Tags
black business, Black travel, business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, female business owners, female entrepreneurs, firing, newbie, small business, teahouse, travel, writing
When I was writing my last post (after a significant break from writing), I noticed my writing wasn’t flowing. I was lazy with word choice. The ideas weren’t connecting. So I thought, dude, I need to write more to get my flow coming again. Also, I haven’t been reflecting a lot of this entrepreneurial journey. So I should combined my two weaknesses .
Day#1: Firing & Hiring — The Downside of Entrepreneurship
I hate firing people. It is not a funny experience nor does a fine feeling flowing through me. Yet it is a necessary part in the biz world. If people are not trying to help your biz grow and if they are not invested in the advancement of your business, they are money leeches and must be discarded immediately upon realizing the situation.
Since reopening my teahouse in northern Ecuador, I have fired two people. One person who didn’t like indigenous people. A lifelong resident of Otavalo, a predominately indigenous city, the person was a proud “meztizo.” I had an inkling that there were some racial/ethnic problems in Ecuador, but to hear someone manifest a strong dislike for a group and how he forced — with disgust in his voice and face in retelling this part — himself to speak to them as they passed in front — it was disheartening. As someone who regularly encounters poor treatment in Quito because my appearance isn’t what sales clerks in Ecuador associate with “paying customers of fine establishment.” **This is definitely another post on how poor customer service is weakening the economy.**
Thus to have an employee who would discriminate against someone because of personal prejudices was, and is, unacceptable on a personal level. I won’t go into how all people are potential clients and everyone deserves to receive basic customer service etiquette . But on the fundamental bases of a civilized society, people need to respect each other. There is no community building in wealth and advancement of human behavior without this basic respect. This goes to my idea that standing-in-line is the foundation of all civilized society. **Another post coming on standing-in-line to build a civilized society.**
A few days later, the fired employee called me. He said he saw that I was advertising for new employees. He asked if we could talk. I thought for a split second. I am understaffed and struggling, but there is no justification in having a negative energy in an environment that is supposed to be uplifting and relaxing. His dislike for indigenous was just the blazing flame of a moment; there was still smoke and ashes of other disappointing behavior that would flame up into another blaze that a firing would have to put out.
“Impossible,” I told him. And more importantly I was telling self. It’s impossible to act like I didn’t see him and his negative ways. Once a person shows him/herself, see it and be done with the person. Oprah and Maya Angelou said this, and it is true.
He was fired for a reason. This is where faith is being reinforced. I need to have the faith that God will provide the correct employee to help the tea biz dream advanced.
**Finding faith in Ecuador**