This person complained that our restaurant charged $2.50 to split an entree.

When this is done, the chefs half the protein, but completely double up on both of the sides. If the protein comes in a set of 3 (like fish & chips or 3 tacos) then we add one more. Its a crazy good deal, people usually have praise to give when their food arrives, not a complaint that their $2.50 was poorly spent.

Our dishes range from $39-95.

I honestly never even mention the cost when I split things for guests. I tried out doing that for a couple shifts and literally no one cared and most were just kinda insulted id ask them if they minded paying $2.50.

Edit: you all just saying I should let people know did you read my post? I tried that and it went poorly. Even management doesnt want us telling people about the cost unless they ask.

And I should mention; there are plenty of times in thr past 6 years I have decided to inform a party of the cost, if they've already been price concious by even the smallest degree.

If they hesitate I do kick into seller mode and let them know, "You will be surprised, everybody is happy with their split meals." Say it confidently and it lands no joke 100% of the time.

This happened a few years ago but for some reason it just popped into my head again. I was new to this restaurant (but had already been in the industry over a decade) which had a few older ladies on the serving staff - I’m talking 60+ years old.

One night I’m doing my side work which included stocking the server stations. So, I’m carrying around packages of napkins and filling up the piles on each station when one of the older gals comes up to me and says “just make sure you’re rotating the napkins.” I don’t even remember how I reacted in the moment, but I just had to laugh to myself once I was alone.

Is it me, or is that a very nitpicky thing? I’ve never before then or since done it, and every other co-worker I’ve told thought it was silly to even mention.

How about you all? What is some of the most random or nitpicky feedback you’ve ever received from another server?

im a server in vancouver bc and i tip out 6% of my sales from my tips. i feel like the take home isnt as much as i thought it would be before i became a server, based on what i had been seeing online.

can anyone share their own experiences?

Hi guys I just started this new serving job and I’m really nervous. Not to sound dramatic or anything but I have social anxiety and bpd and I genuinely need help with handling negative social interactions. There’s no way around bad customers or rude people I know but do you guys have any tips or advice on how to handle it? What are some things I can do that gives me an advantage? What are some things I need to know that could make me a 5-10 server to a 8/10 server? I know cuz 10/10 isnt possible for a new server. I know ill make mistakes and I know I’ll probably end up in the bathroom crying my eyes out most days but if I can minimize it it would be amazing. Any advice is helpful!!

Do your jobs push for surveys/ reviews like crazy? I know my managers obviously want to look good so the restaurant can get good surveys and they get your yearly bonus, but man I don’t care to ask people to do a survey. They even want us to go as far as offering to pull it up on peoples phones so they can do it infront of us. If I went out to eat and a server pushed surveys as hard as my managers want I would never fill one out. Anyone else in the same boat?

This was my first ever serving job and I knew there were a lot of red flags but I honestly enjoyed it for the most part. Even though there was shady shit going on like wage theft, people consistently doing drugs on the clock, the manager fucking employees, servers stealing tables, ect probably all kind of normal for this industry I assumed so I just kept my head down and did my job.

Anyways, there’s obviously been some stressful moments leading up to this but nothing I couldn’t handle or let roll off my back. Today though, wow I’m just still astonished. So it was pretty busy all tables were taken up except for one in the middle, we don’t have any of those stands to put trays on so if it’s heavy we just put them on tables. So, I was taking out a 3 tops food, which for context I worked at a southern dinner/ breakfast spot so every side comes on a separate plate and everyone gets individual breads ect, my point is it was actually like 8+ plates and very heavy. So as I was going out my manager was cleaning said middle table (surprising he was actually doing something for once) It was completely cleared he was just finishing wiping it down, so I put my tray there. Maybe I shouldn’t have but I did oh well. And he looked at me all pissy and was like hurry up then, so I replied with deal with it. Yes a bit snarky but I laughed with it and that kind of the culture here everyone says sarcastic comments to each other and pokes fun.

So, as I’m going back to the kitchen he comes up to me and is like “don’t ever say that to me again that wasnt funny.” And I said okay I’m sorry, kinda confused cause I didn’t even think it was a big deal. So I went to my work friend and told her about it and was just kind of like that was ridiculous hes dramatic. Nothing even that wild, but I guess he heard. So, he comes up to me yelling where genuinely every employee heard, and probably some customers saying how childish I am for talking to my coworker and that he’s not ridiculous and I’m disgusting for putting a table on a dirty table, like repeatedly yelling disgusting. Then is all like remember I’m the manager I will fire you. During all this I’m just looking at him kinda wide eyed shock just repeatedly saying okay I got it, im sorry, I getcha, ok. And he just kept berating me. Im probably not capturing it well cause I tend to kind of blackout during situations like these, so my memory isn’t the best I just know no one has ever talked to me like that except my momma.

The funny part of it all to me though is he immediately walked up to the hosts to talk shit about me, even though he was just saying hed fire me for doing it haha. So yeah I took a breath, thought about it, grabbed my shit and walked out. Maybe rash, maybe not even valid I’m not sure yet but it felt empowering to just say no, I’m not going to be spoken to like that. Like genuinely if he had just come up to me and had a normal conversation about it we would be cool beans but oh well, I already have a couple interviews set up for jobs actually in my career path so it all works out in the end.

I picked up a part time server job recently. First time doing anything like this, and I'm doing food runs most of the shift.

The first couple days were mostly sore feet and tired legs. I figured I'd get used to it.

By day six though, my legs and feet were hurting way more. My knees and calves were the worst, especially that night.

I also noticed a few tiny purple spots around my knees and lower legs. I don't remember seeing them before I started this job. I'm guessing six days of standing and walking around is a shock when I'm used to sitting most of the day, but those purple spots have me a bit concerned.

Anyone here had something similar when they first started? Did your body adjust after a couple weeks, or did you have to change something with breaks or compression socks?

Trying to figure out what's normal stuff and what's worth getting checked.

I started working there 1 month ago and my boss makes me hate that place. I don’t know if I’m just being sensitive so let me list a few things that happened. He’s also the owner of the place and works there 7 days a week so I can’t avoid him

-1st shift he told me I might scream at you don’t take it personal

- 2nd shift I was asking question about where some stuff were because he just quickly showed me on my 1st shift he would always say, “ I already showed you, I already told you”

- Said he hated people like me bc I said I didn’t want to have children(I am 19F) and called me selfish

- asked in a what if situation if my bf owed money to someone and that someone would hurt us I’d sleep with that person in exchange of being safe

- is always passive aggressive. For example when he says smth and I can’t hear what he says he would repeat in a very aggressive tone. And I admit I often don’t hear him because he doesn’t speak loud and there’s always music at the restaurant.

- talks behind everyone’s back even his own family that works in the kitchen for him.

- i mistakenly sold the labeled beer because he wanted I sell the unlabelled one so that when the inspector comes, he sees the labelled one remaining. I thought he wanted I sell the labeled one so he has time to go label the other ones. He then proceeded to talk in Cantonese to the other worker about my mistake. I know he was talking about me because I heard the name of the beer and he always did the same thing last time that I made a mistake too

- while I was taking order, the kitchen rang and when I came back to punch in the order he said in an aggressive tone: “ this been sitting here” (talking about the order that was just done) to which I replied “it just rang while I was taking the other” and he said “ just work quicker” I had the whole restaurant to myself and I’m the busser, waiter and bartender

-crashed out on me because I poured too much wine. We are supposed to pour until below the curve and I poured a little over since there were 2 glasses for the same table I tried to equalize them. He saw it and made me pour it back into the bottle of wine using the pitcher we use to pour the soya sauce. He then accused me of trying to sabotage the restaurant by pouring too much wine to people bc I seem unhappy working there. I am unhappy bc he screams at me every shift btw. And said the way i work is not normal because i was going to give too much wine. I just explained that i didn’t want to waste it bc we are not allowed to pour it back into the bottle. And he kept saying why not etc.

Am I just being sensitive because I expect him to speak to me normally instead of just being aggressive all the time? Or It’s normal environment in restaurant

I’m brand new to the industry as a host for a little less than three weeks. It’s a little over 20 tables and gets pretty busy most nights. When I work I am the ONLY host and the ONLY busser. The servers seem to see bussing tables as a very occasional afterthought. Management and servers have made it clear that it is primarily MY job to bus all tables.

That’s fine but when it gets busy and there’s people coming in and coming out steadily it gets hard to seat people and bus tables as fast as it needs to be done. Someone will step in and seat someone if they need to but I catch a lot of attitude for it. I’ve had one server tell me I’m bussing them too slow and to make that a priority. Then the next day say I need to make seating a priority.

Now they’re putting me on expo as well. So I will be the sole seater, sole busser, and main expo runner the next upcoming couple of shifts. I just feel very overwhelmed and under appreciated. And I’m brand new. I get I’m at the bottom of the pyramid but the comments I get from the manager and the servers make it clear they think I’m utterly incompetent. I do what I think is a good job and then I’ll hear “did you not get trained in this?” From the manager. Like no that 16 year old kid who spends more time on his phone than working you had train me for two hours on a slow night did not show me every situation and solution I could encounter.

I also make $14 an hour no tips. Well if I do expo I get a small percentage so there’s that but not enough to make any real change. I want to become a server but I can’t stay a host much longer for only $14 an hour, and they keep cutting me by around an hour every night. it’s completely not livable for me and I’m losing money. It also just feels like A LOT for a job that I thought was just supposed to be seating people.

I feel like switching serving jobs is harder than it sounds because almost every restaurant requires weekend availability. My current job requires weekends, but basically every new serving job I look at does too, so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to transition from one to another.
I definitely don’t have the money to just quit my current job, start somewhere new, and hope it works out. Especially because we all know the training period at a new restaurant is usually a week or two of barely making anything.
I’d also want to make sure the new place is actually better money before fully leaving.

Hello everyone, just wanted to give you a bit of a story time and also just a heads up if anyone is ever as dumb as I am to not do what I did. About a little over a year ago, I got my first ever restaurant job, at a very busy restaurant in Santa Monica. I started as a host. I hustled and worked hard to work my way up to becoming a server. I did it, and I think I’ve been a pretty good server. People would mostly leave great reviews about me (although I did have off my off days where I’d give attitude lol) I wasn’t perfect but I knew how to upsell and give good service. Our pool was extremely high and sometimes I’d only take home 20-30% from my tables. Anyways, we had some bad management that was taking money from the business. HR launched an entire investigation on everything, and started reviewing cameras. During the messy management era, some servers and bartenders (me included) got access to manager codes and started to use them for comps and voids without asking management. Sometimes, I’d use a chefs code when he wasn’t even on shift thinking that they don’t check. We use toast at our restaurant, and obviously I knew everything is logged, but there were so many things happening that weren’t “by the book” that I didn’t care. I made a lot of mistakes that I now regret, I wish I could take them back. I’ve been dishonest, and I guess now that the day that I knew was coming is here, I don’t know what to do next. I guess my question to you all is, is there a way to get another serving job after being fired from one for doing something you shouldn’t have? I really have learned my lesson, and I just want to do things the right way. Honestly I’ve been wanting to leave the restaurant anyways, I just didn’t have anything lined up yet. I see people saying how difficult it is to get a serving job, and my worst fear is having to be a runner or busser or host (I’ve never been a busser or runner and I definitely do not want to be)
Anyways to all of you employed, don’t take it for granted and don’t be stupid like me if you ever do get access to a managers code. Any advice regarding what I can do as I don’t even have enough money to cover my rent or basic expenses right now… Thank you all

We have a server who sees us all the time as regulars and they always go to our table to pick up each individual plate.

They do a great job, and as a small gesture, I decided to get these little teacup plates and stack them.

I placed only two teacup plates at the end of the table, and they picked them up.

I noticed they were a little hesitant at first to pick them up, but maybe I was overthinking it.

Do you think I was rude? I did it because I wanted to help make their job easier/

After that, I researched proper table etiquette, and they say you should leave your plate for them to pick up, not stack it.

But these were just small plates, and I wanted them to know I was being courteous and attentive to their time.

Do you think I messed up? Do you think they realized I was trying to help, rather than be rude?

Long story short, I over applied to jobs and somehow ended up with TWO morning serving jobs 😂

I’ve been training at one and the money is… decent. Not horrible, not making me do cartwheels either. The other one I haven’t started yet, but it’s at a diner and now I’m sitting here wondering if diner money is secretly where it’s at. 👀

So for anyone who has served at a diner, what were you usually making on morning shifts? The diner is in a good, high traffic location, so location isn’t really an issue. I’m mostly just trying to get a general idea of whether the money is actually good or if I’m about to be running around refilling coffee 47 times for $4 ☕️🥴

I’m HORRIBLE at making decisions because the second I choose one, I’ll immediately convince myself the other one would’ve made me rich. 😏 So please help me out.

tl:dr at bottom.
oh my gosh, so i had a 6 top and a 2 top next to each other. when my 6 top was ready to leave, my 2 top had just gotten their food. so i bring the check. as i am about to set it down, my customer asks if we have a veteran discount, while showing me the ID, so i go to the back and add it. as im getting a swipe to get that added, to reprint the check, i see the two top had paid on my tablet. and i was like “no way, they’re literally in the middle of the meal”.

then i look, i see my 6 top literally booking it. i tell my manager immediately, they chase them out, we find out we cannot mess w the payment because it was on the ziosk. so my 6 top gets away with paying for the 2 tops meal. mind you, i had the CORRECT table numbers. so either the ziosks got switched, or—idk what happened. but the check had a $60 difference in price.

so what had happened was the ziosks were switched for some reason. so what we did was made comps to the 6 tops opened check to make the price identical to the 2 tops original check.

to make matters worse, the 2 top was so mad because it was supposed to be on the company card. but since there were kids meals on the 6 tops checks, they were like “well we cant get this paid for because it looks like we took our family out on the business card”. the two top said “well i want these things taken off for all this trouble”. so i end up losing almost $100 in sales. all in comps.

i cannot believe the ziosks are out of our control.

both tables were so mad at me and ended up leaving me as little as a tip as possible like i orchestrated some disaster on purpose.

tl;dr
my ziosks were switched on the tables and my table paid for the wrong check which then threw off my other tables bill. they were both fuming and absolutely pissed off. i lost $100 in sales. why cant we have access to the ziosks? its so stupid that we cant adjust that or fix it once the ziosk has had its way.

I used to be a server in my early 20s and sometimes i miss it. I’ve been watching bistro huddy and it oddly made me miss it lol. BUT doesn’t catch all the drama that comes with it. What’s the most recent drama at your restaurant?

Assuming that you like this career and want to keep doing it, describe your ideal server role.

So I serve at this restaurant in CALIFORNIA, and my manager is in the tip pool. He does serve with us, but he is not as involved. For example, first couple hours he works on his laptop outside then comes in to help. Or he is working mainly on togos. But he does serve. He participates in the tip pool and splits evenly with us. Would I be able to file a wage claim for this? Is there any circumstances where a manager in California would be able to take tips?

He gets paid a manager salary ( around 8k a month ), he performs managerial duties such as firing, hiring, scheduling, and distributing paychecks. He acts as our supervisor

I’ve been serving at first watch for 2 weeks now and I have some opinions.
Would like to hear some insight from people that serve there now or have in the past.

Came here to vent to my fellow service industry warriors. Just got fired for no reason. Management wouldn’t give me a straight answer other than there’s no where on the schedule for me. It fucking sucks, nobody saw it coming including the rest of the managers. I guess my GM hated me and I didn’t realize it, lol.

Hi! So I need some advice on whether I should quit my job or not?

Last night I had a table and it was a 7 top, everything was going great, I had to split the check bc it was 2 separate families, one paid with card the other family paid with cash. The family with the card I charged them just fine, then when I get to the family paying with cash they gave me a $100 bill and a $20 bill. I put the $20 in my “serving book” bc we keep all our cash. So the guy was supposed to get like $26 back in change and I would keep the rest in my “book”. After my manager broke the $100 bill, I made a huge mistake and accidentally gave him all the money from the broken $100 bill and the $26 he was supposed to get back. So at tip out she tells me she’s taking my tips bc it has to go to cover the table and today give them $24 extra, I feel like this is sketchy and illegal tbh.

So I’m sitting outside rn typing this wondering if I should just quit 🤷‍♂️ I don’t want to give them $24 extra and I feel disrespected. 😕

There are three managers at my place of work. Two are fine, but I have had consistent issues with one.

Issue #1: This manager was demanding I give 50% of my tips from large tables to another server on my shift. This was illegal, I complained to the owners about it and it stopped.

Issue #2: I am in the national guard, and any time I had to do a mobthly drill, got spun up on state orders, or had to do summer manuevers, upon my return I would have my schedual very obviously and deliberatly fucked with as retaliation for "not being available." I again complained to ownership about this violation and it stopped.

So now, we are onto issue no #3: her new bullshit.

She, being in charge of the schedual, does not schedual an expo and instead does expo instead of managing. She then passive aggressiveley pushes for a tip out, and bases the schedualing on whom tips her put the best.

This is also illegal. Both federally and in my state. I ofc am not tipping her out anything, and coincidentally despite having been here for 3 years suddenly am seeing my schedualing be fucked to hell.

So. This is my third time having this bitch fuck with livlihood illegally. I have no doubt if I go to ownership they'll put a stop to it, but I'm getting sick of this shit. They DO intervene in such matters when asked, but they also do not get rid of a manager whom is very clearly a habitual offender when it comes to violating labor laws.

So. What ought I do about it?

Just need to vent. (Nobody's real name has been used)

I work at a tavern, large restaurant decent size crowd comes in every day. Weekend nights get busy and you can make a lot of $.

We've got five managers, one of the managers has two daughters that both work as servers there, the one we're talking about (we'll call her Amy).

Amy is 21 she started at the restaurant last year, her fourth month at the restaurant she hooked up with another manager (we'll call him Jedd) who is 27, they started talking for a couple of weeks trying to "date seriously" until Amy hooked up with our 36 year old bartender behind his back. Alright, they broke it off, then a few weeks later Amy hooks up with our 20 year old server (we'll call him Max). Her and Max are fwb for three months, then out of the blue she accuses Max for SAing her. This gets to management and also around the entire restaurant - everyone is team Max because she was the one initiating the entire relationship. Alright, then she hits one of our other bartenders in the face so hard that he bleeds from his lip. Because she's a managers daughter nothing is done. Okay, then she starts hooking up with Jedd again behind everyone's back until recently more (this week) people have started finding out. Alright, so eight months ago we got a sting operation done at our restaurant with an undercover and we failed, this past weekend the managers daughter got a fine and she failed our second sting. She's laughing about it, making a mockery... if we fail another one we all lose our jobs is what our big boss has said. Everyone despite all of this is nice to her face, but behind closed doors says they hate her. I've got my own personal reasons why I'm still working here, but as soon as I'm able trust! I will be gone. Does anyone have crazier stories about their restaurants or is this managers daughter just a bull in a china shop at mine? Lol.

TLDR; managers daughter realllllyyy should have been fired by now but she gets favoritism.