After 15 years I left serving. I miss the exercise at work

So ironically, I'm kinda bad at keeping a conversation going; like I'm a good server, I think, in like taking care of them, getting their order in, answering their questions, etc.

So they're not being mean or anything; they're trying to be nice and get to know me. But anytime a customer asks about my day or makes a joke, I'm like, "Oh shit, a conversation, oh boy..."
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I’m just trying to take the temperature of the metaphorical room here. Where I work, servers get to pick sections based on sales averages. On a slower day if we run with a smaller staff, we follow the same order to pick who gets to go home vs who wants to stay. Generally the highest averages pick to leave.

There’s a server here, let’s call him Jim. Jim is your textbook lazy ass, doesn’t do running sidework, doesn’t really help out, and from the second Jim gets to work he is trying to figure out how to be the first person cut. Whatever, that’s your own prerogative. Plus, I’ve been tight financially lately and have been picking closing sections so I’m stoked to cut the floor earlier and make more money. But at the same time, Jim constantly complains about being broke and then kind of tries to guilt people into giving them shifts. Last week, Jim wanted to pick up a shift on Thursday and asked the person most likely to give their shift up and they had already given the shift to someone else. Jim said “I guess I’ll just have to live on the streets and starve”. Two weeks ago, Jim texted everyone working individually and said they’re short on rent and begged for shifts.

Last week Jim was complaining about it being slow (we’re coming out of the slow season right now) and someone made a comment about how he could pick a closing section and 99% of the time you make more money closing and it’s like a max hour and a half longer of being here- for context the dining room is only open 4 or 5 hours depending on the day. Honestly what Jim does with their money isn’t my concern, but the complaints are really fucking annoying. They also just made a bit of a show about asking the owner to have more shifts each week, which is funny because they want to leave immediately every day.

Today, we were going to run with one less server than normal and Jim piped up asking if the people who had a higher average would let him go instead. Not my most professional moment, but it just slipped out and I said “you’re literally always complaining about being broke though”. He got a little defensive and I just giggled and tried to make it jokey and then moved on to a conversation about a common interest we have and we talked about that until he left, and like I said what he does financially is none of my business but when you try to guilt me into giving you shifts it kind of becomes my business. Would you get to a point where you call them out on it too or am I an asshole and should I apologize?

Trying this again…

I have a job selling shots for an event. Any tips for approaching people, making small talk & getting people to buy from me?

I feel like walking up and saying/asking shots isn’t really working to get them to buy. What are different ways I can make this fun and encourage them to buy?

I work at a small family owned restaurant with only a handful of employees besides me. I was supposed to work this evening, but I’ve been getting progressively sicker the last 24 hours and Im pretty sure I’ve got the flu.

I called off this morning, about 5 hours before my shift, bc I can’t stop coughing, my nose is super stuffy, and I feel awful- and I really don’t want to be serving people their FOOD when I’m this sick. I wouldn’t want my waitress to be sick either.

But because we’re understaffed and a handful of other employees were gone, they had to close the restaurant early tonight :( I know I made a good decision for myself, but I probably should’ve called out earlier but I was really hoping it was allergies and a fluke. Idk I just hate taking days off work, the only other time I called off was two weeks post op from surgery and I’ve been there over a year now.

Am new to this again. How much do you set aside for your taxes?

I’m in the US, but work near a business area with frequent international visitors. They confuse me when I ask for how they want their burgers or steaks cooked.

Many people say numbers. 74 degrees is a common answer. I’ve learned the Celsius to Fahrenheit translation. But the first time, I thought the guy wanted a room temperature burger.

I’ve also heard rare-med rare isn’t allowed per health code in some countries. I’m not sure which ones. In my country, we don’t allow it for chicken or pork. But do others do the same for beef?

idk I was just curious if anyone else has run into this before

Im currently a college student working at a small restaurant with 3 other servers, I usually work weekends (Friday-Sunday) and asked my boss two months in advance for my birthday (on a Friday) off and thanksgiving break which is a weekend off because im flying back to see my family.

In my four months of working here I’ve needed to take 6 days off to see my family, and covered my other coworkers shifts whenever they asked me. Obviously my boss wasn’t a fan of me asking for a crucial weekend off especially in the same month and denied my birthday off. Im not even sure if I got Thanksgiving break off but I already have plane tickets. I feel like I’m asking for too much especially with the low staffing and I haven’t even asked about Christmas or New Years. I plan on working new years eve and christmas if i really need to but I’m starting to think of switching to another line of work because of this. We have set schedules and are responsible to find coverage. It sucks because most of the time nobody is able to cover each other due to schedule conflicts and when theres no coverage there is only one server working.

I would like to keep this job at least by next year so I can have enough to cover rent for a few months. I do like this job and its been a blessing esp because I can be independent comfortably but having time with my family is a dealbreaker, and i feel selfish about it. I feel like I can find something better but Im afraid of the uncertainty if I were to leave.

I started my first serving job at the beginning of the week. I made the mistake of not asking about pay during the interview with them (I'm used to longer interview processes of 2-3 interviews).

I found out on my second day that the company pools tips from the day and distributes them weekly based on your hours, and I won't earn any tips for the first week or so (seemed odd). There are no designated sections so there are 3 servers operating in chaos.

The job consists of serving, doing take-outs, washing/drying/putting away dishes, tea preparation, cleaning and stocking restrooms, and some other stuff.

It seems like a lot and to be more than being a server. Most of the other people working there are high school girls and I am a guy in his 30s who's used to white collar work.

Are the tasks normal for a server to do? Is it normal to not get paid tips for an obscure trial period? I'm strongly considering leaving this job today.

Thanks in advance

just saw that they were hiring, anybody worked there. Pros and cons? And is a decent money or is it one of those location type of places.? any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I am up for an interview for a new waitressing position at my local restaurant! Does anyone have any advice? Also I am looking for ways to make good tips and ways to memorize tables and orders. Any suggestion helps!

I’m selling shots this weekend for a bike rally. I know this is different than in a club etc. Any tips for approaching people, making small talk & getting people to buy from me?

I feel like walking up and saying/asking shots isn’t really working to get them to buy.

Fall break is here! And Im already over the people that come in with their kids, order a bunch of crap they don't eat and then leave a huge mess! Like WHY DID YOU LET YOUR CHILD SMEAR MARINARA ALL OVER THE DAMN TABLE???? Being a server is the greatest birth control.

I applied for the job but i have pretty curly hair (3b/c) and its kinda short right now. Like to my shoulders but in layers, but can be longer depending how i style it.
Anyways, my main concern is, would they want me to straighten my hair all the time? I know i can’t put it up, but my hair also gets damaged pretty easily from straightening it, and at this length my hair mever stays straight anyways so i would look very very horrible.

Also, what does the audition consist of? And what should i wear for an interview lol

So I started serving at a fast casual Mexican restaurant in Austin Texas that pools tips between both servers and bartenders. I was led to believe that the pool is simply used to balance out volume between everyone, so if one server has a busier section than another it all evens out. However after my first three shifts I have consistently been only getting ~50% of what I put into the pool. I’ll tip out the expo, runners, bussers, bartenders and barbacks, but that is like $50 per shift. Over the last 3 shifts I have added $775 to the pool and received $400 back.

Has anyone else worked in a pool that seems to benefit no one? Yesterday it was me and one other server. I compared my checkout to his and saw that he collected like $5 more than me in tips and I clocked in 10 minutes earlier, so I figure this is the time the pool should benefit me (if only a little bit).

Can anyone think of a rational explanation for this? The bar is also somewhat busy and contributes their own portion to the pool so I don’t think it should be subsidizing their tips. Curious on your thoughts. Regardless I plan on asking management to explain it to me.

Please delete if not allowed, but I just wanted to share this resource that’s been absolutely amazing!

Southern Smoke (was actually recommended to me by someone here in this subreddit) is absolutely amazing! I got therapy through them, had my phone bill paid while I was in between jobs and they even funded my Partial Hospitalization Program! I figured someone may need help and i figured it be selfish to keep it to myself

I manage a breakfast joint that is admittedly not doing well. We believe in large part due to the fact that it is counter service and not table service.
We will be transitioning to full service over the next few months.

My question is for now, how do we implement a wait list for when it does get busy? I’ve just personally never seen a waitlist for counter service but we really do need one.

The way it works is that you walk in and have to pass a full dining room to get to the counter. Once you order, you’re given a table number and can sit down anywhere. We bring out the food and drinks once it is ready. It’s so embarrassing when we are busy because there’s just a line out the door that’s completely on top of and next to patrons who are dining. Once in a while, a guest will get their table number just to realize there are no open spots so they just have to wait around and be in the way of an already full dining room. There’s been a couple times food has been ready and they are still standing waiting for a table to open up.

It’s horrible. I don’t know what the owner was thinking with this method but as I said earlier, we are going to try and transition out of this style of service because it’s obviously insane. (Actually I do know what she was thinking- more money at the cost of guest experience)

Anyways is there a possibility at all to implement reservations or a waitlist while still using counter service until we switch over to table service?

I love aloha so much I think I’m missing it due to having this new job and they don’t use that system

Aloha my forever love, you will be missed I love you xoxo

i LOVED serving, but for medical reasons i had to quit, and now i haven't had a job in 2 years. i just got another serving job, and my first shift is on friday. i'm Nervous with a capital N.

i'm really social so that part of the job was a piece of cake and likely will be again, i'm honestly mainly just worried about carrying things lmao. i wasn't that great at carrying big trays of food to begin with. i'm scared of dropping things😭

yeah i don't know what the point of posting this is

Pepper only fans will get it

I am NOT talking about allergies, arfid, whatever. If you have that, you’re good. I never judge. Hell, I don’t eat chicken for texture reasons.

I am however talking about grown men who ask for the french onion soup with no onions. Raw onion i could understand, perfectly caramelized ones? People will eat BOOTY and then not like cooked onions .. its such an odd phenomenon.

I had an old friend recently get into a serious car crash (luckily everyone was okay) on the way home from work after a busy double during college football season in a major college town, stone cold sober, and it reminded me of an incident I had this last Mother's Day.

I was driving home from work, a 10 minute drive, and I got momentarily distracted by a police car's blue lights about to pull someone else over and ended up running right through a red. I had NEVER run a red before in my life and considered myself an amazing driver. I slammed on my brakes hard enough to not hit the car pulling out in front of me, but I was INCHES away from slamming into them at 45mph and ended up saving that other guy from a ticket and getting myself a pretty nasty one. I had worked 14 hours straight on Mother's Day and I was so exhausted I might as well have been asleep behind the wheel. I limped out of work and couldn't hold a conversation with my coworkers for the first time in 4 years of serving before I left and that should've been the sign.

Please PLEASE if you are so tired you can't see straight just call an uber or swallow the shame and ask a coworker to take you home. Driving exhausted is beyond dangerous and although we get used to the exhaustion from work sometimes these really busy holiday doubles can take it all out of you!! Be safe out there.

When a grown man ate all of the jelly packets in the caddy. With no bread. It was not breakfast time.

about 3 weeks ago I started a new job at a local chain and went through 3 days of server training and 1 day of host training. I really only needed to learn the POS and menu because I've served for over 2 years and bartended for a year. people kept telling me not to let the girls "get to me" and I was confused because everyone had been so nice! and then I got added to a messenger group chat today because someone wanted their shift covered, half a scroll up and I see this shit :( feeling very discouraged because I've been really enjoying it so far, and my managers have been telling me what a fantastic job I do.

8 months ago I started as a food runner at an incredibly high volume tourist-spot restaurant. I adapted quickly. I became designated expo within a month. I'm damn near a god at expo so it's not the worst. But the few serving shifts I've worked, I prefer. I do great and made great tips.

My GM has never been fond of me even though I'm great at my job. My other managers love me and have been pushing my GM about giving me more serving shifts, which he refuses. I can only get them if I pick up someone else's shift.

I was serving today, full section, everything going according to plan until one customer. He ordered a popular item, then specifically asked for extra of the included items on the side, which I sent in to the kitchen. Runner brings it out, he claims he never ordered those sides.

I'm not an idiot. I know this menu inside and out. He ordered it! I ask my GM to take the menu items off his check. He practically throws a fit about it, insisting that the customer did not order them and that this shows I am "not ready to be a server." I insisted he did in fact order those sides, and had a co-worker witness back up my story. He did not believe either of us.

About an hour goes by, l've had several tables with no problems. I'm sat a table of 6 old ladies, all separate checks. I accidentally put a Diet Coke on the wrong check. I ask my manager to simply swipe his card so that I can rearrange them. He does it himself... and puts it on the wrong check after I told him exactly which check to put it on.

Obviously these ladies are growing irritated. I am apologizing to them, explaining the situation. My GM was visibly frustrated, even though it was a simple fix.
Eventually it was figured out. Once it was figured out though, he told me I was cut. I asked why, because I'd only been there for about 3 hours. He said again that I'm not ready, and he doesn't want to deal with my mistakes.

A mistake a server makes that a GM has to deal with can be annoying for him maybe, yes... but as expo, l can't even begin to count how many times my servers have approached me explaining a small mistake they made that I now have to work around. Which is never a huge ordeal even during the worst of rushes.
One mishap that could've easily been fixed in max 15 seconds if all he did was swipe his card and go on about his day...

Am I overthinking, or is this kind of ridiculous? This happens with my servers quite often... it's an extremely fast-paced restaurant. People are bound to fuck up every once and a while. And I'm still relatively new to serving. So shouldn't this be an opportunity for me to learn instead of immediately being cut?
Now he's saying that I'm going to have to wait a while for a chance at a promotion again. Do you think this is unfair, or is he valid in cutting me several hours early?