On November 13, 2015 I conducted an interview with Gary Martinelli who is a supervisor at Del’s Custard & Yogurt, which he has worked at for 20 years. I use to work at this establishment and with that being said I have always felt that as a supervisor Mr. Gary Martinelli’s responsibilities were always over looked or unappreciated. I felt that even though he was a supervisor not everyone always saw all the work that he actually did. I was very interested in this interview to see all the effort he really put into his job.
I was very interested to learn all the small details he put into his role as a supervisor. The business is small so it is simple there is one department. Gary Martinelli is the second in command under the owner which mean on a daily basis he can take care of as much work as they do themselves. His duties consist of making sure that everyone is in on time, all employee are actually following what they are supposed to be doing, customers are happy, severs are polite, and everything is done orderly.
Other responsibilities include gathering orders on a nightly basis for all of the various suppliers, proving the register, going over profit, clean all machines, clean counters inside and out, make schedules, and place order. The hours of supervising does not take and extra time out or the normal working hours. Any given week the hours consist of 18-25. 1. How do you manage conflict between team members? Conflict in the work place is interesting because some people do not have what the ability to handle the situation properly.
Different supervisors handle issue by either avoiding or resolving. I wanted to ask this question see what Mr. Martinelli’s take was on the issue. 2. How do you handle working with difficult people or with someone whom you don’t get along with? 3. What kinds of discrimination do you see in the workplace? How do you deal with it? I feel that in today world the discrimination is still an issue but should never be brought into the work place. Since we do not live in a perfect world, discrimination does come up. 4. Have you ever encountered an ethical dilemma?
What was it and how did you handle it? This goes hand and hand with discrimination. These type issues needs handle right away and I think it is important to know a supervisors take on the concept. Some supervisors avoid the issue and do not want the type of responsibility that is part of the job. 5. What qualities do you look for in an employee? 6. What advice would you give to someone who is not yet a supervisor, but wants to become one? I asked this question because any time I talk to a manger I feel that either it is said that there job is the greatest or it is completely hated.
I was very interested in asking this question as well because at a few places I have worked I feel that responsibilities are forced on quality workers even when some are not ready. 7. How do you manage work/life balance? Communication in the work place is a little difficult, but what one has to remember that is this is a family owned business. The “family” part of the business some time interferes. When communicated with the owners is pretty easy, but at time it is easier to talk to them all individually and repeat yourself then depending on them to contact each other.
Each of the owner are different, nonetheless they all do listen and respond back to whatever the issue of topic is at the moment. Gary stated that he does not have conflict with others and it is never problematic. He is the type of person that he is he gets along with almost everyone he comes into contact with. He doesn’t not get offended easily, but he did say that there has been few people I the past that he didn’t not particularly get along with. In these situation he never showed it and tried to keep thing casual.
Mr. Martinelli’s exact words were, “For the most part I am pretty confident they all knew that I liked them! ” If there are any conflicts between the girls and it is bad enough he will send the trouble maker home. This way they both get the idea and usually don’t repeat the actions. Gary Martinelli started at Del’s Custard & Yogurt when he was 17. He was the only employee so training was continually as the years go on. As the years carried on they gave Mr. , Martinelli new responsibilities such as teaching him how to prepare orders. He had to learn what products came from which suppliers.
Also had to learn how to place the orders. Each supplier had a specific number, order, and certain time that the order had to be called in to make in in time for the next day delivery. His responsibility grew and they trained him to interview/hire the new employee. He sat in on a few interviews to watch the process and the type of questions ask. He caught on quickly and continued to interview almost every new employee after that. After some time he was given the responsibility of making the schedule and taught what hours needed to be filled, along with the amount of people that need to work of what days.
At this point in time Gary Martinelli has been trained on everything in the business. Next to the owners he is second in command if anything happens. Since that Del’s Custard and Yogurt in a family owned business they have trained him to take over when need be if there is ever an emergency and they have to take a step back for any period of time. Delegation is simple because that all the employees are very young. Almost all the employees when they start are teenagers; hence, this is there first job and they want to do well. Their willingness to listen is the best part.
Also for the most part season after season the girls that come back are the ones that are dedicated to the job and work on their own. Compared to most jobs delegations is not too much of an issue which is great flow of work. Of course they are still teenage girls, so at time to they do get irritable and moody. When this happens I talk to them. If it becomes a serious issue and it is possible that induvial will go home. Another issue at times working with all girl if they can tend to band together and give each other poor work habits.
When this happen schedules can be changed to give the individuals some space. For any reason this gets out of hand the girls will just be spoke to separately calmly. Time Management has never been an issue for him. Mr. Martinelli stated that he does not have a wife to go home to and that is son is away at school so there is no need to balance any time. Gary goes to work and goes to sleep there is not much else that e has to do and if for any reason there is if something comes up he request the day off or the time. If he gets the time off he doesn’t and if not it is not a big deal.
