I always wonder why new servers at a restaurant are treated like shit by the more tenured servers and shift leaders.  We have a new dining room/banquet server at my job, I think I’ve mentioned her here before, Miss Di.  Miss Di has been with us for about 3 weeks now.  She had awesome training classes, all but one of them taught by the Ribeye himself, however her floor follow shifts were pathetic.  In her words, “It was like a game of ‘What can we get away with’”.  She told me that everything I taught her in class was thrown out the window on the floor, that it was the exact opposite of what was taught.  I talked to management about her problems, and she talked to management about her problems.  I helped her to pass her tests, and she passed her validation and became a full server.

Let me tell you a bit about Miss Di.  She’s a little older than most of us at my job, and a little slower.  Not a lot slower, but a little slower, and I mean slower physically, not mentally.  She’s smart, funny, witty, and talented.  She’s worked in management, serving, the kitchen.  Most recently, she was at an independently owned restaurant, and I can only assume she was ready for a change.  All of this experience and the personal traits combine to make a formidable woman, save that she’s too nice.  She doesn’t want to cause trouble by complaining about the injustices done during her shifts.  She doesn’t want to be “that person” that nobody wants to talk to because she complained about things being done wrong.  She’s a good person, plain and simple.

I’ve taken a liking to Miss Di, partly because she’s smart and talented, partly because I know she’s a great addition to our team, and partly because I like her.  She’s a great person like I said above.  She can carry on an adult conversation that doesn’t involve sleeping around or drinking, or doing drugs, or complaining about her job.  She doesn’t complain about doing her job, as she knows it’s her job!

The dining room staff, including the shift leaders and dept. leader are doing her wrong.  She’s worked a couple of day shifts and broken a hundred bucks.  Then she works the night shifts, and for some reason, the SL’s and dept. leader I mentioned are giving her the worst sidework, the worst sections, the worst shifts.  She’s available to work any time, and she’s good enough to work a busy section.  She’s professional, she knows her shit despite there being a slight confidence issue, and I don’t blame her for the confidence issue, I had the same one when I started.  It goes away.  The same people I mentioned above don’t allow her to take parties, they don’t let her pick up extra tables, they quite literally think of her as less than they are.  She’s not even the newest server on their staff!

I’m currently trying to have her transferred to the cocktail staff.  It’s a little more fast paced, but I really think that she’d be better off, and I know we treat our staff better than the dining room does.  Our staff doesn’t have a problem working, and we work hard for our money.   I’m worried that if we don’t get her away from the dining room staff, we’re going to lose a top notch employee due to fucking kids who are greedy.  I wouldn’t blame her in the least if she did quit, but it would be a great loss to the company if she did.  It’s just too bad that the dining room staff doesn’t see that.  At least the managers are starting to see that, and are listening to me on this subject.

This problem has prompted me to ask the question: Why would anyone treat a new co-worker like they’re a pile of shit not worthy of good sections?  Is this something that happens in other restaurants?  When older servers are hired, are they screwed too in favor of the younger ones, even if the older one is more experienced, more professional, and an all around better addition to the team?

I think part of it is a territorial thing.  These young kids have been serving here for a few months, and they think they know it all.  Now there’s someone who had a real training class, one that was in depth and didn’t just involve reading from the menu.  When I teach, I don’t mind if people stop me to ask questions, which is something that the other trainers, including dining room dept. leader “Flip-Flop” and nazi cocktail dept. leader don’t like when they teach.  They hate interruptions, and from what I’ve been told, when people ask questions these teachers actually seem put out by them.  It’s like it’s an inconvenience to answer a question to help a new employee understand something.  They even tried to cut off one of the classes that I’ve pretty much reinstated, a class solely for reviewing the material before their tests.

These new servers make the more tenured servers feel threatened.  They’re coming into the game knowing more than the tenured servers know after a few months.  They know how to do things right, and make the tenured servers look bad because the new ones are doing things the right way, and they’re impressing the managers.

Maybe that’s part of it.  I haven’t figured it out yet, and I’m not sure I ever will.  I just know that these tenured servers need to start treating the new ones, Miss Di in particular, like equals.  If they don’t, I might have to show my ass a little, and they always hate that.  I may even pick up a few dining room shifts, and really show them how it’s done.

Fuckers

Ribeye

No, this one is nothing bad.  I wanted to thank you all, the readers and the commenters for making my blog a success.  When I started this blog out, I figured I’d get a few readers, a few people who enjoyed it and came back.  I didn’t expect the storm that would follow.  I get hundreds of e-mails a week about this site, giving suggestions, giving hatred, or just giving good fun.

I also wanted to thank you guys for the following things:  Thanks to you, I have reached a high total of hits.  Total hits to date:  1042230…that’s in 3 months.  Also, I’ve had over 45000 visits, 18000 total visitors, almost 200000 pages viewed.

I’m at post 145, well this makes 146, and my total comments are at  1189.  Thank you all for your support, I never thought I’d make it this far.

Ribeye

Hell….there’s no other words to describe Black Friday but Hell….

Hateful women all over, children rolling around on those fucking Heely’s, men drinking themselves to insensibility over the women (or their men) spending all their hard earned money on something other than them.  People complaining about the automatic gratuity on their parties.   Servers running around freaking out, servers refusing to do sidework, servers pissing me the fuck off.  Not finding out about the bartending job till probably Monday.

Women who stand over people watching them eat make me really upset, and those who are rude to me when I ask them to wait elsewhere so that my guests have some sense of privacy can go to Hell.  I don’t know what makes women think they are entitled to stand over guests that are enjoying their dinner and have the nerve to ask them how much longer they’re going to be eating.

I also got no end of stupid questions tonight, such as:  Standing in front of the restroom, “Where’s your restroom?”  to which I replied, “It’s right out that door, and up about 6 stores on the right,” while pointing out the door to the mall.

Putting in an order on the computer, “Do you work here?”  to which I answered, “No, I’m just working on their computer system.”

While carrying a draft beer to a table, I was interrupted by a tap on the arm and the dreaded, “Hey You.” I glared, and asked, “What?”  “Do you sell beer here?”   I responded, “Only to kids.”

While taking an order from a guest, another guest is looking at the burgers section of the menu.  “Do your burgers come with fries?” she interrupted her friend.  “No, they come with potato sticks.”

Let’s just say I was in rare form with the stupid questions tonight.  I made a decent haul with my being a smart-assed bastard too.  People seemed to love my “charm” and tipped well.  I did have some bad tippers as well.

My worst table of the night was a group of 9.  I simply forgot to put the gratuity on their table being that I was busy as Hell at the time.

Kenyattara, the 22 year old mother of 4, came in with her 4 kids, her boyfriend and a few of their friends.  They took up 2 of my booths.  Kids in one, them in another.  Round of waters for the kids, and round of Grey Goose and cranberry/grey goose and pineapple for the “adults”.

After I delivered the drinks, I was about to start my normal spiel when I was interrupted by Kenyattara with, “Last time we was heah, yaw was outta wangs an yaw managah say we get sum fray nex time.”  I see this one’s starting out the right way.

“Do you remember which manager told you this, ma’am?”  Knowing full well that no manager would tell any guest to come back next time for free anything because we ran out.  That’s just bad business.

“Not his name, buh he was a showt black guy.”  Isn’t it nice that we haven’t got any black management staff anymore?

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t have any short black managers, the only black manager we had was quite tall, and he’s no longer with our store.”

“Dat musta been him den.  We still want ouah fray wangs doh.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t honor a promise that was supposedly made by a manager that’s no longer employed at this location.  I can bring you wings, but they will not be free.”

“Why da fuck not?  We was promised dat we would get em fray.”

“Because there’s no way to know that for sure.  Once again, I’m very sorry.  I can get you another manager over here, but they’re all going to tell you the same thing.”

“Dis cuz we black ain it?  Ya’ll ain got no black managahs no mo, so ya’ll ain gonna do what da old black managah says.”

“Ma’am, please don’t assume your race has anything to do with our not honoring a promise that we know nothing about.  Now, can I still bring you an order of wings?”

I ended up bringing them 5 orders of wings, and the rest of them chicken strips tossed in buffalo sauce.  Tons of ranch.  More drinks.  I had been ignored during most of their experience only to hear them talking shit about me when they didn’t think I’d hear, things like “Dis place hate black people”  “Dat fuckin white boy gon fuck wit us.” and other racial things, I dropped off their check.   I didn’t really care, I sat with another black table most of the time the party was there, and they were having a great time with me.   When I dropped off their checks, a grand total of 179 bucks, they asked to see a manager.  I sent one over, and went back to my other table.

The party told the manager that I was rude the entire time they were there, that I refused to get what they wanted, and that they wanted all of their meal and alcohol for free.  The manager ended up comping a couple of orders of wings, one off each check and explained that because they ate everything, and they drank all their alcohol with no complaint until the end, therefore he wasn’t comping anything more from their bills.  They paid, left no tip, and I was compensated by both management, and my other table who left a big tip.

My other table before they left decided to talk to a manager too.  I didn’t find out about it until they were gone.  They told the manager that I did an awesome job, and that they were uncomfortable sitting near the party.  The only reason they stayed sitting where they did is because we didn’t have another open table for them, and because I stayed with them as long as I did.  They also told the manager that I was an awesome server, that I was extremely professional while dealing with a table that clearly was racist against me, and that they would be back to see me tomorrow night.  I really hope they do come to see me tonight, because I really enjoyed talking to them.  One of them is in law school, she’s about 24 years old.  Her boyfriend is a restaurant manager, about 26 or 27 I’m guessing and told my manager that he would love to have me working for him downtown.

If only I didn’t love where I worked so much, I’d probably be downtown working for him.  I still might, after my dental work.

Little white kids that roll around on heely’s are the most evil things I’ve ever encountered.  If their snotty assed fucking parents would stop drinking their martini’s for a few minutes and discipline their kids, then I might not have so much of a problem with them.

I told one of the kids to stop skating, to which I was rewarded with a hearty, “Fuck you, you’re not my daddy.”  This girl was 10 years old.  I told her to take me to her daddy, and when we got to him I said, “Sir, your child cannot be skating in here.  She also cannot wander around the building without your personal supervision.  If you do not supervise her, I will have you escorted from the building.  It’s not a skating rink, it’s a restaurant.”

“You can’t talk to me like that, I’m a customer.”

“And I’m just a couple of steps below a manager, sir.  It’s stated clearly on the rules that you’re given when you enter the building along with the rules hanging on the door that children must be supervised by their parents or guardian at ALL TIMES or they will be asked to leave.  Do not think that because you’re here with friends that we will do no less to you.”   He asked to see a manager, who told him the exact same thing.

Another snot nosed entitlement junkie white brat running around knocks a tray out of one of the servers hands and falls down.  He starts yelling at the server like it’s the servers fault.  The server gets a manager involved, and they find the parents.  The parents start yelling at the server about how he could have really hurt their little boy.  The server said to them, “Your child was running around the building, and you’re supposed to be watching him.  It’s not my fault that you’re too drunk to keep an eye on him.”  The server was written up, but we were all proud to work with him tonight.

Black Friday brings out the worst in some people, and brings out the best in others.  I personally know that managers of restaurants located in malls, or near malls, are always very stressed out, and they lose their temper just as much as their staff does.  That’s why we get away with as much as we do on Black Friday.

Next weekly feature will be in a couple of days, and I’ll probably be e-mailing a few of you asking your opinions on the matter.  This one is going to be “The Mistreatment of Support Staff in Restaurants.”  These support staff members include Dishwashers, Bussers, Runners, and Expediters.  They are treated like utter manure in most restaurants, usually get paid minimum wage to 7 bucks an hour, work harder than people who make 14 bucks an hour and get little to no respect whatsoever.  I plan to expose this mistreatment, and with your help I just might change a few minds.

Yes, I had to work tonight.  Wasn’t too long of a shift, but it was a shift.  At least I didn’t have to close.

Some of my first guests in the bowling area tonight were just plain evil.  No tips whatsoever.  I have to ask, and this is a serious question.  I’m not trying to be mean, but what is it with black women and frozen drinks?  Pina Colodas, Frozen Margaritas, Strawberry Daquiri’s, I even had a woman on my first lane (the non-tipping lane, 80 bucks total) who wanted to get a frozen Absolut and cranberry juice.  I asked one of my good friends at work, Ms. B, who also happens to be black, why black women loved frozen drinks so much, and she says it’s ingrained in them from youth.  “We grow up with kool-aid, and freezer pops, and we love slushies.  We also love to drink.  When we can get drunk with our slushies, we gettin the best of both.”  I love Ms. B, and if I were straight…well, let’s just leave it at I love Ms. B.

Back to my lane.  These bitches drank up a variety of Strawberry Daquiris, Strawberry Margaritas, Pina Colodas, Frozen Hurricanes, and yes the attempted frozen vodka cranberry.  I was all kinds of happy when they first went down, they weren’t all that ghetto and seemed to be mature.  Like I’ve said before, I try to not prejudge because you get surprised all the time.  The main problem I had with them, at least before they left me that big nothing for the tip, was that they wouldn’t order their drinks all at once.  They ordered literally one at a time.  I had to go to the front bar for drinks, and I had to go to that front bar 10 times just for their first round.  I didn’t let it bother me too much, at least not visibly to the guests, I was still full from Thanksgiving dinner that work provided.  But after the 18th trip to the bar for a single drink I got really upset.  Also, as I said, not a one of them tipped me.  Then, when they wanted to pay for their bowling, there wasn’t anyone at the counter.  One of them had the nerve to yell at me, “Hey you.”  I turned around and looked at her, grabbed my name tag, pointed to it, and said, “It’s Ribeye, not Hey You.” and walked off.

I would also like to say thank you to the very kind group of friends, and yes, these are their real first names, Shonda, Toria, and Marcus, for the very large tip you left me.  It made my night waiting on you in the first place, and when you asked me to stay after I got off work and play pool with you it just made me happy.  It’s people like you that make me glad I don’t prejudge my tables based on race.

Also, for those of you who don’t know, I do not tolerate racism on my blog, and the next person who tries to use the word N****r in a comment will be added to my spam list and reported to their ISP.  I have no problem with black people in general, so don’t assume that I’m going to allow something like that.  I’ll also post your names and e-mail addresses if you try it again.  I’ve stated time and time again the certain groups of people I have a problem serving, and I don’t like that word in the first place.  It will NOT be tolerated.  Go to a forum somewhere and use it, but not here.

And finally, I haven’t mentioned it before, but I had my bartending interview this past Tuesday.  I’m making an attempt at a small change at my job.  I’d still be serving a couple nights a week, but doing the bar also.  I honestly don’t think I’m going to get it, the interview didn’t go great mainly because I’d been up all night the night before with the partner who was in pain from a tooth being cut out, but I’ll find out tomorrow.  I figure if I get it, then YAY, if I don’t, that’s fine because it’s party season and I’ll still make bank off the private parties I’m going to be working.  You’ll find out tomorrow night if I got it or not.

Thanks for all your support, and again, Happy Thanksgiving.

Ribeye

Here lately, I feel I’ve gotten a bit stagnant with my posting, not in the quantity or even so much the quality, but I have to post some new things other than just bitching. Here are some of the new things that you’ll see coming up:

• Weekly Feature Article: Starting every Monday or Tuesday night, depending on if I get it up tomorrow or not, I’m going to have a weekly article on something. This week it’s either going to be something on the downfall of service quality in restaurants, or the constant mistreatment of restaurant employees who aren’t in the front of the house. It’s going to be one of those, I just haven’t decided which one it’s going to be. I’m also happy to take suggestions on articles that I should write, just e-mail them to me and I’ll gladly give them consideration.
• More polling: I’ve found that the polling is just something fun that I do every week, and it gives me something to look forward to every Friday night when I get off work, thinking up new polls and new ideas. Once again, I’m delighted to take suggestions from you, my faithful happy readers, and yes even you, the hateful unhappy readers. Just e-mail them to me.
• RagingServer Store: I’ve got the Cafe’ Press account up and running, now I’m just trying to get the store actually set up. You’ll see t-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, coffee mugs, and who knows what else there. I’m planning to launch the store by Black Friday, depending on how things go this week, but it’ll definitely be up by the end of next week, just in time for the beginning of the Holiday Shopping season. From the e-mails I’ve already gotten I’m hoping the store is going to be a success but I’m not getting my hopes up too much.
• More videos: Depending on the topic, I’m going to try and find videos from youtube or other sources, maybe even some from my personal life taken with my trusty Treo 700, give you a glimpse without actually revealing my secret identity.

• More of the bitching and raging you’ve all come to know and love!

I also just want to thank you all for your constant visits to my site. RagingServer.com would not be the place it is today without the help of you, the readers, and you, the people who have links to my page. Thanks to you all, I hit 35000 hits this past Friday, and the numbers are going up. You’ve all made me so very happy, and I hope I can keep doing the same for you….wow…I had an actual tear form in my eye…sorry guys and gals, just got a little emotional there. Just gotta give credit to you all. Thank you.

Ribeye