Peace and conflict studies, Communication

For your final post, I want you to develop “the third story” for the characters in our conflict scenario (Nate, David, and Maria). With that in mind your post should:

• Tell the story in such a way that encompasses the major concerns of all involved.
  • Identify what the shared issues are for all involved.
  • How would blame be transformed into responsibility?
  • How would truth be transformed into appreciating different perspectives?
  • How would intention be transformed into appreciating how each party felt about what happened to them?

  ***********USE THE STORY BELOW************

• THE CONTEXT – THE RESTAURANT

  You are the manager at an mid-scale Italian restaurant near the university campus. You have been in the job for five years and aspire to open your own restaurant after you finish with your MBA, which you are currently working on by taking morning classes. However, in order to attend classes you needed to hire an assistant manager to work weekday mornings to cover the lunch shift and supervise the dinner prep. The lunch service is moderate and allows for a scaled down staff to handle dine in and carry out orders. Two cooks take care of the kitchen and two servers work the front of the house. Most of the lunch staff have worked together for over a year and get on well, but you are worried that the addition of the new assistant manager and the new cook have created some issues that you just have not had time to address. Tara and Mel work together every weekday in the front of the house as servers. Mel is in her early 30s and Tara is in her early 20s. Both are exceptional and trustworthy. Both talk about going to college, but neither feel the time is right. Mel has worked in the restaurant for over a decade and has unofficially been the person in charge when you are not in. Before hiring the new assistant manager, you asked Mel if she would be interested in the job, but she told you it wasn’t her thing and that she made better money from tips. David unofficially heads the kitchen when he is in. He is 21, a university student, and has been with you for about two years. You know he is dependable and the kitchen runs smoothly when he’s back there. He tends to work doubles on days he is not at school, which means he uses the lunch shift to also prepare for the dinner shift. You are pretty sure he’s dating Tara, one of the servers that also works the lunch shift. From the look of his friends and clothes, you cannot tell if he’s in a gang or band, but he clearly associates with some rough looking people. David gets along with most of the staff, but he is very territorial about the kitchen and has no problem telling people what he thinks. The introduction of Nate, the assistant manager, has caused you some concern. Nate is older than the rest of the staff. He is in his mid-40s and the only African-American on your team. He worked for 15 years as a manager at a McDonalds and given that kind of experience, you thought he would make a great addition. He explained that his reason for seeking new employment was that he was tired of the fast food environment and that he is also hoping to start his own restaurant someday in the future. He’s been with you two months and in that time, you’ve noticed that he takes a more authoritative tone with the employees and does not seem to be connecting with them on a personal level. The kitchen staff, particularly David, complains that he’s in the way and doesn’t know how to prepare food. Mel has pulled you aside to tell you that he makes inappropriate comments about certain staff members under his breath, but she refuses to give you any specifics.Your major problem is Maria, the newest member of the kitchen staff. She’s only been with you a month and probably needs to be fired. Maria is 19 and a party kid. She is frequently late and you’re pretty sure she’s high most of the time. While her prior job references checked out, Maria has proven incapable of working at the speed required of her. You relegated her to the lunch service in the hope that she will eventually learn to keep pace. David is constantly in your ear about the need for you to replace her with someone who knows how to work in this type of kitchen. Nate has also voiced concerns about Maria’s lateness. Maria is very open about being gay, which you and the rest of the staff could care less about, but you can tell this makes Nate uncomfortable.

  THE RESTAURANT – THE CONFLICT!

  THE CONFLICT:

  You receive a phone call from Mel telling you that you need to get to the restaurant as soon as possible. A fight of some kind has broken out between David and Nate. Mel is unsure what set it off, but yelling could be heard coming from the kitchen. When Mel went to check on what was happening she found David pointing a butcher’s knife at Nate and telling him he was “a homophobic piece of garbage who needed to keep his mouth shut.” The argument continued on for a short time growing louder and louder, eventually clearing the restaurant of its customers. Nate walked out the back door and David was sitting in the front of the restaurant waiting for you to show up. No one was physically attacked or injured, but everyone was upset. You’ve approached Nate, David, and Maria to hear their perspectives of what took place. You pull them individually into your office to hear their side of events and this is what they tell you:

  NATE’S STORY:

  David and Maria need to be fired. Maria was late, yet again, this morning. I did not have time to discuss this with her when she showed up, but found time to approach her during a lull before the lunch service. I told Maria that this was unacceptable and that if I had my way, today would be her last shift. I was going to speak with you when you came in this afternoon about it. During the lunch rush, Maria fell behind and I went to check on the status of an order. I asked when she would have it and she didn’t respond. Then out of nowhere, David is in my face threatening me with a knife. He’s hurling all kinds of profanity at me, and well, I don’t have to take that from some punk. I know how to run a restaurant and I’m in the one in charge here. I have no idea what set David off; he’s typically a good worker apart from his attitude and that noise he plays on the radio, but I cannot work in an environment where people disrespect me, let alone threaten me. I should have called the cops, but I know you will handle this in an appropriate way.

  DAVID’S STORY:

  All morning Nate was on Maria about this and that, saying totally messed up stuff. Nate sprinted out of the kitchen to scream at Maria in the parking lot before her shift. Yes, she was late again, but I caught a few words of the convo and it was totally out of line, including shots about her being gay. This dude still thinks he’s king of McNugget land. Even though I already had the kitchen prepped, Nate is in vulture mode, just hovering, trying screw with Maria, asking her what she’s working on, even though I’ve already told him things are solid. Come on! At this point you think I’m waiting on Maria to get things ready? He knows better. Anyway, we get busy, Maria gets behind like usual. Nothing terrible, but the next thing I know, Nate is in the kitchen calling her names and saying a bunch of derogatory stuff. I lost it. I remember turning around to tell Nate to shut up and get out of my kitchen, but I don’t really remember much after that until I found myself sitting out in the front with Tara asking if Mel called you. Nate needs to go, man.

  MARIA’S STORY:

  I’m not sure what happened to be honest. Nate saw me walking through the parking lot this morning and before I could enter the building, he ran outside and started shouting at me about not wanting this job and being a bad person. I need this job. I know I have a hard time getting here, but I like this gig. It’s just it takes me 30 minutes to walk here. I tried to explain that I was sorry and he just told me to shut up and get inside. I go in, but David’s already got everything prepped, so I’m trying to figure out what to do. Nate just keeps coming into the kitchen telling me that I better get working. David tells Nate that everything is under control and Nate starts saying things under his breath. I can see David get mad, but he just repeats to Nate that the kitchen is ready and we are waiting for orders. Then about an hour later we get slammed. I’m trying to keep up and then Nate is suddenly in my face yelling at me. That’s when David got in Nate’s face telling him that he needed to shut up and yelling at me to finish my orders. Nate tried to say that he was the boss and David just went full berserker, telling Nate to get out of the kitchen. I’m not sure he even realized he had the knife in his hand. But wow, David let him have it, including for comments Nate makes about Mel and Tara.