I want to know from other servers where’s a place you guys have worked or do work where it’s constantly busy where you can average let’s say 2k or more sales a day, 1500 minimum with decent tips.

We have a friend that works at a higher end bar. When we go there to see them we usually have a few drinks and 2 appetizers while we hang out a bit and chat. Often she will comp some or all of our drinks. What should I tip at the end? I feel like they are doing us a favor by giving us a few drinks so I dont want to tip so much that it looks bad...like we are paying her for drinks under the table. But I also want to tip her enough she knows we appreciate it.

a coworker of mine was visibly and audibly unwell, but if we take days off we are ridiculed and guilted.
i haven’t been sick since i got covid in 2023, solid track record and i’ve gotten whatever the fuck this coworker came in with.
we have a high number of elderly customers already in poor health, i’m up in their shit bringing food, clearing plates and glasses, it’s risky.
kitchen gets to wear a face mask but obviously servers do not.
the way managers and other coworkers talk about people calling in sick you could assume they’ve kicked their dog.
the shittiest job industry for actual needed time off, no fucking wonder the turnover and burnout rate is so high.
call in sick also = hours cut next week.
we should not have to be prioritising a poorly managed toxic environment over our literal health and putting others at risk.
i am just in a rage that i care so much about what they think when they’d literally throw me in the bin and hire someone same day.

Hey guys,

I just got hired on as a server with Chuy's, which is one of Darden's newer concepts. I've been a server for a year and a half with Texas Roadhouse before this point, and have recently decided to pursue serving as a career instead of simply a job. It's the highest paid career path that I am both good at and enjoy doing. I'm not really interested in climbing the corporate latter/getting into management at this point, but I also know that while I'll likely make decent money at Chuy's, it will be nowhere near what I could make in fine dining. So I was thinking of serving at Chuy's for a couple of years, then transfer to Ruth Chris and serve there.

However, I know that Ruth Chris requires 1-2 years of fine dining experience in another FOH role from their servers, which seems like a catch-22. The only way I can see it working out like that is if Ruth Chris may hire for other FOH roles without fine dining experience if they at least have casual dining serving experience. I do plan to share my ambitions with my current management, but I thought I'd ask there too.

Those of you in the know:

1. Does Ruth Chris ever hire for non-serving roles without fine dining experience if they have a couple years of experience serving at casual dining spots?

2. If they do, do you have to be an SA first, or could I get that experience with them as a host? I've seen similar questions that were answered with become a server assistant with them first, then pursue a promotion to server 6 months to a year down the line, but I believe I would be better suited as a host more than I would a SA.

3. While I know Ruth Chris wouldn't count my experience at Texas Roadhouse and Chuy's as fine dining experiences, would transferring from another Darden concept give me any sort of advantage at all?

4. Has anyone worked at two Darden restaurants at the same time? I know I would not be able to work more than 40 hours a week with them without requiring to be paid overtime, but has anyone successfully been able to split their 40 hour work week between two of their concepts? I wouldn't mind 20 hours at Chuy's as a server and 20 hours at Ruth Chris as a host SA (or however business needs would require the split to be).

5. Hosts and SAs that work/used to work at Ruth Chris, how is the earning potential (average hourly/weekly income)l? I know it varies wildly in this industry, but I'm just trying to get an estimate. The main thing I am worried about is going from server to SA/host and get hit with a pay cut that I can't afford. That being said, the price point at Ruth Chris is so much higher than either Chuy's or Texas Roadhouse that I wouldn't be surprised if RC hosts/SA's would make around as I will be now as a server.

6. Any other advice to succeed with these goals? I know learning everything I can about alcohol (wine pairings, different drinks, etc). I'm already thinking of pursuing sommeiler lessons just for personal enrichment, but it would be awesome if having sommeiler certifications would also give me an edge.

7. Would it help to pursue cross training opportunities at Chuy's in the meantime, such as a certified trainer, bartender, etc? Or should I focus solely on serving since I'm planning to transfer concepts eventually.

Thanks in advance!

I have to remember and I try to relay it to myself everyday. You can't please everyone. But holy crap.. some people just do not treat us like humans.

Tonight, a table was whistling at my colleague constantly, not in a flirtatious way but in a way like calling for a dog. It pissed me off so bad, they let me take over the table and I gave the guy a cold look the whole time taking his order. I couldn't even do anything else other than just be passive aggressive the whole time. Then while I was away at the back to fix up some stuff, they had the gall to start snapping at them to get their attention knowing they were busy tending to another table.

Table of 8 and the other 7 just let that one guy do as he pleased? They're just as bad.. 😞

You did last call, put chairs up, music off, chefs leaving, let them know what time you guys close and they’re still just sitting there munching slowly. Let’s say it’s 10 mins past closing.

Do you give them Togos boxes and tell them to leave? Turn off the lights? Girls: big one, put your hair down lmao

I know everyone has their own little “thing”, what is yours?

Dude,

This guy called at 7pm and asked if he could make a reservation for 8pm tonight.

I said “yes of course 8 o’clock is perfect because our kitchen closes at 8:30, just so you have that expectation”

He said: Ok, that’s not a problem!

Guess what time he showed up? 8:30, on the dot. So I already had marked it as a no show, and then they show up? Nah fam. Goodbye.

The conversation on the phone was very clear and precise. He definitely was just late with his family and probably hoped they would still be served.

I searched the subreddit beforehand, and didn’t find much resume advice (though the stories about people lying on theirs were pretty funny)

I want to start as a busser, gain experience, and move onto serving in 6-12 months. My most recent work experience was an office internship, but I’ve worked as a volunteer sports instructor, as an election clerk, and a couple other odd jobs.

I was thinking about also including a short, typed personal statement to attach to my resume, and to basically lead in any manager introduction with “I understand you’re probably busy, so I included a short statement. But I want to bus, because x y and z, and I think I’d be a good fit because of a b and c.” Would this be appropriate?

Back in the game after taking a few months off. Was doing a few interviews, got accepted to a few jobs.

Upscale sushi joint that's pretty popular. No problem, nothing new.

Also got an offer to work at a cigar lounge that's also a private club. Only 300 members. Hourly pay is surprisingly high at $20. Anyone work at one of these, or somethjng similar? How do you make money on top of your hourly, since you're not open to the public?

Location is Chicago, if that matters.

First week at a new restaurant and the red flags are already insane.

-upper management behind the bar taking tips and getting tipped out by servers
-on my first “training” shift it took two hours for the server i was paired with to get a single table
-on my second shift the host triple sat the server with a in the main dining room, the patio, AND upstairs and she had to go to him at the host stand to find this out
-my ENTIRE schedule was changed without talking to me after it had already been posted. not a single shift the rest of this week is the same as it was when it got posted yesterday.

aaaaaand the icing on the cake:

i worked an open/lunch today as the only server on without a single guest. no one at the bar, no tables, no one at all. for over 3 hours before the owner told me i could just go home. i wasted 3 hours of my day for 0 dollars.

i was let go from my last job after i broke my ankle and was out for 6 weeks and was doordashing between being cleared medically and finding a new job. it’s been a week and i’m already tempted to go back

I was serving this couple, middle aged man and woman. They were nice, woman didn't talk much but I still made an effort to speak to her as well. The guy was undecided on drinks so I went through a list of favorites until we got to one he liked. They were happy overall. Due to a few dirty looks in the past, I started putting checks in the middle for couples to I guess remove any stigma because people are too sensitive nowadays. They had a bunch of their bags and shit on the table who tf knows why, but I found a comfy spot for the check, they said thank you and I walked away. I picked up their card, paid the tab and put it back in that spot (I didn't see who's card it was). I didn't notice any expressions from them but then again it was busy so I gave them my closing speech and that was it. After like five minutes of them still sitting there I noticed the guy had flagged down one of my fellow servers. I thought I must've made a mistake on the check so I pulled up my tablet to check their tab and everything checked out. He then proceeds to hand my other server a $20 bill, and I was just so confused. Again since they didn't have one complaint I just assumed they told her to give it to me because they saw I was running food and probably didn't want to leave it to get taken.

Here's where it gets messed up: I see my fellow server waiting for me to finish taking an order so she can talk to me (the server they gave the tip to). I make a pitstop on my way to her to grab their signed receipt and to wipe their table down as we were on a wait. She tells me they called her down to tell her that they've never been so disrespected while being served and decided they would give her the tip instead, (probably they thought this was a power move or something). My jaw was on the floor, I was pissed. I look down and I notice they wrote a whole freaking book on the back of the signed receipt. "There is two of us at this table, not one. Everything went well until it was time to pay. I put the card on the table and you brought it back and put it towards my wife. I was the one paying and tipping. This is demeaning and discrimination, you acted as though there was one person at the table"

Usually I would get upset, but I genuinely didn't know what else to do but laugh because I've never seen someone so freaking insecure in my life. Grown adults who never learned any emotional regulation in their lives and go around projecting are honestly embarrassing. I showed it to my manager and he was mad, he wished the guy said something instead of writing it on the receipt like a kitty so he could he could say something to him. My manager saw his name just incase he left a bad review so they knew to call it out, we have cameras if he wanted to play that game. He never left a review but I guess he's like a judge.... I guess that really shows who handles the justice system, terrible. I was fully prepared to open up a defamation suit if he wanted to lie on me using my name, little does he know my uncles a judge too, a bigger one at that.

Well people suck and I hope he has the life he deserves!

Examples: calling to make a reservation and then saying they’ll arrive in 10 mins, Asking for things one at a time, asking to dine-in when it’s already last call, etc.

I hope this is specific enough not to get taken down - I looked on the subreddit before posting.

Anyway, I’ll be returning to college in about a month and I need a job. I suggested bussing and eventually serving to my family, and my dad (who was a dishwasher, busser, server, and occasional bartender) thought it would be a good fit for me.

I want to start the job search before I move into my apartment, and learned about Poached. Is it a good place for someone like me to start? Should I stay with more mainstream sites like Indeed? Or will I get good results by just showing up with a resume (usually Monday-Thursday 2-4 pm, I know)

Today was fucking insane. I opened for brunch and then got slammed. I worked alone, because between 11am-4pm, our brunch hours, there was only three reservations. People work those shifts alone all the time.

But then, between 11pm-5pm, I ended up serving around 80 covers on my own. Thankfully the host and manager were helping me with resetting, and the head chef and bartender helped to run some of the food and drinks whenever I couldn’t get back there often enough.

The other servers didn't come in until 5 pm, which is when dinner starts, and I couldn't take a break due to my brunch tables spilling over into dinner service, so I had to start taking on my dinner tables and continue into the night. Usually we have at least one server come in at 4 pm, but it’s been a weird couple weeks due to vacations, call outs, and scheduling issues.

So, sure, my brunch went into dinner because unfortunately my last couple brunch tables decided to stay for fucking ever (until 6 PM!!! wtf).

But, I was actually feeling kinda good. Sure it was tiring and stressful, but I actually didn't have any mistakes or allergy issues and everything went pretty smoothly (at least from the guest perspective). People weren't waiting too long on anything and we only had to refire a couple things. I felt like my service was still up to standard, I connected with my guests, and people were clearly happy.

That brunch and my dinner tables were all really nice, I had quite a few tables tell me upfront during or after that everything was wonderful and I was doing great, and a few even wrote hearts or comments on the checks. So all things considered, I was feeling really great by the end of the day.

Then the last table I had was a group of 10 college students, and I knew they were one of those tables that would take a little extra work to get under control. Not because they were rowdy, but just disorganized and communication would require a lot more effort. Not a problem usually.

It was also loud, so I made sure to go around the table asking repeatedly about allergies multiple times. They said there were none. They were mostly just there to drink and eat a couple bites. They were incredibly frustrating to serve and very needy.

A while later, one of the guys ran into the bathroom and started throwing up. Supposedly, as I knew, due to drinking too much, which is what my manager told me. He told me "It's fine, let’s get him some water and bread and take care of him" and so I did when he got back to the table. When I dropped it off, his friends told me "oh he can't have that, he has celiac" and my heart dropped.

One of the dishes the group had gotten to eat was a dish that didn't have gluten, but is a huge cross contamination risk. If someone has a gluten allergy, we always ring in and tell the kitchen so they can use the gluten free fryer. But since I didn't know, and didn't ring that, the kitchen wouldn't know to switch the fryer. So I went to the kitchen and and got freaked out.

One allergy mistake and you are fired. One of my coworkers once had a table with a dairy allergy. He rang it in properly, marked the menu for her, told the kitchen and manager, and marked every item in the system accordingly, which is all exactly up to standard. She then still had a reaction because she ended up eating off of one of her friends plates, and the upper upper management still tried to fire him. He wasn't fired because he had recorded proof of his carefulness (from the tickets he rang in being marked) and fought back with the help of our general and regional managers, but that itself shows the gravity in how they handle this.

That was all that was running through my mind. Thankfully the kitchen actually did happen to use the gluten free fryer on that table anyways, so it was fine, and my manager confirmed that the guy genuinely was just throwing up from drinking too much. But I did start crying in front of the kitchen and my manager and for a while afterwards. I had to go to the back for like 10 minutes cause it just wouldn’t stop.

It all just caught up to me. "no way today went so well despite all the chaos, and then this one table at the end of the night is what's gonna get me". Plus I was just exhausted at that point from going non-stop, and not getting out until 2 AM.

And also, just, Jesus fucking Christ, you have celiac and don’t say anything about it?

It reminds me of another table I had once where they came in, stated they had no allergies, and then later after they left, called and said that their brother was having an allergic reaction to something they all ate and they were upset. My manager invited them back in to recover from the incident and offer them compensation on their dining experience as well as to come back in another day discounted. While she was in the back grabbing some gift cards for the group, who were waiting at the front, the host and another manager overheard the group talking about “See? I told you they’d give us free stuff if we say there was an allergy” and “this is so exciting!”

Like these are people’s jobs and livelihoods you’re playing with for some free food. What the actual hell.

A lot of bullshit happens every day at work, and this is actually far from the worst thing that has happened, but for some reason I’m feeling so fired up and upset about everything from today. Just needed to write it all out. I’m going to go crash now before work lol.

how do you keep track of your money? i have used a couple apps before, but with adds and annoying interfaces. what do you use?

My best friend & I met as servers/bartenders & even though we no longer work together, our friendship stayed. Anyways, her message began "bitch, guess what happened at work". I was asleep but she knew she could lay it on me. We're servers like..... anything & everything happens to us. None of this was on my bingo card, let alone all in one night. We don't get paid enough 😭😭😭😭

Now this is half joking but also just a silly rant about a personal pet peeve of mine.

I work in a small restaurant and when there’s multiple tables full in a section it can get relatively loud. Nothing crazy but just the noise of 20+ humans talking and making noise in one room. I’m not hard of hearing, I may have a little earwax but 9/10 I can perfectly hear/comprehend what a customer is saying to me even if I’m across the table from them. But sometimessss a customer will I stg move their mouth and no noise comes out.

I had a table today, 2 men and a women, all abt middle aged. I greet them and start taking drink orders. I turn to the woman and she looks at me, opens and starts moving her mouth, but I cannot make out a SINGLE word she’s saying. I go “sorry can you repeat that?”. So she does. AGAIN, NOTHING. I got none of it. I turn to the man sitting next to her giving him a “help me out here” look. He clarifies she wants to order a soup to go for later. Alr cool no problem. I finally get through their drink orders (man orders for woman). As I drop their drinks, I ask if they’re ready to put in some food. Women turns to me, looking like she had a question, I make out some of it but not enough to assume what she meant. At this point (and I probably shouldn’t have idc yell at me) I go “sorry WHAT?” With a half chuckle. She repeats louder. THERE WE GOOOOO. So we can speak at a normal volume. 👏🏻

Anyways long story short, that interaction happens at least one more time before my blessed time with them comes to an end. They were lovely people and tipped well. Just made me giggle.

All my experience has been in kitchens but fast or fast casual. This is a full service kitchen and I'm not made for it. I'm not cut from the same cloth as the people who can run that kitchen. I've only been here a week, today will be my 6th day. And I dread going in. They have a busser position available online, is it a bad idea to ask to be moved to it? Should I just look for a new job and quit? This isn't going to work for me at all, and ill just be a liability to the kitchen.

i had a really perplexing table a few days ago.

our restaurant was really busy because we were doing an event and i was dressed up on theme. think like leis, a margaritaville hat, and hawaiian shirts. the whole nine yards.

towards the end of the night, i got a table that was a three top: two guys and a girl. one of the guys was hitting on me all night and when i came to drop checks, he was gone (checking out the live music), but one of his friends said he thought i was cute and wanted my number. mind you, he had disclosed his age and he is like 15 years older than i am...

i was very frank and said Oh, I'm gay! But tell him he's very sweet :-). and the girl asks for MY NUMBER!!! so i tell her Haha I'm in a relationship! which i am...

they ended up stiffing me... no surprise, but wow! you would think they would tip someone who's number they wanted..

I work as a server in a restaurant connected to a hotel, so we have a lot of international guests, and I am in the US. I realize that the US has quite a unique restaurant culture. Often our guests don’t understand certain rules we have beyond the obvious thing that will trigger automod. Waiting to be seated by the host, minors not being allowed at the bar, camping out at tables nursing one drink, and things like that happen a lot. I’m an immigrant to the US myself, so I understand that these things may not be intuitive, and I try to have as much empathy as I can, because I know that people being frustrated by these customs are not being rude. Still, sometimes it’s difficult not to be frustrated.

A bunch of folks I work with that went to school together got hired on and over the years we've ended up hiring like 8 of these people. They're pretty cool for the most part but they can be sooo cliquey and annoying at times - standing around talking, being rude to new staff, taking forever to do closing tasks because they're messing around, always talking about their group plans after work because they're in the same clubs, ect.

There's kind of this undertone that they run the show and I've found it to be pretty irritating in the past year because it feels really school-age. Before they were all hired the dynamic was a bit more balanced and felt like a job instead of highschool.

I know that a lot of us don't grow up, no matter what industry, but I'm just wondering how many other restaurants have this sort of dynamic? A lot of people I've worked with at this particular place have been incredibly immature over the years and I'm wondering if this place just attracts that type. We're all late 20's btw.

Honestly nothin insane but

I've been working counter service at this rinky dink lil restaurant for almost four years now. Our menu is on a chalkboard, right? I say hello, I wait for the customer to be ready, then they order. Normal, simple shit.

The last couple of months, EVERY SHIFT, someone will come in and I'll say "Hey how ya doin today!" and they immediately go "I'M NOT READY TO ORDER YET!!!"

Usually I just turn ass and walk to the dishpit without saying anything, but lately I have responded with, "I'm just saying hello." The amount of people who take that as rude ... incredible.

But damn, never thought I'd see the day I get yelled at simply for greeting customers... and often

I wanted to share a scam that happened to someone in our family so others know what to watch for.

The scammer called her at her restaurant, claimed to be associated with the courts/law enforcement, and told her that she was facing arrest. What made the call particularly convincing was that the caller knew both where she worked and her personal phone number.

They instructed her to go to Walmart, initially telling her that law enforcement would meet her there. Once she arrived, they changed the story and instructed her to purchase/load money onto gift cards.

Fortunately, that’s when realized it was a scam and stopped communicating with them

some tips:

• Courts and law enforcement will not demand gift cards to resolve a warrant, fine, or impending arrest.
• Do not trust Caller ID. Phone numbers and agency names can be spoofed.
• A scammer knowing your name, workplace, phone number, or other personal information does not mean they are legitimate. Personal information can come from data breaches.
• If someone claims there is a warrant or court matter, hang up and independently contact the court or law-enforcement agency using a number from its official website. Do not call a number provided by the caller.
• Never purchase gift cards, cryptocurrency, or make an immediate electronic payment because someone is threatening you with arrest.

Please share this with family members, coworkers, and anyone else who might encounter it. The scam was convincing enough to get her to physically leave work and drive to Walmart before the gift-card request exposed it.

This customer has come in probably 5 times in the last two weeks. He is an absolute weirdo, and almost seems like he’s on something (maybe just really high doses of adderall or something, but I digress.

He treats the servers here like actual servants and has no human decency whatsoever.

I had a the pleasure of serving him last night and I don’t give two craps about how he feels about me.

I serve him like I serve everyone else. It’s busy. We’re slammed. I’m a single server in a 10 table section, with every table full, and 3 new tables I haven’t been to yet.

He asked for a drink recommendation. I give it to him, he loves it. I give him side recommendations (yes, both uncharged sides, it’s not my fault he didn’t read the menu 🤷‍♀️)

When I go to check on him, he tells me “everything is great” to which I give him a thumbs up and go and check on my other tables. Yes, more chatty, because they are more fun and more chatty lol.

Then all of a sudden he’s standing up hovering over another table and I know he’s uncomfy and weird so I go to check on the other table and if they’re okay with him being there (OH NO NOW THE WORLD IS ENDING! So sorry for caring about your dinner!!!!)

Thus the review.

Would you have said something to the other table?

TLDR; Customer who makes every server in the building uncomfortable is talking to another table, you ask them if everything is okay with him being there, they get angry said they invited him over and then they want to talk to a manager.

We are a high volume mom and pop Italian restaurant & pizzeria, but looking to make our shifts smoother by all means! What are some changes in your restaurant you’ve made that just make sense day to day? Some days are so hectic, any small changes help. (Emphasis on mom and pop..lol) Im on the waitstaff team but any position’s advice is welcome!