Illegal abuse, terrible rip-off
Establishment: Da Marino
Location: 49th st
I\\\’ve sent my resume to this ad on CL:
\\\”Established Italian restaurant located in theatre district ( TIME SQUARE ) Looking for experienced waitress
Must speak english and able to work diffrent shifts. Send resume with photo.\\\”
My resume is loaded with French food experience, I wrote a cover letter that says that I live 20mins from Times Square, I\\\’m broke that makes me very motivated (wrote it becuase it\\\’s true.), can start ASAP, can work late nights,weekends,holidays no probelm blabla Sent a picture with my big smile, blonde hair, lipstick etc
Within an hour (IT WAS A SATURDAY!) at 11am, my phone rings and it\\\’s the owner of this restaurant. His name is Pascale, I know it by now, but he didn\\\’t bother introducing himself. So we had this 2 and a half minute conversiation, he asked if I have resturant expereience (my resume is right infront of him, showing years of expereince.) Then he says so you\\\’re broke huh?
…
The he asks me if I could start on that very day. I could train saturday and sunday and can start on Monday. He said like 3 times, \\\”don\\\’t worry, the money is good\\\”. He\\\’s a nervous fast talking arrogant guy, very difficult to carry a healthy conversation with him. The kind of person who would ask a question, and cuts you in the middle of your answer.
He says I need to wear white shirt black pants.
Great.
SO I cancel my plans for that night and I head out to buy white shirts.I was worried if this place works out, now after the black shirt inventory what I already have, I will must invest into white shirt repertoar too. Not the worst thing that can happen to me though:)
Anyways I went to buy White shirt real quick.
(I can\\\’t explain how painful it was to pay for the shirt, simply becuase all my money I send home to help my mother\\\’s situation s much as I can. And it happens to be true again. I\\\’m eager to Make $, not to spend it. However it is my personal problem, i don\\\’t even know why I didn\\\’t have white shirt before.)
Before I went there, I\\\’ve read some of the reviews. I saw lots of people complaining about the overpriced deserts, the bad service etc
just some of them:
Zagat: \\\”Tourist Trap! …. It was a well rehearsed scam and every employee knew the drill. …..The food was also below average. I would highly recommend you stay away from this place. Very shaddy\\\”
\\\”$13 for a Cappacunio, $12 for a dish of sorbet, a waitress that was as dumb as a box of rocks, cramped into a corner where the floor was unlevel and the table constantly rocked.\\\”
( Please note that the place is absolutely far from high-end look, service and food wise. And they have the nerve for those pricing.)
When I saw this today I HAD TO LAUGH!! :
\\\”Best food in time square….. Try the chocolate pasta… it\\\’s to die for…\\\”
The chocolate pasta is whole weed linguini, with baby shrimp in Vodka sauce:)) It\\\’s an appetizer size special,selled as main course in a huge plate with literally NO decoration, Zero presentation, the pasta just kind of swims lost in the middle of the plate:) For 34$. I kid you not. Shameless people. and look at how they advertise it too! Probably they have a 1000% profit margin!
tripadvisor:
\\\”…We then found out that they were charging us $18 for a side order of plain spaghetti! … I suggest you go elsewhere if you want to have a good experience!\\\”
Simply stated. Theater district tourist trap. The food was incredibly
average traditional Italian food. We usually plan our dinners ahead of time, but thought we would find a nice little restaurant on our way to theater. Big mistake\\\”
\\\”
Anyways, so I show up at 3.30 in pouring rain, the restaurant is in the heart of times Square, mostly targeting tourist and Pre-Theather crowd.
I step in, I told the hostess?waitress? -who knows, becuase she didn\\\’t bother intorducing herself either,- that I\\\’m here for training.
She gets suprised, asking me \\\”BUT\\\” do you have experience? and I say Yes.
Do you have your resume?
At that point I asked her who is she? So I find out the she is one of the managers, I told her the owner called me, asked me to come for training today. So I have no resume.
The owner was not there at the moment, but she says okay, so i should just train and she leaves me there on the spot without any instructions. I\\\’m not the lost type, I asked everyone who seemed like working there what to do now.
Everyone just started working there - The \\\”senior\\\” waitress has been worked there for 2 months, when I met her and started to ask questions, she apologized that sorry if she doesnt feel like talking, but she is in a bad mood today and pissed right now.
(?)
So I just shut up and I was keep folding napkins.
After some asking around it was clear that noone was in charge for instructing the trainees. Noone felt responsible to teach me and nobody volunteered either.
Noone had any interest towards what am I doing there, what\\\’s my name, not to mention if i need any help or have questions.
It was getting really weird!
There were 3-4 trainees, tons of busboys, 3 servers who knew what is this place about and 2 managers. Whole bunch of people.
So after pushing the issue and asking everyone (I started to feel really strange about this situation) finally I had a waitress assigned to help me.
All I had to do is follow her and try to pick up as much as I can. She was a very nice russian chick, been there for about a month. She says she can\\\’t count how many person she had trained already.
The owner comes, shakes hands without a word and leaves.
I sat with \\\”my waitress\\\” at the table folding napkins, while she explains the basics of the service. Then the owner comes back, screaming that No talking btw waitresses! and i should sit at the other table facing the opposit direction.
within an hour the crowd started to come and the place got PACKED and what all the reviews are saying its so true! The place is small and seriosuly overcrowded, the tables are tiny, there\\\’s no room for that amount of people there. I had to step into dining people\\\’s private sphere, I stepped on shoes, and hit ankles at tables.
It got so packed that every one was very busy, managers, owners, bussers, trainees, everyone was just running up and down, including me trying to do and help as much as i possibly can. Noone was paying attention of how am I doing etc.
I went to the bar to place some drink orders, and the barback chick asked a question about something. I said I don\\\’t know cos this is my first day here. She says her\\\’s too.
??
and she was already working like cazy, making drinks, taking orders etc.
The night goes on, my trainer wouldn\\\’t let me do anything significant.
I shipped the order tickets to the kitchen, refilled water, helped to reset tables, got lots of drink orders, ran a couplee credit cards etc. Minor things.
I was astonished when I saw the prices. Not my business, i don\\\’t even want to get into that. It was just sad to see those ignorant people, who apperantly have no idea about what their money is really worth. That if they\\\’d chose the right place, for that kind of money, its not only the have high-end decor, true professional service, but most importantly the get real food value, real good taste and real dine-out experience.
Anyways -around 9ish the crowd disappeared, so the manager asked me to follow him. He took me back to the kitchen, pointing at a cheese raviloi, asking if i want it?
I was looking at him, I said Of course! I got a touch of relief that \\\”wow, they DID notice that I exist!\\\”
He then says nicely: but then you have to eat it here. With the Mexicans.
No comment on this one.
I ate it, while chatting with the chef.
The food was BELOW average. If you go to the supermarket and buy tomato sauce, you\\\’ll get a better tasting meal. The tomato sauce was watery, tasteless.
After the meal I was ready to jump back to work, still trying to do my best, but the waitress stoppped me that now I\\\’m good to go.
I went to confirm it with the manager and I said thank you for the dish.
So he takes me back to this little room where you prepare the cheks etc. There are several papers on the wall, the menu, the prices, teh schedule etc. On the side of one list, there was a name and a phone number. He scratches it off in front of my eyes, and gives me the pen. I kid you not.
He says could you please put your name and number there?
I was just staring at him, holding the pen and in a split second the whole picture just made sense to me right there.
I got fuckin taken advantage of!!!
I was fuckin doing my best! Hussling for approval! Exhausting myself in an unfamiliar environtment without any guidance! I fucking cancelled my night and went to buy shirt!! and the worst is that I am a fuckin DUMM that I didn\\\’t get the picture!
I mean look at that AD! \\\”must speak english\\\”
Look at the way the owner treats customers! 16$s cheesecake?? Outragous! This Italian asshole would do ANYTHING for money! Incuding abusing and rip off people.
Something should\\\’ve clickked in my mind, as she said \\\”I don;t even know how many people I\\\’ve trained\\\”
Or AT LEAST when the russian barback asks me a question btw making 3 cocktails at the sme time and I have to find out that it\\\’s her first couple of hours as well.
I know that there are so many jerks out there in the restaurant industry. I know about screaming managers, sexual comments, low pays, etc. WE can go on and on complaining, but some of it will always be the part of typical human interactions and the restaurant industry is just like this. At some level we all have to put up with some of these things. It just dealing with life.
But you don\\\’t do this.
You just don\\\’t.
You don\\\’t lie and mislead people. You don\\\’t take advantage of the poor or of the ones who geniunely trust people. You don\\\’t abuse the \\\”broke\\\” so you will make even more money.
What kind of people would do such thing?? All other restaurants struggle to make ands meet, but still they don\\\’t decide on understaffing and get some free labor from some people seeking jobs. I mean those people are fuckin UNEMPLOYED!!!! They are there for the promise of making some money!!!! Not thousand of dollars like probably this jerk gets every night! Just maybe a hundred!!! And what is what tey get? They get ripped off!!!!
I think its pathetic, sad, so unethical, so soo sad that i can;t find the words. I saw the owner\\\’s little son too in the restaurant for a couple minutes and as I got home i was thinking about him. I felt sorry for the little boy. This is the kind of atmosphere he will have to grow up. This person is the kind of example he will constantly see. This is the attitude towards life, money and other people what he will learn.
Everyone can make money like this. Everyone can make it like this.
There are real talented restaurant profesionals too, who don\\\’t have to do this to make it. There are owners who could do the same thing, but they chose not to. There are managers who could play out the system, but they chose not to walk through people.
I will do my best to report them to the health deparment, or I will figure out where. And not beacuse of me, but for all their other past and future victims.
I promise to every job seeker out there that I will spend my free time and will send extra hours only on them. This place should nover become a NYC standard, not even a possibility.
Thank you for reading.
TAMARA
Comments
re: fourstars
I’m sure she already knows this, but is on this site to vent and commiserate not get lectured by a Dr Phil wannabe.
“nervous fast talking arrogant guy, very difficult to carry a healthy conversation with him.” This should have been your first clue…Don’t lower yourself to work for assholes,next time, trust your instinct from the first phone conversation and scratch them off your list.
I am a professional waitress also and I have tons of white shirts, black pants, and ties at home. If I am going for training somewhere I already know that I need to show up wearing a white shirt. I don’t understand how people can have a big resume with waitressing experience, but not own a white shirt. Don’t feel upset if you have to go to school but you need to buy a pen.
-Leah
the problem is that they are all assholes ,i’ve been working counter waitress at a diner and i quit my job because of the manager,he was touching his “….package”in front of the employees and the customers with kids around.We were wondering if he is sick or something like that ,but who knows the pervert. So i had to quit my job ,he was asking me out i did’nt feel comfortable working there anymore,and now i lost my job ,but i have a way to get a revenge,he is a heavy smoker…
the whole “calling the health department” thing sounds like good vindictive fun…but my advice (which is easier said than done) is to let it go and focus yourself on whats important: finding a job!
I’ve been in exactly the same spot and I came out of it happy I invested in the white shirt.
i’ve worked in times square years ago and while I was grateful I found a “get by for the moment job” overall it further soured my already deep hatred of the outdoor mall known as times square. one of the restaurants i worked in when a steak would fall on the floor the line cook would smack it on the back of his shoe, slam it down on the grill and shout out “opa!” and the flies were so big they couldn’t fly anymore.
As stressed out as you are about money it’s best not to advertise that as a red flag crisis~if you have good french food and service experience a certain amount of cool could help project a more successful “hire me because i rock” image.
good luck!