Don't know about you...but I have worked jobs where you got no one to do what you directed them to...until you were able to take the biggest, meanest of the crew in a fistfight. Lifting up their shirtail to show that their pants were too low would never have been a problem...

I understand. I has a boss once who was known to slam dunk employees head first into 55 gallon drums. He was huge. He hurt a lot of people.

Times have changed. A restaurant chain has deep pockets. Very vulnerable to law suits. I absolutely sympathize with the managers frustration. The cook was disrespecting the manager and the business. If I owned the restaurant I would have fired him.

The issue is that this were not a couple of "buddies" - peers, having fun in the kitchen. You have a boss coming in to reprehend an employee. How would you feel if your manager comes up to you and starts re-arranging your wardrobe?

Even if this were a couple of peers in the kitchen that get in an argument, the last thing you would do is start touching someone to make a point.

Your pal is lucky he didn't get sliced with a meat cleaver. ;)

He just needs to find another job. If he tries to sue, threaten or otherwise argue with the employer, he will only loose a good reference when looking for a job in the future. Never burn your bridges. Surely your pal did not get demoted just because he is a white guy.


George

The underlying results of this should be: DO NOT TOUCH ANYONE AT YOUR WORK PLACE. There are some states that the low-rider employee could have even filed assault charges. KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOUR SELF! Do I agree that your friend got a bad deal, YES. I also believe that he is very lucky that he still has a job with that company. I would certainly be looking at other possibilities on employment elsewhere.

Talent is talent. Go job hunting.....

I'll tell you Wayne, I recently fired an employee for harrassing his supervisor, and the idiot did his best to ruin me. Cost me a few bucks too, but I am better off without him. Ironicly, an apology would have saved his job, and I gave him several chances to work it out. His loss.

As for the demotion in question, touching is out. Joking and touching is out. I shoved a guy from behind a few years ago, because he was about to fall four feet down off a truck onto concrete. Saved his butt, and he was so homophobic it freaked him out. I expect he had some chilhood abuse issues. Also, we really don't know if this was the only reason for the demotion. There could have been other issues, as there were with the guy I fired. Could be a last straw kind of thing.

The reality is, you can't keep a good man down. They will crawl right back up, or find another place to excel. One should never take these things lying down, but the question is, What Did We Learn ?

Well Noney feel free to share this with your bud. I once worked for one of the largest healthcare companies in the US. I was off in the corner with a friend one day during lunch just yucking it up and telling stories. We weren't cursing or being vulgar but he word sex did get mentioned a couple of times. One of our comments was overheard "overheard" by a woman nearby. She was offended by it, We were hauled into HR and written up for sexual harassment. The other bit his lip and went his merry way. I made a stink about it. About not being "asked" by the person we offended to please refrain from that kind of talk. I *****ed about how this would be damaging to my career and that I demanded equal treatment. Well they made my life there he11. I could do nothing correctly...ever. I eventually had to leave the company. The other guy? He kept his mouth shut and made up for lost ground within two years.