...than when you kitchen starts costing you money as a waiter. To say I was a bit pissed at work tonight might be putting it lightly. Mid-summer means slow nights, and Monday nights are often the slowest of the week. So I have to do everything I can, suck up in every little way I have learned and perfected in all of my years, just to scrape by. A meager existence as a waiter. It's our season of famine, where everyone is fighting over shifts, trying to pick up a few more hours to just make rent another month. Then the kitchen SCREWS YOU. Not just me, many/most/all of the wait staff tonight. Tickets so slow we thought they were growing the vegetables. I had a 35 minute cook on a simple two top. Another co-worker had a 23 minute appetizer. That is absokillingmelutly unacceptable. Our appetizers and meals both should be out in 23 minutes. I was pissed to the point that I asked a manager to go out to my table and explain to them WTF was going on. Really, it was only partly our kitchen's fault. Yes, the group cooking at the end of the night is very inept. Green for the most part, incompetent for the rest. But the problem was actually caused by management trying to pinch a few more pennies, so their butt chewing over labor hours from the regional director is slightly less severe.So the kitchen cost me money, and honestly quite a bit of it. I had pretty good tables, but few left more than 10%. It's always the waiter who is punished in our system. Don't like the where the host sat you? Take it out on the waiter. Drink not made right? Take it out on the waiter. Tough steak? Take it out on the waiter. Food took a long time? Take it out on the waiter. Music is too loud? Must be the waiter's fault. They took your favorite meal off the menu? Must be a waiter conspiracy. There was a fly buzzing around your table? Was probably a waiter in a previous life. Ordered food you don't like? It's the waiter's fault, he should have known you wouldn't like it. Heartburn? Girlfriend dumped you? Just found out you got herpes? Of course it's the waiter's fault. He probably got you fired from your job, made your children ugly, and is the cause of the Federal Trade Deficit as well. I think there is a waiter in New Orleans who incited Hurricane Katrina as well.
The only consolation was that I was able to witness our General Manager having to jump onto the cooking line. Let's just say that GM's DO NOT COOK. They do a lot of thing, mostly putting the screws to the other managers and taking heat from area directors and national inspectors, but only a few times a year will you see a GM on the cooking line. And when you do, you know they are PISSED. Not the British pissed, but the heads will roll pissed. The "after a couple of martinis I'll figure out who I'm going to fire/eat/sacrifice to the convection oven gods" pissed. I looked under the glow-rays at our GM and then looked up at my ticket. GM just looked back at me, shook the head and gave our Expo (head of cooking line) the look of death. I think our Expo may have combusted from that gaze had he not been wearing his super heat protection apron.
And the GM knew this was all because they (the mangers) had decided to cut kitchen staff too early. They didn't have enough staff to support
the number of waiters they kept on the floor. We honestly were not busy, but tables couldn't move because they couldn't get their food. When you can't feed one table, the next can't get in. Back in the old day it wasn't a problem, we could have more than three tables, so we could just take another table while our current ones waited for food. Not any more, Red Lobster expects their guests to wait in the lobby, while the restaurant is only 40% full. Customers walk in, after having sat in the lobby for 20 minutes, and they wonder why they've been waiting when there is this sea of open tables. So now they get to the table unhappy, our sales are lower because they bought drinks at the bar, our tips drop because their food takes longer, and our tips are further hit because we cannot turn a table because they are waiting for food so they can't leave. It nearly reached the boiling point a couple of times tonight. I've seen it get ugly fast in a restaurant, and thankfully that didn't happen tonight.Rarely do I feel bad for a host, but tonight was one of those rare occasions. Our young ladies up front (I'm pretty sure it was all ladies tonight) had nowhere to put people, and little explanation as to why on a Monday night people would have to wait 20-30 minutes minimum to get a table in our store.
Can you tell I'm still pissed about this?
And if that isn't bad enough, corporate Red Lobster/Darden in their infinite idiocy decided that with our new, lower priced promotion that started last week, that they should pour salt into our wounds as servers by issuing a coupon this past weekend. Coupons bring in some very undesirable people from a waiter's point of view. People too dim witted to realize that the $4 off doesn't even pay for their two iced teas. $4 off at McDonald's is a good discount. $4 off at Red Lobster isn't much. But to them, the $4 saved is enough to draw them into our stores, like moths to a light. But that doesn't mean they are tipping, or certainly not appropriately. The $4 off made our meals just barely affordable, but there's nothing left for a tip. Once again, screw the waiter.
Related Tags: Red Lobster, Darden, GMRI, Seafood, Seafood Restaurant, Restaurant, Dinner, Supper, Appetizers, Drinks, Server, Waiter, Waitress, Host, Bartender, Cook, Chef, General Manager, Manager, Food Service, Customer Service, Anger, Frustration, Pissed, Coupons, Cheap people, Bad tippers, McDonald's
13 comments:
I agree. I had an idea, as a host, how things were not ideal in the Server world. But not until I became one did I realize how bad it is, and how hard it is to keep from becoming annoyed with EVERYONE in the restaurant. Cooks constantly screwing up orders, Hosts over-seating you, fellow Servers who don't do their sidework. Managers who appreciate good looks more than good work ethic. Corporate goons who've never waited a table in their life and consider themselves experts. And don't even get me started on the Baker. I have at least 3 tables a week who don't get biscuits until their entree is up. And what's the ONLY position whose income is affected by ALL of these things? The Server. There aughta be a law.
In large corporations or in large stores (or in your case restaurant) it's way to easy to get mad at someone else in another department (or section) because of lack of communication. When I worked at Staples the nightcrew was always mad at the floor associates who were mad at electronics..etcetc. Now I work in a teeny tiny store and the only person I can get mad at is myself. Its great. lol. I wish you the best
If it makes you feel better(it won't by the way lol),,,,,,we have ALLLLL been there and no doubt about it, it sucks bigtime. Between my two jobs I manage,serve,bartend,and in a pinch even cook occasionally so I see both sides of it.
BD
Dude, I know that you probably hear this alot, but move on. It'll be rough, but it'll make you feel good.
I'm saying this because I'm a waiter/bartender who'd worked at a corporate place for nearly five years. Things just started to get too confusing for me, I just don't understand the way the coporate restaurant culture thinks.
Man, my heart goes out to you.
I hate coupons, too.
I feel your pain. I would be able to feed an entire third world country with the amount of mediocre food I have had to buy for asshole customers because half my cooks suck. The other day I had to buy an entire meal because a genius decided to re-drop old fries instead of making freash ones...
good times!
x
There are a number of things keeping me at RL at the moment, but most important fo those is my seeking of other employment. In the meantime though, I need to pay my bills until I do find a job in my future field (I'm a grad student). So rather than undergo a transition, an loose valueable money earning time by having to be trained into a new restaurant, I've stayed at RL this past year. I did interview at a 4 Star restaruant (private) and was going to be hired, before they went belly up earlier this year. So it's not like I'm just mindlessly plugging along, I am actively looking for something. But I'm not willing to move laterally, and to move up into fine dining in my town takes some time, as those jobs are highly coveted, or at least at the busy high end places. Plus, Summer is the slowest time in this area, once school starts up places will be hiring again. So we'll see. My first choice is to leave waiting tables behind, and move into my future field prior to graduating. We'll see if that happens.
Lobster Boy
Racist? No, I certainly don't fit that. Are there a lot of people in my area that reinforce negative stereotypes? Certainly, and I'm not apologizing for exposing their flaws. I think if you knew my pool of friends, and knew who I live with that I would decidedly qualify as being the opposite of racist. But it's easy to throw a lable out there like that and remain ignorant yourself.
As for being anti-immigrant, you are equally mistaken. My family has not been on this continent for very long. I have a deep appreciation for the melting pot that is the USA. I am all for legal immigration to our great country. Furthermore, I think all countries should be equally open to US citizens to moving there as well. I think if you study immigration (which it appears you have not from your shallow comment) you would know that the restrictions placed on US citizens moving abroad are often far greater than any we impose on those who would be moving here.
What I don't like are ignorant people. People who have not taken the time to learn the customs of the land they live in. If I lived in Saudi Arabia I would most certainly have to learn new customs. The same goes the other way for people coming to our country, without respect for their color or place of origin. If I moved to the deep South for that matter I would have a lot to learn, and learn it I would.
So you can choose to simply categorize anyone who doesn't blindly uphold your preconceived notions, or you can grow, and interact.
The truth is what it is, whether you like it or not. I do not create reality, but live within it.
Lobster Boy
"Tickets so slow we thought they were growing the vegetables."
I would like to know if the servers put in the tickets as SOON as they got them, NOT going to greet the next table, NOT going to buss the table, but actually to put the order into the computer AS SOON AS POSSIBLE? IT MATTERS in the tip. When I saw one time a waiter take our food order at a seafood chain restaurant called "Acme Oyster House", he immediately went to greet a table of 6, meanwhile, our ticket wasn't put in for at least a good 2-3 minutes while he was getting 6 people's drink orders, possibly appetizer orders, and possibly answering questions about mixed drinks. He got less than 15%. I normally tip for good service 20%-25%, but when servers put your turn on the back burner to do something else, that pisses me off. Our order could have been put into the computer that much quicker and possibly beating another server getting their table's order in before ours. Sure, our food may take longer to cook than another table's order that another server puts in, but still, we wouldn't have to wait *AS LONG* for it to be cooked. 2-3 minutes, is 2 -3 minutes SOONER! The SOONER the cook has the ticket, the SOONER OUR ORDER WE BE NEXT ON THE LIST TO COOK! So, my point is the server CAN be at fault for long ticket times if the server in a sense "SITS" on our order by doing something else BEFORE going to the computer to put the order in. I don't feel it's right that a server takes my order and delays my food from going into the computer for other people at other tables *UNLESS THEIR FOOD OR DRINK THEY ORDERED IS DONE, BECAUSE THEY ORDERED BEFORE WE DID) or even dishes(especially dishes), which I find to be rather rude to put objects over people's waits. Cleaning up can ALWAYS *WAIT*!
"Food took a long time? Take it out on the waiter."
Sometimes it TRULY CAN BE THE SERVER'S FAULT. NOT ALL THE TIME IS THE SERVER AT FAULT, BUT THE SERVER DOES HAVE *SOMETHING* TO DO WITH HOW LONG CUSTOMERS ARE WAITING FOR THEIR FOOD/and or DRINK, BECAUSE THEY CAN *DECIDE* TO GO PUT THE ORDER IN *RIGHT AWAY*! As long as they do that, PUT THE ORDER IN CORRECTLY, and DON'T FORGET TO BRING MY FOOD TO ME CORRECTLY AS FAR AS WHAT THEY CAN SEE, THE COOK'S are at fault completely 100% for long waits for food. The server has NO CONTROL WHAT-SO-EVER after they put in the order as long as they do those things I listed in the sentence before this one.
Sometimes servers do FORGET about getting your food/and or drink. One time, a waiter at Applebee's made me wait 25 minutes LITERALLY for my margarita, because he FORGOT to get it HE TOLD ME. SOMETIMES IT DEFINATELY IS THE SERVER'S FAULT 100%! If my server FORGETS to bring me my food and/or drink, by letting it sit at the window or bar for 15 minutes, well, you CAN'T blame that on the cook. I certainly couldn't blame the bartender AT ALL for my VERY LONG wait for a margarita. My waiter FORGOT and he did apologize profusely, but didn't offer to get the manager though, which I felt he should have. I think waiting that LONG, I SHOULD have received at least a coke off the bill. At the most I should be waiting for a mixed drink should be about 10-12 minutes, NOT 25 minutes. It was only because I had asked "Where's my margarita" that I even received it. He just completely forgot, but he wrote it down. He just didn't double check his pad of paper he wrote my order down on.
http://www.complaints.com/complaintofthedayoctober142000.4.htm
"We were waited on and order was taken at 11:40am, and did not receive our lunch until 12:25pm. I understand that the noon hour is busy, but not only did our drinks run out, but our waitress avoided coming to our table.
This not only made us late coming back to work, but the food was cold. When we looked on our ticket our order was not placed until 12:08."
Basically this letter that someone wrote states their order was delayed by their WAITRESS, by not putting in the order until 12:08p.m.
My point is, the server DOES have a LOT to do with *HOW LONG* people wait for their food, NOT just the cook. If you don't print a ticket, how in the world are the cooks going to KNOW to cook it? If the order doesn't go into the computer for 10 minutes, well gee, that's 10 minutes the customers COULD have had their meal quicker. Even if I order a well done steak, if the server waits to put my order in for 10 minutes and basically in a sense *SITS* on my order for that long, I'll be waiting LONGER for that steak, it's just COMMON SENSE. Also, if the server chit-chats about personal shit to customers instead of putting the order in, well, DUH, the server is at fault for PLAYING AROUND, instead of doing his or her job.
So, unless the cook cook's the wrong food and you don't take it to me wrong or if the server puts the order in RIGHT AWAY, also does their job by comparing the written order with the plate of food as well as the menu if the server doesn't know the menu, and it's correct as far as the server can SEE BEFORE bringing it to my table wrong(which bringing the wrong food is a mistake within itself AS LONG AS THE SERVER CAN *SEE* THE WRONG ITEM WITHOUT TOUCHING THE FOOD), goes get the order from the kitchen, then THOSE are the *ONLY WAYS* it's the COOK'S FAULT for long ticket times. If you take my order and proceed to buss a table instead of putting in my order, *YOU* are making me wait just THAT MUCH LONGER, NOT THE COOK, *YOU*! If you print the ticket incorrectly, YOU are at fault 100%, NOT the cook. You CAN'T blame the cook for YOU pressing the wrong button. You also can't blame the cook for bringing me the wrong side dish. You can blame the cook if you printed the ticket correctly for COOKING the wrong side, but have some COMMEN SENSE and just come to my table without the wrong side and TELL ME INSTEAD of either HOPING I will take the wrong food or just plain being to lazy to compare the food with the order and menu. If I order beans, WHY the hell are you bringing me fries? *LOOK* at what you are taking people and DON'T PUT YOUR TRUST INTO THE COOK! That's just STUPID! If the cook REALLY IS at fault for cooking me the wrong food, you WOULDN'T BE TAKING IT TO ME WRONG! In situations where another server or food runner is bringing me the food, well, a lot of times it's NOT the server's fault, because that person bringing me the food has NO CLUE what I ordered. The people in the kitchen say "Bring this to table 6". That is a COMPLETELY different situation, but when it's the SAME SERVER that took my order, brings me the food wrong that she or he can SEE is WRONG, that's just STUPID! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME BRINGING ME THE WRONG FOOD. I hate food runners, because 9 times out of 10, if I have a complicated order, it's NEVER delivered 100% correct as far as what the food runner can see, because they don't know what I told my server. Usually I have condiments missing a LOT of the time. Condiments though, CAN be brought BEFORE the meal BY THE SERVER, since they DON'T need ANY COOKING.
I had a situation last Oct. that was the most horrible service I've EVER had at a Chili's. My waitress took my order and wrote everything down, which I saw her do. I ordered "Baby back ribs instead of the cinnamon apples that normally comes with the meal, I ordered extra fries, 1 side of mayo, 1 side of ranch, and 2 sides of honey bbq sauce." You wouldn't believe what a DUMB WAITRESS this was. *SHE* brought me my food, NOT a food runner. She brought me the plate with the BIG BOWL OF CINNAMON APPLES, NO EXTRA FRIES, 1 side of ranch(NO MAYO OR BBQ SAUCE sides). I found out from the manager she printed the ticket correctly. Well, you know, I couldn't believe the manager to tell me that she printed the ticket correctly. WHO CARES! THE *END* RESULT IS WHAT MATTERS! The WAITRESS was at fault for bringing me my food wrong 100%! ALL OF THOSE THINGS COULD HAVE BEEN TOLD TO THE COOK *BEFORE* SHE BROUGHT OUT MY FOOD! YOU CAN'T BLAME THE COOK FOR TAKING IT TO ME WRONG, MEANING, my entree took LONGER to cook, because of the WAITRESS WASTING *TIME* bringing it to me WRONG! So what, she printed it correctly. The cook messed up, but WHY BRING ME THE WRONG FOOD? THE WAITRESS WAS AT FAULT FOR MAKING ME WAIT JUST THAT MUCH LONGER TO HAVE ME HAVE TO REPEAT MY ORDER AT THE TABLE WITH MY FOOD IN FRONT OF ME, WHICH WAS RUDE I FOUND AND BRINGING IT TO ME WRONG TO BEGIN WITH!
SO TICKET TIMES AREN'T ALWAYS COMPLETELY THE COOK'S FAULT! If my waitress would have found the mistakes in the kitchen, then I would have gotten my food just THAT MUCH *QUICKER*!
My margarita that time also was ANOTHER ISSUE my husband and I had with this waitress! They were out of the Presidente' margarita shakers, so I ended up waiting LITERALLY a half an hour, because of the confusion of no COMMUNICATION with the bartender and the waitress. My waitress had asked if I ever got my margarita and by this time I had waited over 15 minutes, which I told her no. What probably happened is some other server took my margarita, because it was in a DIFFERENT glass. Well, anyway, THE WAITRESS WAS THE ONE THAT NEVER WENT TO CHECK ON IT, EVEN AFTER I TOLD HER! The MANAGER of all people ended up bringing my margarita out and we had well finished our meals by then. YOU CAN'T BLAME THE BARTENDER ENTIRELY ON THIS ONE! Sure, the bartender should have TOLD the waitress "I'm out of shakers", but, the WAITRESS should have went to check on my margarita BEFORE 15 minutes even. The manager didn't even comp anything for ALL THAT. I left ZERO tip. This waitress was VERY RUDE and she NEVER APOLOGIZED for ANY OF HER MISTAKES. I had to ask for utensils twice.
If you took the order and bring me my food, if the mistake is to where I can notice it without touching my food, YOU CAN TOO!
http://www.mtsusidelines.com/media/paper202/news/2003/10/01/Opinions/Tips-Are.Earned.Rewards.Not.An.Ordained.Right-508957.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.mtsusidelines.com
“Never, ever take food out that is incorrectly done (I had a waitress rip me a new one for something I goofed up on as a cook and she demanded I fix it then and there - and she was right and I learned)."
Basically, this is a cook that had a VERY SMART waitress that told the cook basically this: “YOU MADE A MISTAKE, FIX IT BEFORE I BRING OUT THE FOOD WRONG.” So it’s NOT ALWAYS the cook that prepared the food wrong if you took the order and bring out the order wrong. It’s the LAST PERSON who sees the food as long as the ticket was printed correctly as far as if it’s a food runner, but if it’s the same server, the same server should compare what they wrote down to the plate of food BEFORE taking it to the customer wrong. I am NOT talking about pickles or burrito fillings that the server CAN’T see without touching the food. I am ONLY talking about things the server can actually SEE is wrong with the food or missing.
So if you bring the wrong food to me you can SEE, then *YOU* are at fault for my food taking longer, because you took it to me WRONG! Even if the cook messed up, by taking it to me, you are DELAYING MY FOOD JUST THAT MUCH MORE! LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE TAKING TO PEOPLE!
DON'T ALWAYS BLAME THE COOK FOR FOOD TAKING A LONG TIME!
"Drink not made right? Take it out on the waiter."
Just the other day, I ordered a white russian made with kahlua and grey goose vodka. The waitress didn't write the order down. She comes out with a "MUDSLIDE." NOW THAT IS *HER* FAULT 100%! She brought me the wrong DRINK! I'll agree, if my margarita isn't up to par, THAT ISN'T the server's fault at ALL, but bringing the completely wrong drink IS! The waitress was at fault 100%, because she didn't put the order in correctly as well as brought it out to me wrong. 2 mistakes, NOT just one.
If I order coke, DON'T bring me sprite. It's just COMMON SENSE! You can't tell the difference between coke and dr. pepper, but you CAN tell the difference sprite and those 2 drinks.
"The $4 off made our meals just barely affordable, but there's nothing left for a tip. Once again, screw the waiter."
Why don't you work at APPLEBEE'S? I NEVER, at least over here in Louisiana, have EVER seen a coupon from Applebee's. Red Lobster, Chili's, Olive Garden, Lonestar Steakhouse, and Bennigan's, ALL HAVE COUPONS. If you don't like it, DON'T WORK AT A PLACE THAT HAS COUPONS! NO ONE IS MAKING YOU WORK THERE YOU KNOW!
I also forgot another instance where the server was at fault 100%:
I just had about a few months ago a waiter that took my husband and I's appetizer order when my husband and I ordered our drinks. We were waiting a while and asked him about our appetizer, because we had waited a longer time than normal I found. It turns out he NEVER PRINTED THE TICKET, because he claimed he FORGOT to put the order in, meaning it was *HIS* FAULT we waited a LONG TIME for an appetizer, NOT THE COOK'S AT ALL. We waited literally a half an hour for the appetizer all because the WAITER FORGOT TO PUT THE ORDER IN!
See, SOMETIMES it CAN BE the SERVER'S FAULT 100% when customer's food takes longer than it normally does.
Springs,
Let me explain the Red Lobster system so you understand our dillema. We have 2 minutes to greet a table after the customers are seated. So if you are sat, then proceed to take your sweet time while ordering, or need everything special (which I doubt you do, but there are those who do) and the server is simultaniously seated, the server MUST then go and greet that table. Ringing your food in immediately is not an option in the eyes of Darden Restaurants Inc. They are very explicit in this, and managers are known to do "audits" where they verify our processes throughout the night. These are what consist of as part of our 'non-negotiables' that we must abide by. So your expectations may not even be possible to be met in some instances. You most certainly should express your feelings to the corporation, they actually listen to customers (whereas they don't give a rats ass about a completely replaceable employee, even if that is a good quality employee).
Second, your server never has to print out a ticket for the kitchen/bar to get your order. Darden employs a fully automated system (Olive Garden, Red Lobster et al.) whereby entering it into the computer automatically sends it to the proper place (drinks to the bar, food to the kitchen). The only time the server has to go to the kitchen for a ticket is a special instructions ticket, where they have to actually write out your need (some can be entered via the computer, most though cannot). Red Lobster is in the process of converting to a new computer system away from the POS system (yes, that is it's official as well as appropriate name), but that won't roll out for a number of months yet.
And yes, servers do make mistakes, but it is enormously rare when I do. I don't forget to ring in food. What does happen is from time to time my fat fingers hit the wrong button and I don't catch it in my entering in an order. Because the touchscreens are small I probably screw up one item every month or two. New people do it far more frequently however.
But in the case of this story, it was incompetence in the kitchen. Nothing to do with servers. When ticket times run XX number of minutes, that means we are reading the time on the ticket, and then reading the time on the clock. The time on the ticket indicates when we rung it in, when it hit the kitchen for them to start working on it. The second time is off the clock in the kitchen, which is kept very close sync to our computer systems (so we all clock in at the correct time). If my ticket says 7:42 and my food shows up at 8:04 it took the cooks 22 minutes to cook my food. It's simple math.
And when I screw up an order, I'm the first to confess it to the table. Most tables are forgiving, and honestly those that aren't were going to leave me a crap tip whether it was my fault or not.
Lobster Boy
My favorite is when the food is taking a long time, and the kitchen gets mad at US for asking where it is....
Wow, after reading the customer's opinion on everything, I have even less sympathy for any of them. Orders get messed up. Get over it. Don't sit around crying about it. It's usually not the server's fault, but when they do forget it, that usually means they were BUSY and they got caught up wiping some other lazy coupon using person's ass. Cook your own food if you're going to bitch about it so much.
I honestly hated working for Red Lobster for many different reasons, but it hired me so I can't complain. RL is the only place that called me back when I applied to NUMEROUS other places in NUMEROUS different fields. So let's just say, I HAD to work there.
Don't get me wrong it wasn't the worst experience of my life, I enjoyed parts of it.
Unfortunately I have very little sympathy for customers because of how willing they are to complain about things that just happen. Like order mix-ups; as employees of a very popular restaurant we are constantly pressed for reputation. This means rushing, if we aren't moving fast enough our hides are grilled with the shrimp on a skewer. This being said, some times servers need help from other staff such as SA's (glorified bussers). Along side this matter we used computers. More often than not, I see order mixups occurring when something is entered into the computer incorrectly by mistake. Ex. I ran food to table 9 (as the computer told me) and it turns about the table it was meant for was table 19.
So calm yourselves. YOU'RE THE ONE THAT SITTING IN YOUR REAR END STUFFING YOUR FACE. YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO IS NOT ALLOWED TO SIT FOR SEVERAL HOURS HAVING TO TREAT ENTITLED SNOTS LIKE ROYALTY JUST TO PAY OFF BILLS YOU MIGHT ALL READY BE LATE ON.
We do our best so if YOU don't like it, go eat somewhere else.
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