[vortico]

The cafeteria manager likely had no idea they were running out of forks. A simple email or phone call to the cafeteria department would have probably solved the problem, since managers are likely looking for ideas of things to buy, especially if they've been recommended by customers (students).

[ilaksh]

I disagree. I assume the manager was quite aware, but whenever he had previously asked for resources from his own boss before, they refused and implied that he needed to try to use even fewer resources.

After your manager makes it clear multiple times that they do not want to spend any money, even on things that are important, many sane people will stop caring.

He may have told the boss multiple times that they were running out of forks, and the boss said "well, we have over 200 forks, that should be enough".

But in the end, I blame the higher-level main manager. Stupidity, poor communication, stinginess, these are all very common. The workers, even first line managers, can only fight so much against it.

The first manager may have already bought a ton of spoons on his own.

[philwelch]

Yeah, the idea that a college dining hall administrator is just sitting around desperately wishing he could spend more money but not knowing what on earth to spend it on unless he receives an email from a random student to whom he has zero accountability strikes me as far less likely than your theory.

[gravescale]

> we have over 200 forks

I see someone's ERP system is in need of a manual stocktake!