Day 184 - 06 Nov 95 - Page 27
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. Just one question before I move on to your statement:
4 Cam Ballantyne and Robert Pinkney took over the store in or
5 about January 1992; is that correct?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. You said that they had a different, very different,
9 business style to the previous management, and they made
10 many changes and improvements, yes?
11 A. Yes.
12
13 Q. Could you just say what the many changes and improvements
14 were?
15 A. Some of them included, I mean, when John Tingley was
16 there, there was a lot of stealing going on and there was a
17 lot of -- I do not know how to say this, but I was one of
18 the only girls working in the grill area at that time, so
19 there was a lot of, you know, comments going around in the
20 grill area, but then when Cam came in the stealing almost
21 virtually stopped and the comments stopped, and it just
22 became, like, more of a fun place to work.
23
24 He focused in on, you know, serving the customers and
25 making the customers happy while we just went rampant. We
26 just did whatever we wanted when John Tingley was there.
27 They would serve -- I do not know if I should be saying
28 this -- but when John Tingley was there, the crew would
29 serve any kind of food that they wanted, but when Cam came
30 in he stopped all of that. He made sure that all the food
31 was, you know, safe and, you know, it was hot and fresh.
32
33 Q. You said: "Many of the staff were apprehensive of Cam and
34 Robert at first. Their management style was very different
35 than what we have been used to". They were more in
36 control, were they, than before?
37 A. Well, they kept the store in more control.
38
39 Q. That meant also that they kept staff under more control?
40 A. Yes.
41
42 Q. This led to some problems and complaints by some of the
43 staff; is that correct?
44 A. Not that I can remember.
45
46 Q. So people did not complain even though they were
47 apprehensive and the management style led to more control,
48 they did not complain, as far as you know?
49 A. Not that I can remember. I mean, they were happy to be
50 able to do the things that we were doing. I mean, it was a
51 better place to work because we did not have, you know,
52 like for me, it was a better place to work because I did
53 not have the people in the grill area, like the guys around
54 my age, you know, making those comments or, you know, they
55 would serve food that I just, you know, that was not fresh,
56 and I would, like, you know, "you should not serve that"
57 and they would like, "Oh, who cares?" Cam came in and
58 said: "I care", you know, type of thing. So we stopped
59 doing all of that, and for me, you know, I did not want to
60 work at a place with a bad reputation, with that worry, you
