what are “low mark items”?   

I do 50% off food, no expensive or low mark items, 1 time per shift, 2 if a double shift. no charge for coffee, iced tea, sodas. I don’t limit cigarrette breaks, if, however, you take a cig break and have a customer still here, your fired on the spot. My waitersses are REAL clear on that.
No waiting on family or friends
No boyfriends dropping by for a chat
No food goes home, if you miss a chanch to eat, too bad, no bags go out that didn’t come in.
1 no show and no one called by the no show to cover, fired
Register short $20.00, all in the register that day have their check docked, 4 waitresses, $5.00 ea.
voids, signed and a written explination
My theorem…The waitress who complains most about getting docked, is the thief
Consistently late, ie 3-4 times in 2weeks, goodbye
20 – 30 something, year old girls don’t suddenly get sick around 7 on a friday or saturday night, see ya
walk out of the bathrooms without a paper towel in your hands, twice, nice knowing you
crummy side work habits, adios
Grabbing a big table out of turn, update your resume
some others but that’s the majority of Dear Joan notices.

Yes,  his employees  love to work  for him.  He  is  very kind to them.  He  sets  high standards for his employees and that is what  makes  a  good business go.
 
I have  talked to  his waitstaff and they have nothing but great things to say about him. 

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/should-I-let-the-help-eat-free-m606576.aspx http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/should-I-let-the-help-eat-free-m606576.aspx

Sure you do.
And I’m certain your employees just “love” to work for you.
With the way the economy is they’re probably glad to have any job.
As for which rules?  How about most of them.  Draconian rules simply make the owner/employer feel powerful that they can micro-manage people at work.  If something happens last minute and you can’t find a replacement you’re fired?  If your place was such a wonderful place to work I’d think you’d have people jumping at the chance to work a shift.
Also, your photo of your “awards” was embarrassing and self serving, if you do something good there’s no need to pat yourself on the back.

Why is that, I pay my lead cook about $1000.00 a week, my other cooks $14.00 an hour, my Waitresses avarage $150.00 250.00 a full shift on the weekends, $75.00 to 100.00 for a 9:30-3 shift, …

where I worked the lead cook got $250/week … if the staff got paid what you pay yours, they’d probably be more than happy to pay full price!

I knew it had to be huge – it’s over twice the size of the place that I found … 1473 sq ft with 1 restroom, a  very small area for an office with a sink and water for making coffee – I told ’em I didn’t need the sink and several dressing areas.   This space was actually larger, but they divided it up to make a conference room for their office.
 
Without the actual layout, I guesstimated a kitchen around 340 sq ft within the existing walls
 
I don’t know how large that other room is, but I think I’d turn it into a private dining room.
 
Cann’t wait to see pictures

 don’t work for free, 50% off an item that is a 50 % mark up, means i don’t make jack. If I factor in the cost of producing the low mark item, I’m upside down, a great way to get your doors closed.

I understood you’re thinking on the high dollar items, and now that you clarified you reasoning on the low mark items, it makes sense.   For me, having 10 employees or less eat 1/2 or free would be one thing … if you have 20 employees doing that you could lose money quick.    In a situation like this, I would think a meal prepared specifically for employees would be the best thing, i.e., spaghetti, red beans/sausage, etc.,  – it makes it easy to control your cost and overhead.     

I feel sorry for your employees.

Why is that, I pay my lead cook about $1000.00 a week, my other cooks $14.00 an hour, my Waitresses avarage $150.00 250.00 a full shift on the weekends, $75.00 to 100.00 for a 9:30-3 shift, same for the 3 to 8 shift, this doesn’t count what I pay them, sure it’s minimum wage but here they get a check every Friday. Side work is minimal, they love working here, I’m nice to them, help them when it’s warrented. If you don’t have strict rules in a place like this, chaos.
If you want strict, find out the rules some of the Chains have.

A uestion for mloomey56.  Which one of his rules do you feel is unfair?

that’s what I thought it was, but I couldn’t figure out what you meant by “I do 50% off food, no expensive or low mark items” …  I could understand the expensive items  and how marking down that much could be less than cost, but why not low mark items?

I don’t work for free, 50% off an item that is a 50 % mark up, means i don’t make jack. If I factor in the cost of producing the low mark item, I’m upside down, a great way to get your doors closed.

I feel sorry for your employees.