The Awkward Panini

Today at lunch I stopped in Einstein Bros. for a Grilled Chicken Panini. I love those things, but don't plan on having more than one or two in a year, otherwise I'm surely to stop my heart dead in its tracks with all the sodium and cholesterol and fat. Adding a cookie (or two) exacerbates this effect. *burp* But that's not the point of my story.

While I was there, a manager and her employee sat down two tables over and proceeded to have a very difficult "talk" right in front of me. In a nutshell, the employee hadn't been doing something the right way and was being reprimanded. The manager even pulled out a piece of paper (i.e., "documentation") and had the employee read and make a written response to it. I was horribly embarrassed for the poor employee having to do that right in front of me. And the NERVE of the manager to so insensitively air her dirty laundry in front of customers. Don't they have an office?

The employee took the criticism well, and I was proud of her for that. [PlaysWellWithOhers Career Tip: If you ever want to develop a critical skill that will help your career, learn to gratefully accept criticism from your superiors. Coachable employees that demonstrate a desire to learn from their boss (whether it's true or not) generally have a bright future in front of them. People that need to "show the boss who's right" do not.]. For a young lady in a presumably minimum wage job, she handled herself very professionally, and in my eyes outshined her boss.

I'm thinking maybe I should call and talk to the manager of the store to let them know this went on and how uncomfortable it made me. In my opinion, it was completely inappropriate. I wonder how that manager would do with MY reprimand. Somehow I doubt she'd think the customer was always right. In fact, I'm not sure these days anyone does.