Critically thinking about restaurants

Restaurant:

There are some opportunities available at a restaurant (Marge's) including bartending, serving, and managing. I know (or rather knew, they are no longer there) two manager at Marge's, as does my General Manager (GM), and I offered to bartend a few days a week (they had lost all but 2).  My offer was rejected, which is Marge's management's choice, and I accepted gracefully.

I recently heard a few new things about Marge's; one was that it was dirty, not in a health inspector sense, but in that it hasn't been kept up by staff and management. Another was that ticket times, the amount of it time takes for the server to input the food to the time the food leaves the kitchen, was unacceptable. The last one I heard was surprising, and that was that all of the staff members seemed to really like their GM. This was surprising because through previous conversations I was told that the GM was difficult to work for, had certain idiosyncrasies that made it difficult to make a schedule, and that staff members were generally unhappy.  

Higher Ed:

There is this article posted today: A Dissenter is Fired 

It's about Erskine College, which is apparently a failing institution, and how they have recently fired a tenured professor who disagreed with institution policies and practices. Now, I do not know much about Erskine, but I do know that the whole point of tenure is so that those granted it are able to practice their profession free from fear of retaliation. Politically it can be framed as a negative, but the reason it was created was so that it protected professors from being fired when they have different views from campus administration, government, or community members (this is the short answer version, there is much to discuss when it comes to tenure). So this professor, William Crenshaw, has disagreed with the institution about how it includes its religious affiliation.

Compare/Contrast:

Restaurants, at least in this establishment and in this state, are at-will employers. You can be fired at will or you can quit at will. Tenure is obviously not like that. The situations could be similar. The GM could just have a great staff who really appreciate his hard work, or he could make life so difficult for those who don't like him (or those with different ideas or habits) that the only ones left are the ones who like working for him. The restaurant could be dirty and slow because the GM organizes it that way, and those who come to change that are driven out. So, to use phrases from Marge's, Erskine has attempted to return to the status quo, by ridding itself of a dissenter it can go back to being dirty and slow.

Conclusion:

I am glad that my offer was refused, even though the commute would be easier. I enjoy working in an environment where dissent, as constructive criticism, is encouraged, and where personal growth is celebrated. I truly hope I can find a supervisor in a professional position as encouraging and professional as my current GM.