Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 17
1 do it well"?
2 A. Well, in that respect we would be left or I would be
3 left with all the toadies in the restaurant and everybody
4 else would have left. I think that everyone has a certain
5 amount of integrity and responsibility. If they felt that
6 was the case, then I would not have a restaurant team as a
7 Manager or as a Supervisor if I was surrounded by a bunch
8 of "yes" people agreeing with everything that the
9 Restaurant Manager or I said.
10
11 Q. So what you are saying is that -- I hope I have this right
12 and am not putting words into your mouth -- you are not
13 interested in just "yes" people?
14 A. Absolutely not. I found, as my experience working in
15 the restaurants on a day-to-day basis, that is where some
16 of the best ideas come from where people just ask why --
17 they will come to me even now and say: "Why do we do it
18 this way?", or, "Why does this piece of machinery work this
19 way?" Sometimes those most obvious questions made me go
20 back and think: "Why do we do it that way?" and let us,
21 maybe, change it. Those sorts of views are actively
22 sought, and still are.
23
24 Q. Just while we are on this, is your impression that the
25 crew, when you go into a restaurant or when you went into
26 Colchester or when you were the store Manager at Leicester,
27 were they frightened of you?
28 A. Not at all.
29
30 Q. I do not think you have given this detail, but what were
31 the level, the various levels of increase that could be
32 awarded to people as of now and ----
33 A. I think we had -----
34
35 Q. -- if you are able to say, at Colchester in the mid 80s?
36 A. I think we had the three bands of five, 10 and 15 pence
37 per hour uplift.
38
39 Q. Were there any other bonuses that could be awarded?
40 A. I think there were discretionary bonuses that could be
41 awarded by the Restaurant Manager.
42
43 Q. Which sort of circumstances would they be awarded?
44 A. Perhaps -- I think we may have had one where a customer
45 praise letter comes in, for example, and names a certain
46 individual for a really good piece of service or: "They
47 helped me look for my handbag" or "helped me with my
48 daughter", "helped open the door with a push chair", so on
49 and so forth. In order to sort of encourage that sort of
50 activity, if you like, and work practice, then we would
51 recognise those individuals in some way which may have
52 elicited a bonus.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What form did the bonuses take if you have a
55 letter like that and thought someone ought to be rewarded?
56 Was it an extra amount an hour or a lump sum of some kind?
57 A. We would put it in as lump sum. What would generally
58 happen is that a letter would come into the office, be sent
59 out to me and I would generally write a note: "Dear Frank,
60 I have a letter in from so and so. Thanks very much for
