Since we've had so many people get fired or quit, we are absolutely awash in fucking new guys. And sometimes I don't mind. They've all learned I'm one of the people to ask about how to ring things in and how to find stuff, because I've been there for a depressingly long time. And I admit I'm narcissistic enough to enjoy being needed. But goddamn, it's such a hassle! Half of them can't carry more than two plates, so we're making extra trips to tables because they have a soup, a salad, and a pasta. They don't know where to find hot chocolate or flavored hot tea. They run food to wrong tables. They forget what their section is and don't greet guests which causes all the managers to flip the fuck out.
And I know it's a learning process, and I know they'll get better. It's just at a fever pitch now. We currently have 35 servers, and only 14 of them have been there more than six months. Maybe 20 have been there more than three months. It's ridiculous. And don't even get me started on the host situation, Lapdog has got to stop making his host hiring decisions based on age (under 21), body size (10 and smaller), and oh yeah, gender. Seriously, all our hosts are skinny, young girls, 95% of which have no brains between all of them.
The cooks are even worse; for a while we had a respectable ratio of English-to-Spanish speaking cooks. It was a high enough percentage that we'd always have at least one cook who spoke full English and could take care of special requests. Now there are nights, especially after the cuts, when none of the cooks really speak English. Sometimes it's so bad that if you put no peppers on one dish, add bacon on another, and extra sauce on another …. every item will come out normal, no special modifiers. It's absolutely fucking maddening.
8 comments:
Maybe it is time to change the modifier buttons to Spanish. [I canNOT believe I just wrote that, grrr] but if it is affecting your meals something has to be done.
stop reading my mind! I was just about to make a post about new people!
Reminds me of the time my late hubs took a chef job in NJ and his kitchen staff consisted of 13 cooks from Haiti (french speaking) no English. Now that was a friggen' challenge.
That sucks...
Maybe you can learn some key food terms in Spanish, so it will help you out with the modifying situation.
Like instead of typing in "no onions" you can manually type in "No cebollas"
I'm no Spanish expert but it certainly helped me to learn a few words considering that all the bussers and BOH employees were Hispanic.
The frustrating thing is that they know enough English to understand. They just don't care and use the language barrier as an excuse!
I know it's detrimental to me in the long run, but I refuse to speak Spanish. I'll run all over God's green earth to find someone who does speak English simply because there have been too many times when I tell the Spanish-speaking cooks something and I get a confused look in return. And I know they speak a decent amount of English. Grr.
Kasey - I agree. Personally, if I wanted to work in another country where English wasn't the national language, I would learn the fucking language and not use the language barrier as an excuse. I refuse to tolerate it. If they make an effort to speak and understand English, I'll make an effort to use Spanish when they need me to. If they won't, neither will I.
I've had the same problem as PurpleGirl and put a stop to it at my second job. They'd pretend not to understand me, and I'd just go get a manager...until the day they insulted me in Spanish. I responded in Spanish and told them to use respect when talking to me.
Then I said in English that if I heard them talk about me like that again, I'd tell the manager and have them written up. I asked if they understood and they nodded. Then I said, "Great. Since you understood that, I'm sure you understand the modifications I asked for on table 82 as well." They looked at each other, nodded at the floor, and probably mentally cursed me out and envisioned my painful death. But I never had a problem with the kitchen sending out the wrong shit ever again.
fuckmytable: You, my dear, are awesome. LMAO I wish that was on YouTube because I would love to see that! I swear, restaurants are one of the few places where half of the staff can speak one language, the other half another, and still have the place run somewhat smoothly, thanks to a select few who aid as lingual bridges.
I don't understand why the popular (or rather, the loudest) opinion is that English speakers should have to learn Spanish. Um, doesn't majority rule in the US? And doesn't that mean that the few who speak a different language should have to learn the majority's language? Good Lord I need to shut up right now, otherwise I'll never stop! :D
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