– It is generally accepted that you cannot be a waitress in your life. Really? Or is the waiter still calling?
– To be honest, I don’t know anyone who considers waitressing to be a real job, but I definitely know that it’s a very good step into the restaurant business. As in the army: to become a general, you must first be an ordinary student. Examining the “kitchen” from the inside in order to provide a quality service.
I have a friend who we started working with at a catering company at the age of 16, then I immediately resigned and started working and he started to continue. She worked as a waitress for several years, studied restaurant management and studied management. He has now acquired a franchise and will soon open his own restaurant in another country.
In general, it’s great for a waiter to work as an aid to a future restaurateur. As a matter of life, I can’t say. Although I have heard that there are international competitions for representatives of the profession, perhaps someone really considers this business his destiny. But still, I hardly believe that a person would want more.
– Why? Is it due to stress or something else?
“And it’s stressful and ungrateful. Visitors are rude and rude, you try and your work is devalued. Sometimes guests come and shout across the hall: “Hey dear!” or “Where do the Chaldeans walk?” This is from personal experience. It seems we don’t live in the 90s, but there is a place. At least they’re not whistling.
Often visitors get drunk and misbehave. There was a guest who “catch a squirrel” and threw a chair at a bar – the damage amounted to 83 thousand rubles. A man once directly offered to sleep with a colleague and after a polite refusal he said he didn’t care, threatening that he would find her, rape and kill her. As a result, he was taken out by security.
There was also a woman who ordered khinkali and put her nail in it to avoid payment. We did not immediately understand – we saw a nail in the food – we immediately apologized, complimented and, fortunately, said goodbye without a scandal. Then the manager said that the manicure on the nail was the same color as the visitor’s. The cooks did not have painted nails.
At a company party, another colleague was harassed by a man in front of his girlfriend. As a result, his mistress grabbed our employee’s hair and put a “lantern” on her boyfriend.
Ladies do too. Somehow I went out to take a cigarette break and there a drunk woman tried to light a cigarette. She didn’t work, I helped and she started flirting. I replied with a distance so as not to be rude, as a result, he started to cross the line and then decided to have a cigarette, I went back to the restaurant and he grabbed me by the hand and squeezed his groin. He barely escaped.
There are also kleptomaniac guests. Then I worked for a good institution on Arbat, where we caught a woman with a package of liquid soap stolen from our toilet, all with expensive jewellery. She spread out in her bag and asked us for napkins. Then she confessed and announced that she was suffering from an illness. But some carry utensils, toothpicks, napkins and even towels with them without frustration.
In general, guests are often awkward, and you need to please everyone, which does not always work out. More often than not, of course, visitors are calm and sometimes oddly entertaining. For example, there was a guest who wanted to heat his draft beer in the microwave.
Speaking of alcohol. In restaurants, it is much more expensive than in stores. It is clear that the guest pays for the service, but what about the quality?
– Of course, in public food services it is better to order any alcohol directly in bottles. Unless it’s a top-notch restaurant.
The fact is that a jug of restaurant vodka for 1000 rubles, vodka from Dixy for 300 rubles. If the managers of the business are “experienced”, they buy alcohol from the distributor at an even lower price. They often shed a type of “Birch” or “Kind Bear” instead of the advertised “Absolute”. But of course it all depends on the restaurant and its owner.
It’s the same with food: the higher the restaurant’s segment, the better the food. But every once in a while, of course, is not necessary.
Of course, you must understand that the prices for everything in the restaurant will be more expensive – there is always a trick, and the higher the level of the restaurant, the more it is.
– Is it true that the dishes that the waiters offer to try are either the most expensive or will soon spoil?
– Waiters often offer to try dishes that another guest refused, for example. They hang and need to be sold, but naturally, if some salad is already “dead”, no one will remove it for you. The guest is also not stupid and will definitely want a change. As for the most expensive – partially true. Some institutions pay attention to indicators. But some waiters recommend what they really like. It all depends on the institution and the employee.
But you have to understand that the waiter is always trying to increase your bill. Either its own earnings or its indicators depend on it. By the way, my biggest draw was 700 thousand rubles – it was a corporate party, I worked in karaoke – a company of 30 people went to almost a million.
By the way, to increase control, some waiters even agree to have a drink with guests – often we are convinced. If you drink, they will order more and leave a good tip. After them, food can also be taken home – of course, untouched. The waiters behind the guests do not eat as everyone thinks – they feed us in the restaurant, but after a big feast they can drag something home so as not to throw something.
– Some are sure that cooks or waiters can spit on an unpleasant guest. It can?
– Maybe, but still, not much of a premium. From personal experience – with a 70% probability in coffee, salad, soup or lemonade, both cooks and waiters can spit on a rude, scandalous guest. Even the cooks have a funny sign, I’ve heard at three establishments I’ve worked at. It sounds like this: “If a guest spit on a plate, he will definitely come back again.” Chefs say it’s “the law of the kitchen and the universe.” But they do this, of course, rarely, only when they are directly enraged.
What conclusion can be reached? Don’t be a bad guest, we work for you and we will always understand and correct the mistake if you say it kindly.
Source: Gazeta
