Working with Manuel from WellDoneFilet, I’m trying to come up with a “Blog Carnival”, suited for we the restaurant industry bloggers of the blogosphere.  Let’s see how many more times I can say blog in this one post.

This will be coming in the next few weeks, after I do a little research on how to make it happen.  I plan to contact NurseRatched, who frequently hosts Change of Shift in the Nursing Blogosphere, or perhaps MexicoMedicalStudent, who frequently hosts GrandRounds in the Doctor Blogosphere.  I’ve never done one of these, or participated in one, so it’s going to be a new experience.

Restaurant Bloggers, if you are interested in participating in this, getting your visits/hits up, and having a bit of fun with your site every week, then contact me or Manuel, or feel free to leave a comment on this post or any other on my site.  As long as you put your e-mail address in the comment field where it asks, the only person that will see it will be me.  I really want to get this together, I think it would be a really fun thing to do, and will get us all some more traffic.

MediBloggers, if you have ANY advice pertaining to said blog carnivals, how to start them, how to get people involved, how to keep them running and how to synchronize, PLEASE let me know, either through my e-mail address on the contact page or through a comment here.

Even after we get this started, it might take some time to get it right, but I still think it’ll be a good thing for us.  Restaurant bloggers aren’t nearly as well represented on the web as medical bloggers are.  We have a huge quantity, as referenced by the links in my “Dinner Directory” area on the sidebar, but we aren’t a cohesive force like the Medical Bloggers.  Let’s become that cohesive force.

Ribeye

The first pic is of my kitty, Skitzo, in all her proud glory.  I love my baby, she keeps me sane, and insanely hates the other kitties because I’m her person and this is Her house before theirs.  She’s sweet when she wants to be, but likes to growl and hiss at the others.

  This is JC, raging kitty #2, who is the partners baby.  Partner loves his kitty like a kid, and he’s lived here since he was born, under my bed a couple of years ago.

These next two are sister kittens.  The top is Levi, and the bottom is LT, aka, Little Tiger.  I call LT something different, named for a certain prescription, but they’re both pretty kitties.

I just wanted to post something people would say “AWWWW” about =)

Mistreatment of Service Support and Kitchen employees

The Front of House Support Staff

    Service support employees are some of the most widely used and abused employees in the restaurant industry.  They range from the Bus boy/girl, the food runners, the expediters, and the drink runners.  These days, they’re not just support anymore, they are basically slaves to uncaring and lazy servers.  They are talked down to, treated like dirt, blamed for everything, and are much more expendable than the servers do to their low wages and poor attitudes.

    Service support used to be just that, support.  Servers could depend on their support persons to help out when they were swamped, either with helping out running a couple of plates to a table, or by clearing the last things from a table so that new guests could be seated.  The way most restaurants operate today, the support staff is forced to clean every table for the servers because they’re too lazy to do it themselves.  They are forced to run every plate of food because the server doesn’t want to actually carry a tray or burn their fingers.   Things need to go back to the way they used to be, where servers and  the support staff worked together to make things happen.

    Bussers and runners generally make minimum wage to 6.50 an hour depending on location.  The primary job of a busser is to clean and wipe down the tables, help carry trash out, and help expedite the process of getting guests seated and fed.  That’s what their job is supposed  to entail.  At most places, the bussers are used unfairly.  They’re doing jobs that they’re not being paid for, and they do it because most servers think they’re better than everyone else.  Old-school bussers were only supposed to clean tables for the servers if there were only glasses and silverware left on the table.  Servers today will bring a busser to the table to have them clean it, then they’ll stand back and watch while it’s done.  They don’t bother with pre-bussing the table and making it easier for the supporter, because that would mean they might get their hands dirty.

    Runners sole job is to run food.  They are always blamed if food comes out incorrectly, even if it’s the servers fault for not putting it into the system correctly.  Servers these days don’t feel the need to visit the kitchen for anything other than to make drinks or ring in an order.  The food runners are yelled at because they are not fast enough, or because they have to go back and get a second tray of food for a large party when nobody would follow them out with the first tray.  Servers try to get them to bus the tables off when it’s clearly not their job, they get the runners to roll silverware because they don’t want to do it themselves sometimes even withholding mandatory tip-out unless they roll silverware.  They get their runner staff to do their sidework, and in some places they get the runners to take out the trash for them.  Runners in most restaurants today are doing the jobs of lazy servers.  The servers who work are the ones you see running around,  the ones who have the support staff doing their jobs are the ones you see standing around watching a t.v., or talking on their phones/texting.

    What people don’t realize is that yes, we do have to share a percentage of our sales in tips with the support staff, and yes they are a valuable asset to our team.  People also don’t realize that even with the support staff, they are not there to do every aspect of our jobs.  I’ve seen servers who send bussers to tables because they don’t want to take the time to pre-bus the table themselves.  I’ve seen servers who will ring in the food and get refills, but not run a single tray of food their entire time working for a restaurant.  I know a couple of servers at my job who in three months have only rolled their own silverware twice.

    Servers need to stop mistreating their support staff.  They need to learn to work together with their support staff to make the shift run smoothly.  The busiest shifts will be dominated by lazy servers who don’t want to take the time to clean their own tables, who will yell at a busser because it took so long to get their table clean, and who will yell at a busser because they’re “costing the servers their money”.  In the time it takes for most servers to hunt down a busser and get them to clean a table, they could have cleaned the table themselves.  If servers would actually pre-bus their own tables and clean their tables themselves, they would make double what they normally do because they would have more tables to seat.  Servers also need to stop blaming the runners for the food getting cold in the window.  It’s their tables food, stop standing around and try to get it out to your table.   Too many times at my job do I walk through the dining room do I see tables upon tables that are dirty, piled high with dishes, and see servers standing watching tv or talking to each other.  It makes me mad, because even with having 2 bussers and one runner assigned to an area, they still can’t get to every table or every tray of food.  These people are here for support only, so let’s stop treating them like slaves.

    Most restaurants, mainly chain restaurants, make their servers tip the support staff a percentage of their sales.  Usually 1% to 3%.  Too many times I hear servers complaining that “They didn’t bus enough of my tables” or “They didn’t run enough food” and my favorite, “Why should I have to tip them out?”.  You have to tip them out because no matter what you think, their job is to make YOUR job easier.  So they didn’t get to clean off every single one of your tables, or you had to run a few trays of food.  That’s part of a servers job.  Some of the people at my job have noticed my constant defense of the support workers, for instance, If I find out one of the cocktails on my staff have a busser roll their silverware for them, I have the server re-roll the silver themselves.

    Service support employees are also people.  That’s something that is hard to understand for a lot of people because most bussers and runners in restaurants are Mexican workers.  They are paid less, speak little to no English, and are willing to work harder than most because they usually aren’t working to support their habit.  They’re working to support their families, and are usually working more than one job.  They also get yelled at, forced to do jobs that aren’t theirs, and are forced to do the dirtiest jobs possible.  They work long hours, longer than most servers or even managers for that matter.  Yes, they get tired, and yes sometimes they can’t do it all, and they shouldn’t be expected to.  Servers need to understand that sometimes they have to do their job, and not expect others to do it for them.  I get so sick and tired of seeing servers who don’t want to do their jobs, and I have to deal with it at my own too.

    Friday night, toward the end of the shift, I walked into the hallway to the kitchen, and I saw that one of our runners who does anything anyone asks of her, including dragging trash cans that are far heavier than she is, rolling up silverware.  I asked her whose it was, and after a few minutes I found out it was another servers.  I confronted this server, and threatened him with a writeup.  At least he wasn’t one of the servers on my staff.  I then started rolling my own silverware, even though I didn’t have to.  I started rolling it to help out my own staff.  When I started, that runner grabbed some of it and started to roll.  I told her she didn’t have to, that I didn’t have enough money to pay her to do it, and that I didn’t mind doing it herself.  She told me that I’m one of the only people there, management included, who shows her any kind of respect, and that she didn’t mind helping me out.  She also talks to me, I’m helping her learn a little bit of English.  I take the time to ask her how she’s doing, how her family is doing, which is something that nobody else bothers to do.  I understand that people are people, and not just things to do a job.  That’s where a lot of servers screw up nowadays, they don’t think that their support staff are people.

Kitchen support staff

    The Dishwasher.  Nobody wants to help the dishwasher, nobody wants to go near the dish machine.  Nobody wants to do such a dirty, low paying job.  There’s no tip-out involved with a dishwashers job, yet they do anything we ask of them.   They generally speak less English than the bussers and runners, but they understand enough of it to know that they’re being disrespected.  I see more servers that don’t bother to even scrape their dishes before they set them on the dish table, that don’t stack the dishes up or stack them so high that they fall over on the dishwasher, or that will sling stuff onto the table so that it either splashes the dishwasher in the face or hits them.

    Can any of you imagine having to wash dishes for a shift?  Can you imagine having to deal with servers constantly yelling at you for glasses and silverware, or cooks yelling at you for plates?  I’ve done the job, which is why I don’t have any problem jumping back there and helping the dishwashers out.  I know how stressful it is in that particular area.  People don’t respect you.  They don’t consider you a person, they consider you another machine to be abused and mistreated.  Yet without the dishwasher, the restaurant just wouldn’t be able to run properly.  They sort the dishes, they clean up our messes, they are sent to clean up the vomit and feces in the bathrooms.  Management doesn’t respect them, management only cares about their dishes being clean and the kitchen being able to put out food.

    Dishwashers also have to take out wagons full of trash to the dumpster.  Nobody helps them out, even when it’s blistering cold or pouring down rain.  They go out, and come back in to do it all over again.  They don’t even get a thanks for the work they do.  Even without thanks, or any sort of recognition, they still do their jobs day in and day out.  Oftentimes they don’t get breaks, they don’t get time to eat, they don’t get a smoke break.  It makes me sick to see how people treat them, and I hope that someday soon, people might change their ways.

    Expediters also get the low end of the stick.  All they have to do is misread a ticket and a server will be in their faces yelling about how they screwed up.  They also don’t get much recognition, many breaks, or time to eat.  Many of them are very skilled, making sure our food comes out as fast as is possible, and presented well.  They make sure we get the right sides with our food, they make sure our steaks are cooked right before they go out, and they are generally our line of communication with the cooks.  Expediters take the heat when things are wrong, they get yelled at from both sides, the servers and the cooks, and they do it without question.  Why?  Because it’s their job.

    Expediters have the unlucky job of trying to get the food out of the window.  Getting a server to run food is sometimes one of the hardest things to do, because if there’s no food runner to help, it becomes the servers job.  Servers seem to scatter when food is ready to be run, or they’ll try to “window shop” for their own tables food and will leave other food to die.  Expediters try their best to get all the food out as fast as possible, but many times they get little or no cooperation from the rest of the staff, yet they still get blamed for things.  I’ve been an expediter as well, and I know how hard the job is.  They get burned before the server does, as they pull the food directly from the window.  They have to re-plate things that have been sitting for too long, and they get yelled at if a kid burns their hand.  Without the expediter, the servers have to set the food up themselves, and more often than not they screw it up.  Then they blame the expo for having to use the toilet or by law, taking a break.

    Servers are not a law unto themselves.  As a server, I see things that most other people overlook.  Most of my coworkers don’t agree with my stance on service support, or kitchen support, because they don’t want to have to do any kind of work for themselves.  Most servers today are utterly lazy.  Until my fellow servers change their ways, I’ll continue to stand firm on my beliefs, because our support staff needs to be treated with respect.  Without them, our jobs would be 10 times as hard as they are now.

    I’ll leave you with this final word:  Treat people with respect if you want to be treated with respect yourself.  This includes servers, managers, cooks, and yes, even the customers.  Everyone has a job to do, let’s not make them do things that aren’t a part of that job.

Ribeye

I’ve just gotten done adding a couple more things to the RagingServer.com Store. Not many, just a couple of shirts, a cap and a mug. Interesting to say the least. I don’t quite know how this little business venture is going to go, but here’s hoping it’ll go well eventually.

Thanks everyone for your added support, and I will try to not let you down. I still need more designs to help out with.

Thank you all!!!

Ribeye

It gets really old every time I see someone heading toward a buffet that has no food.  Take today.  I had 3 women, all at different times of the day, wondering where the food was and when the “free buffet” was going to be set up.

The first one was a middle aged white women, at least I assume she was middle aged…she looked kind of like a crackhead to be honest with you.  She waddles up to me, while I’m trying to put in the order for a private party, and asks, “Where’s ya’ll food at?”

“What do you mean, ma’am, have you put in an order?”   I ask, utterly confused.

“Why I gotta put in a order when ya’ll gotta buffet right there?”  I look over at the buffet that we keep set up for show when there’s no private parties going on.  I look at her again, and she’s pointing at it, her eyes wide like she’d just been startled by something.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but that buffet is only set up for show, we don’t put out food unless a private party pays for it, and then it’s only for the guests of the party.”

“Dat’s bullshit, if ya’ll gotta buffet out ya’ll should have some food out for us.  Dat false advertisin.”  She stalked off toward the front door, and I hope she never returns again.

The second woman that wondered about the food came in around 5.  She got a lane for her and her kids, and I went over to see if they needed anything.  They said they were fine, and I told them to let me know if they changed their minds, gave them a couple of menu’s, and walked off.  I sit at the bar for a bit, having nothing better to do at the time, and I see the woman and her kids, like a duck with ducklings, walking towards the buffet.  I keep watching.  I see them all pick up a plate and silverware from the buffet, and start picking up lids from the chaffers.   Amused, I continue watching, and try my hardest not to bust out laughing because then I’d be caught staring.  They stand there for a few minutes, looking around, before the woman comes up to me.

“When is yall puttin out da food, we hongry.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, have you placed an order?”

“Why we got ta ordah?  Las time we was heah, der was food on dat buffet fo us ta eat.”

Still trying to keep from laughing, I explained to them the same spiel as the first woman.  This one just wasn’t having it.  “But we had some cheese sticks an chicken fangahs and dat cheese dip an some chips.  Why ya’ll bullshittin dis time?”

“Ma’am, the last time you were here, someone else paid for that food, which means unless you were part of their private party, you were eating food that wasn’t yours to eat.  That makes you a thief.  There will be no free buffet for you today, I’m very sorry.  If you’d like to place an order, I’ll be more than happy to take care of you and your family.  However, I must let you know that people are laughing at you while you stand there with plates and silverware in front of pans that aren’t even warm.”  As soon as I said it, I knew I’d made a mistake.

“WHY DA HELL IS YOU CALLIN ME A THIEF?  DIS BE CAUSE WE BLACK!”  At this point, I have to diffuse the situation fast, or I’m going to be fired.

“Ma’am, I didn’t mean to insinuate anything, and I am deeply sorry if you thought I did.  I merely used that statement to drive home a point.  The food you speak of was paid for by a private guest, who paid a great sum of money for a private function.  For you to eat that host’s food implies that you didn’t wish to pay for it yourself.  My deduction has nothing to do with your race, rather your frugal nature that led you to believe that the food was, in fact, free for all to eat.  Once again, I’m sorry if you feel that I am juding based on your race, I’m not.  I’m also very tired, I was here all night last night, and had to be back here this morning.  Please accept my sincerest apologies in this matter, and enjoy a free half hour of bowling on me.”

“Well…um….”  I love making people feel stupid.  It also helped that I was nearly delirious from lack of sleep, hunger and utter boredom, and I talked extremely fast.

The third woman didn’t bother with any questions, she went to the buffet and looked.  She saw that there was no food and I saw her face get red.  She went back to her husband, who was waiting by the bowling counter, they conversated a moment, then stormed out.

What I have to ask now is, why the Hell do people think that they get free food just for coming in?  Why do they think that because a buffet is set up, there’s going to be food for them on it?  There are menu’s lying around for a reason.  This is just like the story a month or so ago about the girl who just wandered up to someones buffet and just started eating like it was hers.

Another great thing of the day, I watched a woman take a plate and a fork, and walk up to the dessert tray we have sitting on the counter.  The dessert tray that has FAKE desserts sitting on it.  She tried to use said fork on one of the fake cheesecakes.  She tried again when the fork didn’t pierce it the first time, then asked if it was just frozen.  She was told it wasn’t a real cheesecake.  She walked off with her face the color of a rare steak and I didn’t even try to contain my laughter.  It was too much for me, and it made her walk off near to tears.

I’m just so mean and uncaring.

Your friendly neighborhood Ribeye