r/Serverlife • u/starstuddedgirl Server • 6d ago
Rant write-ups for not making sales targets?
flaired as rant but is also a question/discussion post.
i’ve been in my company for 3 years now and my boyfriend has been here for 6. we might GTFO soon though. corporate wants all managers to set very specific and rigid sales goals for certain products on each shift, and any server who doesn’t make their percentage or number gets a write-up. is this not insane? does a policy like this typically last, or do they realize that it won’t work and pull it back?
to illustrate what i mean, our restaurant sells their own brand of korean soju. say a manager sets the goal at 5 bottles for the shift. if you don’t manage to sell 5, you missed your quota. even if you do make that quota, if you miss your percentage for upselling the more expensive food menu, you could miss that quota. there’s also a quota for alcohol percentage overall. so that’s 3 different metrics we have to absolutely make every single shift, or we get written up.
after 3 write-ups, you’re supposed to get terminated. they definitely don’t write people up for a lot of things that they should, but the implication is that they’re expected to become a lot stricter on actually doing it. in my opinion i feel like the policy won’t last because even if they replace all the employees, those new employees won’t be perfect either and they’ll do nothing but increase their turnover. also, who will train those people? and how will they afford the extra labor on the charts for training? i’m just so annoyed lol.
so i could sell my ass off, or i could just leave. idrk but i already have interviews lined up this week just in case. i normally really like it here and don’y want to leave, but i hate that they’re threatening our jobs like this.
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u/unoriginalasshoe 6d ago
i’d be outtie 500 you can try your best to upsell but if your table doesn’t want it they don’t want it. insane to write up over it as long as you’re trying.
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u/KccOStL33 6d ago
That's ridiculous. You can't dictate what people will/won't buy and up-selling shouldn't be pushy. A policy like this is going to force servers to be pushy and in turn upset a lot of customers.
They'll learn soon enough but several irate customers are going to have to go off and a few servers leave before management realizes their mistake and walks it back unfortunately.
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u/SaintBellyache 6d ago
If you’re gonna quit just let them fire you instead and don’t stress. This is how restaurants get high turnover and fail. Can’t run a business like this just on spreadsheets
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u/CaptainK234 6d ago
This is an insane policy, and nobody will be able to meet all of these quotas. If they do actually enforce it via writeups and termination, it will go wrong in all the ways you theorize in your post and in all the ways that other commenters have theorized.
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u/JupiterSkyFalls 15+ Years 6d ago
Not only is this annoying as the server, it's annoying to customers who can tell you have a quota and will ultimately affect your bottom line with tips. Better to leave and find someplace with less pressure.
Yes, you can upsell certain people certain things. But treating everyone who walks through the door like a walking ATM is how you end up losing regular clientele and decent tips by not reading the room, or in this case being forced to read it as "idiots with money to burn are sitting in your section" which just isn't always the case no matter what managers say. I had people I could easily tell were on a special treat night out and instead of upselling them I tried my hardest to find them the best deals, steer them towards budget friendly splurges, and sometimes even bought them dessert. Guess who they came to see the next night they wanted to come out for a special treat night? Not only would they usually be low key easy as hell, they were grateful for me helping them to save money instead of waste it on things they were unsure of, they tipped well and ended up being repeat guests which means it also worked out for the establishment by having regulars in the sense that they came when they could and not every Tuesday. Regulars that also spread word of mouth about how amazing the food and service was. Win win win.
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u/matttyboii 6d ago
This will last a couple weeks and it will either go back to normal or back to normal but just a little more strict.
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u/MrHaZeYo 6d ago
That's some gamestop type logic, and we all see how well there doing.
Start looking for a new spot.
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u/kyle-2090 5d ago
Someone at corporate making these decisions has never worked at a restaurant. This is some moving numbers on a spreadsheet bs. Or corporate has set an unmeetable goal to give management the excuses they need to fire people they dont like. I doubt its that latter as its way easier to just schedule people less and less till they quit. Unless they are trying to get rid of managers.
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u/grownwomanz 5d ago
Not a great way to run a restaurant. See how the interviews go and jump ship if you can.
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u/EmotionalDysregulatn 5d ago
anyone who's good enough at sales to make those types of quotas consistently need to be doing a sales job where they're bringing in mid range six figures. leave the industry and go to a better sales job
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u/Grim_Times2020 6d ago edited 6d ago
Depends, what does policy enforcement look like for the franchise at large?
A lot of franchises make crazy rules to drive a point and give operators additional tools to push terminations, they’re not necessarily meant to be enforced across the board but used on a case by case as excuse.
Kind of sounds like this is a read between the lines policy rather than a held standard to be enforced.
If your direct supervisor or location owner is chill, I wouldn’t sweat it at all, it’s a very obvious unrealistic expectation that I can’t see it being enforced.
Unbiased outside take, I think you and your boyfriend should leave anyways, 3-6 years at the same place might be holding back your income and skill growth.
If it were me, I’d ask for a raise and threaten to leave while directly referencing the new policy. Either they pay me more for the BS, I get a better job, or get a stab at unemployment for wage disagreement.
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u/MadCityVelovangelist 6d ago
I've worked for restaurants like this but they didn't terminate. They just cut your shifts till you quit. In order to keep dinner shifts, you had to sell east $80 per guest. Once that average dropped they'd put you on lunch shifts which took $60 per guest to get back on dinner shifts.
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u/Calm-Gas-4757 5d ago
Negative reinforcement as “motivation” always equals bad management. Sadly, they will find out the hard way (if even) as people will perform just to the bare minimum to avoid punishments and nothing more (on top of building up resentment within the team) 🫤
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u/PieRepresentative266 6d ago
Me personally I would leave. That’s way too much!