In our business there is a certain amount of jealousy from time to time that creeps up, either with chefs, general managers, owners or staff members. The jealousy over the success or failure of other restaurants can sometimes be detrimental to our profession in general. The Germans have a word for it, schadenfreude: pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
The most recent example of this was the defacing of the front of the new Pizza Orgasmica in San Rafael by rival restaurant employees. Apparently in the middle of the night, these rival restaurant employees went on a spray painting binge and defaced the front door and windows of the restaurant. Their motivation was quite clear. Here is a new competitor coming into our area and we want them to fail.
When I am talking to friends or professionals in the business, sometimes I get a question to the effect of “so-and-so is opening a new place near your restaurant — aren’t you worried you are going to lose customers to them?”