Everyone on Earth saw the fallout of the texts between an employer and an employee from Sagamore Beach BBQ. I was asked about it in Duxbury, and even had a woman from Nashua mention it to me.
Ahhh... Facebook.
The uproar damaged the business, at the height of the summer, which is the season that makes or breaks Cape Cod businesses. I go by there a lot, and it's like a ghost town.
Is it time to cut this guy some slack?
I am of two minds on this one. There is nothing worse than a horrible boss, with the possible exception of a man who screams at children.
We have all had rotten bosses and we have all had rotten employees. I have been fired with a punch to the face before, and I have given my 14 days notice by punching the boss in the face and then stomping on him 13 times while he lay on the ground.
I haven't had to beat one of my employees... but the day ain't over yet, as Jack Palance once said.
The Sagamore Beach BBQ guy did apologize to the kid and his family, and did a public mea culpa on the various Facebook pages of Bourne and Plymouth.
Bourne gave him a lesson about how to treat employees that he felt in his bank account. Nobody wants a screaming boss in their territory.
However, he is more than a jerk. He is A) a business owner renting a shop in a struggling Sagamore Beach area, B) a guy who employs local residents, and C) the only place around who sells Brisket.
Brisket, while not a complicated dish, does require intense and time-consuming labor. One must perform a spice rub and then cook the meat over indirect heat for up to 12 to 24 hours. One cannot say "I think I'll make some brisket tonight" and stop on the way home to grab the necessary materials. You have to devote a full day to it.
The BBQ man is not the man who you want to chase away from your town. It benefits us all of this man succeeds and if his business gets a good reputation. He will employ local residents and pay local taxes for a generation.
Yes, he seems to be an ass. Most chefs are. A chef is somewhat like a general on the battlefield, in that certain eccentricities must be allowed.
He did bad and he was punished for it. It may be time to move on. I could use some ribs, now that you mention it...
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| We lifted this picture from the Sagamore Beach BBQ website |
