an employer that will help me get wealthy if I do a good job.

In brief, I want an employer who treats me, and my time, with the same respect I give him, and recognizes that any decent working relationship is symbiotic. My employer is my leader -- granted. But my employer is also my coworker -- is that not true?

Maybe you have had a lot of bad luck with employees, which accounts for your tone?

reply to post by Axial Leader

You know, I have had a lot of bad luck with potential employees. In the process, I learned why employers sometimes had problems with me. I could fill this entire forum with horror stories about people who tried to get me to hire them, but suffice it to say I have had my problems.

I have also had problems with employers. I have sat on both sides of the desk. So if I am biased, at least I am biased equally.

In the end, what I want to get across is that you are really in control as long as you want to be. It's not all that hard to come out an interview smelling like a rose as long as you are thinking fairly and rationally about what it is you are trying to do: you are trying to make a trade, your time and talents for money and benefits. You're not there (I hope) to try to catch someone trying to do you wrong, or there to show how much better you are than the person interviewing you.

It's just a trade. Show off the good points of your wares and don't show the bad parts.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by Moneyisgodlifeisrented
That's a big issue I think in today's working world. People hiring friend's and family, trying to be nice or fill a spot with a known face. Regardless of the reasons it's kinda turning into a huge issue. You have so many people working jobs they haven't a damn clue how to do.

Gaining employment is now a networking game, of who can I befriend who has a company or place of employment that I can work for? Now many may be " Whats wrong with that ? " well, think about it, it's draining jobs from people who would best fit them, for people who will best fail them.

I love my friends, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna work with them, and family.... HAH I already was forced to grow up with them, I'm not spending 40 + hrs a week with em.... But somehow that's not that bad of an option for people, I dunno, maybe i'm rambling, but maybe i'm also just disgusted with the way society evolves.

This is 100% so true. I've seen this so many times.

The person who does the hiring and managing often doesn't have a direct connection to the companies profits. They don't really care if another person could do the job better or faster. They just want their little group to give each other jobs.

It's really a huge problem in places like the government.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

There is no employer, not even a menial factory job, or box loader at UPS, that doesn't want intelligent people that require little supervision.

Now, there also is not an supervisor anywhere that doesn't want someone easy to supervise.

So, so not true!

1. Not all supervisors care about the company's profits. Most don't get more money if the company makes more money. Even in small companies, supervisors don't act rationally.

2. Emotional payoffs are often stronger than monetary payoffs (whether they will admit it or not). So you will get a boss who will hire a young girl who knows nothing because they like looking at her and feel powerful knowing more than she does.

3. Bosses also think it makes them look good to be the competent one in the group. After all, why have a manager if they have nothing to manage? (very, very true in large corps and government offices).

reply to post by Daughter2


Perhaps there are temporary bad supervisors that make bad decisions, but if their decision making is that poor, they won't be supervisors for long.

As far as competing with a young hottie, it depends on the skillset needed for the job. I'm pretty sure TheRedneck isn't going to hire some gorgeous 18 year old in a short skirt to run his Nuke Plant, no matter how sexy she might be! BUT, if the job is shuffling papers or answering phones, maybe the short skirt beats the MBA. I can see that happening, but that is for a job with a very low skillset.

Originally posted by TheRedneck

A few years later, I saw him again. He didn't recognize me, I don't think, because he was concentrating on bagging my groceries. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to rub in the fact that I was the owner of the top structural steel/architectural design firm around at the time.

TheRedneck

You sound like a fine employer which is refreshing to hear nowadays. A good and decent business owner/employer seems to be a rare thing any more. Its too bad that most businesses (big-businesses) and corporations werent headed by decent folks like yourself.

Maybe big-businesses and corporations wouldnt be so DAMN hated by the masses and their workers if they werent a bunch of SNAKES and DEVILS who care about nothing other than money, and would become ethical and decent people such as yourself.

Good for you! Good to see an ethical business man in todays world!! It sure is a rare thing anymore.

Originally posted by antonia
reply to post by sligtlyskeptical

 

What's the old saying? You get what you pay for. Many people don't understand that, but I doubt the OP is one of them.

Well minimum wage tends to be menial work that anyone without much of an education can do. Ironically, minimum wage wasn't all that bad, about 35-40 years ago. What has happened in those last 40 years is that minimum wage has stayed the same (counting inflation) while the price of many things has gone up (counting inflation). For a business to be efficient, they need to pay their employees very little and reap great profits. If you want to look at the most immoral, yet arguable one of the most successful corporations in the world, look no further than Wal-Mart. Simply stepping into a Wal-Mart should be grounds for treason given how badly it has marred small businesses in America.

reply to post by HangTheTraitors

Actually, I will admit I make one lousy boss! I expect people working for me to be at the top of their game while on my time. I want to see results and I don't take kindly to excuses. You want a raise from me? Prove to me you're worth it; then we'll talk.

You'll find that 90% of the bosses out there want the exact same thing. A lot of them are just jaded from having to deal with people who hate their job because they actually have to work and don't give a hoot about the company. You try to be nice to people too much and they'll stab you in the back every time.

During the time I was self-employed as an electrician, I had a worker I had hired a few weeks earlier who had been doing a good job. Until one day he never showed up for work... when I called him, he told me he didn't want to work any more. Great, no notice and I have a deadline to meet. So I call the contractor and let him know; he has someone who has been wanting a job. We drive by the guy's house and I meet him, talk to him for about 5 minutes, and hire him.

We drive to the job site and start the rough-in. This was a two-day job, and we were going to have to finish up on Monday. I knew the guy was down on his luck, so I gave him the option of paying him for the one day since it was the weekend (I was paying when the job paid). He wanted the money, so I paid him and told him I would be there at his house at 6:00 Monday. He said he would be ready.

Monday I show up. I honk the horn and no response. I honk again; no response. I walk up to the house and knock on the door. His mother answers and tells me the guy took off after I dropped him off Friday and she hasn't seen him since! Now I get to call the contractor... again!... and let him know there's a problem. I tell him I will be late but I'll finish on time. Then I call the local radio station classified line and announce I have a job available.

First call was from a girl I had gone to school with; she wanted to know if I would hire a woman. I asked her if she could climb a ladder and crawl under a house. She said yes, so I said yes, just wear pants instead of a skirt. I gave her directions to my house and waited. I had maybe 20 more calls while I waited, and I wrote down the names in order, explaining I had hired someone but if they didn't show I would call them back.

Then I got a call from a guy asking if the job is still open. I say no, but if he'll leave his name and number I'll call him back if I need him. He asked if the girl I hired was who I was waiting on. A little taken aback I said yes, and he told me that was his wife and he would be taking her place.

I had just sat there a good thirty minutes, already late, and this dude is playing some kind of game!

So I thanked him, told him he was on the list, and hung up. I called the first name on my list, he took the job and was there inside of 15 minutes. We finished on time, and he turned out to be the best employee I ever had. He knew nothing about wiring, but he was willing to work, eager to learn, and never said "No" to anything I asked of him. I wound up starting a couple of other small enterprises and this guy worked them as well. When I decided I couldn't turn down a job offer out of town, I even offered to back him in continuing the business: a full partnership, he would get to use all my tools, he would have all my contacts, and I would be available if he needed to know how to do something.

I still wish he hadn't turned me down, but he was afraid of going it on his own.

Out of three employees in a simple job, two screwed me and almost left me missing a deadline. Two others played games with me when I tried to hire them. Now I am sure every one thought they were just doing what was in their best interests, but the one guy who wanted to work was the one who actually did good for himself.

Now, just how surprising is it that employers are suspicious and cynical after dealing with that kind of idiocy year after year?

TheRedneck

Yes that is true, but the fact of the matter is no employees no business right, so in fact, employees are the backbone of any business. and should be treated with more respect

It may be your business but no workers means you are out of business

As a Business owner with partners, these rules should also apply.

* Dont pay yourself until all the Months Bills are covered, including your Workers wages

* Dont spend Company money you dont have on Christmas parties, Free Lunches, and other non Business related items

* Dont give employees raises (when there getting paid too much in the first place) just to make them "feel better" or "boost moral"

* Dont negotiate with employees but let them know what you expect them to do and if they dont do it find out why

* EDIT(mentioned ealier) DONT HIRE FAMILY OR FRIENDS!!! Especially if you know they will be a problem. There are always exceptions to this rule but in General, hiring a known Gang Member is not a good idea.


I also have a huge problem finding qualified individuals that I can trust to be at a job site without constant supervision. I can train anyone to do a specific job, only if you can find me a worker who doesnt bitch and complain about every little thing that doesnt go there way. Also, to add something to Rednecks list about workers, DONT LISTEN TO YOUR IPOD while at a job site and dont have a detailed conversation about your Weekends in front of Customers. Amazing our society now a days.

Coming from a skilled tradesman struggling to make ends meet, (Glazier) you sound like real down to earth boss with a "take no $hit" attitude that I have found to be very rare with employers. In my experiences, I have mostly worked for companies where its a personality contest of who is trying to be the coolest guy that the boss wants to hang and party with, or the yes man that will actually never own up to mistakes and throw his fellow employees under the bus to either boost their own ego, or save their job. It seems I'm the guy that just tells dirty jokes and ducks his head when the crap starts to fly. When all is said and done, I just buck up, and do what it takes to get the job done. I'm like you, I am not a good liar. I don't like to boast, which is kind of hard for me to keep in check, because every building I work on is like a trophy. Respect is key imo. And that is coming from someone who, despite all the asshats and good people that I have worked for, has never been fired, but has been in a revolving door of layoffs.

In conclusion, I find your post here to be very informative as long as people are honest. And I see a very fine line to walk when balancing honesty with representing who you work for.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Great list Redneck. One of the more intelligent threads I've read here in quite some time.

If I may though, there is one more professional attribute I think should be added: Keeping your personal life and business life separate. I think an employer such as yourself would want to know that the person sitting in front of you would know how to keep his/her personal life personal and business life business. There are times when those two can cross the line into counter-productive territory.

I had a boss once, many years ago, who made a "before the shift meeting" speech about this. One of those things I've never forgotten. He said basically, to the entire team "You're at work now. You're not home. If you don't know how to keep those two parts of your life separate, you need to learn. You need to keep what you do here, here, and what you do at home, there. I understand there are times when that isn't possible. I understand that we have issues at home from time to time that bleed over into work because we can't keep certain things bottled up inside forever and we can't let them out at home. But this is what we have company sponsored programs for. To take your issues out to the production floor isn't very professional at best, and counter-productive at worst because your mind isn't focused entirely on work. It's pre-occupied partly with your personal feelings about issues you have at home.We don't pay you to vent your personal feelings here. We pay you to produce goods which the customer buys, which gives us money and in turn, puts money in your paycheck which in turn you take home. Which, again, isn't here. Where your personal feelings come into play here.....I don't know "

The man had a way with words.

It's not that he was implying that workers should be mindless robots, just know what your limitations are about how personal you can be at work without it actually affecting work in a negative way.

As the years went by, I learned just how right he was. I learned that the people who interject their own personal feelings or opinions about things at work are typically the people who are the least productive, they learn less about the job itself and don't advance quickly. If at all. Now what employees talk about on break time is one thing. They're not on the clock at that point. But to take it back inside......not a good idea. The same should go for bosses as well. If you don't like the way someone combs their hair or the crowd they hang out with at break time, that shouldn't influence your decisions about whether to promote or give pay raises. What kind of a WORKER they are should dictate those kinds of decisions.

Also, the bigger your plant or other type of business you have is, the more likely it is that you're going to find someone you'll want to associate with after work. Either as friends or something more. Cases like this are what phone numbers are for really. I don't know where you live now or where you have lived Redneck, but I've noticed that the bigger the town is, the less that the personal aspect comes into play at work. Small towns can be like an extended family; everyone either knows everyone else of knows of them. Professionalism lacks in situations like this because it's harder to keep your personal life personal. But regardless of whether your work is in a big town or small one, what two employees do off the clock shouldn't be the business of the boss as long as it doesn't affect their productivity, and if it does............something needs to be done about that.

Let's just say that some people wear their personal feelings on their sleeve while others.......you couldn't find them with a crystal ball. The one's who hide it well......do well. If you want a clearer picture of what I'm talking about, watch " Catch me if you can" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The man became a success both personally and professionally when he learned how to separate the two .

reply to post by TheRedneck


A thread to be bronzed, Redneck... and bravely put. I'm convinced that from the bullet
points you specified there's every chance you're the best boss I'll never have.
There are over 50 buttons on my calculator too, and multiple functions on most. The
present position doesn't require all of them, but when asked to go the extra furlong
my present superior knows I can function past my pay grade. From day zero I made
it clear that I wanted to close out my career in a position that would allow me to
maximize my contribution: ANY position can facilitate that in an organization that
allows for it.
As things have it we all know the market tanked, and manufacturing at large is
getting a Sonny Chiba haircut. As a displaced tool maker I appreciate the improved
muscle tone and dehydration from reaching in and shrinking on a ring gear...
you have to be there. It's (A356) deep dish week at Pizza Purgatory. Flywheels, sheesh.
I know full well utopia can't exist when everybody's trying to stop the bleeding from
quality and other aspects slipping: you know the drill, worn out machine tools, foreign
competition regularly stealing one's dinner, and rules from the disaffected in the ivory
tower. That won't stop me from making that contribution-- I'll just do it unrecognized.
For rewards- buck up. My originally contracted 6-month initial performance review is
a year delinquent near the end of this month; and I should by then achieve the status
of 60+ year old discarded bench jerky. Open package sale on eBay, Buy-It-Now. A
sense of humor is a prerequisite for a CNC progmonkey doing a half more (and more
accurate) work than men half his age: I enjoy the distinction of getting to go home
twice as satisfied and with half the stress... well, except heat stress LOL. A good hard
change of perspective helped; to honestly see the boss' side of the coin is just as
sweaty. And that guy in the A/C'd office is getting heat from a lot more directions.
Hope everything's liveably smooth in Dixie-- and thanks again for the refocusing.

Redneck, while you are most certainly not wrong, and are supplying the kind of hard-knocks advice that everyone (including management) needs to hear and re-hear periodically, your pragmatism borders on hostility.

Drawing a line in the sand like that is doing you no favors, even if it is just part of 'the bottom line.'

You sound like a solid businessman but you may have a way to go in developing your leadership skills. If I am a piece in your machine, I will always be very conscious of where the line begins and ends in respect to my duty. If, however, I believe I am part of a mission, or a family, I will be too busy 'buying in' to be watching the clock.

You may simply be hiring people at a level where you cannot expect the majority to believe they have a future with you. If that is the case, it is what it is. If you can't offer more than a paycheck it is silly to expect more than the minimum effort.

If, however, you are struggling to find people that you do intend to develop, you should try to find a way to offer more carrot and less stick. Fear is very effective, but love and respect are far more sustainable and will take you farther.

Again, I don't entirely disagree with you.....I just sense that you are all the way at one end of the spectrum and hitting the wall moving in the same direction. Read my signature!

Good luck....your interview advice is actually good. I think people do better when they put the needs of the business first. But people aren't machines and the ones who do put the business first need to be taken care of, and that entails some flexibility from management.

There is a ton of research out there regarding efficient work practices and their limits.....and I am not talking about the new age crap. There is solid work going back to the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the 8 hour work day, which has methodically been eroded over time much to the detriment of modern management.

For example:

"On January 5, 1914, the Ford Motor Company took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day and cut shifts from nine hours to eight, moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, and a significant increase in profit margin (from $30 million to $60 million in two years), most soon followed suit." -Wikipedia

While modern industrial techniques continue to reduce labor effort, work becomes more repetitive and craftsmanship/ownership in one's work is less relevant, which alienates workers to a degree.

As I am sure you already know, the human factor dictates that you can only get partial gains on any potential gains you add via technology. Don't begrudge the workers for this.

Again, I can tell you are intelligent and industrious and so I only offer this as a possible avenue for improvement. The business world needs pragmatic, driven people like you. It needs other things too. Breed excellence!

reply to post by TheRedneck


While I understand that in a majority of cases, a lot of your points apply, I watched my father work himself into four heart attacks in three years ON SALARY working up to 90 hours a week as a manufacturing process engineer. He has won awards from the SAE, and made a good name for himself in the auto industry before many of the people your post is directed toward were even out of diapers.

There is no incentive to 'give more' for an industrial employer, who is simply there to squeeze you for everything you are worth, and then toss you to the curb (as Textron did to my father) when you do your job ACCORDING TO THE HIGHEST STANDARD. (I'm talking about a situation in which my father exposed an inventory discrepancy which implicated a favorite of mid-management in covering up shortages.) This happened in Tennessee. You, being from Alabama, know full well that industries here in the south routinely rape their employees, which is why the employees are now in full swing of not giving a f@#$.

Middle management is largely to blame for the current state of hostilities between labor and industry. Upper management, partly so; with their huge salaries and bonuses, you wonder what they actually produce to earn all that. In fact, they only coordinate the production of others. They produce NOTHING themselves. Their salaries should (but never will) reflect that fact.

You can't come here to the land of ignorance denied and lay it all on the employees, and think that no one is going to call you on that BS. You put forth your points as if small business is where the majority of people are finding work. You know that's not the case. As if there is a real and constructive relationship between the owners of the corporation (investors) and the wage-slaves at the bottom. As if the wages paid by small businesses (as opposed to larger corporations) are livable with energy costs going the way they are. I'm damn lucky to be a single man with no kids to support, because I don't know how I would do it. I'm making 11.50 an hour working in a warehouse, and I feel damn lucky to be getting that in my area. Most folks are struggling along at 8 dollars or less. I have good interview skills, and I have competence on my side. I also am extremely observant, so I know who is a favorite of the bosses, so I can steer clear of causing any trouble with those people.

I'm with you on the current 'young' generation being hardly capable of showing up on time, but there is a lot of corporate greed (read: investor-class and executive greed) at the root of this long, sad slide down the toilet we've been going through for the last 20 years.

The parasite/host paradigm has taught us all it has to teach.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I've heard it is bad to sound too intelligent at an interview. The employer can feel threatened and that you might make him or her look bad in front of others or try to change things because you have ideas. They don't want that, they just want to you take orders like someone in the military.

I worked at a place once that had a fire in the kitchen. A gas fire that spewed flames for a minute or so (it seemed longer). Nobody knew what to do. People were ---fanning--- it with towels at one point!! Oh my god, idiot, stop! They were pouring white flour over it. They were I think throwing wet towels at it. It was insane to watch. I wanted to pull the fire retardant lever just for fun, but I knew I'd get in a heap of trouble for doing that. It was maybe meant only for grease fires anyway. But...afterward, the general manager pretended it didn't happen the way I said it did, with everyone clueless. He said he had it on tape. (There were cameras.) I'm like, you sack of #*$&, if you have it on tape, I guarantee it's the way I described it because I'm not lying scum like you are. He's lucky I didn't call the fire marshal to investigate the place. I was concerned about it, because the equipment was not inspected at all after it happened that day or the next. Everyone just pretended it didn't happen. Well, guess what, that doesn't fly with me. Profits over safety? I know it's not an oil well, but do not dare lie to my face concerned issues of safety. The whole kitchen could have exploded for all I knew. Anyway, I quit the next night or so. Other people there when it happened were taking his side, too. What the hell people?? I guess that's how it works when people are too scared to speak up...stupid stuff is allowed to happen. Just don't voice your opinion...you might get on the boss's bad list. That's fine. I'll quit before that happens if it means I won't have to work around flaming fryers.