The ugly truth
Here are the facts: After working as a waiter for 25 years in
NYC, LA and Ohio,there are certain immutable facts regarding the
service industry.
1. Most owners (but not all) only care about
the bottom line and foolishly treat their staff like they’re a
dime a dozen. By their disrespect and disregard they allow a
disgruntled, careless atmosphere to germinate and fulminate
amongst their staff which only gets passed on to their guests in
attitude and a careless ennui towards the job in general, as well
too, employees justifying theft when they feel they’re being
treated unfairly. People rarely steal from an employer when they
are being treated fairly and respectfully. Management has never
seemed to understand this most basic of human business relations.
As a result, I have been privy to great amounts of \’justified
thievery’.
2. A great deal of owners own a restaurant for it’s
tony position amongst their friends and society in general but
rarely know or care about what is happening in the restaurant so
long as the income is streaming in. An owner that detects losses
in business ALWAYS suddenly becomes very interested in what is
going on at the restaurant and suddenly becomes a near constant
presence, making the mgmt. skittish and overly bossy as well too
the employees anxious that the blade will come down on THEIR
neck. Otherwise, owners come in for dinner, most often with a
wide variety of ‘friends’ simply to impress them, never knowing
that their quality and speed of service is always a higher
priority due to anxiety that they’re going to fire the whole lot
of us,in particular, management, as well their order is expedited
to the front of the line, resulting in the owners never having
the true experience of the restaurant, such as paying guests
waiting 40 minutes sometimes for their entrees. They’re usually
like the emperor who wore no clothes. Everyone is afraid to point
out the facts for fear of reprisal.
3. Most managers are
dunderheads, no more capable of being adroit to the business and
sensitive to the staff as human beings than a rock.The same
issues come up time after time whilst having daily meetings and
yet nothing ever really gets accomplished. Things remain filthy,
inept staff members keep their jobs and lacks attitudes and poor
job performances are accepted and ignored. Most prefer the
managerial tack of ass-kissing as the idea of a good employee
over the one of efficiency, intelligence, heart and a high level
of ethics and job integrity. It seems most just want to get
through the job, with little or no muss and fuss from the
employees or owners. Very few reach for a gold standard in what
they achieve for a restaurant, preffering to PRETEND a gold
standard but really, barely managing a brass standard. Most are
really not that intelligent and it irks them when they have an
employee that they know IS smarter. Most I’ve worked with have
been alcoholics and drug addicts. (but then again that could be
said about alot of the general populace of restaurant
employees)
4. A great deal of waiters out there are really, very
careless, unprofessional and lazy. Along with the above three
points, it also is what I’ve observed as a throughline in all the
waiting jobs I’ve held. If you’re a true professional, complete
integrity and all, you’ll find yourself constantly picking up
after and doing the jobs of other, much less considerate
waiters.They come in to do this dreaded job, make their money and
leave with doing as little as possible that they can get away
with without being fired. Their sloppy, careless job is often
little noted by mgmt. see: item 3.The only way an excellent
employee is shown appreciation from management for their work is
by not getting fired. That’s how mgmt. shows their appreciation,
by allowing you to continue to remain employed. Most waiters are
lazy and careless.
5. Too many, but again not all, chefs are
insane egomaniacal nut jobs. They think because they went to
school and can whip up creative, tasty dishes that that somehow
precludes them from ever having a modicum of manners or respect
for other human beings that happen to wheel within range of their
sight or smell. The public does nothing to help this situation
either, fawning so over chefs because they have an air of
celebrity about them or if they kiss their ass enough they might
be able to get that table at the last minute on a saturday night,
and of course, so that they can crow to their friends about how
they’re ‘friends’ with such and such chef. I actually had a chef
scream to me once, "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKIN’ FUCK!!!!"for something I
had honestly not done. If you can’t stand the heat pal…..
6.Waiters have been and will always be stuck between the chef,
management and the guests. Always. And yet waiters are the ’star’
of the show. Sounds egotistical but it is the absolute truth.
Waiters are the employee that is most bonded with by the guest,
not the maitre’d, not the coat check gal, not the busboy or the
bartender. We are the diplomats, the envoys of the restaurant and
it\’s name. We represent the majority of time and service that the
guest receives. We are paid the best because, much to the chagrin
and jealousy of the managers and chefs who hate us because we
make so much money for having little education and for having to
share their spotlight with us, we are the most important employee
for the restaurants and to the guests. A crappy waiter IS worth
only a dime a dozen, but an excellent server is worth their
weight in gold. However, because of the jealousy quotient,
management, instead of appreciating and nurturing their \’stars\’,
as a wise director or producer would with their lead actor,they
instead wield their power over us just to constantly remind us
who\’s REALLY in charge and to bolster their ego so that they
don\’t fully realize what a shitty position they hold.
7. Black people GENERALLY tip badly. French and Spanish and English people
tip horribly as a rule, always feigning ignorance, whereas
Japanese people tend to tip adequately or well. Jewish people
generally are the biggest pains in the ass to wait on.Demanding
as hell, changing everything on the menu,constant need for
everything and then when they see that you\’re about to blow your
top they become very obsequious. Generally they tip decently for
all the aggravation they’ve caused you. Groups of men are much
better to wait on than groups of women. Men are more likely
trying to impress each other and don’t get caught up in being
persnickety over who had what, how we’re going to pay the check,
etc. Plus they’re more than likely to eat three whole courses,
get good wine, after dinner drinks, etc. Women aren’t out to
impress each other, eat very little, split plates, ask for only
lemon with their water, split their checks, etc. Plus, men are
much more overall generous in their expenses and their tips
whereas women will be more frugal on all parts. A hearty and much
repeated ‘thank-you’ usually means a guest is feeling guilt for
having tipped you so badly. The old verbal tip. If you\’re in good
with the chef, you\’re usually in like Flynn.More so than any
other employee. Secondly would be mgmt. of course.
8. Decent management will always expect employees to sustain a decent level
of excellence while employed and in return they will always do
their best to defend and support you, looking out to make sure
you’re treated fairly and well by the guests. Any other scenario
is NOT decent and must be avoided. Why waste your time?
Waiting tables is seen in a lot of places as a “stop gap” job
either to pay your way through college or to support a career in
the arts, people come & go & a lot of places have a high turnover
because the staff are going on to other things. I understand
that there are a lot of career waiters/bartenders but please
don’t expect every establishment in the industry to tow the line
that every waiter is the commsumate proffessional , some stores
want the cute college type, some need the “scruffy trendy” &
others want the model type. That is life, that is the identity of
the restaurant & what the owners want. Not everybody are
bastards, you don’t expect to go to Lugers & get served by a 23
yo knockout & there is something endearing about the grumpy
waitstaff their. Some of the unhappy waiters really should look
for anonther career as if you are so unhappy in the industry you
certainly are not going to be doing yourself, your bosses or the
person who seems to be the most overlooked the customer any
favors. In summing up, if you hate the job, leave! If you hate
all the owners & feel unfairly treated invest some of your own
money/time/life into opening a place & walk a mile in their shoes
& if you treat customers coldly as a commodity do us all a favor
do something else.