Hey everybody!  I promised something new and this time it’s going to be more of a learning experience for those who don’t work in our industry.  We’re going to talk about drugs today people, and I want your opinions on the subject matter after you read, so enjoy!

Something that I’ve noticed throughout my years in the industry is that 95% of the employees, up to the top levels of management, are all self medicating on something.  It could be something as simple as a couple of drinks after work or as heavy as shooting up in the parking lot in the middle of the shift, but it happens.  The other 5%?  They’re either lying about it, denying it, hiding it, or they’ve just started working at their first restaurant and are naive; that’ll change after a month.

Let’s start our tour with the drug many people think should be legal – Marijuana. 

Yes, this pretty plant is the cause of much controversy, many arrests, much pain relief and general giddy happy fun times.  You see, Marijuana (pot, weed, bud, green, grass and whatever else you want to call it) is not only illegal, it’s a Schedule I narcotic which makes it a harsher punishment than cocaine automatically.  Let’s just say that fear of the punishment definitely doesn’t scare people in the industry.. not until those in the industry decide they want to try selling it and get themselves hot. 

Marijuana is mainly used by servers, bussers (service assistants), food runners, and dishwashers, though it’s definitely not limited to those groups.  It’s also highly used in restaurants like Shoney’s and IHOP, where they hire servers who are not yet 18 and can’t serve alcohol.  These kids love the stuff: they smoke it out their windows when they wake up (or inside when their parents don’t give a fuck), they roll a joint on the way to school when they drive, they skip to smoke, they get out to smoke, and they smoke on the way to work.  Then, they smoke outside at work, and when they get home, before screwing their boy or girlfriends, while screwing said boy- and girlfriends, then again before they masturbate and sleep.  When they care about school, homework is thrown in at some point, or done before class the next day. 

It’s usually the easiest thing to get, and no matter what restaurant you visit, at least a quarter of the staff can find it, another quarter will sell it themselves, and yet another quarter are the people who I like to call the “Social Smokers”.  They’re the ones who will buy it for themselves and will gladly smoke with you and get you good and high, but they’ll never sell to you or help you find it.  They’re also the ones who will gladly share their last joint with you if they know you need it. 

The pot smoking employees are usually the most laid back, spend a lot of money on junk food and various eye drops (My experience says to go all out and pay the 7-8 bucks for Rohto V, better than visene and never get that generic shit), and are the ones who need to write things down the most taking orders because they’ll never remember if they don’t. 

The “Gateway drug” effect is only partially true here; the SA’s, runners and dishwashers are the ones who usually stay with just pot with a few servers thrown into the mix.  Those who move up the ladder of drug use are most often servers….

Next we have the stimulant category – a category that ranges for the most part through servers, cooks, hosts and hostesses (especially high school level hostesses, will explain) as well as a good percentage of middle management.

 

 

Most people take some form of stimulant into their bodies daily: any soda with caffiene, red bull and it’s offshoots (Rockstar etc.), and cigarettes.  Then there’s stimulants that are either illegal or used illegally.  They’re also hugely popular and loved.  First, as seen in the picture, are the “poppables”.. or edibles.  Adderall, Ritalin, and Dexedrine are the most popular and well known, though there’s other ADHD drugs that are occasionally seen. 

These three are fairly easy to find, and pretty easy to get a prescription for as well.  Many servers prefer these when they’re working while in school – they get the focus for studying and they get the energy and concentration at work.  I’m not going to say that I condone the use of addy’s, but I’m not going to deny anything else having to do with them. 

The high school host and hostess factor comes in because many of them have gotten prescribed these drugs legally, or they get them from other people at school.  It’s really easy to get hooked on these; people in school sometimes consider them wonder drugs and it’s true when they call adderall and ritalin “brain drugs”.

Servers who take the stimulant edibles like these need to be careful not to overdo it;  believe me, lack of sleep is not something you want to be dealing with while you’re working in a restaurant and taking these you could end up awake for a couple of days at a time or more. 

We also have the other category of the stimulants: the snortable/smokables.  Cocaine, Crystal Methanphetamine, Crack (not widely used by restaurant employees) are among the most seen in restaurants with coke being the most used. 

Servers that do coke don’t just do a little, they spend lots and lots of money on it.  They run to the bathroom throughout their shifts, they sneak outside, they find ways to.. procure extra fundage.  A server on coke will almost always have some kind of sinus pills at all times, as well as either chewing gum or breathmints because coke makes the breath smell like rotted ass. 

They’re often up all night drinking once they run out of product, or they’re trying to find more product, or they’re trying to convince their dealer to give them more product on credit.  A lot of times they’ll smoke a pack of cigarettes or more a night when they’ve snorted a gram.  They’ll party for hours, and when they realize the alcohol isn’t bringing them down enough to sleep, out comes the NyQuil and the Tylenol PM.  Those lead to oversleeping, and ultimately servers getting in trouble or fired for being late. 

Crystal meth is less used by people in the industry, though it’s still popular with my fellow non-straight people.  It’s much more dangerous and the come down is much harder – but when it’s done a few times many people do get hooked.  They don’t last too awful long at their jobs, however, they spend too much time partying and getting paranoid of leaving the house.  Same thing with crack and the non-gay people; you don’t see much of it out in the open.  Crystal and Crack users mostly stay home, do it at home, and only leave when they want more which is why they don’t stay working in restaurants too long.   

This brings us to the end of the first installment.  Coming in part two:  drinks and more edibles.

Come back soon ya’ll!

Ribeye

Related Posts:

Related posts:

1. First two pages of the Restaurant Index ONLINE!
2. Scum-lord employers that keep their employees tips
3. Ribeye’s beginnings