Tea in the Library (18 page)

We held a couple of these sessions, but in the end even Joe threw up his hands. His descriptions to the book staff of chivvying customers along to ensure they didn't get out the door without a sale being concluded were met with undisguised horror. “We're not that kind of bookshop”, they said. The wait staff were taken to task by Joe for not being sufficiently friendly, not rolling out the red carpet for all customers, even pushy ones (like Joe), and forgetting to supply artificial sweetener (especially to Joe). I for one was quite motivated by Joe's ideas, but I was the only one. The staff promptly ignored it all and carried on as before.

Eventually, painful decisions had to be made. Louise was the first to go. We were clearly over-supplied with managers
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I use the term loosely
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and our budget for staff was far more than the business could bear. Encouraged
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indeed, strongly urged
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by Dale, my small business advisor, I bit the bullet and “had a talk” with Louise. It wasn't an easy task for me. We had entered the fray with so many high hopes, and had shared many good times. But I faced the but-terflies and sat Louise down, and explained that something had to “give”, and that was her job. Redundancy had arrived.

There is no doubt that sacking someone
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especially when they are a lovely person who has worked hard and tried their best, and you know they have probably low prospects of finding another job
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is not something you would want to do every day. There may be strong people who can face such a task with equilibrium, but I am not one of them. I admit that I sought the advice of Emma, the coach, at this juncture, and her analysis and guidance were very helpful. The task was completed, and however bad it felt for me, I have no doubt it was worse for Louise. Somewhat unbelievably, considering the poor state of staff relations and the almost undetectable book sales, it came as a surprise to her. I paid a large severance pay, and we parted ways.

Next to go was Jo, with
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predictably
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somewhat more drama. Battles had been raging in the kitchen for some time, not only with Chloe (of the “it's her or me!” variety) but also with Daniel. Daniel was a charmer, but sharing a kitchen with Jo required more charm than even he could reliably muster on a daily basis. Jo insisted on interviews with me where she claimed that Daniel was trying to “take over her kitchen”, etc. She had become more and more unhappy, and would not listen to my proposition that she could not run both the kitchen and the “front of house”. On one occasion she donned the waitress uniform in lieu of her chef's togs, and appeared at the café till to “supervise the floor” during an evening author event. Quite what was meanwhile happening in the kitchen was unclear. As I was coming to the conclusion that I could expect her resignation soon, I heard rumours that she “wanted what Louise got” (that is to say, four weeks' redundancy pay). I bit the bullet again and had another difficult conversation, paid out a lot of money, and we parted ways. Jo's departure was
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as befits the personality
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abrupt and dramatic. Unbeknownst to me, some of the kitchen equipment items were apparently her personal property, including the pans used to bake the mini muffins
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a staple on our menu. These pans disappeared with Jo, without notice, leaving us in the lurch and the kitchen in turmoil. But we rallied around, the show went on, and we can look back and laugh (sort of).

In both cases relations were left strained and budding friendships abandoned. Grudges were clearly held. It seems that employer and employee can't be friends, at least not in retail!

Upon the departure of Jo, we needed someone to take responsibility for the café business, and I asked Kate if she would take it on. Kate was rather inexperienced at being “in charge”, but had worked in many busy café and restaurant environments. I thought she had the personality and skills to do the job. But a lack of confidence overtook her, and Kate declined the job. She planned to take on studies in hospitality, and work fewer shifts. In her young-wise way, she solemnly urged me to go to an agency and hire a good café manager. This I did, which is how we found The Dragon.