Tuesday, July 5, 2016

SOUPER SALAD RESTAURANT CHAIN HEADQUARTERS OFFICIAL IN SAN ANTONIO WRITES AND SENDS AUGUST 25, 2004, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LETTER PRAISING SOUPER SALAD MANAGER ERNIE MOTLOCH




On Monday, November 28, 2011 12:11 PM, John McMillan wrote:

Dear Ernie,

In reviewing prior E-mail correspondence of mine inside my personal computer in my apartment, I noticed today that I received a nice reply letter about you from Souper Salad corporate headquarters in San Antonio.

I realize that you have emphasized that you don't want to ever again work for Souper Salad. I decided to share this nice item with you since it does offer some much-deserved praise for you.

Sincerely and Best Wishes,
and Happy Holiday Season,

from John Kevin McMillan,
11411 Research Boulevard, Apt. 325, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
My current E-mail address: mcmillanj@att.net
Blog: http://www.johnkevinmcmillan.blogspot.com
(My current blog offers advice to children and other young persons during the Holiday Season).

----- Original Message -----

From: Tejada, Vanessa

To: John K McMillan

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 2:00 PM

Subject: RE: Ernie Motloch

John, Thanks for your words. I shall forward this to the appropriate people as they search for an replacement for the Austin area District Manager.

Vanessa

-----Original Message-----

From: John K McMillan [mailto:jkmcmil@texas.net]

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 2:33 PM

To: Tejada, Vanessa

Subject: Fw: Ernie Motloch

To: Ms. Vanessa Tejada, Souper Salad Headquarters Human Resources Officer in San Antonio, Texas.

August 25, 2004

Dear Ms. Tejada,

I hope that this letter of recommendation----a letter that I wrote strictly on my own initiative, I wish to politely emphasize----will be helpful to you all as you consider which of the various general managers in the Austin area to promote to the position of district manager.

Best Wishes to yourself and all of your colleagues at Souper Salad headquarters.

Sincerely,

John Kevin McMillan,
a part-time waitperson for the Souper Salad Lakeline Mall store and a Souper Salad waitperson in the Austin area ever since (my birthday, April 27, in) ...2002.

----- Original Message -----

From: John K McMillan

To: SouperSalad Headquarters

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 2:16 PM

Subject: Ernie Motloch

To: Souper Salad Headquarters Officials, San Antonio, Texas.

August 25, 2004

Dear Souper Salad Officials,

I am a part-time waitperson for Souper Salad who has myself worked at a half-dozen Souper Salad restaurants in the Austin area, including the Austin-area Lakeline Mall store, in the period since...(April 27,) 2002.

I would like to offer you all some praise about your general manager at your Lakeline Mall store, Mr. Ernie Motloch.

Ernie Motloch is very friendly and polite toward his customers and his employees, and he is very knowledgeable and very sharp. Also, he is very professionally committed to offering a high-quality product and service to his customers.

I would like to respectfully recommend that you please consider promoting Mr. Ernie Motloch to become your next district supervisor for the Austin area.

Ernie Motloch's strengths are numerous. He is empathetic and polite, patient, has a nice sense of humor, and has a keen understanding about what his customers expect from their restuarant. Yesterday, for instance, when a female customer of mine complained to me inside the Lakeline restaurant that a salad she was eating was "too spicy," she said, Ernie very helpfully provided factual information to herself in response to her comments.

With help from an assistant manager of his, Tammy, who kindly approached that woman's dining table at my request, that female customer had all of her questions addressed about that Thai Chicken (?) salad, I believe it was.

Ernie's honesty and integrity as a general manager are also admirable. Yesterday, for instance, I pointed out to Ernie Motloch that customers at the Lakeline store almost never eat the pineapple topping offered on the dessert bar there, from what I have observed, and Ernie candidly replied that he agreed with me that there does not seem to be much consumer demand for the pineapple topping.

The same Ernie Motloch has kindly responded to my comments to him that many of his store's customers complain about the Low-Calorie Lemonade offered as an option there. Ernie has offered me a candid response on that which helped me to understand why that particular beverage has been triggering complaints from customers.

Ernie Motloch's receptiveness to any and all complaints or cited concerns that he receives from customers or employees of his also attests to his admirable integrity as a general manager. Never once that I can recall has Ernie Motloch ever dismissed as irrelevant or trivial a cited concern of a customer of mine, such as when a customer tells me that she wishes there were ice cream cones provided at the ice cream bar, as some customers of mine at the Lakeline store have commented to me. Ernie Motloch very carefully replies to each and every concern or complaint or word of praise that I myself share with him seconds or minutes after I myself was offered that comment from a customer of mine, and much of the time he will personally visit that customer's table inside his store.

Never once does Ernie come across as malicious or nasty or vulgar or obscene or sarcastic or petty or vindictive or cynical toward any of his employees or staff members, and those admirable traits of his pose a sharp contrast to other management styles I myself have observed at some other Souper Salad restaurants in the Austin area where I have previously worked. Ernie Motloch always uses clean and polite language, and I find that very admirable.

To offer you some additional examples of Ernie's impressive management style, yesterday I was greatly impressed by his prompt response when I reported to him, this during my workshift as a waitperson there, that I was seeing about five flies flying around inside his restaurant. Ernie Motloch quickly stated that he will make a point of getting that problem corrected as soon as possible, apparently with help from some expert or some kitchen-staff employees, and off-hand I don't recall which individuals he said he would ask to take care of that problem.

Also yesterday, I was very impressed to note that only seconds after I told Ernie that we were out of soup bowls on the soup bar line, and only seconds after I told Ernie that the remaining two pizza-bread squares available on the line appeared to be dried-out and not up to company specifications, Ernie Motloch instructed kitchen-area employees of his to correct those problems immediately. Never once in the entire time in which I have worked for Ernie has he ever at any time made me feel "defensive" or "apologetic" or "too thorough" or "too concerned" in relaying to him noteworthy concerns or comments or job-related factual observations that I share with him in the backroom area. I told him yesterday, for instance, that some of my customers that day said they are very keen on the new Chicken Lettuce Wrap bar, while other customers of mine say they themselves miss the taco bar. I also told Ernie that I myself am very impressed and pleased by the truly delicious and healthful items on the Chicken Lettuce Wrap bar, which is a huge improvement over the taco bar, it seems to me. I added that I myself don't find myself wanting to use the lettuce at all, partly because I don't like the idea of eating lettuce that might have been touched by other customers.

I invariably find that when Ernie Motloch visits a customer's table, which he does without hesitating if a need for that arises, he succeeds at reassuring a customer or enhancing the reputation of his restaurant in the eyes of that customer. He has a flair for diplomatic and graceful customer relations, and I have never once seen any customer appear angry after Ernie had spoken with them. Yesterday, for instance, Ernie very helpfully agreed to my request that he please visit the dining table of two ladies, one of whom said that she had found a "black hair" inside her salad on a plate of hers at her table, and she found that rather alarming, she told me.

I apologized to that female customer and removed that salad plate from her table and showed that plate to Ernie Motloch in the dishwashing room area. After that female customer then a few minutes later complained to me about another hair follicle she had found on her napkin, with herself adding that she was not sure whether it was her own hair follicle or a hair follicle from a staff member, Ernie very graciously visited her table and talked with that female customer. She and her female friend left me a $5 tip at their table featuring a party of two, so I was especially grateful to Ernie Motloch that he had done that for me.

Ernie Motloch's obvious in-depth knowledge about business management and his ability to problem-solve are also impressive, as is his very humane philosophy toward business management. He is consistently kind and generous toward all of his employees and customers, and he appears to be the the most hard-working general manager I have ever seen in my career at Souper Salad. Every Monday, for instance, Ernie Motloch has a tradition of reporting to his workplace at a very early hour, and I believe he told me that hour is 5 a.m. or so, in order to get lots of work done in advance for that week. Ernie Motloch typically works about 70 hours per week at his workplace, from what he has told me, which also reflects a very impressive commitment to his career on his part.

Another particularly impressive aspect of Ernie's background is his geographical mobility. He is youthful, medically healthy, physically fit, admirably slender, and can easily cover lots of territory, both in his pick-up truck and on foot. Ernie Motloch also has an abundance of energy for his career, as his apparent from the manner in which he goes beyond the call of duty to help out his employees. Ernie's devotion to his wife and family are also admirable, and they lend to his style a fatherly kind-heartedness as a manager that would also be invaluable in a district manager.

I am very hopeful that you will consider promoting Ernie Motloch to become your next district manager for Souper Salad. I am convinced he would do an outstanding job for Souper Salad.

Sincerely,

John Kevin McMillan,
11411 Research Boulevard, Apt. 325, Austin, Texas, 78759.
Phone: (512) 342-2295.
E-mail: jkmcmil@texas.net

John McMillan

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