STAY AWAY
Establishment: cafe Escadrille
Location: Burlington
DO NOT!! I REPEAT, DO NOT work there.
Very difficult place to work!
The owner owns half of Burlington. He notoriously dates his waitresses.
Menu is decent and venue is busy, but is a clusternut! Gourmet room is the better option-no lunches. I like Stephan, but I’ve heard he can be tough.
The Garden room is a nightmare. If you want to carry HEAVY trays of plates with the old school stainless steel covers that look as if they are 20 years old, go for it! Even worse is that tray stands are kept throughout the dining room to collect dirty plates….Food is scraped and piled for all to see. BLECCH! No support staff. The bussers primary job is to lift & carry the "dirty" trays and deposit them back to the kitchen, as well as help change table linens and reset. You wear a buzzer to pick up food, run your food, bread & water, CLEAR everything. It’s a big place. Team work is not commonplace as everyone is jammed.
Sidework SUCKS!
There are a few veterans who pull rank. Don’t get me wrong, as there are a few cool staffers who actually know what they are doing. Then there are the older woman who’ve been there forever, slow/dead weight know nothing diner waitresses. And the newcommers who train for 1 week and then never return. It’s a SHOCKER for some of us who have worked in decent venues with a modern twist to be thrown into an old school throwback restaurant like the ‘drille. LOTS of horror stories and ripe gossip.
You will make money here-but it comes at a steep price & a bit of drama.
Training takes about 3 weeks. It’s dog eat dog. The uniform sucks! You need to ask permission and get a key to use the restroom. You will sweat & grunt & curse……You will need to work a couple lunch shifts.
Is Jill the cokewhore game-playing day manager (long time hostess) still there?
Good luck!
Comments
Just because you couldn’t handle working there does not give you the right to say things about the people that do. The “veterans” are proud of the work they do and don’t want to work with some idiot who comes in off the street thinking they are going to make their money and just go home. Of course there is alot of side work but the place is always clean and organized. when the years that people work there is between 4-20 that is saying something. Don’t complain if you couldn’t handle it. It is probably you that is the problem. It is a great place to work and I consider everyone there a friend!!
IT WAS THE WORST JOB I EVER HAD. THE DAY MANAGER PLAYS FAVORITES. THE SERVERS BULLY THE NEW COMMERS UNTIL THEY QUIT. THERE IS REVOLVING DOOR OF NEW PEOPLE AS THE OLDER STAFF MAKES THEIR LIFE HELL. THE DAY MANAGER AND OLD SERVERS ARE GREEDY RUTHLESS BITCHES AND THEY REALLY KNOW HOW TO MANIPULATE THE OWNER TO SEE THINGS THEIR WAY. I SAW A FAIR AMOUNT OF GOOD PEOPLE QUIT OR GET FIRED BECAUSE OF THEIR LIES AND DECEPTION. THE GUY LOVES A GOOD SUCK-UP.
The amount of sidework is an absolute joke. My checks were frequently shorted hours and I was paid server minimum wage for the whole time I was doing the ridiculous amount of sidework. A lawsuit is in the works for how I was treated, so we’ll see how smug they are then.
yeah, the people who have worked there are older women with no where else to go. It is definitely NOT a restaurant for everybody. But yes, it did suck working there and EVERYTHING said on this board so far is true. Good for you being able to say that everyone there is a friend. Wonder what they say behind your back (snicker!!)
Hey drilleserver, you are one of the bitches that make it so hard to work there…..you are a horrible person that hates younger good looking females..you make peoples life hell so they quit and you can have bigger stations and make more money like someone else said you are greedy and could care less about the customers or the business as long as you get paid.
That mental midget of a chef serves leftover function food in the dining room…….serving old mushroom caps to the paying customers was the final straw for me It is disgusting and wrong.
I don’t know how you can look in the mirror with all the lies and betrayals.
this is the most horrible place to work, the constant head games & backstabbing. The most unprofessional work environment I have ever been in. The constant drinking & doing drugs on the job is just icing on the cake. It’s like high school all over again DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. Dining room managers sleeping with wait-staff. General managers stirring the pot and adding to the dramas…how old are we? And news-flash what kind of idiot would hire back an event director that was ripping you off? Ripping off customers, padding bills, drinking. Fine example of what kind of characters the Escadrille hires!
Bar scene here is laughable! Middle-aged after work crowd. Pathetic! Same faces. Lunch fare is over glorified hospital cafeteria slop. Lunches are a mix of power lunchers from the 128 business district and ‘death’s waiting room’ patrons….
Majority of dinner patrons are business dinners-many big parties that you will need to split with other servers in a neighboring section (a royal pain in the ass).
“Monied Blue Collar” is the term I have heard regarding a lot of clientel. Money does not necessarily buy taste and style, but gets you into the Gourmet Room. You will recite all of the dressing choices and then again repeat ALL of the side dish choices over and over and over to every guest at every table as nobody seems to read the menu. You will want to pull your hair out over the insipid moronic questions. Salads are included with the meal.
And yes, the side work does really suck! I personally did not last but a couple of months there. I tried in vain and gave a notice which I honored. ASST GM a very nice guy, never knew the owner though. There are a handful of great servers who’ve held honorable positions elsewhere and seem to cope with Escadrille’s quirks-good for them!