Lesson Three

What a day! Today is a day that definitely needs to be talked about on a servers blog. It was an emotional one for every one of us at the old sweat shop. But Lesson Three is more important to the world than a shitty day at work.

So every Sunday for the most part I like to be scheduled a hosting shift. A little downtime from that of the annoyance that can be waiting tables. There are many server blogs in this world but it occurred to me that I have never read a Hostess blog. As a consumer you need to know that your horrible dining manners don't start when you get to the table. First things first, like God, we hosts have a plan for all of you. One of the most annoying things a person does when they walk in the door is stand there and ignore us. I've said hi to you and your looking at me like I'm an alien. How many are in your party? And then you say something stupid like "Um, honey how many of us are there going to be?" Wow, good question. When I go out to eat I normally have no clue exactly who I'll be dining with, either. And here is come the part I hate, "I don't know tell her 6 or 10." Six or ten? Seriously, if you don't know how many people are coming then you are not ready to be sat; don't talk to me until you do. A lot of you are probably asking what's wrong with that. The difference in a 6 top, an 8 top, a 10 top or any of the numbers in between is huge. Its the difference in a booth, a round table, and a cluster of tables I have to pull together. Not to mention planning for all the people who might come in after you, other people on a wait, and the server themselves. With that said don't purposely say you have more people in your party than you do so you can take up more room or invite people to come and go as you eat. This is not a room that you have rented out and can post up for 3 hours. Servers in these sections get fucked by you people DAILY! SERVERS GET PAID BY TABLES....WE MAKE $2.13 AN HOUR! If you want to post up in a servers section then be prepared to tip them at LEAST $10 per table you take up every extra hour you are there, because that's how much you are hindering them making. And then there are you booth people...all 400 million of you. DO ALL OF YOU HAVE BOOTHS IN YOUR HOMES? DOES THE FOOD TASTE BETTER? Yeah yeah sure, I get it....they are just so much more comfortable and if you are going to pay good money for dinner you want to be comfortable...blah blah blah. If sitting in a booth is that damn important than tell the hostess you prefer a booth when you walk in to the restaurant and before we walk you all the way across it. When you come in the restaurant with your kids and say there will be four and a "half" of you that is just plain obnoxious. Oh really, there is half a human over there? Wow amazing! Do they have half a brain and half a soul? Oh wait....that's an annoying little monster who is going to drink all those fucking sodas...in that case they should count as two but since I am a mature adult having a conversation with another mature adult, there is 5 of you. When I am putting your menus and silverware on your table PLEASE respect my space and wait until I am finished and out of the way before you sit down. No one wants some stranger crowding them...but to the people who point guarded the shit out of me today I was sick as hell all week and for your sake I hope I'm still contagious. When someone is saying something loud enough you don't have to be part of the conversation to hear them. A lot of times when business is slow two hosts will discuss with one another where someone will be sat...if you hear us speak of seating you near the bar and you don't want to be sat there speak up so we can accommodate you. If you don't want to interrupt or be rude, as soon as you see us gesturing you near the bar SPEAK UP. Don't wait until I have taken you all the way to the table to say snootily to me, "This is unacceptable seating for me. I don't want to be near the BAR." When you come into a restaurant don't start off on the wrong foot, announce your seating preferences from the beginning and don't be a dick.

Like I said earlier today was an emotional one for those of us who work at Restaurant X ( I need to come up with a funny and not obvious alias.) Unfortunately another financial injustice we servers have to worry about other than being stiffed by a table is the stealing of our hours by the management we should be able to trust. Today the owner of Restaurant X, a man that I truly respected and adored betrayed me...he betrayed all of us. For those of you who don't work in a restaurant, the minimum wage/only wage (who would pay us more than that when they don't have to) is $2.13 an hour. Most of the time we servers do not get and actual paycheck and when we do its never more than $10 for a 50 hour pay period. The reason behind that is at the end of the night we claim our credit card and cash tips so the IRS can tax our tips and take the money out of our hourly income. When a manager steals hours from a server the IRS can't collect the funds necessary to pay our income tax and at the end of the year the server ends up owing money. And at Restaurant X it seems that most people are owing money this year, and as high up as $1,500. And the reason our wonderful trusted O/O has been taking this money from us when he already makes more than anyone of us can imagine....so that he can keep his labor down therefore earning himself end of quarter bonuses. A sad tale. One that conflicts my heart...being sad at the lose of a man I once adored and being angry at a man for stealing money from me and all of my friends. Once upon a time I would never have imagined it possible for him to be the same guy. AND SO I ASK!!! WHO IS GOING TO SAVE THE SERVERS?!?!?!?!


I guess its up to me ;)