Wild Ginger is the WORST job I EVER had!!
Establishment: Wild Ginger
Location: 3rd and Union
This is for all the restaurant professionals out there who may be seeking a serving position in Seattle. If you have never worked as a server before and don’t know what a good position is like, Wild Ginger may not be that bad. However, if you, like myself, are a service professional with lots of experience, AVOID this place like the PLAGUE!!!
Although I went into Wild Ginger with more than 10 years of experience, mostly in very high-end fine dining, I was treated as though I was an inexperienced, know-nothing idiot by both the management and some members of the staff. I wish I could say that I was the only person treated this way, but I saw quite a few others treated with absolutely no respect at the Wild G.
First off, their training program is 7 shifts; owing to the size and complexity of the menu, I think that menu training for this period or longer is warranted, but…….do you know how to wait on tables, or not? A professional doesn’t need 7 "trail" or "shadow" shifts with someone over one’s shoulder with every step one takes. The accusatory style of management is something I have never seen before, either. I never had a chance to make a mistake as there was someone barking at me every time I went to run food or approach a table; before I could even attempt to match a correct sauce with a dish or take it to the right table, someone was in my face with obvious concerns about my competency (for the record, I am a MENSA-card carrying rock star of a server).
Realizing that everyone in the place felt the same way was no comfort. It only served to make the work environment extremely negative. I am a pretty outgoing, upbeat and friendly person, but three weeks or so of entering the restaurant with a smile and a hello for everyone and getting grunts and unwarranted criticism in return started to take it’s toll. Like everyone else at the Wild G, I started feeling pretty grumpy and negative; I don’t think that is a pleasant way to live, and I certainly am not going to tolerate such hostility in my workplace.
Did I mention the evil little dishwasher who considered it to be his mission in life to spray servers with filthy water each time they entered the Black Hole of the dishpit? Having worked in at least 6 restaurants, I know that a dishpit is rarely a pleasant place, but getting deliberately wet and filthy water thrown at you by a 4-foot-high evil GOBLIN is not what a professional knows to expect. When I mentioned this to management (i.e. do they really want their service staff to approach guests covered in water and God knows what else?) I was told, "Well, just be glad you don’t have HIS job." Should I infer, then, that because this guy has a job he doesn’t like (I didn’t see anyone restraining him from finding something better; no one forced him into it, he was there by choice just like the rest of us) that gives him the right to ruin other people’s day? I think not. It was just another thing that showed me that the Wild G management was the most unprofessional group of people I have ever seen.
While I worked there (sadly, I was stuck at the Wild G for almost 4 months) the Health Department published a list of the 10 dirtiest restaurants in Seattle…….guess who was number 9? If you said Wild Ginger, you win the prize! I personally witnessed members of the kitchen staff use the restroom and NOT WASH THEIR HANDS, then return immediately to the line. Needless to say I did not eat there. It was, in fact, the dirtiest restaurant I have ever seen. I wish I could say that when setting the tables I had clean flatware to use, but, alas, it was not the case.
And the uniform? Unless you look good in a flour sack with a banded collar, I wouldn’t suggest this uniform for anyone. It was just another demeaning thing for the management to push on the staff.
Hostile management and staff, a water-spraying fiend in the dishpit, nasty food, dirty cooks, and a degrading uniform pretty much sum it up. The funny thing is, when I got myself a REAL restaurant job and was able to quit, not one, but two of the servers at my new job had briefly worked at the Wild Ginger—–both of them had horror stories not unlike my own, and said the same thing: "Wild Ginger is the absolute WORST job I have EVER had!!"
Comments
It’s like you read my mind…….or walked a mile in my shoes as I worked at Wild Ginger. Excessively negative staff,everyone hated being there. And then there were the “captains” who stomped around with the “I’m the BEST server captain EVER” attitude (which is kind of like the “I’m the SMARTEST kid with DOWN’S Syndrome)and who received roughly 30% of servers’ tip income while providing little or no support to their staff; often borderline bullying to new people. I’d give the food a C-minus at best. And you are SOOOO right about the dirty silverware and dishes. And, yes, I know which Gollum-like dishwasher you speak of. Wanted to squash him. DON’T work here.
I worked with a gremlin like little dishwasher who was about 4 feet tall, from ecuador, who liked to insult people in spanish, spray them…..
This little rat fukked with the wrong guy (a new sous chef)
The new Sous being quite fluent in Spanish and a guy I had worked with three times before, decided it was time for comida for the dish staff.
He made duck fat “sorbet”, and gave him “stew”- (Stock veggies, gross nasty chunks of waste food)
The little sob took a bite of the “stew” and wolfed it down.
His experience with the duck fat sorbet was full on projectile vomiting.
After he finished puking, my new boss made him clean out the fryers, haul the grease two blocks through arctic blasts and general nastiness in Minnesota winter.
When the asesino came back nearly frozen, we made him scrub every damn thing in the house, and then fired him.
Ah sweet tasty revenge.
I worked at Wild Ginger briefly as well. The training was RIDICULOUS. I had to train as a server yet I applied as a bartender at their bar next door. THey kept making me carry large trays of dirty plates to the DIRTIEST kitchen I had ever seen. Then they put me in that service animal cage where I just made drinks. Um, needless to say, I quit.
Wild Ginger has gotten away with treating all of their staff like slaves for years now. The entire kitchen is run like a concentration camp and the FOH management team consists of bitter, over-paid sycophants. When management places their own well-being over the welfare of their service staff and kitchen team instead of the guest agenda, it is a recipe for disaster. As a close friend of one of their longest-tenured Captains and a couple of managers I can tell you that this place is one serious incident away from a class-action lawsuit.
I second that. It was the worst place I have ever worked. every server there is so negative and wants to quit. I also second the dirty place to work. The kitchen has bugs and cocroaches everywhere. I have been a professional server for years and know how to make a table feel great and have a good time and I was only thrown negative comments all day. On top of that only making 20-40$ a shift at lunch doesn’t pay the bills.