Christmas Dinner

If you've ever worked in retail, then you'd know that company Christmas celebrations never happen in December. Late closing times and the general busy season pretty much prevents us from ever getting together until the new year.

Outside the restaurant there were a pile of buses that couldn't make it up Granville St.

This year we jointly had dinner at Shabusen on Granville St. The girls from Kris + Cris and Tru Drama braved blizzard conditions for dinner. Not everyone could attend but considering the conditions we had a good showing. So our team had to eat enough food for the missing. Good thing it was all you can eat!

Thanks girls! There isn't a company without you guys!

Staff Hot Pot Dinner

Dinner out is always fun. It's better when you can share it with your coworkers. Unfortunately last night not everyone could make it. A few had family stuff and 2 others had an accident on the way to restaurant. So we weren't graced with their incredible company. We'll make sure to get together again soon so that everyone can attend!

I won't just hire any Martian!

I got this comment from an anonymous poster. I thought the comments posed were worth writing about in an actual post:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, im a big fan of tru drama but sometimes i feel intimidating to shop there, because it possess an "asian only vibe." I Just think it would be nice to see a range of different race working instead of just chinese asian, because i dont always understand what they're saying .But i do understand that you prefer to recruit within family and friends.

A couple of years ago AE got sued for hirinf caucasian surfer like guys only, just giving you a heads up to avoid this.

February 3, 2008 10:04 PM

We certainly don't strive to have an "asian only vibe". However, I can see your point of view. We do our very best to have a diverse team and we've had visible non Asians working for us in the past. The mix of the store may be not as intimidating once I share some information with you.

It would be a dream if I could staff my store with family. I could pay them very little and work them like dogs! Alas, none of the staff are related to me. The store staff might have a very homogeneous look to them it but in reality the store is quite diverse. The countries currently represented are Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, China and Vietnam. We may all be Asians but that's like saying Italians are really the French... a comparison both would deny and despise.

Even I can only communicate with one other staff in my own store in my native language! Both of my past assistants share only one language with me. I can't speak either Mandarin or Korean so English was it. Our store policy is to speak English at all times unless the customer needs help in a language one of our girls speak. I'd like to think most of the girls follow the policy.

I hire on the basis of ability and attitude, race has never been an issue. The applications the store gets a majority are Asians. The ratio of non Asian resumes is probably 1 out 20. I believe that's got something to do with the neighborhood we're in. So the choices I have are pretty narrow. We also have low turnover, I think we have 1/3 the normal industry rate. Combine all that with the the limited amount of actual hours available for new staff... well it's pretty tough for anyone to crack the team.

I would love to have a more diverse team at Tru Drama. However, I will hire the best candidate regardless of their background. I'd hire a Martian if I thought he/she/it had the right stuff! Right now I've got an opening for a full or near full time staff. So send your resumes to jobs@trudrama.com.