I just found out today.

[Brian37]

The business owner, who owned the place I worked at when I first moved down here to NC, died. We had nothing in common religiously, obviously, but the one thing he got right, being a former DC police officer, was that you stick together in the trenches, you fuss and fight, but tomorrow was another day. Initially they do what any business does, get you to conform to their script. But I kept breaking the rules, and they accepted I knew what I was doing, and got to the point, where they let me do my thing.. I got two raises without being asked in the time they owned the place. 

I wish I had found out sooner, I would have extended my condolences sooner. But I never set foot in that place after the guy who fired me who bought the place.  They sold it to a guy with a McDonald's/Dennies/Papa John's mentality. Years after the new owner fired me, I ran into him/his wife and their son at a gas station. They said to me implicitly they regretted selling the place to the guy who fired me. Not because of me of course, but they regretted selling it to him. I also just found out the new owner who fired me sold the business. I was not shocked in the least, because he had that same Trump look in his eyes when he bought the place. 

Just like my late mother. The original owners, just like many families, have generational differences. Just like my late mother and I loved each other but had nothing in common. That is what the original owners were. They were like my mom, we fussed, we fought, but we knew when the shit hit the fan, we all knew that you wouldn't want anyone else in the trenches with you.

Point is, I miss the original owner. He didn't understand me, I didn't understand him. But he did value his employees, even if he didn't understand them on non work topics.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like was a good guy.

Boru

[Brian37]

This is how great they were as owners. Their son, was not exactly as responsible as you'd expect a kitchen manager to be. The old owners, not the guy who bought the place. Anyway, their son came in late, hung over, and started throwing his weight around, and the entire kitchen was pissed that he showed up late. I had had enough of it and I confronted him. He could have fired me on the spot.

His mother came in, calmed the situation down. After work that night, I get a call from their son, apologizing for the way he acted.

I was a dishwasher? He had no legal duty to do that. But his parents got on his ass. THAT to me is morality. It is when you have power, but you are not a dick about it.

I actually have more respect for what the son did in apologizing to me than the new owner, who couldn't fire me to my face and forced the kitchen manager to do it.