The garage and restaurant employees

23 minutes. That's what we have together today. It's 9:30 in the morning and I have a pizza in the oven and a glass of wine in my hand. I've been to work for 4 hours today and going back to work the overnight shift and stay until lunch is under control.
Crazy? No, it has to do with the garage.
In today's competitive market of quality staff, loyal ones that do work, its necessary to do things you don't always want to do for a long term goal.
None of this has anything to do with a garage but not everyone sees things the way I do.
My garage has always been my place for a bit of chaos in what is normally a very structured life. Everything has its place at work, organized, easy to reach, well planned. But I need balance. Too much organization requires disarray. An area that allows expression. Mine place has always been the garage.
In my first life, this caused friction. My wife hated looking at the haphazard way things were stored, even though I knew, at any given time, where anything was. I defended my theory for the clutter numerous times. Made no difference.
One day, she came home and the screws were in jars, the tools hanging from peg boards, rakes and shovels in a bin. The office organization skills finally filtered into my private domain. I announced with great pleasure "I cleaned the garage for you!"
I never knew how many problems this one proud statement could cause for me. Mostly because she would never understand why I would be having dinner and wine at 9:30 in the morning.
Her hateful response was something to the effect of Don't clean the garage for me, clean it because you want to.

Here's the problem. As managers, we only focus on our needs, wants, and desires. For recognition, compensation, and advancement, like my ex. But when an employee needs a day off for a special occasion, emergency, or illness, it speaks volumes about the manager or supervisor when they are willing to eat dinner at 9;30 in the morning so enough sleep can be gotten before a grueling shift begins.
"Cleaning the garage is not important to me but it is important to you. And YOU are important to me."