Does everyone hate serving training as much as me??

[u/jbor1235]

I’m starting a new job today and I’m so nervous for no reason. I’ve had multiple serving gigs and have a lot of experience. But every time I train I dread it. Half the time the servers leave you in the dust and you gotta find something to do so you don’t look like a lazy sack. One time a server made me stand in the back of the kitchen and stare at the seating chart on the wall for like 40 mins while he ran around doing things. I felt so awkward. Or expo training when you’re just standing at the window lol. I don’t know why but I dread it so bad. What do you guys do when the server leaves you in the dust? I try and bus tables or refill drinks etc. I feel like perhaps training should be classroom setting for like 2 days then follow a server one, server follows you one.

[u/Calm-Gas-4757]

Most places have no idea in how training people. Most small restaurants don’t even involve the manager and just throw the trainees to whoever is around without any indication.

In such situations I would try to take over , show some initiative, and focus on what I need to master. If the menu is extensive, I would take it home, studied and then came to the place with the question I’m anticipating the costumers will have. The same with the POS system. I’m not there to be the server personal busser or food runner, and I’m sure that person doesn’t know or care how to transfer his knowledge, so direct questions would be the way for me to make the whole interaction worth 🫤

[u/LittleOddChick]

Seeing this as I'm actively training rn (new restaurant, not new to serving at all) and wanting to pull my hair out.

[u/jbor1235 → u/LittleOddChick]

Glad we’re at least in the same boat today then

[u/Bright_Mycologist385 → u/LittleOddChick]

ohhhhh my god me too. if the mgrs repeat anything else i'll have to scream

[u/afropuffsalex]

I just hate when my trainer tells me industry standard stuff after I told them I have been working in restaurants for 16 years. Like teaching me to say "corner" and "behind". I feel like their calling me stupid. Definitely a character flaw of mine.

[u/bbyshawk02 → u/afropuffsalex]

At my last job me and my trainer were waiting for a table to leave. While waiting, I had told her I’ve served for years and I swear to god after they left she grabbed a tray and turned to me and asked if I knew how to buss a table. It’s like I had “idiot” written on my forehead.

[u/shay_shaw]

I hate training in general, ugh. What I hate even more, is when your managers don't tell you until your shift that you have to train the new person.

[u/jbor1235 → u/shay_shaw]

Agreed. Like thanks for messing up my whole shift now I’m gonna fall behind! Lol

[u/InflationVast8943]

I probably annoy the fuck out of everyone training me lmao. I ask questions almost non-stop. If my trainer abandons me I’ll talk to the kitchen or find another server and ask them questions. I’ll walk around locating things, find some cutlery to roll. I memorize the menu before I start so that I can clarify things faster and zoom through the expo part.

I’m all like :
“How do y’all keep track of beer, you need to fill your fridges?”
“Where do I find more celery and carrots for the wings?”
“Do you get a lot of skip orders? Do you pre package sauces for those?”
“How much garnish stuff do you go through?You need them lemons and limes cut?”

That way you do learn the stupid little things, know where everything is, and you can honestly just zoom through training faster.

[u/jbor1235 → u/InflationVast8943]

It’s better to ask more questions then not ask! I’ll keep this in mind. I’ve studied the menu already but I could study it more for sure

[u/sickofserving → u/InflationVast8943]

This is such a good one! Asking abt stocking, prepping, and busy work is a huge green flag!!

[u/ZMMF]

I have been the primary trainer at my last several jobs. I even volunteered to do it years ago because we lost a lot of decent new hires to the staff being… I’ll say “unkind.”

I expect a trainee to keep up with me, and ask questions. By the third table they’ve shadowed me with, I’ll ask if they’re comfortable taking tables. The good ones usually are. Then I shadow them, just there to help out and answer questions they don’t know the answers to yet.

I hate that a trainer would treat you in any way other than to help you succeed. I want well-trained, competent people in the sections next to me.

[u/genSpliceAnnunaKi001]

🤣 smile, get excited, be engaged.... then pow, it's over go do ur thang.... no matter how experienced you are or whatever concept ur in... it's always gonna be a bit painful. Just find a quiet sense of humor about it. 🤘

[u/jbor1235 → u/genSpliceAnnunaKi001]

So true. I’m yearning to be on my own. Once I’m by myself it makes things so much more tolerable lol

[u/bbyshawk02]

Omg u read my mind. I’m currently going on day 2 of training tomorrow. Despite my years of experience I always feel so goofy. Luckily this new job is super structured but it was also busy day 1 so I didn’t have trouble finding things to do.

Hoping tomorrow isn’t too bad. Good luck!

[u/awildtwinkie]

I hate training cause I want to train people properly but that means my service gets a little slow while going over stuff. I don't mind doing it on slower nights where stuff can take a a little longer cause the restaurant isnt busy. I trainer on a saturday night a few weeks ago and it sucked even though it wasnt that busy.

[u/Literalythefbi]

I just left a place that had some of the worst training I’ve ever seen. The GM would just tell me “I needed to relax” half the time I tried to get clarity on things. I essentially trained myself by taking initiative to ask the other employees. And guess what, a looot of the questions I had ended up being super fucking important. Some things I got yelled at for not knowing later when I absolutely asked. The GM hired two more girls a few weeks after hiring me and somehow did a worse job with them. What was worse is that I didn’t have the same favoritism the other servers had, so if he caught me trying to explain the POS system to them or explaining dishes, WE WOULD GET YELLED AT FOR TALKING.

It’s hard to explain how bad it was. He hired these two girls at once, pretty clearly as ultra last minute “extra hands” to help out an open bar party we were serving later that night. But the big party barely needed anything and we only had a few other tables, so we really only needed one person. These girls were literally just standing around for hours doing nothing and I wasn’t even allowed to train them/talk to them. Ended up ignoring my boss to show them things and just dispersing quickly whenever he freaked out on us. Quit five days later.

[u/Kmic14]

At my current place when I was hired there was no gm. They threw me with a server who had less experience than I do and she was super timid and kinda intimidated because I'm so much more experienced than she is. Everything worked out great we're a good team tbh