I just had to post this
NO OTHER INDUSTRY LETS THE CUSTOMER DECIDE IF THEY WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR SERVICE AND HOW MUCH THEY WANT TO LEAVE FOR THAT PAYMENT.
Yes there are servers who don't live up to their interview potential, but there are employees like this in every business. I have had teachers, bankers, mailmen, customer service representatives, and, yes, even MANAGERS in restaurants who have been less than par.
If the managers in charge are lackluster, why should the establishment expect anything more from workers further down the chain? Attitude reflects leadership, and the leadership often found at the manager level in a restaurant wouldn't cut it in most other professions.
I am one of the "entitled" servers. I was raised with a sense of entitlement, this is what my parent's generation did, but this crosses all industry boundaries, it's not just found in the service industry. I don't see anything wrong in feeling entitled to be paid for hard work. I am the one who has to deal with the customers for the longest period of time. If the customers are happy and fun and WILLING to have a good time my job is less difficult. But more than occasionally THAT table comes in. Their issue may not have anything to do with the server. It doesn't matter how hard you try or what you do, some people just don't want to be happy, they are going to be condescending "pricks" no matter how nice, cordial, knowledgeable and professional the server is, and on top of that decide for some unseen reason not to leave a tip.
The customer is NOT always right (although on occasion they need to be appeased) and thank yous don't pay my bills. Serving/bartending/cocktailing is very hard work, mentally and physically and not everyone has the intelligence, stamina, and abilities to be successful at it.
I am fortunate that I have been able to make some great money in the service industry, I love this industry, I go above and beyond, my customers appreciate my efforts and they return for my service. The difference for me: GREAT initial training at my very first job in a restaurant. Others are not so fortunate. If you want better employees, offer more money, and create a more selective hiring process, and get better management. If I am such a value to the establishment, why do I only make $2.13 an hour??? Why do I have to get my shift covered if I have the flu and then potentially risk losing my job for not getting a doctors' note because I can't afford a doctor; and the establishment doesn't offer any insurance? Sure it's the nature of the beast, but this beast is about done, I shouldn't be making the same hourly as my counterparts were 20 years ago.
There is only so much BS I will put up with for $2.13, mopping, sweeping, garbage, rolling silverware, polishing glass, filling condiments, flipping sauces, making espresso, would you do that for 2 bucks AND put up with crappy managers and pissy customers? I think not.
The tips are everywhere. As servers we know that another job is around the corner.
Great tips, great clientele, and great management can make a server feel as though they are appreciated by the establishment, not just another cog in the wheel. That is what keeps us loyal.
I challenge you the next time you are thinking of how lazy a server is ask yourself "when is the last time I received a negative paycheck?"
No other industry looks to be where they have already been and aims to return. You learn from the past and parlay that into a successful future. Sure some training programs need to be revamped, and owners, managers, customers all need to take a look at how waitresses and waiters are treated. We should not be treated as second-class citizens who couldn't find a "real" job but as a part of the system that keeps people happy, and allows them to have fun in a public arena. With the millions of people who utilize the services of people in the service industry we should recognize these positions as valuable and be happy to leave a generous TIP for the hardworking college student, actor, model or professional server.
Natalie M,
Austin, TX
Full Version: We the people
The Forum @ PX This. > theLounge [ membership is not required to view/read this forum ] > • the Industry
QUOTE (MONEYMAN @ Mar 10 2008, 11:40 AM) 
I just had to post this
Where does this come from, Moneyman? Is there a link?
This is posted on the Restaurant Report
newsletter@restaurantreport.com
This is their feed back reply link
newsletter@restaurantreport.com
This is their feed back reply link
yes...................under the e-mail newsletter
It gets better!!!.........................words from the other side
The State of Service in our Restaurants
Original Article:
BRAVE NEW ORDER
By Jack Mauro
A man I worked for, a maitre'd/restaurant owner of the Old School, once told me that he always ignored resumes and applications when hiring servers. He'd nod, make polite noises as the applicant presented himself, and then he'd ask the person to bring a folder or a sheet of meaningless paper over to the bar. He would watch how the person walked, moved, and generally performed this relatively simple task. And he would base his decision to hire primarily on that.
On first sight, this is a pretty flimsy, if not downright pompous, sort of interview procedure. But there's wisdom to it, and it's at least as sound as the stats listed on any application which can tell you nothing of how this person carries himself; which, in turn, is pivotal in getting a sense of what this character is all about.
That man has since retired, although "retreated" might be the better word. It seems he was hiring fewer and fewer people towards the end. The walks he witnessed had become struts, and badly dressed kids, who swore they needed a job, regarded the request he would make to carry over the paper as burdensome.
I don't know what happened to the waiters of my youth. I only know they are, for the most part, gone. I was their busboy. I respected, liked, feared, and damn near killed myself for them. They combined humor, energy and common sense with that most priceless of commodities a waiter can possess - a sense of urgency. They were not stupid, mind you, and knew no life was hanging in the balance during the average lunch shift. But they knew as well that, to a good waiter, getting those dishes down on time was as crucial as spinal surgery.
There were exceptions, naturally. The trade of waiting can be compared to show business (it can, you know), and there's rarely been a dearth of lousy actors. But the difference between then and now, between the restaurant servers of twenty years ago and the tragically void blondes in khakis you try to wave down today, is not cosmetic. No, no. Nor is it a difference created by my aging eyes and distorted memory. It is that the bad ones, in those days, didn't last. Today, they last. They reign, in fact, and the general standard of service is not merely lower: it is a new beast altogether. And it ain't pretty.
OK. Take that as a given, if only as a courtesy to me. I have worked in this business for quite a long time, and seen...well, much. Now comes the more difficult part, the part I should evade. The part Oprah and her panels of waiters and unhappy customers never seem to resolve. Namely: who's to blame?
My dear restaurant owner - you are! You have made the same mistake parents make when they try a little too hard to understand their offspring. And the same error other businesses make when they ride the societal tide of humanizing corporate life, and end up accomplishing nothing but the creation of a rather lazy work force bursting with self-esteem and an astronomical assessment of its own merits. It's the sad horror of believing you will get more by giving more.
In a word, you have mistaken your business for all the other businesses out there. You now allow room for individual concerns and needs waiters in the past dealt with by themselves, because you have been encouraged to view your staff as other businesses see their own people. You try to not bully anymore. You do not fire the no-show. You nurture. And God help you, one may as well equip coal miners with steno pads.
I deplore many of the kids I work with. They astound me. They accept as their due, large tips, and are genuinely outraged when they must work, and work hard, to get them. Yet the bottom line is that no standard of quality service could have fallen unless you, the owner, allowed it. And you allowed it the first time you turned to shake your head when you saw that new waiter adjust himself in that currently prevalent, awfully personal way in front of his table. Sure, good people are hard to find. They always were. But you have settled for bodies, often when all you needed to do was remove your coat and bus the table yourself.
More appallingly, you are telling your staff that they are salespeople, a trend as numbing and omnipresent as David Lynch lighting schemes on mustard-colored restaurant walls. I could sully hundreds of pages with Why That Is Wrong (the sales thing). But I'll summarize, and give you Bottom-Line Two: any waiter who approaches his table consciously anticipating a tip amount is no waiter. And this is precisely what you encourage when you tell these kids that they're salespeople. Yes, we're in it for the money. Of course we are. Any decent server in any decent house knows he's going to make good money. The waiter with the dollar signs in the eyes is a different animal. You can see it in the toothy smile when he describes the expensive appetizer. A true waiter is the Inn, offering comfort and a fine meal. The salesperson waiter is Vegas.
Owners, managers: hearken unto me. You've screamed at me on occasion, but I've screamed back, because my skill gave me that right. Trust what I say. Avoid the role of tyrant, by all means. Yet shun, too, the patronizing, good-guy image slowly destroying good management in 9-5 businesses. Remind yourself that you are not in banking, or haberdashery, or car sales. They can afford to settle for poor help, because the consequential damage is always on the next quarterly report. And do not lose sight of the fact that the price you pay for employing workers largely compensated by your clientele is the struggle you must ever undergo in finding genuine servers.
Jack Mauro has worked in the restaurant field for over twenty years. He frequently may be heard echoing the Rebecca Howe character's comment on CHEERS: "All I've got is my career, and I don't like it."
Let's hear your thoughts on the current state of service in our restaurants...write to newsletter@restaurantreport.com
The State of Service in our Restaurants
Original Article:
BRAVE NEW ORDER
By Jack Mauro
A man I worked for, a maitre'd/restaurant owner of the Old School, once told me that he always ignored resumes and applications when hiring servers. He'd nod, make polite noises as the applicant presented himself, and then he'd ask the person to bring a folder or a sheet of meaningless paper over to the bar. He would watch how the person walked, moved, and generally performed this relatively simple task. And he would base his decision to hire primarily on that.
On first sight, this is a pretty flimsy, if not downright pompous, sort of interview procedure. But there's wisdom to it, and it's at least as sound as the stats listed on any application which can tell you nothing of how this person carries himself; which, in turn, is pivotal in getting a sense of what this character is all about.
That man has since retired, although "retreated" might be the better word. It seems he was hiring fewer and fewer people towards the end. The walks he witnessed had become struts, and badly dressed kids, who swore they needed a job, regarded the request he would make to carry over the paper as burdensome.
I don't know what happened to the waiters of my youth. I only know they are, for the most part, gone. I was their busboy. I respected, liked, feared, and damn near killed myself for them. They combined humor, energy and common sense with that most priceless of commodities a waiter can possess - a sense of urgency. They were not stupid, mind you, and knew no life was hanging in the balance during the average lunch shift. But they knew as well that, to a good waiter, getting those dishes down on time was as crucial as spinal surgery.
There were exceptions, naturally. The trade of waiting can be compared to show business (it can, you know), and there's rarely been a dearth of lousy actors. But the difference between then and now, between the restaurant servers of twenty years ago and the tragically void blondes in khakis you try to wave down today, is not cosmetic. No, no. Nor is it a difference created by my aging eyes and distorted memory. It is that the bad ones, in those days, didn't last. Today, they last. They reign, in fact, and the general standard of service is not merely lower: it is a new beast altogether. And it ain't pretty.
OK. Take that as a given, if only as a courtesy to me. I have worked in this business for quite a long time, and seen...well, much. Now comes the more difficult part, the part I should evade. The part Oprah and her panels of waiters and unhappy customers never seem to resolve. Namely: who's to blame?
My dear restaurant owner - you are! You have made the same mistake parents make when they try a little too hard to understand their offspring. And the same error other businesses make when they ride the societal tide of humanizing corporate life, and end up accomplishing nothing but the creation of a rather lazy work force bursting with self-esteem and an astronomical assessment of its own merits. It's the sad horror of believing you will get more by giving more.
In a word, you have mistaken your business for all the other businesses out there. You now allow room for individual concerns and needs waiters in the past dealt with by themselves, because you have been encouraged to view your staff as other businesses see their own people. You try to not bully anymore. You do not fire the no-show. You nurture. And God help you, one may as well equip coal miners with steno pads.
I deplore many of the kids I work with. They astound me. They accept as their due, large tips, and are genuinely outraged when they must work, and work hard, to get them. Yet the bottom line is that no standard of quality service could have fallen unless you, the owner, allowed it. And you allowed it the first time you turned to shake your head when you saw that new waiter adjust himself in that currently prevalent, awfully personal way in front of his table. Sure, good people are hard to find. They always were. But you have settled for bodies, often when all you needed to do was remove your coat and bus the table yourself.
More appallingly, you are telling your staff that they are salespeople, a trend as numbing and omnipresent as David Lynch lighting schemes on mustard-colored restaurant walls. I could sully hundreds of pages with Why That Is Wrong (the sales thing). But I'll summarize, and give you Bottom-Line Two: any waiter who approaches his table consciously anticipating a tip amount is no waiter. And this is precisely what you encourage when you tell these kids that they're salespeople. Yes, we're in it for the money. Of course we are. Any decent server in any decent house knows he's going to make good money. The waiter with the dollar signs in the eyes is a different animal. You can see it in the toothy smile when he describes the expensive appetizer. A true waiter is the Inn, offering comfort and a fine meal. The salesperson waiter is Vegas.
Owners, managers: hearken unto me. You've screamed at me on occasion, but I've screamed back, because my skill gave me that right. Trust what I say. Avoid the role of tyrant, by all means. Yet shun, too, the patronizing, good-guy image slowly destroying good management in 9-5 businesses. Remind yourself that you are not in banking, or haberdashery, or car sales. They can afford to settle for poor help, because the consequential damage is always on the next quarterly report. And do not lose sight of the fact that the price you pay for employing workers largely compensated by your clientele is the struggle you must ever undergo in finding genuine servers.
Jack Mauro has worked in the restaurant field for over twenty years. He frequently may be heard echoing the Rebecca Howe character's comment on CHEERS: "All I've got is my career, and I don't like it."
Let's hear your thoughts on the current state of service in our restaurants...write to newsletter@restaurantreport.com
Interesting! Both were very well written, but the first one was more realistic. 
QUOTE (MONEYMAN @ Mar 10 2008, 12:39 PM)
I don't know what happened to the waiters of my youth. I only know they are, for the most part, gone. I was their busboy. I respected, liked, feared, and damn near killed myself for them. They combined humor, energy and common sense with that most priceless of commodities a waiter can possess - a sense of urgency. They were not stupid, mind you, and knew no life was hanging in the balance during the average lunch shift. But they knew as well that, to a good waiter, getting those dishes down on time was as crucial as spinal surgery.
There were exceptions, naturally. The trade of waiting can be compared to show business (it can, you know), and there's rarely been a dearth of lousy actors. But the difference between then and now, between the restaurant servers of twenty years ago and the tragically void blondes in khakis you try to wave down today, is not cosmetic. No, no. Nor is it a difference created by my aging eyes and distorted memory. It is that the bad ones, in those days, didn't last. Today, they last. They reign, in fact, and the general standard of service is not merely lower: it is a new beast altogether. And it ain't pretty.
OK. Take that as a given, if only as a courtesy to me. I have worked in this business for quite a long time, and seen...well, much. Now comes the more difficult part, the part I should evade. The part Oprah and her panels of waiters and unhappy customers never seem to resolve. Namely: who's to blame?
There were exceptions, naturally. The trade of waiting can be compared to show business (it can, you know), and there's rarely been a dearth of lousy actors. But the difference between then and now, between the restaurant servers of twenty years ago and the tragically void blondes in khakis you try to wave down today, is not cosmetic. No, no. Nor is it a difference created by my aging eyes and distorted memory. It is that the bad ones, in those days, didn't last. Today, they last. They reign, in fact, and the general standard of service is not merely lower: it is a new beast altogether. And it ain't pretty.
OK. Take that as a given, if only as a courtesy to me. I have worked in this business for quite a long time, and seen...well, much. Now comes the more difficult part, the part I should evade. The part Oprah and her panels of waiters and unhappy customers never seem to resolve. Namely: who's to blame?
gaaaaaagh ggrrrrrrr
THE "TIP POOL" POLICY IS TO BLAME GODDAMMMMMMIT !!
the problem is: nobody fucking listens to me.
(except maybe Gusto. and Centro ? so nyeah.)
QUOTE (Inkslinger @ Mar 10 2008, 01:43 PM)
Interesting! Both were very well written, but the first one was more realistic.
word.
QUOTE
In a word, you have mistaken your business for all the other businesses out there.
first of all, that was MORE than "a word" buddy.
secondly, telling somebody they should treat their Business like something other than a Business is just kinda asinine.
i say: treat your Business like a Business. just DON'T TREAT IT LIKE IT'S YOUR OWN FUCKING HOUSEHOLD. keep your bizarro dysfunctional family shit and deep-seated personal issues and insecurities (and cocaine) AT HOME.
thirdly and moreover, STOP TREATING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE IT'S YOUR OWN PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT you thieving scumsucking mutherfukkers.
christ on a stick.
WOW.........Abbe calm down, we hear you............always have.
I guess the best way to end this arguement is to just show them how it should be done..........right
If you think snax is working on a hush hush.............wait till you see mine!!!!
I guess the best way to end this arguement is to just show them how it should be done..........right
If you think snax is working on a hush hush.............wait till you see mine!!!!
QUOTE (MONEYMAN @ Mar 10 2008, 02:57 PM)
If you think snax is working on a hush hush.............wait till you see mine!!!!
You big tease!!!!!!!!
Great things sometimes.............take time
I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!!
I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!!
QUOTE (MONEYMAN @ Mar 10 2008, 04:54 PM)
Great things sometimes.............take time
How much more time!? Looking forward to it!
QUOTE (Inkslinger @ Mar 12 2008, 01:55 PM)
How much more time!? Looking forward to it!
This forum will have the exclusive
congrats moneyman! can't wait!
QUOTE (MONEYMAN @ Mar 12 2008, 02:27 PM)
This forum will have the exclusive
aww thanks Moneyman !!
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