waitresswriter

Sunday Not So Fun Day

Whoever thought it was a good idea to have someone work till close and help open the next day needs a slap in the face.

I crawled out of bed like a zombie rising from the grave. With my eyes just barely open, I stumbled into the kitchen and made myself a coffee. I looked at the clock and saw it was 7 am. All I could think to myself is, “why!”. I didn’t get home until 12:30 in the morning and by the time I had showered, ate something and got to bed, it was about 1 in the morning.

I drank my coffee, went to church, then got ready for work. On my way to work I was going to stop and get another coffee, but the traffic was so bad that I didn’t have time.

I got to work at 10:40 am and it was go time. I set everything up for the day. It was a rainy morning with expected thunderstorms all day. I prayed that we wouldn’t be busy but boy was I wrong.

We unlocked the doors at 11am and people poured through. I had 4 tables all sat at one time. And one of them was particularly needy.

This older couple asked to have a table and not a booth. They decided to seat themselves as well, leaving me to figure out where they went, on top of having to take care of my other three tables.

They would take a sip of their water and demand a refill immediately. At first they were too cold, so I turned off the fan. Then they were too hot, and I needed to turn the fan back on again.

I was nothing but kind and attentive, yet they only tipped me two bucks and went on their merry way.

I think after this, I am going to try and take Sundays off my availability.

I Quit?

Last week I went into Texas Roadhouse to talk to the owner. I had gotten a stress contusion in my foot and was unable to put pressure on it. I was told by my doctor to rest, ice, and elevate. While I was there one of my friends wanted to get dinner so I told her to meet me there. She said yes and came in.

Little flashback, recently I got my best friend to start waitressing with me about a month ago and she was working that night. This will become important later.

I came in, ate, and released my shifts for the week. Talked to all of my managers, laughed and had a good time.

Later that night, I got a text from my friend and this is how it went..

Friend:Lexi

Friend: Did you put your two weeks in?

Me: no..? Why?

Friend: someone told me that

Friend: I about died

Me: they might have meant the other Lexi (there are two of us)

Friend: they said Bross and I was like uhhhhhh

Me: Who said this?

Friend: (insert male coworker name)

Me: dang it (name)!!

Something you should know about this coworker is he is a big jokester. I texted him and he swore to me that he heard it from one of the managers.

So I texted my two favorite managers and they assured me that I was still working, and my heart attack ceased. I still have no idea why she thought I put my two weeks in, but to be clear, I am still employed at my restaurant!

Moving My Way Up

I was hired at my restaurant in August of 2020. I was hired as a host and started my training. My first day was horrible. I was trained on seating, which is taking people to their seat and knowing table numbers. The girl that trained me went really fast, and I was lost the whole night. The second night, I was trained on updating, which is where you set the tables for the guests. This was a way better night. The girl that trained me was so sweet and kind. The third night was names and call aheads. This was easy, I just had to ask people their names, phone number, and how many people were in their party. The fourth night was more challenging. This was the big deal job. Board. You pick were people sit, make sure all the servers are in the right rotation, and deal with people yelling at you for not seating them fast enough. After the fourth night, the owner came up to me and told me he was impressed with my ability to catch on and work hard. I was happy.

About six months later I was told to come into the office. This scared me because when someone was told to come into the office, they were in trouble. I walked in and all the managers were in there. They told me to sit and then told me the news. I was moving to Togos! I was so ecstatic! This meant I was moving up in the world because I would be making more money!

My first day of Togo training was answering the phones and taking orders. There is a lot that goes into this. I had to make sure I knew the whole entire menu and temperatures for how people wanted their meats cooked. I had two days of phones training, and I thought I did well for being new. After phones went bagging, this was a breeze compared to phones. All I had to do was make sure their order was right and bag it up. The only hard part about bagging is when Togos is slammed with orders. Those nights are never fun.

Six months after being on Togos, was my 18th birthday. I could serve now. I was pulled in the office once again and told I would move to server training in the next few weeks. They gave me my apron, some pens, and a server book. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my parents. Training for me was cut short because I was double scheduled on Togos and training. This at times was frustrating, but nevertheless, I finished my training, had to take my server validation, which is where they quiz you over the menu and other things you need to know.

This is where I am at now, waitressing. This past month a lot of my Togo friends moved over to serving which makes me happy. I am very thankful that the company saw that I was a hard worker. Even though I have to deal with people who aren’t the kindest, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Nauseating Coworkers

Nothing makes me more mad than people who don’t do their jobs. I can’t stand it!

No Phone Zone

If your phone consumes your life, you have a problem. You should be able to set your phone down for a few hours to do your job. For instance, when appetizers come up in the window, there will be five people standing around on their phones not doing anything, this is frustrating because everyone else is running their food while they are locked in on their phones. Please, for the love of my sanity, put your phone away and run your own food if you have time.

No Drama Llama

People who start drama in the workplace deserve the loser award. For instance, my work was doing a competition on upselling items on the menu, upselling is trying to get people to order extra things on their entree. When the “Queen of upselling” was bragging about herself, I jokingly said, “(insert name here) I think I might have you beat tonight.” She then turned around and said, “It’s because I have been running all your (beep) food tonight.” Come to find out, she was training one of my friends that night and she never ran a single item for me.

Terrible Toxicity

Leave your baggage at the door. Enough said. I am an 18 year old girl and there is no reason a 20 year old should be extremely rude to me for no reason. I understand seniority, but you don’t have to be mean about it. “Go get ice..go change coke..go run apps.” I’m sorry can I get a PLEASE? Treat everyone with respect and you will get the same back. The amount of times I’ve cried to management about this person is off the charts.

Moral of the story, just be kind to the people you work with, you never know what is going on and maybe try having a heart to heart. When I tried, it did not go over well but I’m hopeful for you!

Love Is Dead

Waking up on February 14 and being single, is really not that bad. Getting a valentine from my mom was all I needed.

My day was already frustrating, I had to make up a test that took my whole lunch period, I was scheduled to go into work at 3pm, which is impossible because I get out of school at 2:50 and with traffic, the earliest I could get there was 3:30, so I headed to work hangry and frustrated.

I went in with a positive attitude. I was ready to make some money off of people celebrating a glorified holiday.

First table I had was this couple was on their phones the entire time. Same with the next table, and the next and next. Talk about the language of love, am I right?

I made a typical amount of money that evening but my last table tried to dine and dash. Yep. On Valentine’s Day.

The first red flag was after I put their order in, they kept wanting to add more and more to their meal. When they were wrapping up, I asked them how they wanted to split the checks. It was a table of 5 grown adults and one child. They kind of brushed me off but I asked again and waited for their answer. I brought them their tickets and stayed watching them. I had an ill feeling about the whole situation so I went and told my manager and he stayed watching.

One of my coworkers came up to me and said he walked past and heard them complaining about their totals and were now putting on their coats. So I quickly ran over and asked if they were ready to pay. They all answered with a series of “Oh we forgot we still had to do that.” So they each paid me one at a time, making me go back and forth from the register to their table until it was the last person at the table’s turn to pay. She took her sweet time but finally ended up paying.

I was supposed to get out of work around 9. But didn’t leave until 10:30… 30 minutes after we closed. So happy Valentine’s Day to me!

Negative Customers

After working in the restaurant industry for a year and a half, I can confidently spot the “stereotypical” diners the moment they walk in the doors.

The Indecisive

This older couple sits down, I go greet them, the usual, “What can I get you started off with to drink,” and it takes them two minutes to decide if they wanted lemons in their water. I knew I was in for a treat. (The answer was no by the way) I bring them their waters and ask them if they wanted any appetizers. After five minutes of discussing, they say no. I then ask them if they were ready to order. After five more minutes they say “No, but can we get an appetizer.” Trying to hold my tongue I said, “sure! What would you like?” Two minutes later, they decide and I put their app in. I wait for their appetizer to come out and at this point they have been seated for around 20 minutes. It was a slow Sunday morning and this couple was my only table. I bring them their app and ask if they are ready to order. They take 10 minutes and finally order! Thank goodness was what I muttered to myself as I put in their order. Fast forward they have eaten and paid and sat at my table for three hours and haven’t moved an inch. They weren’t even talking, just on their phones or in silence. I was just working the morning shift and when I clocked out they were there for three hours and 45 minutes. I later found out the restaurant owner at four hours told them kindly that they needed to leave before our dinner rush and they understood.

The Demanding

There is nothing I love more than someone talking down to me and thinking I am their servant… that was sarcastic. These types of people are they type that snap their fingers at you, shake their half full glass at you, and try to get your attention when you are talking to another table. I promise we see you. I was dealing with an eight top table. At the moment there was only two people there at first. I get their drinks and ask them about apps. The guy slams his Coke and smashes it on the table and goes “get me more now” so I go, get him a Coke and he looks at his watch and goes, “Took you long enough.” Long story short, he didn’t tip me.

The Dine and Dash

If you dine and dash you are a horrible person. There was one time someone dined and dashed on my coworkers table. They ended up not getting very far because they hopped on the highway and got busted for having a ridiculous amount of drugs in their car. Needless to say, karma will get you.

Anyone in the restaurant industry is not making the big bucks. Please be considerate of your server and try not to be one of these people.