What it's like working in a restaurant and why you should be nice to the staff - General

First of all, let me start by saying "my fucking god". People are the laziest fuck-nuts ever. I work at a pizzaria (worked there for 2 years) and the customers are fucking filthy as shit. They leave trash and half-eaten food all over the table, wet napkins everywhere when they "try" to clean up that spill, and shit all over the floor because their fucking kids fling shit everywhere. It's rediculous that people expect us to clean up their messes when there are 3 trash cans readily accessible from any table. It's absolutely fucked up. Ever since I started working at this restaurant, I not only clean up after myself when I go elsewhere to eat, I thank the serving staff and tip them nicely because I know the bullshit they have to deal with every day. Before you think your waiter/waitress was rude and disrespectful to you, please take a moment and think about the bullshit we have to deal with every fucking day. We barely get a break. We watch you eat while we are fucking starving. "OK" you say, "then why take it out on me?" Well, you probably did something wrong to piss them off. What did you do wrong? Oh, it was your attitude. It was the way you told us your order or the way you think you know everything about everything. We can read you from a mile away. We get good at learning the personalities of people before they say anything. It's how you walk and how you carry yourself. In other words, if you think you're the shit, we fucking hate you. If you take to long to order (and make us wait there while you decide), then we hate you. If you treat us nicely and with respect, then you're fine. You're also fine if you ask us questions, unless they are really fucking obvious, such as "Does the lasagna have cheese in it?" or "What kind of calzones do you have?" For the latter question, if you know what a fucking calzone is, you already know the answer. If you don't know what a calzone is, then tell us and we would be more than happy to explain it to you. We don't hate you for being honest. We hate you for being stupid. Before you say "well if you hate it so much, then quit!" We would, however, jobs are not that easy to come by. Please be nice to us. For two reasons. One is we handle your food and get to decide what goes in it. In other words, if you piss us off, we will fuck with your food (I will personally not fuck with anyone's food, but I won't stop or report someone else who does). Sorry, but you started it. We deal with assholes like you every single fucking day multiple times a day. It's not our fault you're a douchebag. If your order is taking to long, it's not our fucking fault. If you're in a rush for something, well, why the fuck did you come to a restaurant where you KNOW the food will take AT LEAST 15 to 20 minutes to prepare, and even longer during lunch hours. We are at the mercy of the chefs, and they are at the mercy of how many other orders there are and what equipment is available. Don't fucking bitch at us or tip us poorly because your food was not out fast enough. Even if you're the only one in the restaurant, the chefs are ALWAYS busy, whether it's cleaning or preparing food for use later, they are ALWAYS doing something whether you think they are or not. Chefs either do things in a first-come first-serve basis, or whichever is easier to prepare first. If you ordered some complicated bullshit first and the table next to you ordered something simple, odds are their order will come out first. It's not the chef's fault that you ordered something that takes forever. Basically here is a run-down of how you should treat us. It's incomplete and every restaurant is different, but here is the gist. 0. Before you come to our restaurant, make sure you have [I]at least[/I] an hour to spare. Don't come to us if you need to catch a flight/perform heart surgery in an hour/need to do a space-rescue mission, go to the gym (if you're that healthy, why the fuck are you coming here?), etc. We don't give a fuck about any of those things as we are not in control of that. You are. 0.5. If you're an important person, we will already know. In fact you probably would not be eating at our restaurant if you were, that is unless it's a 4 or 5 star restaurant, in which case all the other patrons are just as important or even more so than you. The moment you ask us if we know who you are is the moment we will fucking hate you forever. 1. When you arrive to the restaurant, the hostess will seat you. Thank them for their time. Do NOT ask if they can serve you. They are NOT ALLOWED AND WILL GET IN TROUBLE IF THEY DO! 2. Decide what you want to drink first and be ready to tell the waiter/waitress that when they ask. 3. While the waiter/waitress is getting your drink, decide what you want. If you come back and still don't know, we will probably walk off to take care of other customers while you decide. Don't get mad at us because we "disappeared." We don't know how much longer you need to decide and it's rude for us to ask. We should come back within less than 5 minutes though, maybe longer if it's really busy. 3.5. In order to show you are ready, close the menu and place it in front of you. We generally won't come back to you if you still have the menu open because we think you're still deciding. 4. When in doubt, ask. Unless that is, it's a really stupid question with an obvious answer, such as asking "Is there cheese in the eggplant Parmesan?" or some really obscenely difficult question to answer such as "What is the name and address of the farm that supplies your lettuce?" We don't fucking know nor do we give a shit. 5. After your order is placed, be patient. As a waiter/waitress we have no control how fast the orders are made. That's up to the chef(s) that are working on your order. Orders are either prepared by relative ease AND first-come, first-serve basis. If you do happen to not want to wait, we can suggest some items that [I]might[/I] take less time and taste just as good. 6. Once you get your meal, inspect it. If it looks weird and tastes funny, please let us know then and there. We fucking HATE you if you eat 3/4ths of your meal and then bitch that something was wrong with it. 9 times out of 10, your steak was not undercooked. You will not get sick from it. The food is cooked for a specified period of time according to how your government specified. 6.5. If you need any extra items, it is a good idea to ask us at that moment. Make sure you ask for everything you need at once. It's ok if you forget something and ask us to get something else for you, but we will fucking hate you if you do that more than 3 times and will take longer each time you ask us to get something for you. 7. If at any time you spill your drink on the table or floor, PLEASE do not try to clean it up with paper napkins. If you have cloth napkins, then go right ahead and help us a bit by cleaning it up, however you might notice those cloth napkins are as good as a piece of plastic in terms of absorbency and will only spread the spill around. If you only have paper napkins, then LEAVE THE SPILL AND TELL US. We will probably hate you, but we will hate you less than if you tried cleaning it up and left the wet napkins everywhere. 8. When done with your meal, please make things easy for us to clean up. Please stack the dishes with the utensils and trash on the top dish. You can even make two piles of dishes, one with utensils and one with trash. If the eatery you are at has trash receptacles, it means you are responsible for cleaning your tables. In that case CLEAN UP YOUR FUCKING TABLE. WE ARE FUCKING BUSY AS IT IS, WE DON'T NEED TO DEAL WITH YOUR BULLSHIT. 9. When it comes to tipping, I feel the minimum should be 15 percent. Always. None of that "well they were a shitty so-and-so." We work much harder than you think. Also that tip gets divided between us and the bus-boys and sometimes other staff too. Also remember that your tips provide us with our pay. Our base pay from the restaurant is about 3 dollars an hour. Your tips make up for the rest. If you get offended by any of this, then you are guilty of being an asshole to restaurant staff and you should stop going out to restaurants because your food is going to be tainted. [B]EDIT:[/B] One VERY important thing I forgot to mention is you should NEVER EVER come in within 20 minutes of our closing time or stay after closing. There are some reasons behind this. One is we are all getting ready to leave. We cannot completely close the restaurant until all customers are out. Two is because all the food is being put away and chances are your meal will be some thrown together piece of shit with a huge ball of spit mixed in (because we hate you for making of dirty up everything we just cleaned and keeping us there longer than we need to be) and three, it's just a douchy thing to do. The store hours are there for a reason. I fucking hate it when dumb-fucks walk up to the door, look at the posted hours, see we are closed and then try to tug on the door and look surprised to notice the door is locked. NO FUCKING SHIT ASSHOLE.

I applied to so many restaurants around my town. No one wants some 17 year old kid that only works for just two 6-hour shifts a week.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;26580286]I applied to so many restaurants around my town. No one wants some 17 year old kid that only works for just two 6-hour shifts a week.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately the food industry is unforgiving. It's hard to get in and it's hard to get out.

I'm always pretty polite when it comes to restaurants. Normally if there's anything left I'd just take it home rather than leave it. :v:

Luckily I never have done anything on that list.

Idk what it is but society has somehow taught people to not give a fuck about people who are working. They treat you like you're a fucking robot. [editline]9th December 2010[/editline] I work at a concessions stand during the summer

"Please be nice to us. For two reasons. One is we handle your food and get to decide what goes in it. In other words, if you piss us off, we will fuck with your food (I will personally not fuck with anyone's food, but I won't stop or report someone else who does)." I'm a nice guy, but you're supposed to be serving food that is edible, not full of loogies asshole. It's your job, do it regardless of how the customer acts you're getting paid.

From time to time, I'm the guy who takes a little long just to order food. Sometimes I just don't know what I want and I feel bad for the host because I held him up :smith:

Make a thread about it.

This is why I'm always nice to the fast food people, I order with a friendly voice, I pay with a small smile, and when I get my order I thank them and get my food with a smile too. I'm always afraid to eat the food when my dad orders though seeing as how english isn't his native language and he gets mad easily when the cashier doesn't fully understand what he's saying.

i worked at a restaurant for over a year and was nice every day

My personal rule; Don't fuck with people who give you food.

[QUOTE=SpasticPinoy;26580429]This is why I'm always nice to the fast food people, I order with a friendly voice, I pay with a small smile, and when I get my order I thank them and get my food with a smile too. I'm always afraid to eat the food when my dad orders though seeing as how english isn't his native language and he gets mad easily when the cashier doesn't fully understand what he's saying.[/QUOTE] We (at least I) respect people with a language barrier. We won't fuck with you because you speak a different language, have a speech impediment, etc. I try to accommodate these kinds of customers as best as I can. Same with those who are deaf and mute. I give them my pad and pen and have them write down their order. I can tell they like when I do this because they give me a warm smile.

I feel bad now because I do take about 30 seconds to see what I want reading the menu at the desk. (depends on resteraunt.) Whenever I'm at a cafe/small diner, I always pick up my trash and put it away or take glasses/plates to the counter. [editline]9th December 2010[/editline] [QUOTE=SpasticPinoy;26580429]This is why I'm always nice to the fast food people, I order with a friendly voice, I pay with a small smile, and when I get my order I thank them and get my food with a smile too. I'm always afraid to eat the food when my dad orders though seeing as how english isn't his native language and he gets mad easily when the cashier doesn't fully understand what he's saying.[/QUOTE] Fast food employee's are fine, like I used to work at mcdonalds, the managers treat you like utter shit. Me: "Morning, kath." Manager: "LOOK, DON'T TALK TO ME TILL I'VE HAD MY FUCKING COFFEE AND SMOKE" That is why I quit mcdonalds.

Three dollars an hour? Where the fuck do you work, Africa?

Related Protip: If you can't afford to tip the waiter/waitress, you can't afford to eat at a restaurant. No excuses, eat at home.

[QUOTE=Goggles;26580552]Three dollars an hour? Where the fuck do you work, Africa?[/QUOTE] That's just his fixed pay. I'm assuming they split tips on top of that.

[QUOTE=Master117;26580295]Unfortunately the food industry is unforgiving. It's hard to get in and it's hard to get out.[/QUOTE] I know, I needed my Bachelor's before I could work at KFC! But honestly, I am nice to fast food employees, and always have been. Every little bit helps when you make minimum wage and have to smile all day. And don't make tips.

At least you have a job. :smith:

[QUOTE=MisterLANCE;26580379]"Please be nice to us. For two reasons. One is we handle your food and get to decide what goes in it. In other words, if you piss us off, we will fuck with your food (I will personally not fuck with anyone's food, but I won't stop or report someone else who does)." I'm a nice guy, but you're supposed to be serving food that is edible, not full of loogies asshole. It's your job, do it regardless of how the customer acts you're getting paid.[/QUOTE] Without a tip, servers get paid slave-wages. They don't owe [I]you[/I] jack shit unless you tip, [I]you[/I] are not worth working at minimum wage; your tip is. If you're a messy asshole, leave a nice tip :eng101:

Sorry but if someone's a total douche I have no qualms with not tipping them, especially if I'm one of the only few people around in there middle of the day and someone's being a dick for no reason. That being said, I've generously tipped everyone from waitstaff to the pizza delivery guy (and he gets it here hotter and faster every time). To compound that, I usually know what I want before I sit down and don't make a mess.

30 seconds or a minute is fine while still making that final decision. It's when that final decision takes 5 minutes is when we get really pissed off. This happens more frequently than you think and 9 times out of 10, the asshole keeps us glued to the table, which prevents us from checking on other tables.

[QUOTE=Master117;26580276] 9. When it comes to tipping, I feel the minimum should be 15 percent. Always. None of that "well they were a shitty so-and-so." We work much harder than you think. Also that tip gets divided between us and the bus-boys and sometimes other staff too. Also remember that your tips provide us with our pay. Our base pay from the restaurant is about 3 dollars an hour. Your tips make up for that. If you get offended by any of this, then you are guilty of being an asshole to restaurant staff and you should stop going out to restaurants because your food is going to be tainted.[/QUOTE] Go fuck yourself you whining insolent shitface. I worked as a cashier in a Safeway for a few years. That job is shit, especially the town I was in. Pay sucked ass, I didn't even get min. wage because i was in school. I couldn't accept tips lest I get fired (thanks a fucking lot steelworkers Union, fuck off and die), and had to pay the aforementioned Steelworkers theft ring a static chunk (not %) of my paycheck regardless of my miniscule hour count. Oh and for some reason everyone in town decided it was "fuck with the kids day", fucking retirement town, and they wonder why no kids ever come back after college or trade school. Not everyone has the extra money, especially me now as a student. I'm not going to tip 15% for shit service in a Pizza Hut. And if your day is going shit, well whoop-tee-fucking-doo no tip for you, I'm not going to act out at you but I'm not going to give you money for nothing. I'm always polite to service people because I did a similar job, but I had to maintain the facade of acceptance, because there WAS NO OTHER WORK. The town I come from has the McDonalds and Wal Mart slowly downsizing, nothing else has hired in a year now, and more than half the downtown is abandoned or empty. If I didn't work as best i could, there were 6 people waiting for me to get fired so they could nab my position. EDIT: Before you ask about how I'm paying for school, I moved away from the damned place. But I worked there for a long while before me and my parents decided it was worth the plane ticket across the damn country. In short, grow up. I'm not going to tip you "anyway" just because you can't get over yourself and do your job.

[QUOTE=Strider_07;26580603]Sorry but if someone's a total douche I have no qualms with not tipping them, especially if I'm one of the only few people around in there middle of the day and someone's being a dick for no reason. That being said, I've generously tipped everyone from waitstaff to the pizza delivery guy (and he gets it here hotter and faster every time). To compound that, I usually know what I want before I sit down and don't make a mess.[/QUOTE] Waitstaff and pizza delivery people make so much more than fast food employees, just because of tips. It's unfair, considering that there are fast food people who work their asses off for minimum, while often, wait staff makes hundreds per night even though they do a terrible job, because people feel obligated to give them a tip.

[QUOTE=Libertas;26580619]Go fuck yourself you whining insolent shitface. I worked as a cashier in a Safeway for a few years. That job is shit, especially the town I was in. Pay sucked ass, I didn't even get min. wage because i was in school. I couldn't accept tips lest I get fired (thanks a fucking lot steelworkers Union, fuck off and die), and had to pay the aforementioned Steelworkers theft ring a static chunk (not %) of my paycheck regardless of my miniscule hour count. Oh and for some reason everyone in town decided it was "fuck with the kids day", fucking retirement town, and they wonder why no kids ever come back after college or trade school. Not everyone has the extra money, especially me now as a student. I'm not going to tip 15% for shit service in a Pizza Hut. And if your day is going shit, well whoop-tee-fucking-doo no tip for you, I'm not going to act out at you but I'm not going to give you money for nothing. I'm always polite to service people because I did a similar job, but I had to maintain the facade of acceptance, because there WAS NO OTHER WORK. The town I come from has the McDonalds and Wal Mart slowly downsizing, nothing else has hired in a year now, and more than half the downtown is abandoned or empty. If I didn't work as best i could, there were 6 people waiting for me to get fired so they could nab my position. In short, grow up. I'm not going to tip you "anyway" just because you can't get over yourself and do your job.[/QUOTE] [U]Eat at home.[/U]

Jesus dude, people are going out to eat to enjoy a casual dinner, forgive them for not reading a fucking rulebook of what's going to piss off their waiter. Fun fact: It's a job, you know, something they have to pay you for - obviously it's not the greatest thing in the world but you sound like you just stomp around your restaurant pissed off all day because everybody is not the perfect little customer. I've worked in the food industry for about a year now, and yes, it'd be great if everybody could walk into a restaurant their first time with as much knowledge as the full-time employees, but it's not going to happen and when you get pissed off over stupid shit all you're doing is making your workday less enjoyable. In summary take a chill pill.

I worked in a Sushi bar and it sucked ass. The benefits were great though, like hot girls and food.

I used to work at an expensive Italian restaurant. Got a lot of money in tips. Most people are alright, but some are slobs. It is to be expected. Most people are good customers. As far as tipping, if the server does bad then don't tip them well, and if they are terrible don't tip them at all. You tip them for their services. If you're a teenager and go to a restaurant with some other teenage friends and the server treats you bad, don't tip them well or at all and make a point to them that you are doing it because they were a bad server. If a server or busser does not makes below minimum wage with their payed time and tips combined, the employer must pay the extra to pay them minimum wage.

[quote=pepin;26580649]if a server or busser does not makes below minimum wage with their payed time and tips combined, the employer must pay the extra to pay them minimum wage.[/quote] This!

[QUOTE=hypno-toad;26580637]Eat at home.[/QUOTE] Oh yes, because as an Engineering student with a full course load I have all the time in the world to cook myself every meal every day. EDIT: or the access to a kitchen for that matter, this residence has some measure of a kitchen, but it lacks a lot of utensils and such I cannot just up and throw money at. And no, neither can my parents.