But then I got there and we had nine servers on, so I had a three table section. And there were a whole two tables sat in the place, yet the general manager was stomping around stressing out about stupid things. Yeah, the table employees eat lunch at had a lot of glasses on it--O M G! And of course, she was the closing manager, and I was a closer.
Then I was reminded of a mandatory ass-crack-of-dawn meeting on Saturday, which of course just fucks up my plans royally. Then we were all told we're not required to use specific, corporate-provided note pads--that say "SMILE!" at the top and then have little pre-numbered boxes for each guest. What if we wanted to use our own notepads? "Then go open your own restaurant." was the response. That was when I dropped my apron on the kitchen floor and walked out.
Okay, not really, but I was so goddamn aggravated I wanted to.
For a while after that I continued to be irritated, mostly because the GM was flipping out about nothing. If I hear her say "hospitality" one more time, I might stab her in the eye with a line thermometer! It's her freaking buzzword of the month or something--"I see empty drinks all over the place, and it just makes me wonder if we're giving the right kind of hospitality!" "I see people standing around talking and there's a dirty table, and it really just makes me made because I want hospitality to come first!" "Really focus on the hospitality!" "The difference between a server and a food runner is hospitality!" The difference between my foot up your ass or walking normally is hospitality! So shut up!
Her obsession with drinks is really starting to piss me off. Everything from "that's the wrong kind of glass for lemonade!" to "HEAPING FULL OF ICE GUYS!" to "are you getting refills for table X?" I get it--drinks are important. But empty glasses are going to happen sometimes. Sometimes people don't want more soda! When they're near the end of their meal, I'll ask before I spend the energy and resources to get them a refill. But she flips out, and I'm starting to dread the days I work with her.
By the end of the night, though, she'd calmed down and things were going smoothly. It wasn't a terribly profitable night, what with starting with a three table section and it not being that busy, but I've had worse.
6 comments:
dont forget to fill your hospitality when you clock in! Lol! ok i know its not that funny but i laughed!
Is the GM new? If not he or she is getting heat from upstairs.No need to keep repeating things over and over again. Hospitality is not the right word to use anyway. The difference between a food runner and server is service I would have thought. Service is the action , hospitality is the noun. Ha. Good post!
The next time she complains about empty glasses, tell her you asked the customer if they wanted a refill and they said no, ergo empty glass. Is she so fond of wasting drinks (and therefore money) that she will insist on every table having full glasses even if the customer is not going to drink it (and then you have to pour it down the drain)?
Jacque - if you can't laugh you'll cry, right? HOSPITALITY! :)
WE - She's not new. She's been with the company for something like twelve years, and she's been GM of this restaurant for at least seven. Maybe she is getting some sort of pressure from the higher-ups; I'm not sure. Our regional guy is pretty mellow, so I don't think it's that. I'm not sure what her problem is.
vesta44 - She doesn't care about resources; I've already had that conversation with her when she told me that every drink should be absolutely filled to the brim with ice--and since we're not allowed to re-use glasses, that means a tremendous amount of ice getting tossed very quickly! But I am going to start telling her I've asked and they don't want more, maybe after enough times of hearing that she'll shut the hell up! :)
The difference between my foot up your ass or walking normally is hospitality!
LOL You're flippin' hilarious.
I'm a cheater, I don't fill glasses very full of ice so I don't have to run for a refill quite so soon. :)
I totally do that too! When she's on the rampage about it our tips suffer because we can't keep up with the refills, and I've actually had a lot of people complain about the amount of ice.
These days when I work with her I make a point of telling her "Guest 3 at table ten doesn't want any more to drink" etc. so she'll keep her damn pants on.
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