I am dreading tomorrow.

He keeps hiring new servers. We had 18 servers alone today, it was cramped. 18 including me and the 2 new girls he just hired. Flip ihop frfr.

I just remembered this from a week or two ago. The spot where I work does to-go containers by default. It's an entre and 2 sides kind of place. On said containers I have to write the name of the customer before they go down the line. This lady walks up and I ask her name to write on the container. She gives it a little think and says "I'll go by 'Thor' today." I proceed to write that name because I don't give a good G Damn what stupid name you want to go by. Then she says "Isn't it weird that people actually give their real names?!" I don't say it but I'm thinking "no...not really." Look, i don't care if she doesn't want to give her real name. All she had to say was (insert name)! Straight up! Thor? WTF? LOL. She could have said Susan, or Merlinda, or literally any person's real name. Fuh....she could have said Benjamin! People are weird, man. As if y'all didn't know.

So my sister sent a screenshot this morning to our family group chat, it’s comments on a post about a local BK getting a low score.

The first comment: “All restaurants are nasty just look around their front doors and around their dumpster area and it will tell you all you need to know about a restaurant!!!”

The reply to that comment: “I’m weird I know, but also the cars they drive, if they are nasty you can bet yr food will be…..”

WTF? The cars they drive!? I’m sorry we can’t all afford a goddamn expensive car on our low ass salary.

There’s a man where I work who’s mirror is hanging on my a thread of duct tape, it’s dirty, etc. He’s one of the best cooks I’ve ever seen!

My brother in law drives a little beat up white car (not sure what it is) that’s going on 300k miles and barely running. He’s been our grill cook for almost 11 years and get’s nothing but compliments on his food!

It took me 3 damn years just to save up enough to buy a 2004 Tahoe

Now I partially agree that the parking lot and stuff should be kept clean just because there are so many places around here that look horrible on the outside cause there’s trash everywhere, but at the same time I don’t get paid enough to care.😂

It doesn’t mean that the food will be terrible. Now granted, some places are bad with the food too, but it’s not going to be every restaurant you go to.

Sorry for the long rant, that comment just really got me, lol.

EDIT:This did not involve my sister, she just came across the comments!

I’m a busser/food runner at a mildly fancy seafood restaurant located downtown.

Last month, we bid a tearful (literally) goodbye to our previous general manager, who had to retire from this line of work due to hearing loss. He was very much beloved by the entire staff, hence the tears at the meeting when he announced he was leaving, but we all wanted to accept his replacement without a fuss since that’s just how these things work in the industry.

She came from the management team of our sister restaurant in the same city, and within a week, had all kinds of changes in mind for how we’ll be running things.

For starters, she didn’t think to put on the schedule that we’d be having a FOH meeting on Saturday, and just sent a group message the night before informing everyone. Needless to say, the group chat was inundated with messages from people saying they weren’t able to make it, since they had plans or weren’t available on such short notice.

She cut the hours for the bussers in such a way that the opener is by themselves for an hour after the dinner shift starts, when normally the second busser would arrive right at the start of dinner. None of us are pleased with this, since it means you’re responsible for running all the food and clearing all the tables by yourself if you open for the first hour of dinner.

What was sort of the most galling thing, to me, was that she took a picture of how she prefers tables to be set up now, with the plates a specific number of inches away from the edge of the table, and the glass a specific number of inches away from the plate, and posted it up on the board at the back of house for us to reference.

She’s stepped on pretty much every servers toes at some point over the last month, either by running drinks for them when they were busy with another table (and criticizing them after for not being on top of it, even if the drinks had been waiting for only a few minutes) or by butting in when a table is occupied by people who were also regulars at her previous restaurant, and talking to them at length while the server is trying to do their job.

I was just informed yesterday about her doing this with a pair of older men she knew, and she ended up comping 100% of their $200+ bill because they told her their server wasn’t attentive (which wasn’t true, these guys literally sent their server away multiple times when she tried to get their orders because they “weren’t ready” or wanted their drinks first or whatever other excuses. And when their server went up to apologize to them, even though she didn’t think she had done anything wrong, they acted like she was fine and they didn’t know what she was talking about. So either they’re lying, or they conspired with the new manager to get a free meal and drinks, and screw over their server in the process.)

I really enjoy this job, but my coworkers and I have remarked multiple times that it’s only because our previous manager was so great. Without him there, and with his replacement being like this, we’ve already had a few people quit.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

You know when you have these regulars who are always miserable, want specific alterations and you are extra friendly and accommodating and they are still f.... miserable towards you. Yeah, I had them today and all I want to say to them: Just f.. off or can you please at least smile at me once?

Just wanting some words of encouragement and any advice you all have for newbies! My first night on the floor alone is tomorrow which also happens to be graduation day for the college in my town. Excited to be making money but nervous because I know it'll be super busy all night with lots of large parties.

It’s mostly due to being scheduled 95% lunch shifts, which they know I dislike solely due to the hours. But even on busy lunches like today, I make nowhere near enough. It’s because there are way too many servers on the floor. If they had a busser and a host during lunches, we wouldn’t need a million servers to handle the tables. But because we don’t have any support (no busser, no host, no expo, no food runners), we can’t handle it. So instead of getting 5 tables, everyone has 3. Then bc people are coming specifically for lunch specials the bills are low. But even on dinner shifts, it’s not cutting it. My last dinner shift, it was busy, I made $80. My tip out was $20. My tables aren’t tipping low either, it’s usually 20% or higher, sometimes way higher. And we’re doing SO much sidework I feel like I’m literally just wasting my time. The ONLY time I made anywhere near $300 (270), was on a double and that was one time. All of my other doubles have been trash because they usually put me upstairs which is a tip share and we never make shit up there bc most people want to sit downstairs on the patio.

My boyfriend says I should just pick up more shifts. I say what’s the point when there’s literally 0 incentive? What am I gonna get ready and go to work on my day off for? $30-$60? No thanks. I say it’s time to leave. And we only get checks every 2 weeks. It is not fun to wait 2 weeks for $500 or less. I’ve had 1 check slightly over $1000. Even that is not nearly enough. I need to double that. I can’t afford to get my registration and tags renewed, which I am getting pulled over for and will eventually get a ticket for. I can’t afford my bills. I sent my bf $100 short of our rent and cannot afford my half of the Wi-Fi or electricity. Like I can’t even put a single dollar towards it. I can’t afford to get contacts or new glasses and I can’t see worth shit, my prescription is extremely outdated and my vision has gotten worse. I can’t afford to get new makeup and I’ve been scraping the containers to get a tiny bit of product for months and months (we are required to wear makeup). I’m hoping that I can make the $50 I have left last me for gas and other necessities for the next week, knowing that my next check will still not be enough to cover everything.

Ive been applying at other places with no luck.

I was hired at this hotel as a buffet attendant and at the same time, they hired a manager/supervisor. Said supervisor gets paid like $30 an hour and he was always a server/bartender making tips. I get a percentage from the buffet, usually over $100 a day, plus credit and cash tips since guests can order items too.

Seems my supervisor didn't know that I was making all this money until recently when he started helping with payroll. I decided to start splitting my cash tips with him because he helps and was grateful. The other day I forgot my cash tips (it was like $10) and I texted him about it and he said "Oh it was just $10, I took it, you wanna keep it?"

None of the other managers get any of my tips. It seems supervisor complained to chef that he does a lot and doesn't get any gratuity. Chef who is nosy told me I need to be fair and ask for the gratuity to be split. Now supervisor disappears at times and doesn't help as much.

It also seems people from the restaurant know that I make all this money and they make comments. What to do?

We have been using the same version of Aloha since 1998, but we are transitioning to Toast on Tuesday. I've watched all the training videos and played around with the handheld. Any pro tips from those who have been there?

this is a genuine question, maybe it's just my restaurant, idk. i haven't been a host for very long, but one thing has always bothered me. when a server leaves a table sitting for too long and the guest comes up looking for a server, the hosts are the ones who get the blame for it. why is this? i'm running around wiping tables, sweeping, seating people, moving chairs and high chairs, updating floor plans, doing constant menu counts, bussing tables, grabbing silverware bins, blah blah blah. so why does it become MY job to essentially babysit the servers?

today a (unreliable) server came up to me asking me to skip her in rotation because she was gonna go outside for a second. she assured me that she had seen every one of her tables and that another server who was off the clock was watching these tables just in case. not even ten seconds after said server walks outside, one of her tables comes up to me and says nobody has seen them yet. i check my tablet and they have been there for fifteen minutes, and it says that their table already got their entrees, but they did not get anything. now managers are freaking out on me and my other host for letting them sit for so long, meanwhile i was trying to figure out how to seat everybody on a friday during lunch with just 2 servers for the whole building and my other host was taking a $100+ to go order because no to go servers showed up.

server who ignored her table comes back in and not a single manager says anything about it to her. why? am i in the wrong here?

Father’s Day is coming up and I’m looking for sneakers.

One sneaker I’m looking at is the Nike Air Monarch IV (has wide feet option which is what my dad has) I don’t know if it’s non slip. Do you?

The other one is PUMA® Safety Frontside - Soft Toe shoe.

With those two, I want to see any other options. Price doesn’t matter. I want them to be a bit stylish.

Please recommend any sneakers that are comfortable for a long day of standing and walking. Thank you.

Dinner time servers get a 5 table section. At our place we have food runners and bussers, so 5 is pretty easy. You basically just take orders, get drinks, ask if they're doing ok, and check them out. It's called upper class Italian place so you have to serve a lot of wine and fancy cocktails too.

But at lunch you have an 8 table section, no busser and no food runner. When the other server goes home at about 1:30, you have the entire floor. The host goes home, too, and the managers are either sitting in the office or sitting in the empty lounge talking or eating lunch. At one point, I had 9 tables with no help at all, and the managers just lectured me about not cleaning my dirty tables (the tables have white table cloths and white paper you have to roll up snd throw out and replace, and set with plates and silverware and menus) and that if I can't keep up, I'll lose my lunch shifts. but if I need help to let them know. It's like, yeah, no shit I need help. How about you help clean my tables?? They also expect you to have the next shift set up and silverware rolled by the time the next server gets there at 3:30.

Customer: "Hey, so like, you know a Jack & Coke?"

Bartender: Nodding head in acknowledgment and waiting patiently for the actual order...

Customer: "Hypothetically, could you do that with Crown?"

Bartender: 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

This Saturday, the woman we call "the vest lady" will be banned from my work because on the two occasions she's been in, both Saturday karaoke nights, she's been highly impatient, very rude and high matainance, including to the bartender and kitchen staff.

The bosses had a meeting yesterday and decided to bar her after complaints from other regulars and being informed of all the other places she's been banned from.

As a long-time ITB professional I'm hopeful that she reacts calmly and respectfully. Also, as a long-time professional, I'm 100% certain she'll react horribly and I'm going to do everything I can to be able to watch it.

I have been working at In N Out burger for about 9 months now, and Im looking to get a job as a server, ideally in upperclass or fine dining restaurants (lmk if that's even possible with no prior server experience). How do you actually get a job there? Ive submitted countless applications over the past few months with no responses. Do you have to call and talk to a manager or go in person? Tips? thanks.

Warning: This post is 100 percent about the 'is my server actually flirting with me' question. I know this is an annoying topic but with the context, I hope you'll understand I'm not...trying to be that person.

I have never in my life flirted with a service worker or asked one out. I am a woman, I am also a lesbian, very staunch feminism runs through my veins and I have a hard boundary about asking a woman out in her place of work. I just don't do it. I also assume close to 100% of the time that any 'flirtation' from a service worker is just them being plain nice. I've only ever assumed otherwise once when a waitress was putting her hand on my back and complimenting me physically (in front of my then girlfriend, who was not happy lol).

Which is why I'm finding this situation really confusing and would like some input.

I'm a regular at a coffee spot which is very local to me, and it's a place that kind of exclusively attracts regular clientele because of its location. I've been going there for maybe a year and have never been given any particular special treatment. The staff are often standofish to pretty much everyone, which is fine by me because I just want coffee and a meal.

There is one barista who I have always thought was super pretty, but obviously I've never approached her and never made a move to talk to her.

Recently, I was sitting at a table drinking my coffee and that barista and I happened to catch eyes and I grinned at her. I didn't even really mean to, she was just there and I'm idk, nice? She grinned back and then waved at me and smiled as I left. I didn't think much of it.

Next time I came in, she waved and smiled at me from behind the machine, which is something she's never done in 12 months. I returned it. I was kind of intrigued by her but didn't want to bother her, so I decided to wait for my coffee near her machine and let her decide whether or not to strike up a conversation. She did. She asked me all about where I live, am I local, what I do for work, what it's like, we exchanged names etc. It went on for like ten minutes.

I sensed it was kind of flirty. It was almost like she was trying to vet me and figure out who I am and whether she'd be interested. But at the same time, maybe she just randomly felt chatty or was bored.

I went in again a day later and she served me at the counter, and it was normal apart from her like subtly teasing my order (I like my bacon like...done to death). Her co worker was smiling during. Her co worker is the one who usually cooks but she (the barista) cooked my meal and then her co worker was putting it into a take away box for me and she intervened and did it herself. Nothing super flirty happened so I assumed the day prior was maybe like...just an outlier.

I went back as usual and she wasn't in, but her other co worker was. Her other co worker who is usually very sullen and like, has barely spoken to me in like 12 months and seems to hate customer service, was suddenly smiling and waving at me as I was in line. This co worker I know owns the establishment and it's a very small tight knit team (maybe four employees). She also looks maybe related to the barista.

I order my usual and then the owner gives me a free small latte for while I wait. She has never done that before, I have never seen her do it for anyone else, and I have overheard her before discussing money troubles with staff. I was honestly confused and she explained it was on the house etc. Ever since that one maybe flirtatious conversation with the barista, the cook is suddenly even more fond of me (she's always been quite nice), the other cook who I have never seen before is being really friendly, and the owner is suddenly giving me free shit.

I cannot for the life of me tell if they've just suddenly decided to be super nice to me as a group or if the barista is maybe into me and they have like a group chat or something and now its like...a thing? For context, I do not live in a country where we tip, we pay servers actual human wages, so there is no actual incentive to behave this way. I am also far from the only regular, e.g. the same guy has been sitting inside every time I've gone this week and he doesn't receive this kind of service.

I am very reluctant to give the barista my number or socials over the counter. I need my daily coffee and I like this place. I also don't want to have misread her and make her uncomfortable. I feel like theres also an additional tricky element because we are both women, so neither of us are 100 percent sure if the other is queer (I am kind of visibly queer but I don't know if she has picked that up). I don't know how to signal to her that I'd be fine with her like e.g. taking her break and sitting with me or asking to meet up externally, or if I've just completely misread this and this is like...normal.

Hey yall

Do any of you use apps to keep track of the cash you make? Bonus points if it's free and and has a budgeting tool. I've been looking at some but they work based on being linked to bank account. I don't need to track my account. It's more the cash I want to keep tabs on.

Thank you

Just a funny story here, that I think still somehow bothers me.

I work in a takeaway joint in a really busy tourist spot for reference.

Today I was serving this lady in her like 40s or 50s, and she ordered two coffees and a bacon roll, she paid for it and as she was picking it up she realised she couldn't carry that and her camera, so she said she'll be back for them in two minutes, she just needed to put her camera away in her car.

I told her that I'll put it on the hotplate but to be back quick if she wants it to be really hot like she asked.

She came back in 20 minutes instead of 2.

I gave her the food and coffees and then she kicked off about how it was lukewarm and not hot. 😩

I explained to her that had she returned in the time frame she said, it would've been hot, but she somehow took twenty minutes, and decided to take this out on me.

We do not have any means to heat things up either as we have no microwave, so things need to be eaten/drank as they are made for them to be hot.

My supervisor had to step in and stand up for me because the lady had decided that because I'm 18 and a guy I'm stupid and can't do my job, yes she said that 😂 and after she said that she didn't acknowledge me at all, no eye contact, no reply, just completely blanked me.

I know I'm doing well too because management told me today that they were very happy and only hearing good things from all of the supervisors.

I do see the humour in it but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't eating away at me, any recommendations on how to not dwell on these types of customers, we get quite a few where I work.

Thanks :)

Started a second job in a casual sit-down restaurant, don't own any black clothes. Thrift stores around me are kinda picked clean by resellers, so I'm thinking of buying second-hand online if anyone has any recommended brands. I was thinking of lululemon stretchy button downs, saw some going for $20 instead of the crazy $128 per shirt.

So the restaurant I work at uses Sysco glass cleaner to wipe all of our wooden tables. We do have glass tables outside, but this in a spray bottle with a rag is what we use to wipe down every single table.

I'm pretty sure this isn't doing anything more than 'cleaning' the surface, meaning just removing the visible waste and leaving all the bacteria and germs behind. Their reasoning for choosing this was because the quat sani tabs were taking the finish off the tables. They've been using glass cleaner since before I started here a year ago.

I'm trying to just do a little more research on the components of this cleaner before I go to the owner to complain. If anyone can help me with identifying the purpose of these components, I would greatly appreciate it. From what I can tell it looks like ISO and a bunch of binders, color, and basically ingredients that help the solution stay stable. Nothing besides the ISO that could kill any germs and you need a high concentration of alcohol for a long time to kill bacteria. Also isopropyl alcohol is probably eating the finish as well, maybe just slower since it is diluted.

Also if you have an Sysco product recommendations I would love them! We are in NY but I don't have access to our ordering system (just a lowly server lol) so I can't really see that is available? I did some googling and sysco gave me a PDF with some different 'Keystone' options but I'm not 100% sure they are available here. I was interested in the Keystone Vigoroso Lavender Multi Surface cleaner. If you have any experience with it, please let me know.

Looking for some new shoes so wondering what everyone else thinks is the best waitressing shoe out there. TIA

Hi, I'm a 17-year-old female student interested and in the process of seeking jobs in hosting, I do have restaurant experience and I'm wondering what the average hours a week most hostesses/hosts in popular bar & grills work are. I'm asking so I'm able to calculate my finances beforehand or see if I would need to pick up a second hostessing job, as I live on my own independently. If people who are currently hostesses/hosts or work in the restaurant industry can provide some input based on their experiences that would be great thanks! :)

i’ve started a new job, so i’ve discussed it with my management and they agreed to only schedule me wednesdays. i have still been picking up extra shifts if i have available time.

apparently availability isn’t considered when it comes to mother’s day. is that for all holidays or only mother’s day? is it usually similar for father’s day?

Anyone know of any good breakfast places to get started in Phoenix? Preferably Tempe/Scottsdale/Downtown. Just moved here a few weeks ago and want to get into the serving industry. I have no restaurant experience so just looking for any front of house jobs to get started. Any and all ideas are welcome!

Worried I’m annoying the servers/not doing enough

I’m autistic so I’m not the best at telling what people want without them telling me. One of the servers I was working with told me that I should ask them before seating them so it’s less work. Also, my boss told me that sometimes I should help them with cleaning the tables if it’s quiet (during afternoons). I’m worried that I’m not doing enough. I ask them and they said no it’s not my duty but should I push more?

I’m a fairly new server (3 months) and at my sushi restaurant, we have individual tips (keep 60%). During my first few weeks of training, I filled in for another server on Valentine’s Day (only trained to fill drinks, bus tables, run food) and I was bussing my ass all night as customers kept running in. Since I wasn’t trained to serve, we were understaffed (especially with me replacing an actual server), food orders came out slow, Togo orders took forever, and we ended up closing an hour later than expected. At the end of the night, I was tipped out $20 which I don’t mind since I was new and still in training (the three other servers made around $300-500 each). Well, now that I earn my own tips, I’m looking forward to working Mother’s Day (if I get scheduled), but I see many servers dreading this day and described it as one of the busiest. I’ll be celebrating with my mother the day after since she’s also working.

Question: Is there any reason that you hate these busy holidays?

TL;DR at bottom!! Long post.

I work at a kind of shitty bar, where there’s a regular who started coming right when I was new. He immediately had a crush on me which he told multiple people about and didn’t hide which doesn’t necessarily bother me. I’ve had flirty guests who are into me before but it doesn’t always bother me unless they are creepy.

He progressively started coming more often when he knew I was working, and started telling me more about his life. he told me about his sister dying, his depression and his broken life basically. He kept saying how glad he was to see me, how much he needed it, how much he needed “xcherrywavesx time”. (ME time?!?! Kinda weird) It started making me feel a bit weird but like nothing bad.

He said “I need some more xcherrywavesx time outside of your work hours” and I’m trying to avoid him asking me out. He tried to slide me his phone to put in my contact info, so I told him I have a boyfriend (which is true). It was really awkward but he was nice about it.

Then he started coming in more and more and staying for the entirety of my shift (usually 4+ hours). He always sits at the bar and I can’t really avoid it since I need to stay there. The entire time I keep being clear about having a boyfriend, but he seems more and more into me. He started giving me songs to listen to.

I got a summer job abroad and put in my notice for work, and my employer said I can return when I’m back home. Guy came in and was saying how distraught he was when he heard the news, and that he needed to see me before I go. He wrote me a playlist and added his number. I said thanks and made no comment about the number. At the end of my shift I swear I saw him crying. He comes in to my last two shifts, both days staying super late and talking to me non stop. I just felt so awkward and uncomfortable! Especially since he wasn’t doing anything inherently bad. He’s nice and all, but it was just too much overall since I’m not interested in him whatsoever.

He continues to mention the possibility of us texting and staying in touch etc etc. He knows I am not single.

Then, at the end of my last shift, after he was there since the beginning of my shift (5 hours) he says: “Come on, give me a hug”, To which I respond: “I think I’m OK”. Oh my god his reaction was so awkward. Just “oh…….. oh ok….. I’m….. im going to leave now”. I feel bad because of how he told me about his really personal problems but also justified. Everyone said I did a good thing but I still feel so icky it was so awkward for me. I didn’t want to hug him at alllll, and I also didn’t want him to have the thought that he has a chance. I get the impression that he hoped I would be single by the time I return since he said “a lot can happen in X months”

Anyways, thanks for listening to my long rant. It helps me get rid of the icky awkward feeling I had.

TL;DR - Obsessed regular seemed very into me and didn’t seem to accept that I have a boyfriend. He told me some very personal things and came all the time to see me for my entire shift, writing me playlists. On my last shift he asked me for a hug, which I declined, which was so awkward and I feel icky from it.

Please read the other story I have on here to give me some advice pleassseee!

Ok need some advice, 24F just got back into the serving industry again after 3 years of dealing with my mental health first and I’ve had this job for about almost 6 months. I got the busy section as most of the time I do, our manager wasn’t letting us use hand held tablets because someone didn’t return one the night before. I really didn’t think he was gonna go through with it so when I kept getting sat it was a little difficult because all of us had to use the computers as the tablets send it straight to the kitchen. I had gotten a 23 top. Instead of being understanding my manager expected me to input the orders without the tablet but it was a party that big I think the tablet would have been so much better and this problem wouldn’t have happened. So I messed up a lot of the orders because the tablets are my key to my work performance. It’s just so much easier. Instead of lending me one in the first place he had another server help out. Obviously I knew she was going to end up getting the whole tip. So he finally let me borrow the thing when it was too late. So he yelled at me in front of everyone saying I can’t take the 50s anymore because I kept messing up the orders. I never mess up until he took them away that day. I was so humiliated because it’s not the first time he yells at me like this about my work performance. I do my best to give it my all to get his approval or for him to just comment on how I’m doing. He has worked at other restaurants don’t want to say names but 🦉 🧡 Lol and so I didn’t think that was fair especially feeling all the tension in the restaurant so once I finished putting the dishes in the back I came back, different manager told me that if I wanted to just go home or what I planned on doing because they gave my section to another server instead without even letting me know. I was so mad and embarrassed I just wanted to go home. They had me pay for the food that they didn’t pay for and I still put the tips I had which was only $13 but I only came home with $4. I don’t think it was fair that he was gossiping about me and the mistakes I made even the cooks just said my name and that I’m always fucking up something. I knew I was going to mess up without that device but now he is denying my trades with other servers that want to trade afternoons with me and I don’t think it’s fair he still has me scheduled 5 days a week and I think I he just took advantage of me and I want to know what I can do before I look stupid bringing it up to him or another manager if I could. I still think he shouldn’t have done that when the day before that I did just fine and the other times before that. Do you think he did it on purpose to make it difficult for me?