Or just to type this out. Idk. I have a few different serving/bartending jobs. One being private events- weddings, birthdays, graduation parties, holiday parties, etc. This is my newest endeavor, but I’ve been doing it a few years now. Just started with a new company, and the events are much more frequent, all with good feedback/reviews.

Except this last one. Some things said could be chalked up to mismatched expectations and absolute shit communication from the hosts- but a lot was just straight up lies. This is a repeat customer, though my first time there. I will not being going back if they do book again.

I was bartender and was told to find and bring my own server to assist the customer in food set up and myself in the bar. Basically float around, pick up empty glasses, plates, stock charcuterie trays, tidy bathroom. Only tools needed were my bar kit, which I brought and used. It was a Halloween party.

Weirdness when we arrived: Barely any liquor selection. I had a bottle of vodka, 2 gins, a tequila and a whiskey/bourbon. The hostess made 3 batched festive drinks, but damn near refused to tell us what was in them other than “bourbon drink, vodka drink, gin drink” Almost no mixers- 1 mini can regular coke, 5 cans mini diet, club soda and tonic. Water bottles had to be searched for, and we were given 4 and told more “in the garage”, same with cranberry with the result being 2 mini bottles. Like the individual 8oz bottles.

For the drinks, the hostess wanted dry ice, edible glitter and light up ice cubes. Fine. We did that, it was festive and fun, took pictures of the drinks. Did this for every single drink, other than the guests who asked that we didn’t.

Hostess complained that the company who made the charcuterie cups put decorative autumn flowers in a few. She also almost chased the catering company down the street screaming because she assumed the unopened tray of food was more bread instead of the “missing” meatballs. I’ve never had someone at an event speak to me the way she did, but events are great like that- if the people suck, you never have to see them again. I did get an apology, so I chalked up the attitude to stress. Which I get. Planning events is exhausting. Stressful. Whatever. So I thought we were good.

On to the complaints!

1. I didn’t bring my tools or make any drinks? I had my tools, made drinks all night. Festive ones. Shook at least 20 old fashioneds in my shaker. Went through a solid chunk of her batches. Couldn’t do much else, because I didn’t have shit for liquor or mixers.

2. Didn’t use the dry ice. Again, nearly every drink. It was fun and festive. We had to open more of the plastic holders, and she even told me to just toss them when she saw I was washing them to reuse.

3. Said my server didn’t help with food or rolling silverware. She did. I saw her do it, and have photos. The silverware she rolled and put a spider ring on for fun. Also said she didn’t clean up mess or take out trash- she did both. Had to hunt down the hosts to find out where to take the full bags.

The complaints just feel malicious, since so many were outright lies. I don’t get it. I did nothing wrong and felt the guests had a good time. Most were super nice and no one was rude or mean, even with almost no NA options or mixers.

It’s bothering me and I’m dwelling 🙄 I’ve been in restaurants and service industry for 20 years, I know some people are just unpleasable. But wtf.

This may just be a pet peeve of mine, but it irritates me when customers try to pick up/take things that clearly aren't meant for them. This includes but isn't limited to...

-the paper copy of the daily specials menu, which is taped to my side of the register and has notes on it

-our literal mail that the mailman put on the counter for our boss, who was wiping sauce off his hands before picking it up

-our pens. They're not branded, they're basic grey bic pens that are for some reason irresistible. Most people are absent minded but some have gotten upset when I ask for the pen back

-money FROM THE REGISTER. "Oh I'll get the change myself" when has that ever been a thing??

-climbing over the counter to grab a takeout box when they could've asked

I work in a college town so I don't know how much of this is some kind of immature prank and how much is genuine dumbassery. To be fair, 90% of them are perfectly polite. It's the remaining 10% that have a screw loose.

Many years ago I worked as a server at out favorite pepper restaurant that rhymes with Willys. One day in the dining room during lunch a couple with their toddler and one of the couples father were sat in my section in a booth. The toddler was in a high chair at the end of the table. The parents got standard meals, the toddler got a kids meal, and the grandfather of the child for the unlimited soup and salad combo, lets call him Kevin.

Its maybe 130 pm, lunch rush is over but I and the other 3 servers each still have 3 to 4 tables that are eating. Kevin has a caesar and is crushing cups of clam chowder like its going out of style. The couple are finishing their meals, the toddler has finished but is restless.

Here is where the fun begins.... and let me preface the rest of this story with this, I had been serving for a few years at this point, by no means am I an expert, but i have a pleasant personality and can be charming and can usually read my guest well, all that and to be clear, I know not to put hot soup within arms reach of a baby.

So I am bringing Kevin his fourth serving of chowder to the booth they are sitting in, and this is your typical booth that could fit 4 adults comfortably, and 6 if you wanted to be rubbing elbows the whole time. Kevin was sitting about three quarters of the way into the booth on his side, with the couple across from him, and the toddler in the high chair at the end of the table in the isle.

Not wanting to lean all the way over into his personal space, I placed the cup of chowder half way down the table, easily 2 full feet away from the toddler, within inches of Kevin's right hand, and I probably say something to the effect of 'how is everything'. This gosh darn kid performs a herculean gymnastics maneuver, leaning forward, pushing herself all the way up out of the high chair onto the edge of the table, then proceeds to continue leaning forward, fully extended, reaching out her left arm, and plops her left hand into the hot soup.

It was one of those, 'it all happened so fast' moments. I am thankful for many of my other experiences in life that trained to me to act quickly in times of trouble such as recognizing someone choking and quickly performing a successful Heimlich maneuver (same restaurant) or being able to recognize the difference between someone flailing around in the water and someone who cant swim.

So myself and the three other adults at the table (im standing to the left the toddler) all see this happen, the little girl lean over further than anyone could ever expect and dunk her hand in freshly microwaved clam chowder. It took about one second for me to realize what happened and without permission or anything i just reached out with my right hand and grabbed her by the wrist/forearm to remove her hand from the hot soup. I remember having the conscious thought "no time to get a napkin or towel" and i just used my left hand as best I could to wipe as much soup off her hand as I could as quickly as possible.

As one would imagine, even though I was not directly at fault, and neither Kevin or the couple across from him lifted a finger, I began apologizing. After what felt like an eternity (maybe 10 seconds) the mom snapped out of it and i passed off her daughters arm to her and gave her a napkin and she continued where i left off with cleaning her daughters hand.

This is where Kevin comes in, and up to this point, no one else has noticed. Kevin looks at me and says, with his voice raised so that, while he wasnt yelling, everyone in the dining room could hear him, "Boy you must be fucking stupid." I am of course dumbfounded and dont respond. A child in need I will jump to it but when a grown ass man with gnarled hands, what looks like a 20 year old faded John Deer baseball cap, overalls, and a healthy southern accent speaks like that to me i just kinda stand there.

"You never put hot soup in front of a baby. Boy, if you hurt my granddaughter I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL F#CKING KILL YOU"

Everyone heard it. He wasn't yelling, but everyone heard it, he did not care. Meanwhile, this kid DID NOT MAKE A SOUND, not one. Carefree as ever. The skin on her fingers were red, thats it. She was smiling throughout as if it we were just playing.

So I immediately say, "ill be right back." and I turn around and high tail it into the kitchen to get my manager. I find him talking to someone on the line, so i interrupt with "Chris I need you to go to table 26 right now." as matter of fact as i can. He turns to me and says "one minute", and starts back into it with one of the cooks, then I gently place my hand on the clipboard he is holding and interrupt again, "Chris, I need you to stop what your doing and go to 26. right. now." and thankfully he could tell that I was serious and he quickly headed to the table.

I did not speak to the table again. My manager comped their meal, took their info, and walked them out a few minutes later. They said they would be taking the toddler to the hospital to be checked out. The parents, I did not know which of the two of them was the progeny of Kevin, were relatively understanding. They were not outwardly upset, they said that while going to the hospital was as a precaution, they were also going to reach out to corporate.

All of my other tables were great about it, even a couple of them ave me extra tips saying they were sorry i had to deal with that. Afterward, my manager brought be into the office to look at the security footage, and right then and there, he laughed watching it back seeing this amazonian child practically crawl across the table to dunk her hand. Corporate called a few weeks later to talk about it but with the footage and my managers report, no further action was needed. Never saw Kevin again... but we sure talked about him for a while.

Per my post earlier today I may have finally found a job, but it’s at an Applebee’s and I don’t know whether to take it or wait for something better.

Anyone got a 411?

The other day this man’s baby was babbling while he was trying to order, and he literally YELLED at him to shut up. A baby!! And the baby wasn’t even preventing him from ordering, it was just entirely uncalled for. I’ve seen parents swing on their kids, verbally berate and abuse them, refuse to get them food while everyone else is eating. It breaks my heart that I can’t say anything, just share a sympathetic look and some kindness. As much as I try not to let it get to me it ruins my day every time. The worst is when the parents try to act like it’s valid in some way and seem proud to be being pieces of shit, or try to talk shit about the kid to me. I’m always like “oh no it’s okay they’re just a kid!” I might not be able to say anything but I hope they can see how horrified I am by my face. Wtf is wrong with people.

I’m 22 and I was a server for nearly four years at a chain restaurant, which shut down last May. I have bartending experience which I highlight on my CV as well. I haven’t been able to find a job since May, though I do take care of family and make money from that.

In the past two weeks I have been rejected by three serving jobs, and I don’t know what the market is like anywhere else but in my area those were the only three I could even find.

I’m getting frustrated. I’m a fantastic server/bartender and I have years of experience to prove that, only to waste time and gas on interviews that go nowhere.

Any advice?

This was a couple years ago. But one of the most mind bogglingly stupid restaurant experiences I've had. It seemed to actively rely on multiple people not using their brain or having the most basic understanding of how restaurants, or how even time itself, work.

It's about 230 in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Our lunch rush is over. We've cut to two servers, one manager, one host, one bartender and iirc two people in the back. There's like one table in the dining room and a couple at the bar. Typical.

Suddenly, three FULL school busses pull into our parking lot.

Out start coming kids from what I guess is out of the area as they are wearing unfamiliar uniforms. They are probably in the 15 to 16 year old range.

This so far is unfortunate but not end of the world bad. My boss is actually a bit excited because it's gonna make the days numbers look good. But I've got a sinking feeling.

Other server and I start getting pitchers and stuff ready while the host and manager starts seating them. It's 42 people in total.

I go up to two adults with the group and introduce myself and ask how they are handling the bill. (Praying for a single check)

They smile at me and say yes, one check. (YAY) except....all the kids are gonna have to pay for their drinks themselves if they don't want water. Okay. Fine. Annoying but okay.

So I go up and down the lines fast getting all the drinks (about 3/4s of them order non waters). Fine. Then as my server buddy goes back and starts making them I get the adult drinks. As I'm just about to turn away, one of the women stopped me and drops the bombshell.

"We're on a tight schedule. We have a debate tournament to get to. We need to be out of here in 25 minute, okay?"

Deer in headlights look. You have a 42 top. I'm just starting to get their drinks. We have two cooks. Everyone is eating. No one has even ordered.

My boss has overheard this. We lock eyes. We're fucked. To her credit she immediately runs to the kitchen to get on the line herself.

At this point I literally grab a chair to stand on. Yelling over 40 talking children I tell them we are short on time so have your orders ready as soon as I get to you.

I start going down the lines. No chit chat. No questions about any modifiers, I'm just best guessing at this point (they aren't paying for the food anyway). About every 8 orders I run to the POS and throw them in. Most of our food is fast. A couple people ordered the few things that would take too long so I just said "you don't have time. Pick something else." I'm not trying to be a dick but I'm working with what I have.

I know my boss is gonna kill me later but I know at this point all those drinks the kids ordered are free. I'm not gonna have the time to individually process 30 extra $3 tickets. The kids don't know better. They're not gonna be all ready to pay. They're gonna be talking to their friends, be annoyed we are interrupting, take forever to pull out a card, etc.

To our kitchen and bosses credits they are flying. Everyone else is food running and it's going fairly smoothly. But the women keep checking their phones and frowning.

We get the last plates out pretty much at the time they are supposed to be leaving. To the kids credit they all were eating pretty fast.

The women start rushing the kids, telling them to get back on the busses and they had to go. I checked my phone. 32 minutes from beginning of order taking to completion of a meal of a 42 top. Pretty damn good IMO.

As I said before, we gave away about $100 in drinks. My boss thankfully completely backed me on not trying to charge for it or waste time by remaking all waters and taking the drinks already on the table back.

But I still to this day remember the numbers on the check.

Total bill was $532. The women looked at in and both laughed. She turned to me and said "Dang that was so close! They only gave us $550 cash to cover the bill!"

Yup. $18 tip on a 42 top we got from door to door in 40 minutes.

They even left a review. 4 out of 5 stars. Said the food was great and the people friendly but "the food took longer than they expected". 🤬🤬

This may be a stupid question, but I'm looking to translate my fast casual management skills into serving (I've never served, but have been in the food industry working various jobs since ~16) and I was baffled to discover that most places I'm looking at are only open 4-9 PM(ish). It seems obvious now that I'm looking at those hours, because lots of nicer places only do dinner... but how do you make money working 5-6 hour shifts?? I'm used to 6:30 AM until late afternoon/evening/2 AM hours... Is there that much for servers to do after closing? In the places I've been around sit-down dining, it seems like the servers don't generally do much in the way of closing up... so how do y'all pay your bills?! A second job in the morning?? Do tips really make up for that much?

Anyway, thank you. Just super curious about this (and might need to know should I attempt to make the switch.)

This is an oldie but goodie from one of my favorite unhinged guest interactions at my restaurant.

Let’s set the scene. It’s late. About a half hour before close. A couple walks in, probably in their 50’s. The man is dressed nicely in a suit. The woman is not. She is, also, hammered drunk. I hate this for me. The hostess is both a timid 20 year old and about to go home so she does not care to stop what’s about to happen to me. They go to sit in the lounge. We do not seat the lounge when the bartender (me) is solo. The 20 year old tries explaining this but, because I am too good for this world, I come up behind her and say “you know what it’s ok why don’t yall just sit anywhere I can take care of you”. The hostess mouths “thank you” and goes home.

They sit on the same side of the table (there’s a long booth) and I walk up to greet them and ask if they will be dining or just having cocktails. I barely get this out of my mouth before the woman snaps “we’re eating obviously that’s why we’re here and I need a glass of wine.” To the contrary, dear reader, she did not need a glass of wine. She was nearly at the point of needing an IV. Now before you give me shit the laws about over-serving where I live are non existent. I am not about to argue with this creature and also her husband was completely sober to take care of her. So like a good little bee I go get the menus and start to set the table to dine. This is where I made my first of many mistakes.

You see, the table they were sitting at is comically small. They all are. So with them both on the same side of the table there is no way for me to mise two sets of silverware. So I begin to pull the table next to them over.

“What do you think you’re doing” the swamp monster snaps.

“Oh I was just pulling the table over so you have room.”

“I don’t WANT room.”

“Oh, ok, not a problem.” So I set the other side of the table with the napkin and the silverware like they had an imaginary friend joining them. I then make my second mistake. I bring them water.

“What is THAT?” The creature screeches.

“Ma’am that’s water.”

“I DON’T WANT WATER I DON’T DRINK WATER.”

I know you don’t you fucking hellspawn. I can tell by your terrible skin and the fact that you’re blackout at a fine dining restaurant on a Tuesday. I don’t say this. I just silently remove the water. I’ll spare you the details about trying to wrangle this food order out of them and the awkwardness of trying to serve two people sitting on the same side of an 18 inch table. Just know it was terrible.

Now at this point they are the only people in the restaurant. My GM (the lovely woman from my other post who should go in to foreign relations) is standing at the host stand. I am also a woman. This becomes relevant. I bring over the check and set it down, hoping for an end to this dystopian nightmare that was the past hour and a half. As I’ve mentioned multiple times they are sitting at the world’s smallest table. I could not have possible sat this check down in front of a single person. It was in a neutral space because that’s all there was. This was my final mistake.

“DON’T GIVE THE CHECK TO HIM! What is wrong with you? You don’t think I can pay for it. You two clearly don’t know what it’s like to be a woman who works for a living”.

I know it sounds like I’m making this up. I am not. She said this. Out loud. To two woman. Who are currently at work. I look at my manager with the biggest eyes and then start to laugh. I can’t help it. It’s too much. This infuriates her, obviously. She storms up to go to the bathroom.

This is when the husband decides to chime in for the first time of the entire evening.

“I’m sorry for my wife’s behavior. She’s been a ER nurse for 25 years. She’s a true hero. Sometimes she just needs to blow off steam.”

Blow off steam? Blow off steam? Go to the fucking batting cages. Go stand in the park and yell at strangers passing by. Go get blackout in the comfort of your own home and punch holes in the drywall. My restaurant is not your own personal rage room you eldritch horror.

Then, for some crazy reason he follows this up with “Tell (sommelier’s name) I said hi. I’ve known her for years.” As if I would have a single nice thing to say about this interaction when I tell her about it. “Oh yeah your buddy Tim was in with his wife. She screamed at me for an hour and a half because she has unresolved trauma and no coping skills or healthy outlet for it. Real nice guy.”

Anyway so that’s my story about the hero nurse who blows off steam by getting blackout and yelling at waitstaff. Craziest part? Tipped me 20%. Real curveball at the end.

Have a good shift tonight! With the nursing convention in town I know I will.

(This isn’t venting I’m just new to restraunt work so my coping mechanism is to just turn things into fun stories)

I mainly host and I had a party of 8-9ish come in on a weekend. I got them a table set up, at my restaurant you have to take out the table extension then push the tables together for parties this big.

I get all their menus and say follow me, this is your table, standard stuff but with the customer service tone and wording whatever. I’m handing out menus and then…”we actually have a flight to catch so can you be quick”

No. This is a restaurant. Go to McDonald’s if you can’t wait more than 10 minutes or me handing you a menu in less than .2 seconds is making you that nervous.

Edit: I’d like to add in perfectly okay with it under a certain context. If you ask politely, are understanding, and acknowledge that overall it’s your responsibility than that is 1000% reasonable and I appreciate it when people do that. If you just want accommodations like the check brought out with the food, or order to go instead, that’s great. However, these people expecting the full sit down restaurant experience just with everyone rushing to fit their schedule. The cooks can not cook your food faster, the server will not run to your table, I will not just throw menus at you and call your server over immediately. All of those things will get us in trouble and are not reasonable things to ask for.

Ask nicely tho and I don’t give a shit.

I did switch servers for the table, I gave them to one that’s been there for years, handles big parties very well, is very quick and doesn’t get stressed easily rather than the new hire. That was more for the server than the customers tho.

Not a server to just start this off but i work in a restaurant, nothing too fancy. And I mainly host

I was hosting on a Saturday morning by myself, only had like 2 servers on and the bar which is always open. 3-4 groups came in, I stuck to rotation, gave them all appropriate table sizes, and made sure the tables were clean.

The third group was a party of 2, father and son. I told the father early on I would be with them as soon as possible which he basically yelled HUH, didn’t even really listen just cut me off. I sat the group that came in before them, told them I’d clean off a table for them which he replied with “fine just go do whatever you need to do, just hurry up.” Already annoyed I didn’t wipe down their table I had picked out as quick as usual because fuck you. I’m not going to do what you want just because you’re rude.

I walk back and before I can even say follow me this way he’s opening the door shouting that I’m too fucking slow and the next people can have their table. I just greeted the next group and got them sat quickly, they apologized to me and said they had been there 5 minutes at the most so he wasn’t waiting that long. It was two parents and their younger kid, the mom told me I shouldn’t let him ruin my day and I was doing great.

I’ll admit I’m new so I could’ve been faster. I could’ve just gone out of rotation and gave him the next clean table. But honestly I’m glad I didn’t because I would’ve felt bad for whatever server ended up having to deal with him.

Sitting in my car,I just watched a guy get out of his truck and move traffic cones that were blocking an empty parking lot for a restaurant that clearly closed.

I suspected I knew what was coming, and rolled down my window to hear. Yep, he and his buddy walked up and tried the door, which was locked because obviously closed restaurant.

"Huh, I guess they're closed."

My man, you MOVED TRAFFIC CONES to get into the parking lot. That was EMPTY.

This, my non-industry friends, is what it's like working in the service industry. Ah, the general public. Can't live with em, can't make tips without em.

I work 4 days a week, it's 9 hour shifts so 36 per week total. I'm also studying and have classes twice a week so I basically have one free day a week. Next week I'm scheduled for 5 days instead of the agreed 4 and while I don't mind it as a one off thing I'm not sure if I should bring it up? My manager didn't ask or mention this to me so it seems a bit out of the blue, the job is a bit understaffed right now so I guess it has to do with that.

I choose to mask because I have sinus issues (CONSTANT runny nose) that I think largely come from smoking. Currently I work in a small operation where I'm 50% BOH and 50% taking orders. My masking has not been an issue so far.

However I am anticipating a possible offer from a place I recently applied at. It's at the top of my list of where I'd like to work. It's also quite a bit more upscale, and I am guessing they'd prefer a server who did not mask while doing tables.... So rn I'm brainstorming ways to get around it.... I want to both keep smoking and yet no longer need the mask.

Any smokers out there with advice? Or ANYONE with advice on how to deal with runny nose, cough, dry mouth and throat as a ft server? Thanks.

My husband and I like to take our 2 teens and one young adult out for dinner at nicer restaurants a few times a year. It has gotten increasingly expensive to do this. We always factor in an appropriate tip even if it means cutting back on appetizers and drinks. Wondering if any servers have any other tips on how to save, but still enjoy dining out.

I'm not in food service anymore and havent been for years, but thought I would post a warning about something I discovered today.

Today was my youngest kid's 12th birthday. We went to an all you can eat Sushi place. With 7 hungry people to feed the total was $131.11.

Not bad really. Especially when you consider the food was great, the place was clean and the staff, especially the server, were all top notch.

She never let my drink get empty and she quickly brought us plate after plate of delicious food. She was one of 4 servers handling a packed restaurant with around 30 tables. Yet she was always right there when we needed her. I don't think she sat still 10 seconds the entire evening.

I knew right away I was going to tip and when the check finally arrived I was a bit shocked.

The place uses Clover terminals, the kind that precompute suggested tips. The highest tip was 30% which it calculated to be $25.

I hope you see the problem here.

In case you don't see the problem, 30% of $131.11 is $39.33.

For whatever reason the tip calculator was off by nearly half. Even if you assume the pretax cost of the meal as the basis $117, the tip should still have been $35.39.

When I asked the server to bring her manager over. The poor girl looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I could tell she was terrified. I tried to reassure her nothing was her fault.

First I complimented our server Brittney and told the manager about how rare it is to see someone genuinely concerned with each table and making sure everyone is well taken care of.

I then explained to the manager that I wanted to tip Brittney but I had concerned with the receipt.

I asked the manager about the tip calculation and at first she insisted it was right. But we calculated and recalculated it. It was just wrong with no rhyme or reason.

Maybe there's some kind of cap, I don't really know. There's no way the restaurant could benefit from this so I don't think it's an attempt at tip theft.

The manager finally caught on and said she'd look into it with her boss. In the meantime I just rounded it up to $50 and wrote it in.

In either event, now we're left wondering how many times Brittney and the other staff busted their butts to provide top notch service only to be screwed out of their tip because of a computer glitch.

All I know for sure is that whether you're serving or being served, don't trust the machine to calculate the tip.

update I received a callback today. Apparently it was a tip cap.

Customer looked me dead in the eyes and asked "I'm not leaving you a tip. You okay with that?"

Every single fellow cashier at our shopfront has been shockingly short and disrespectful to the customers that roam through the building. This is evident from the plethora of bad reviews surrounding these employees interactions. Unsurprisingly I have gone from providing some level of customer service to slowly but surely reaching the state of mind as my fellow employees and no longer really smile or go to any lengths to do more than the bare minimum.

It got me wondering to why exactly these employees, and myself, are not motivated at all to provide any positive level of customer service?

Some of the things I would have to say are culprit is our bosses incessant ability to pay us late, it’s gotten to the point now where we’re all in a separate group chat and bet on whether he’ll pay us on time. Our boss talks disrespectfully to us when we do anything to inconvenience him, even if it’s not necessarily anything wrong.

The overall process of sitting around a building full of loud people with screaming kids (tourist heavy place) bothers most of the employees. The steps from taking a ravenous line of people’s orders as the only cashier with only one cook. Is exhausting as you have to juggle assisting customers asking for more stuff after receiving their food already, inputting and sending out delivery orders, preparing trays of food from the kitchen and bringing them out, collecting reusable dish ware, and leaving to the supply room mid rush to grab more stuff results in a overstimulated work environment with never enough time to get anything done in a timely manner.

From my experience the whole style of the food halls layout just creates way too much traffic flowing through it and even if they aren’t ordering from you it’s causing the cashier to always be on edge bc you have no idea if that person staring at ur menu for 10 minutes is actually going to order.

There hasn’t been one cashier that hasn’t been incredibly short and rude to the customers and I used to think they just hated the job but realized after working here for a while that it’s just designed to influence the cashier to not be inclined to provide any reasonable amount of customer service. You’re just flipping a iPad around non stop and never getting a chance to connect with the customer.

All the cashiers are leaving left and right and even the kitchen is extremely toxic here with a couple of cooks who hog 80% of the hours and the remaining 20% are taken by a kid that is constantly disrespected by the main cooks because they think they have some kind of seniority above him and don’t have to do basic tasks like prep the kitchen for his shift so he’s scrambling as he comes in to get ready. He’s no longer here for that reason.

It’s crazy to me that our boss is well aware of the reviews and his actions towards us but just doesn’t give a fuck and keeps paying us late, micromanaging us, and interacting in a highly toxic manner when things don’t go his way. Our place is special in the sense that we have the most negative reviews with customers trashing the cashiers attitudes, it’s almost comical.

It’s sad that it’s gotten to this point but tbh after working the position I’ve devolved to nearly the same persona although I do fake it just enough to avoid mass reports regarding my behavior. Essentially there’s very little reason to go above and beyond to provide anything more than the absolute minimum towards customers and even more reason to allow our frustrations to be seen due to the owners own neglect towards our well being. Time to find another job.

Yesterday I served a customer with an allergy. I marked the allergy to the chef as I'm supposed to, grabbed his dish from the window, and confirmed with the chef that it was allergen-free, he confirmed. However, I noticed it looked like it still had said allergen. I double and triple-checked with the chef and even showed him, and he confirmed each time that it was not. I served to the guest and went on with my shift. The guest was there for a bit and seemed to be okay, but I can't help but feel like it had the allergen and that i shouldve trusted my gut. I'm terrified about losing my job or even getting into legal trouble.

I have a full time job elsewhere, but I picked up this waitressing gig at a local diner. I was only there for about a month and a half total, so I was relatively new when I quit too.

Nice place, been around for nearly a century, and only has had 3 sets of owners in its existence.

These new owners (husband and wife) are running this place to the ground, and it was obvious from day one for me. The husband used to work at my current FT job, but he got fired for hiding bad parts; he also was a little too friendly and personal with us waitresses, and I decided I was staying the hell away from that guy lol. I am not bad looking, and I knew he liked me over some of the others, and I think his wife thought he was going to cheat on her with me, because she has been known for taking that paranoia out on waitresses prior to me. Nothing ever happened because again, I stayed the hell away.

I am not a drinker. So I already was not in the boys' club, so I would never get promoted to bartender ever, because i didn't drink with my bosses/coworkers. I just strived to be a good waitress, and make as much tip money as I could, and work my way up to bartending. Other waitresses would show up whenever they felt like it, and fuck off and not attend to their tables, and yet when I am 1 minute late, or I went to the bathroom before being seated without my knowledge, it's suddenly not ok lol.

Besides that bullshit above, there was no real training, health code violations up the wazoo, can't keep staff, 3 more red flags.

I chalked it up to, well, I haven't worked in a restaurant before, but I have worked in healthcare food service, so my standards must be too high. I noticed people handling food without washing their hands, no gloves, waitresses making salads bare handed with fake nails (gross!!), so much more.

Then it was shitty sections that I discovered I was deliberately being placed in, with prima donna customers who don't tip for shit, all the kid tables, meanwhile, the other servers are getting all these 8-tops of wealthy tables, and nice customers; I was lucky to get 2 good tables in one night. I would get bitched at for asking questions about the menu for people asking for custom shit, and and being somebody who doesn't take shit from people after a certain point, argued with the owners on occasion, because they wouldn't listen to my questions, or they'd automatically assume I was doing something wrong, when no drama was needed.

I was as professional as I could be, but after the first argument, I noticed that inconsistent seating started for me, where my tables that could have given me good tips were being given to other servers higher in the pecking order.

Then other nights, I was overloaded with tables, and was shamed in front of customers for not keeping up with bussing my own tables, when they could just hire a fucking busser or give me time to keep up with tables before seating 10 tables simultaneously (which idk how many people can handle normally, but I was barely keeping up). I offered to even come in just for bussing. Nope, is what the wife said.

Micromanagement is hard-core at this diner. And I was actually being told I was a good waitress who was attentive to people's needs at tables, but i was clearly being set up to fail. I had just gotten a hold of the POS system, which was already confusing enough, and I was also chastised for not knowing where the hell stuff is in the system. Because again, it's confusing!

I wasn't being treated fairly, in my opinion, and I knew that my time there wasn't going to be long. I figured they were sneakily driving me out, but I'm normally pretty stubborn, so I stuck it out as long as I could.

A couple weeks ago, I had to call in sick a couple times because I was getting sick (autoimmune disease means I'm fucked if it flares up). I was having a hard time walking, lumps in my throat, still had to work because i couldn't get in at the clinic yet. The last night I worked, I was stuck cleaning the entire east dining room with no help again. I was crying from abdominal pain, moving booths and tables to sweep, and it felt like eternity that night because i hurt so bad. I went home, almost an hour after my shift was officially done, and told my husband what was going on. I had been overloaded with shifts without a day off, with a full time job, and I was agonizing at the prospect of continuing the hustle, when I was hurting so bad. Hubby told me that he doesn't want me going back, because he doesn't want to see me miserable anymore, and I'd barely been home for the duration of my employment there, which takes a toll when you have a 10 month old kiddo at home.

I decided to do something I had never done before; I texted the owners that night, saying I quit effective immediately. I didn't believe they deserved a 2 weeks' notice, because I was treated so horribly. I knew that place wasn't working out for me, and I didn't feel right serving tables being this fucking sick. (Which is what half the people there do, they get customers sick because they come in sick, wth). I have never not given 2 weeks, but I'm sure I'm coming across as thin-skinned or a wimp. Idk. But I knew I wasn't going back to that place.

I went to the doc next day, and I found out I tested positive for mono, and the abdominal pain was from my liver and spleen swelling, and I am still out sick, and it has been a week since I quit. Still don't regret leaving, they already have hired 3 new waitresses, because their turnover is so bad. They'll live without me. Someone else can deal with that bullshit. I'm not putting up with it anymore.

I could be successful somewhere else, but under better management. But I'm taking a break for now, so I can be home with my kiddo more.

I wanted to share an interesting experience I had recently while working at a French restaurant. I’ve been a waitress here for a couple of years, and I’ve encountered my fair share of unique requests, but this one really stood out.

A family of four came in for dinner: parents and their two kids, one of whom was a ten-year-old girl. As I handed them the menus, the mom immediately asked if we had chocolate milk and macaroni and cheese for her daughter. I explained that we don’t offer those items, as our menu is more focused on traditional French cuisine.

The parents were visibly upset. The mother insisted, saying, “Every restaurant has mac and cheese for kids!” I explained that while we have a kids’ menu, it features smaller portions of our regular dishes, like steak frites and croque monsieur.

The little girl started to get upset. I suggested a few kid-friendly items we do offer, like our crepes with Nutella or a simple cheese quiche. But the parents were adamant about the chocolate milk and mac and cheese.

The situation got tense, and I could see other diners starting to take notice. The father asked to speak with the manager, who reiterated our menu options but also offered to make a plain pasta dish for their daughter, which was the closest compromise we could offer.

In the end, the family decided to leave, expressing their disappointment quite vocally. It was a tough situation because we couldn’t stray too far from our menu.

It was super frustrating. Like, why is your ten year old only eating Mac and cheese and chocolate milk? Why did you come to a French restaurant if that’s the case? 🤦‍♀️

So I had a 3 top on a particularly busy Saturday. I work in a dreaded corporate chain that shall not be named. We have server assistants who run salads, soups, apps, nonalcoholic Bevs, and entrées. The three top only ordered entrées, so basically their table was empty for about 30 minutes. I did check on them a couple times in between asking if they needed any more drinks, or wanted any more bread, and I even let them know that I checked on their food, and they were nice the whole time saying they weren’t in a rush. The food came, they ate, they asked for a water, I rang it in and the server assistant was taking kind of a long time to bring it out but I was busy doing other things. On one of my last trips to the bar I had to pass the table, I noticed they were still waiting for their water and I was going to ring it in again (servers are discouraged from entering the kitchen) but every single person got up simultaneously. The mother said to the kid “ come on we’re going home”, and I looked at the man and I asked him “would you like to pay?” His family left and then he handed me his card I ran it and he tipped five dollars on a $75 check. I genuinely don’t know what happened, if they were unhappy about the long wait or something they could’ve asked for the manager or at least mentioned something to me, but I’m not sure if they were planning to dine in dash the whole time at that point.

Today I served a picky kid. She got a pancake and her parents got eggs. The brother got no food. I went to check on them and the parents had licked their plates clean. I asked if they needed anything else and they replied “no she didn’t like it” I said oh I’m sorry do you want something else to which they replied no, and then I asked if they wanted a box and they said AGAIN “she didn’t like it”. Only reason I offered a box was because maybe the parents wanted it. Also this girl literally peeled 1cm of the top of the pancake off. She didn’t eat try a full bite and the parents clearly didn’t encourage her to have more. I even showed my manager and said I shouldn’t take this off right bc she didn’t even try it/not my problem you don’t like a perfectly edible pancake, she said no. Brought the check and the dad gave me the card without looking. When I went back after they left they left a “review” on the ticket. Said she did NOT like the pancake so it should’ve been taken off the check, and then tipped like 5%. Such assholes but I’m just posting this because I’m astounded that people actually think I can just take your food off because you don’t like it. I was even more baffled because she didn’t even have a single bite of it. Crazy that people act like this.

Today, I got sent home after a rough shift. I was set eight tables with minimal help from around 12:08 to 12:41, then got sat with three more tables on top of the five I already had. By 12:30, I was swamped, so I texted my manager asking for help. He came over but started telling me it ‘wasn’t busy’ and that I shouldn’t need help running food. Meanwhile, I was juggling multiple tables, entering orders, and handling requests.

When he insisted I should be giving silverware at the same time, I politely (okay, maybe a little bluntly) asked him to hold off so I could finish entering orders. I get that saying ‘be quiet’ was direct, but I was just trying to stay focused. Long story short, I was cut from the floor after that and ended up waiting until 2:30 to be sent home so he could write me up.

The kicker? This manager has been an issue multiple times, and this is at a high-occupancy hotel where we often get double- or triple-seated without enough support staff. Has anyone dealt with similar management issues, or got tips on handling situations like this without getting written up?

Update: I got called and told I received a three day suspension and am unable to have a union representation because it’s “disciplinary” for insubordination. Update next day: called the union and he said no way that’s not insubordination, absolutely not and he sent an email to HR and said I will hopefully get paid for these days and this write up will be removed. I’m so curious why they told me not to contact my union representation?

I work at a fine dining restaurant that’s about to get its first Michelin star. We serve a tasting menu and a prix fixe, and I’m a food runner. One of my responsibilities is helping to clear and reset tables, making sure they’re on the same course pickup. But honestly, I struggle with staying organized. I’ve tried writing down the tables and courses, but it just ends up a mess and isn’t very helpful.

Does anyone have tips for staying organized with this? I want to be able to help the chef by keeping track of each table’s course more accurately.

so i got a new job at indianapolis, its a brand new hibachi steakhouse restaurant, its located in downtown the tip out is from total sales 10% to hibachi chef 7% to sushi chef 5% to kitchen 5% to bushboy

the restaurant is kinda big so it might be a fine dining, is it normal or its a rip off?

My manager said “Sydney has tested positive for covid and she is here at work. If you get sick then you still have to come to work”. I’m quitting soon what should I say?

We would have to come in an hour before opening for meetings. Kpis, general discussion, whatever

They'd provide breakfast... but like, shit you'd find at the bakery. The basic stuff

I asked to be paid. They resisted at first. Then I told them I'm showing up when I'm paid to show up

They caved but told me not to tell the others. I told the others

I think many of them are perverts and the only reason they get these positions is to get closer to young women that they hire.

I work for a hotel in a different division than the restaurant but sometimes I help there. The f&b director they hired is quite weird... A man in his 50s who tries to look young and act silly. Brought all of his old employees from his previous place and the are all like 19-20. Then he has been telling me nonsense which I thought he liked me in a way but I heard him being playful with other workers too.

Calls the assistant manager who is like 22 sister and I heard him saying 'Well, I am a b****!" I also have the impression he hangs out of work with all of them.

I heard rumors of him being gay but he told me stuff that were flirty and felt he was testing waters. He even showed me a shirtless picture of himself on his phone. Any thoughts on that, is this common?