Everybody needs to work in a restaurant

[democracyindanger]

I don't think there should be mandatory military service, but there should be mandatory restaurant employment. Busser, waitstaff, cook, cashier--doesn't matter. Constitutionally mandated restaurant service. All high school seniors must spend at least one term working in some capacity at a place where people order other people around in order to eat a meal. Society would be the better for it.

[Ptah]

1. I spent six weeks in the kitchen at Lowry AFB

I did thanksgiving KP KP KP.

[democracyindanger]

8. Then you know.

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. I waited tables

My husband never did. There is a world of difference in attitude between us.

[democracyindanger]

6. Right?

There's nothing like witnessing the desire to eat turn people into jerkoffs. There's a lot to be learned about human behavior through restaurant customers.

[rustydog]

3. Been there, done that..Denny's...Bon Marche...

Still have the scar where knife contacted bone in the 70's.

[democracyindanger]

11. Denny's

Must've meant a whole lot of drunks.

[tuvor]

4. Do I get half-credit for 8 years of retail?

[democracyindanger]

7. 3/4 credit

But there are things about restaurant customers that go beyond even retail.

[tuvor]

14. I worked a bit with a food-service store.

That's why I thought 1/2 credit was appropriate.

(Although you probably didn't ever have to personally drive a customer's phone-in order to the airport so that it'd get jetted 150 miles away to make sure it arrived the following morning just in time for his spoiled daughter's birthday!)

Cheers! :toast:

[SW FL Dem]

5. Having spent many summers waiting tables, I tend to agree

Most people have no clue how hard work it is. My FIL is one of the cheapest people around. I hate going out to eat with him because of the chintzy tips he leaves. I have learned to slip some cash under my plate because I know how cheap he is. My sister in law is not only cheap, she is rude and the queen of substitutions. I don't think I have ever had a meal with her where she didn't rudely send something back to the kitchen.

[democracyindanger]

12. Put a menu in somebody's hands

and their self-perception of their status in the social heirarchy jumps ten spots.

[bliss_eternal]

18. This man snapped his fingers and pointed at his glass

once with me. His friends (dining with him) looked horrified, and continued to say please almost as if to make up for him. LOL! I ignored him completely. I didn't refill his glass and started to leave the table. Which forced him to say 'excuse me...' to get my attention. When I returned I asked if I could help him with something. He asked me to refill his glass, which I did--because he ASKED me!

I'm not a pet, I'm a human being--don't fuckin' point and snap at me, dude--I understand english. :wtf:

[misanthrope]

22. The worst customers...

...are the worst tippers, on the whole. It all breaks down to how conscientious a person they are.

[bliss_eternal]

34. Whether one tips or not says more about them

than it does about the person they are tipping. It speaks volumes, to me at least.

I tip because I've been there, but I tipped before I ever worked industry because I was taught that it was the right thing to do. Once I did it myself, I was grateful I was taught this way. Too few people are...

[Nicole]

9. I waited tables for 2 years

Twenty years later & I'm still the best tipper in my group of family & friends.

[WindRavenX]

10. AMEN

My SO and I actually had this discussion. Both of us have done customer service (me in food service, him in grounds keeping), and boy, neither of us tolerate shitty tippers (unless service is absolutely abhorrently bad) and we respect EVERYONE in customer service and restaurants. We both know that hell :(

[Ptah]

13. The more I think about it

everyone should be born into a large
family. Like maybe forteen or fifteen cousins.
Grandma was the church camp cook,
If you weren't there, I can see why you are hurting.

[bliss_eternal]

15. Done it, and I agree--

Years and years ago, on a talk show they conducted an experiment. The people that were the most demanding customers were forced to spend a week at a restaurant, retail store, coffee bar, etc.

Those people were CHANGED by the experience, saying they had NO idea before. One woman returned to a restaurant where she gave a server hell regularly and apologized to everyone. It was awesome!

:hi:

[democracyindanger]

17. I would bet

that most people who've never worked in a restaurant would be shocked--SHOCKED!--that a kitchen during a rush is like a fire drill.

[bliss_eternal]

23. A friend of mine and I frequently reminisce about this--

when she gets into it with family members that don't honor 'tipping' the way she does. (Neither of us works in the industry anymore)...

We crack up remembering going into the kitchen and hearing,"...where's a manager...I need table 12 comped...soda machine in station four is out...this table needs to be bussed...who do I have to sleep with to get more fries in the window...can everyone follow me to sing to table six, I have a birthday...can't do it, I'm off--waiting to be checked out..." etc, etc.

;)

I had a friend (a christian btw) who NEVER tipped, I found out second hand through another friend. He was under the impression that we made more than minimum wage and all the other tips we got made up for it. I shared with this guy just how much of the money left on those tables a server actually gets to see--he WAS shocked. Had no clue. Don't know if this changed his practice or not, but I hope it did or at least made him think twice before stiffing someone.

[merh]

16. I've bussed tables, waited tables, tended bar,

cooked for functions, served at parties. worked at ice cream scooping place.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[bliss_eternal]

24. It's just paradise, isn't it?

;)LOL!

Just wanted an excuse to say :hi: merh!

No wonder you're so nice, you're industry...you KNOW!

[merh]

33. Hey ya bliss!

I don't know about being so nice, but I have worked my share of grunt jobs -- even while working "professional" jobs, I waited tables & tended bars.

I like working fancy parties - the talk you hear and the bullshit that flies ranges from fascinating to a riot -- and since you are the help, you aren't supposed to understand it all. ;-)

How have you been doing, bliss? I hope you had a great christmas and have big plans for the new year.

[bliss_eternal]

35. Hey merh--

How's you know who? Send her my love and wish her a Happy New Year for me, please! Give her this :hug: Thought of her today as VH1 classics had a half hour of Clash videos!

I'm doing well--had the flu just before Christmas but much better now. How are YOU?

So glad my husband is off for new years eve this year--he wasn't last year--the first since we've been married I was so sad, and really missed him! But he's all mine this year! LOL! We keep things quiet, probably rent some movies and stay close to home. Hope you have something more fun and exciting planned than we do!

Working dinner parties and events sounds fun. I thought some about doing it as a personal chef (love to cook)but wasn't sure I wanted to go back to people being condescending and all of that. You know how they get...lol!

[merh]

42. Did you catch this thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4506331

I'll give her your love, I wonder if she caught the VH1 classics?

Glad you are over the flu and had a good Christmas, happier still that you and your husband get to bring in the new year, that is the best way to celebrate it, together.

I'm fighting a cold right now and I feel this way tomorrow, my new years will be brought in sleeping. x(
That's okay though, I good sleep will do me good, better to have a restful New Year than a frantic new year.

If you go into it as a personal chef, you don't get the condescending treatment. The cooking channel has helped that. Chefs are super stars.

Again, have a happy new year! Take care :hug: :loveya:

[bliss_eternal]

45. I missed that thread--

I just posted to it. LOL! It's SO funny!

I'm sorry to hear that you are fighting a cold, get some rest, some vitamin C and drink as much water as you can. Here's a healing hug! :hug:

Apparently Dick Clark is back this year--he was sick last New Years, which made it sadder for me, not having dh here or Dick Clark on my tv. LOL!

I didn't realize the cooking channel had changed things so much--that's very cool! I guess that's part of the reason why a few of the personal chefs I know of that do dinner parties--tend to hire staffs to do the serving. I didn't even realize many people would even be interested in that sort of thing... Guess I should look into it more.

Happy New Year to you, too! Feel better soon! :loveya: :grouphug:

[merh]

48. You need to look into the personal chef thing.

And yes, catch the cooking channel and you will see that chefs are now super stars.

Thanks so much for the healing good wishes and again, Happy 2006 to you and yours! :grouphug:

Stay safe and dry! :hug: :loveya:

[misanthrope]

19. I did for over a decade...

...in every capacity you can think of in a restaurant.

In some ways, it's really interesting and there's definitely a sub-culture there.

But it sure doesn't do much for your opinion of the average person.

[bliss_eternal]

26. Isn't that the truth?

Quote:
But it sure doesn't do much for your opinion of the average person.


After my last restaurant gig ended, it was a long time before I could even enter one. I'm serious. My husband would go pick up take out for us...It was like ptsd or something--I couldn't see other people doing mean shit to servers, I would lose it...

It really shows you a side of people that isn't at all attractive, hopeful or positive. A contributing factor to my giving up a friendship was the way I saw this person treat service personnel. So unnecessary imo.

:hi:

[eyepaddle]

20. I've worked in about a dozen restaurants

usually as a cook, but I've bussed and washed TONS of dishes as well. I don't think it's the only thing people should do to become decent, but damn if it isn't a good place to start.

I hate it when I'm with somebody and they have to customize EVERY itme of food they order, act condescending, be abrasive--and then almost inevitably be cheap.

Oh yeah--they should NOT be assisstant managers. Is there a group of more useless mighty-assed power-trippers than restaurant assisstant managers?

[bliss_eternal]

41. LOL--assistant managers!

They are usually just pissed off when they figure out the servers earn more than they do. At least that is what the one cool assistant I had told me.

I have no respect for people that act the way you describe toward service workers. It's just unnecessary and ridiculous. Last I checked we are ALL human beings, how dare anyone treat them in a diminished capacity based on what they do for a living.

[hellbound-liberal]

21. Worked at a 24-hour Jerry's restaurant in Tallahassee in the 80's

In retrospect, waiting tables on the graveyard shift was one of the most fun jobs that I have ever had. We actually had a marching band come in around 3:00 am as a prank. Lots of laughs!

[Wapsie B]

25. Professional diswasher here.

Boy that was hot work. Others got trained in food prep and cooking. They took one look at me and told me to wash dishes. :mad:

[democracyindanger]

28. I once spent a couple weeks

doing dishwasher duty at a steakhouse that served all its meals on iron 'sizzlers.' I learned a lot about industrial dishwasher temperatures on cast iron and human flesh.

[Wapsie B]

37. I know you ya feel.

I worked in a steakhouse, I think it was a Mr. Steak. They had serving dishes like that. And the bitchiest wait staff too. Most other places the staff was cool to everyone. Not this place. Dishwashers were lower than whale shit there.

[bliss_eternal]

40. Oh that's not cool--

all of our team was part of the team--no underlings. That's bullshit. Sorry you were treated that way.

[Wapsie B]

43. Thanks.

Yes it was. But I seem to be drawn to shall we say non-nurturing work environments and relationships for some reason. Other restaraunts were ok but not this one.

[Chemical Bill]

27. I made the donuts....

Funny you should say that, because I got one laboratory job because the manager thought the same way. I have a BA in chemistry, but he said he'd take somebody with food service experience over a PhD any day.

Bill

[bertha katzenengel]

29. 2 1/2 years at Del Taco - i couldn't agree more

i can't believe today's fast food workers don't know how to count back change! if their cash registers don't work, they either have to use a calculator or are paralyzed. :shakinghead:

Any kind of food service - or other service job where you SERVE the public - would be good for everyone.

:thumbsup:

[Blue-Jay]

30. Oh, HELL no!

I made a promise to myself when I was 16 years old that I would never work in a food joint. It's not that I have anything against the people who do (most of them are friggin saints); I just knew that I don't have the correct temperment for that sort of work.

The first time someone was rude to me, they'd have earned an extra "teabag" in their tea.

[eyepaddle]

31. !

:spray: (literally!) :rofl:

[bliss_eternal]

36. Blue-Jay! LMAO!

:rofl:

I'm not proud to admit it, but I've done my share of damage to other's food... :( Terrible I know...

[LynzM]

32. I agree....

Anyone who has ever worked in food service has a much greater appreciation for just how rude other people will be, just because you are serving them.

[bliss_eternal]

39. Because they assume

so many things about you--like you couldn't possibly do anything else.

[SmileyBoy]

38. I was asst. manager in an inner-city convenience store for a year.

I was once robbed at gunpoint.

Someone exactly my age at that same time was shot and killed in a robbery on the other side of town.

I had to deal with a LOT of bitchy assholes.

Do I count for that??

[xmas74]

44. Been there, done that.

Hope to God I never have to do it again.

[momophile]

46. does McDonald's count?

My first job. I got treated like shit there by management and customers. I'll never treat anyone as poorly as I was treated there.

[Rob H.]

47. Never worked in a restaurant, but worked in retail

As someone who's now back on the other side of the register as a customer, I know I'm a lot more patient than most people who haven't done it. I tip well, too--ask anyone! :P

I think you can tell a lot about a person by observing how they treat waitstaff, cashiers, etc. I actually quit hanging out with a friend of mine because he became such an unmitigated ass whenever we went out to eat. When I mentioned something to him about his attitude toward waitstaff he got angry and claimed he wasn't that bad (ftr, he would expect to be waited on immediately after being seated and used to get all pissy when that didn't happen). I think I finally said something like, they may be serving you, but they aren't serving just you. His attitudes about such things carried over into his everyday life--I hope to never be friends with someone so demanding and bossy again.

[Fox Mulder]

49. Does this count?

I worked in a kitchen in a nursing home from 10th until 12th grade...and served the residents their meals...

[flamingyouth]

50. I've worked in retail for 21 years.

I've never worked in a restaurant per se, but I did work in a place that sold food.

Needless to say, I tip generously. I feel for people who have to put up with the general public.

[tjdee]

51. I couldn't handle it, and I know it.

I did work at McD's for two weeks, and that was kind of bad (because of the coworkers).

[sundog]

52. ha

most people have no clue

agreed

i'll tell you my story over a drink sometime :)

[WolverineDG]

53. i agree

although observing how a person treats wait staff gives you interesting insights into their real personality. some guys wonder why they don't get second dates....

people still don't believe me when i tell them that the irs docks you 8% of the bill as a "tip" even if you get stiffed.

dg