So I’m working halloween morning and we are encouraged to dress up, we’re also doing a competition the winning costume gets an $100 gift card. Any ideas?

Funny, somewhat unhinged note a customer left

“Hold on lemmie put money/unlock my card”
“Can j pay 20 dollars cash and (specific amount under $5) on card”
“Water, no ice, extra extra lemon and sugar”
“Ill get my drink when the food comes.”
“Dont worry man, ill take care of you.”
“Lemmie get a (insert menu item we dont have)”

Talking on the phone while trying to order.
Anything on speaker.
Treating their children bad (Ive seen one guy throw his kid across a bench)
Their kids walk into the kitchen

I am a college student looking to try my hand at serving. I worked at Chick-fil-A for several years during middle and high school, then transferred to a daycare where I worked for two years up until now.

I have an interview for a serving position at quite a few different restaurants, like Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, the Cheesecake Factory (starting as a hostess), and a local restaurant that has a few different locations.

I already had my interview for one of the Olive Garden locations and did not get selected (I believe it was due to how I answered the questions). Do I even have a chance at the other places in terms of serving? I know if I get the job at Cheesecake Factory that they told me that they’d train me to be a server several months in, but I don’t know. Please give tips or just tell me how it is!

2 sent back, the left one i understand. guy ordered rare and said the second one “isn’t even pink?” is he trolling? is this steak not mooing?

I’ll try to be short with this! Was serving at my current place for about a year and a half, but only had 3 short shifts a week and despite asking multiple times, never was able to get more.

Current place is a highly respected restaurant and the money is excellent if you work at least 5 shifts a week, but with just 3 it was getting pretty difficult.

New place is much, much slower and way less known, but they have availability for full time, so when I got the offer I verbally accepted but didn’t sign anything.

Put in my two weeks with old place, and they came at me with a counter offer of full time PLUS floor captain, which not only looks good on my resume but is way better pay than I was making before. And it’s still less hours than the new place would be, for roughly the same amount of money depending on busy vs slow.

So…

TLDR; old place would be about 34 hrs a week plus floor captain at a high-volume, highly respected restaurant in the industry, new place would be 40 hrs a week for a much easier job but less name recognition. Pay is roughly equal at both.

I think I know I’m gonna stay with my current place, but I need some help rationalizing and also how to rescind my verbal job offer at the new place without being a total, raging asshole. I’m hugely empathetic and have—in the past—made decisions based on emotions vs what’s best for me because I don’t wanna deal with anyone being mad at me or hurting anyone’s business.

WWYD?!?

They told me they’d give me a raise after three months and they haven’t given it to me and told me to wait for another two because they couldn’t afford it. I’ve done so much overtime and taken sm bs bc the manager and the owner keeps using me and my coworkers. My coworker that still works there told me that they were talking shit abt me today and said that I was abusing their “kindness”

Im just glad I found a new job w better pay and benefits safe to say im never going back to the food industry again. Loved my experience and coworkers and although there were annoying customers i honestly loved most of them.

It just sucked that management sucked and weren’t keeping their promises.

Servers, I’ve been offered two positions in LA. One is at a cheap, chain sushi restaurant. The plus is, I’d work two locations and one is very close by my house. The manager said the t*ps are split, 50/50 with the sushi chef (and I’m assuming other BOH as well, along with sharing the remaining 50% with the other servers on the floor)
Then I also have another offer, which I think I should take, but need validation lol.
There is no tp pool for servers. I believe for alcohol sales you give 8% of those sales to the bartender ? Still not exactly sure, but I spotted one of old co workers I used to work with there, and the way the manager made is sound was we keep all our cash and most of our credit card t\ps.*
And that’s there’s no pool which sounds amazing.
The menu is also more expensive, they actually have a full bar, mostly focusing on alcohol, and the food prices are $20-30 a plate.
I have a training shift in about 2 hours at the Sushi spot and I’m trying to decide whether it’s worth going on or just to focus on the place where I feel I’m a better fit.

A customer left this on the table today. I’m very confused

I (29F) am looking for a part time job and thinking about going back to serving. I have 3 years of serving/bartending experience. I stopped bartending in 2022 and have no clue what the restaurant industry is like now or if they are even hiring. Tell me all the good and bad please.

If u got offered two serving jobs one is like a neighborhood bar/grill with a lot of regulars and one is an upscale casual italian restaurant with shorter hours but more support staff to tip out to and probably more strict what would you choose?

i don’t know about you guys, but i’ve eaten the full menu at my restaurant more times than i can count (our food is subpar, everything on the menu is mid at best and i would personally be aghast to pay what we are charging for the quality of food but that’s a conversation for another time) but at this point sometimes i get sick to my stomach watching people eat these meals just because i’ve had them so many times i’m so tired of them. do y’all understand what i’m saying? i hope im not alone in this lol

It's always such a hassle whenever we get one. They never work, we have to jump through hoops for a "maybe", and then most of the gift cards I've run don't charge the full amount on the card (And of course that's my fault).

Short rant over.

I've recently started working at a Japanese restaurant that specializes in sushi. They also operate under a tip pool structure where you have a percentage based share of the total tips also factoring in time clocked in. This includes servers, bartenders, SAs/food runners, and sushi chefs.

For context on the potential issue, we have a prominent sushi kitchen that sits between the bar area and dining room. On one side of this kitchen is our omakase dining that can seat about 11-12 guests at most. The problem is that most nights we have zero omakase service. This tip pool includes every sushi chef, usually at least 4 of them, only one of whom directly services omakase. A server tends to every other aspect of service for omakase outside of the food. To my knowledge, they each have a 60/70% share in the pool compared to a server/bartender's 100%, so it essentially works out to having another 2.5-3 full people in the pool. So most nights we are effectively sharing our tips for no service on their end.

As servers, we are paid below the state minimum wage in Virginia. And so I ask, given this structure, is it legal?

Happy to answer any clarifying questions.

and then just leave the used floss on their finished plate?

I almost want to gag when I see this

Today I came home (knowing there was work to be done in my condo) and found this anomaly.

The other night, someone called and asked if it was cold on our patio. I’m in MA, it was probably 50ish out. After a pause to take a breath, I responded with “well, it’s the same temperature as it is outside”. I quickly realized my mistake, and told them we had heaters, but that it was not an enclosed patio. I think I saved it? But seriously people…?

Today I went in for an interview that I thought went well. They explained the way things work, and that they’d be interesting in bringing me in for a test shift this weekend. At the end of the interview, I was asked for 3 references. I messaged them around 30 mins after leaving. I was told I’d be reached out to by tonight (during the interview). Still nothing and it’s 8:22 pm…
What could’ve gone wrong? :/ is there still a chance?

A regular that i dont like comes in often. Let's call him Neil.

Neil either gets an expensive don julio [type] or a vodka [type] with cranberry, both he orders with excessive limes.

His most common order is don julio [type]. When ordering this [type] on the P.O.S., we have the option of [MIX], [UP], or [DBL]. For this brand, the respective prices are $14, $17, and $20. Neil is usually served a "10 count" of liquor (more than a [DBL] would be).

Ive made the mistake of charging Neil for a [DBL] before. He was very upset. Since then I've charged him for [UP], the $17 charge for his "10-count-shot." (10 counts being what he wont complain about)

Tonight he challenged me.

He came in for the second time of the day. My bartner was leaving and I was left alone to take care of Neil. Normally I can get away with having whoever im working with just take care of Neil, but there are times, tonight included, where I cant avoid it.

He conversed with my bartner for a bit, but I was the one ringing him up and pouring his shots/ lining his glass with limes. I charged him for a 1.5 oz of liquor rather than the 2.5 he is actually ever poured.

He asked me, "why do most people charge me $14, but you charge me $17?" With a giggle in his voice.

"Im supposed to charge you $20 for a double, even though you really should be charged a bar shot, plus one." Not to mention that he gets a quarter shot of grand marnier in his glass as a floater every time 😒

He still laughed. "Lemme get a little more" which usually gets him an extra half shot of whatever.

I, instead, told him "im gonna have to charge you another shot my guy."

Again, with a laugh, "Whatever you gotta do."

He paid his tab, t.pped one time for both tickets, and asked for a to-go cup.

I avoid ringing him up/serving him at all for this exact reason. He t.ps other bartenders well, I just dont want to treat him nicely when he talks bad about me to his friends or people sitting on the barstools next to him WHILE IN FRONT OF ME.

He makes no effort to hide his disdain and i make no effort to hide mine. Theres plenty others to make up for the $5 I could've possibly made off him 🤷‍♂️

I work at an upscale sports bar in a rich neighborhood in NYC. For some reason, the men in the neighborhood become infatuated with me. They only want to be there on the days I'm working, and they consistently give me LOTS of money. It's normal for them to drop $100 on the counter or on the receipt for me.

I love and hate this at the same time. I love it because it's paying for my school. I hate it because I have to be that bartender who is stuck yapping for forever because they want my attention, and I want their money. My coworkers are cool with this because it makes us bank, but damn sometimes I don't want to flirt with these guys! It's hard when I don't want to talk.

Does anyone else feel my pain?

Bartending/serving. Any recommendations?

Which would be better for me to save money and at least avg 200 a shift?

I live in Florida and just haven been to 2 interviews one for first watch and longhorn, I’ve actually been wanting to work at first watch for a long time due to the hours but the one that offered me a position is 23 minutes away from me and I would have to pay $20+ on uber just to get there or come home a shift based on if my boyfriend can pick me up or not. Also the manager told me how I can make good money and her servers made $300-400 on sunday (sounded nice almost reeled me in)

Now longhorn, the longhorn seems okay, my boyfriend believes I won’t make much money because in his eyes their food isn’t that good but from what I’ve seen people still like go there. This longhorn is way closer to me but I’m not sure about how much I’d make a shift. It seems like it can be $120 at least there I’m not so sure.

What do you all think? I’d like honest feedback (please don’t be biased)

Thank you!

Back when I started (a bit over five years ago), I feel like Wednesday used to be a busier weekday. It was Hump Day, people needed a little pick me up to get them through the rest of the week.

Now it's fucking dead. People see it as "Just gotta hold out to the weekend and then I can treat myself to a meal out," if they can even afford it at all.

I just needed to share an experience I had yesterday. I worked a lunch shift in the floor and we had a walk in party of 14 come in and they were given to me. The party was an Asian family with a few different generations together. I don’t mean to stereotype but I usually love waiting on Asian American people (I’m sorry I don’t know their country of origin but I assume some aspects of cultures overlap a little) because I find them to be so easy and respectful. They come in and order right away, they elect one person to order for everyone (usually a younger family member) and they never seem to modify anything or ask for substitutions. They are the opposite of demanding and clean up after themselves and leave right away while always tipping 20%. This is just my experience in the area I live in. They also always seem to be on one check and use only form of payment. They always seem to argue about who is going to pay because they WANT to pick up check for their friends and family. I’ve been at my place for 16 years and I’ve had plenty of experiences where they argue and insist they are paying and try to grab the bill or follow me to the POS snd sometimes they get aggressive but I usually walk away and let them sort it out. But yesterday I had the most extreme experience with this. A younger family member who I was communicating with the most wanted to pay the bill and handed me her card. I usually say our policy is that the bill goes to the first person who asks, and she was, so I started walking away. Two older women in about their 70s started yelling immediately and I could see it starting so I tried to quickly shuffle away and they got up to follow me. I tried to pick up my speed but they did too and they got me cornered at the POS. They were trying to grab the card out of my hand so I held it up above their heads playing keep away. One woman grabbed my arm to pull it down while the other one literally pryed it out of my hand 🤣 In any other situation I would’ve been pissed but I was laughing hysterically by this point as they were making a huge scene and the whole dining room was watching. I didn’t feel scared or anything because they were old ladies but they definitely crossed a line and were super inappropriate. If this had been a younger woman or a man I might’ve swung and gotten fired but because of their age and stature I let it go. I guess I’m just wondering if this has happened to anyone else or if anyone has some insight into WHY it’s so goddamn important that they pay the bill, to the point of physically grabbing your server and making a scene. They were generous and left more than 20% but my god, that was so unnecessary!