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NARRATOR: Tonight on "Mystery Diners"...
Keith "Buttons" Hicks, owner of Buttons in Dallas, Texas,
wants to know if his manager, Tony,
is treating his restaurant like boot camp.
KEITH: I hired this new manager named Tony.
He is ex-military.
CHARLES: Did he really just bust out a white glove?
NARRATOR: Is the staff just whining, or is Tony being a bully...
...and leaving Buttons short-staffed?
The Mystery Diners are enlisting
in order to show Keith what's going on.
I can't believe that Otis is actually doing laps!
That's insane, man.
He just let my best server quit!
Owning a restaurant isn't easy.
You can have great food, atmosphere, and customers,
but reckless employees...
You're being a jerk, man.
...can ruin everything.
That's where the Mystery Diners come in.
Charles Stiles has helped thousands of restaurants
find their problems and remove them.
He sends in his team of undercover operatives...
I'm Chris. I'm the new supply guy.
...to show restaurant owners
what really happens when they're not around.
MAN: You were stealing from me.
I want to go over there right now! I want to go over there right now!
This is my business!
That food is my life!
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
KEITH: My name is Keith "Buttons" Hicks,
and I own Buttons restaurant here in Dallas, Texas.
When you come to Buttons,
I guarantee you that your mouth is in for a ride.
We do a mean chicken and waffles.
It was voted one of the top 44 things
you must try before you die in the Metroplex.
To the pot roast,
to the Nacho Mama's Meatloaf,
to the Flash Fried Skrimpz --
Buttons restaurant is about good food,
good music, and having a good time.
Recently, I decided to get back into the kitchen
and start working on my new menu.
By doing so, I knew I had to hire
a front-of-the-house person
to help me corral my staff.
I hired this new manager named Tony.
He is ex-military, like myself.
What's been happening is I'm hearing
a lot of feedback from the staff
that Tony is just too tough.
And, of course, when I sit down and talk to Tony about that,
his explanation is, "All I'm doing is just giving them
a little structure, and they're resisting."
I cannot have conflict
with my staff and my manager.
That affects everything.
Customers stop coming in.
And when money doesn't make it down to the bottom line,
there could be no more Buttons.
CHARLES: Hey. You must be Buttons.
Hey! What's happening, man?
Hey. Charles Stiles, Mystery Diners.
Hi! How are you?
Nice to meet you.
Great. Great restaurant.
It looks like you do some live bands.
Yeah, we try to bring a lot of coolness and energy.
You know, everybody that leaves here
is pretty "Buttonized."
Yeah.
I am the chef here.
Right now, I want to concentrate more
on what I'm supposed to be doing,
and so, I've had to hire a manager.
We hired Tony
due to the fact that he was ex-military.
And me being ex-military myself,
Right.
My staff -- these cats got strong, strong personalities.
And, so, what I needed was
somebody to come in, just to corral them in.
I'm sure bringing in a military structure
is probably a little bit of a new thing for them.
You know, we've been getting some complaints and stuff
from some of the servers that this guy is just too rough.
It's starting to really affect the whole vibe of Buttons.
Now, how do you say it's affecting the vibe?
I've got people quitting,
and if the servers are not happy,
it trickles down into the customers.
That means we're not making money
Yeah, absolutely.
What I want to find out
is if he is actually being too much of a dictator,
or my guys are just being a bunch of whiners.
NARRATOR: For this sting,
Mystery Diners will be focusing on Tony,
a manager with a military background
who may be too strict with the rest of the staff.
We'll come in, and we'll wire your entire restaurant
with hidden cameras.
One of the other things we like to do is
send in undercover Mystery Diners
to infiltrate your restaurant.
Someone like myself would come in as a customer.
If your manager is being too difficult,
I can see what's going on.
Oh. And when those cats ain't happy,
That's right.
And when they're not coming back,
Buttons is closed.
And when Buttons is closed,
Mm.
So we ain't trying to have none of that!
NARRATOR: To carry out the sting,
cameras have been hidden at key locations throughout Buttons.
Cameras 1, 2, and 3
have been set up in the main dining room
to give an overall perspective
of the restaurant and its customers.
Cameras 4, 5, and 6
have been set up by the expediting station.
Cameras 7, 8, and 9
have been set up in the kitchen.
And cameras 10 and 11 have been set up
to track any action that happens outside.
Mystery Diner Ben will be going undercover
as a waiter in training,
and Justin and Nicole will pose as customers.
[ Laughing ] Oh, man!
[ Chuckles ]
What do you think about your restaurant like this?
I guess we really about to figure things out!
We've got your entire restaurant covered.
I mean, we've got your pick-up station.
Yeah.
We got your bar staff.
You know, if there are some problems there,
Okay.
So, this is your manager, Tony, here?
Right.
That's normally what we do.
We try to get everybody together,
get the morale up, get the enthusiasm going.
CHARLES: So, Buttons, what is your normal policy
when somebody's a couple minutes late for work?
If they're gonna be like 15, 20 minutes late,
then, definitely, we need a phone call.
Buttons, as you know, we had our Mystery Diner, Ben,
Right.
And what we're gonna do is have him start his shift
a little bit late today
to find out how your manager, Tony, reacts
when somebody walks in late for their shift.
Sounds cool.
So, Buttons, who's that server right there
that he's talking to?
That's Shanitha. She's one of the better servers.
Oh, he shouldn't be acting like that.
That's not Buttons. No way.
At the end of the day, they're not in the Navy -- they're not in the Army.
Right. Right.
He's got to just ease up just a little bit.
I think now might be a good time.
We'll have our undercover Mystery Diner,
Ben, start his shift.
Let's do it, man. Let's do it.
Okay, Ben. Go ahead and come on in.
BEN: The employees at Buttons are complaining
that their manager, Tony,
is more of a drill sergeant than a manager.
I plan on pushing him a bit
by coming into work a little late.
BEN: Just a little bit.
Sir, traffic was a little thick.
You know, I had a little problem with traffic.
I had to drop my son off.
It's my problem. I apologize.
[ Chuckling ] I'm not laughing.
I'm just thinking of this funny story.
I'm just thinking of a funny story.
Please.
Totally unacceptable.
Un-[bleep]-real.
NARRATOR: Coming up...
He's giving away free dessert
to say "I'm sorry" for the server doing her job?
He's making him do push-ups because he's late?
That's insane, man.
Never heard of "customer's always right"?
Whoa.
NARRATOR: Keith "Buttons" Hicks, owner of Buttons in Dallas, Texas,
wants to know if his manager, Tony,
is being too strict with the rest of the staff.
If the servers are not happy,
it trickles down into the customers.
And when they're not coming back, Buttons is closed.
Charles has set up a control room next to Buttons
where Keith can watch what happens
in his restaurant with our hidden cameras.
And I'm telling you, I've never seen anything like this.
Mystery Diner Ben has gone undercover
as a waiter in training,
and Justin and Nicole will pose as customers.
And after starting the sting,
manager Tony displays his short temper and intolerance
for employees who come to work 5 minutes late.
It's my problem. I apologize.
[ Chuckling ] I'm not laughing.
I'm just thinking of this funny story.
I'm just thinking of a funny story.
Please.
There's a right way and a wrong way to handle things,
and I don't think that was necessarily
The cat needs to relax, man.
Did he really just bust out a white glove?
That's, like, some real old-school stuff right there.
Your kitchen is one of
the cleanest kitchens I've ever seen.
He doesn't have any reason to harass your cooks.
That's a little bit too much.
Let's have Ben do a little recon,
and we'll see how the rest of your staff feels about Tony.
Let's hear them all, man.
Hey, Ben, I want you to go over to Shanitha
and ask her what she thinks about Tony.
Hey, Shanitha. How you doing?
I got to ask -- what is the deal with Tony?
Has it always been like that?
What is everybody saying?
People actually want to leave?
The manager's job is to set the tone
and the pace for the restaurant.
I can tell this is not the tone
that you're trying to set for Buttons.
We can't afford to lose any of the staff.
We're a little short right now.
She do a pretty good job normally?
She does do a pretty good job, man.
Shanitha's, like, one of my best servers.
She's funny. She's always smiling.
And that's what Buttons is all about --
it's all about fun.
Looks like he's bullying Shanitha.
He's been riding her *** all day.
Being that regimented -- I'm sure that
it's gonna kill the spirit in the restaurant.
And you know what? Customers feel that.
And as soon as the fun atmosphere at Buttons is gone,
It's not good.
Now he's kind of creating a problem
that didn't even exist with your customers.
Tony obviously cares about your customers,
but Shanitha didn't do anything wrong.
So giving them free cobbler is just costing you money.
Wow.
He's sucking the life out of Buttons.
He's sucking the vibe.
[ Clock ticking ]
Who's that guy walking through the door right there?
Oh, that's Otis.
He's about 48 1/2 minutes late.
Yes.
Tony was pretty harsh with Mystery Diner Ben
for being 5 minutes late.
I'm afraid to see how he treats Otis
for coming in over 45 minutes late.
At least he's dealing with Otis
in the kitchen, away from your customers.
Yeah, he did the right thing there.
Did the right thing.
He's making him do push-ups because he's late?
Whoa.
What the [bleep]?
I can't believe that Otis is actually doing laps.
So much for that Buttons vibe, man.
At this rate, you're gonna lose all your employees.
NARRATOR: With the help of hidden cameras and undercover Mystery Diners,
Keith "Buttons" Hicks, owner of Buttons,
has learned that manager Tony
pushes his staff to their limits...
CHARLES: Did he really just bust out a white glove?
That's, like, some real old-school stuff right there.
...bullies and verbally abuses
employees who argue with him...
...and punishes servers with militant tactics
unfit for a restaurant.
He's making him do push-ups because he's late?
That's insane, man.
Otis seems to know the drill.
Yeah, Otis does seem to be,
like, falling into that, huh?
Let's find out why Otis
is so eager to go along with Tony.
We definitely need to see what the hell's going on.
Hey, Ben. Otis was just doing push-ups in the kitchen.
I want you to go over to Shanitha and ask her
some questions about the relationship between Otis and Tony.
BEN: All right.
All right, I just saw Otis doing push-ups in the kitchen.
What's up with that?
Why does he idolize him?
Otis and Tony were both in the military.
But, I mean, that ain't no damn excuse.
I was in the military, too,
and, I mean, I love everybody the same way.
It's obvious that Tony's military past
is affecting his relationships with your staff.
Right.
But let's see how deep these tensions really go.
Let's send in a couple of Mystery Diners
and have them make similar complaints
about Otis and Shanitha
Let's do it.
Justin, Nicole, head on in.
Hi. Two.
NICOLE: Today, Justin and I will be coming in
as undercover customers.
We're trying to find out if the manager
is treating the servers Otis and Shanitha differently.
CHARLES: Okay -- Justin is sitting in Otis' section,
and Nicole is sitting in Shanitha's section.
Let's see what's up.
JUSTIN: Thank you.
I'm gonna do the pork chop with no gravy, please.
Thanks a lot, brother.
I'm gonna have a steak, well-done.
And he'll have the oxtails.
Thank you.
Justin, I want you to tell Otis
that you ordered your pork chop with gravy.
Got it.
Let's see what really goes down
when Mr. Otis brings the plate back.
Uh...I actually wanted this with extra gravy.
No, no. I wanted extra gravy.
Whoa! Whoa!
Never heard of "customer's always right"?
I'm sure that's not how you'd want a server to handle that.
Right. You are absolutely right.
That's bull [bleep] man.
Game on. Game on.
You could tell your waiter to be
a little more respectful to his guests.
I said, "Have you not heard
of the customer always being right?"
And he walked away and said, "Not in this case."
That's exactly -- He said it right over there
when he walked away.
I understand.
I appreciate that. That's actually really nice of you.
Thank you...
So, yeah. He did the right thing there.
He's gonna have Otis outside running around the building?
Damn. So much for that Buttons vibe, man. Wow.
Why would you send one of your servers out
to run laps around the building when he's got tables?
Wow.
I think Tony has Buttons' best interest at heart.
I think the problem is he just doesn't really know
how to be an effective leader in a civilian atmosphere.
Yeah, like he's the general of Hamburger Hill.
He better back up.
Hey. Thank you.
I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Nicole, I want you to tell Shanitha
that you ordered your steak medium-rare.
Okay. I will.
Hi.
Um, I'm sorry.
I had ordered my steak medium-rare.
Thank you so much.
She's handling it professionally --
no argument, no issues.
That's exactly why we love her.
Ohh. Why is he doing that?
He's creating a hostile environment.
Yes, he is. And I'm short-staffed right now,
and she's one of our better servers, by far.
This is some freaking making bull [bleep] right here, man.
At this rate, you're gonna lose all your employees.
[ Groans ]
He just let my best server quit!
I can help you get this to a whole nother level, okay?
You seem to be lacking the Buttons spirit.
Are you firing me, Buttons?
NARRATOR: After conducting an undercover sting operation
at Buttons in Dallas, Texas,
the Mystery Diners have revealed that manager Tony
is treating the restaurant like boot camp...
So much for that Buttons vibe, man.
...reprimanding waiter Otis by forcing him to do push-ups
and run laps around the building...
Why is he doing that?
...and unfairly firing waitress Shanitha
for defending herself.
I can't do this anymore, man.
Let me -- Let me -- Let me -- I got to get this, man.
Just go grab him, bring him back in here,
I got him, man. I got it.
This is some bull [bleep]
I'm done. I'm spunt.
This is not like boot camp.
Tony just came in and basically zigged
when he should have zagged.
Tony.
Yo, man. Let me have a word with you, bro.
Let's go, man.
No, not really.
Tony, come on in.
Buttons, what's going on, man?
I'm sure you're probably a little confused by what's going on here.
Yeah. Uh, yes, sir.
My name's Charles Stiles.
I'm with a company called Mystery Diners.
Buttons called my company 'cause he has complaints
from a lot of his staff that the manager's
been riding them pretty hard.
And I got to tell you, they're right.
There's a difference in managing employees in a restaurant
than manage the military.
And I don't know, really, where your head is at.
You got cats running around here doing push-ups,
running around the building.
That whole thing with my best server, Shanitha --
You rolled her to death tonight!
No, no -- Buttons.
Buttons. I thought you brought me here for a reason.
Man, I thought you wanted structure here.
But the structure that you're bringing
is not the structure that we're looking for here.
I mean, we both were in the military.
But what they don't need to know is boot camp, hey?
You seem to be lacking the Buttons spirit
and what the house of love is all about.
So, are you firing me, Buttons?
I'm not gonna fire somebody
that has risked his life to defend this country.
You my man.
I just need you to relax and loosen up.
Jump into the spirit of Buttons.
Feel the vibe. Feel the glow, man.
All right, bro.
A lot of guys didn't make it back from overseas,
and I did make it back.
So, I just need to work on having fun.
I love working here.
I love Buttons, and I'm just looking forward
to making improvements the way that he needs them made.
Do you know what? I think he heard you. I think he got it.
Now you've got to get ahold of Shanitha and get her back in here,
Right. Right.
Exactly.
[ Chuckles ]
Tony's a good guy. He just came in too strong.
And, you know, the fact that we have
that military connection, that bond --
I could never cut a brother loose like that.
I owe that to him.
All right. Much love, baby. Thanks.
NARRATOR: Tony still expects perfection from the staff,
but has taken a more mellow approach to managing.
Shanitha was immediately re-hired
and is now training to become head server.
And Buttons is happy to report that employee love
has once again returned to his restaurant.