What kills the energy

These behaviors do not get you sent home. They kill the shift. The dismissal-grade list is below this one (those get you sent home). The list here is the death-of-momentum list, the things that make a shift drag, kill the line speed, and turn a great team into a slow one. Trainers and shift leads coach these in the moment, every time.

• Leaning on the counter, the wall, the POS, anything.
• Slow walking when you should be moving with purpose.
• Huddling at the POS or the expo window with two or more coworkers chatting.
• Whispering or having a side conversation in front of guests.
• Dead eyes. Staring at the screen, the floor, or the middle distance instead of scanning the room.
• Hiding in the back of house when the floor is moving.
• Silent line. Cashiers ringing without warmth, runners dropping without naming, no team-to-team callouts.
• Walking back from a table empty-handed when there was a plate to bus, a glass to clear, or a chair to square.
• Ignoring a guest who walked in because you are mid-order. The acknowledgment is half a second.
• Letting a stocked station run dry when you walked past it three times.
• Standing at the POS when there is no guest there. The POS is for ringing, not for hanging out.

Energy is contagious in both directions. The team member who drags pulls the room down. The team member who moves with purpose pulls the room up. Be the second one.