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Hooray, had one day off today, another Thursday, since I gently explained that working 6 days in a row is a liiiiittle much to do for three weeks straight. I need some time to acclimate and do stuff that isn't sleep, poo poo, eat, and run to work as fast as possible. Least I have some great sneakers now to save my feet and back. I plan to ask if I can do waitstaff stuff, since it's clear to me that bussing is never going to go anywhere. They really like me here, so I figure I can sneak into it by showing excellent knowledge of the menu and laboriously studying the habits of other servers. MY ultimate goal is bartender. I feel like the relationship between bartender and customer is much more equal than between server-customer, but I'll climb the ladder one rung at a time. Also I think I managed to get a dude fired Sunday and another is going back to Ireland and uh I'd like to not be stuck as the ur-busser among a constantly rotating circle of incompetents and no-cares until my legs shatter.
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Aug 20, 2013 02:54
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| # ? May 10, 2024 22:12 |
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Barback if you want to bartend. The work is crushing but the payoff is real if your bosses aren't assholes. Don't work drunk, even if your bartenders pour you crazy shots. That said, if you can get an education, get out.
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Aug 20, 2013 06:35
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Vegetable Melange posted:Barback if you want to bartend. The work is crushing but the payoff is real if your bosses aren't assholes. Don't work drunk, even if your bartenders pour you crazy shots. I plan on barbacking first, yeah. And I can't get an education. I have no money and no interest in 4+ years of college and a massive load of student debt with zero way to pay it off in a still-dying economy. I WANT to, but I don't want to just end up with debt and no income. This is the best I can do for the next few years as 40 slowly approaches and my options wither. I feel like bartending would be a comfortable start. Don't worry about drinking. I already had my bout with nasty on-the-job staff-approved alcoholism at the bistro, and really don't care to repeat that cycle of sheer self-disgust.
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Aug 20, 2013 06:46
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After one of the busiest years ever so far, it has finally slowed down this month. Whole week off, what do I do with myself 
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Aug 20, 2013 18:07
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rayray00 posted:After one of the busiest years ever so far, it has finally slowed down this month. Whole week off, what do I do with myself Grow your nails to longer than a quarter of an inch. 
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Aug 20, 2013 21:14
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Tweek posted:Grow your nails to longer than a quarter of an inch. Oh, man. I have a thumb nail right now, because there's a cut in the cuticle that won't heal and I can't trim the nail. It is driving me up the wall.
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Aug 21, 2013 00:24
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This is random but does anyone here have a contract for a food truck in the DC/NOVA area with a license to serve on NPS land and would be interested in a catering gig for a fee days? If so PM me, I have a lead.
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Aug 21, 2013 01:49
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I don't know what to do anymore. Two warning letters over 2 weeks. Weekly doses of corporade (energy drinks) trying to survive morning shifts. I wonder how badly would the letters affect my future employment chances?
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Aug 21, 2013 23:37
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Warning letters from your current boss/work? Not at all. Depending on what they're about, you might not want to use that place as a reference, but if they're called about you they're legally not allowed to tell them anything more than your title, your time worked there, and your wage afaik.
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Aug 22, 2013 00:54
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Naelyan posted:Warning letters from your current boss/work? Not at all. Depending on what they're about, you might not want to use that place as a reference, but if they're called about you they're legally not allowed to tell them anything more than your title, your time worked there, and your wage afaik. Mostly stress issues so far. I just have poor stress management outlets and it is scaring some of my coworkers and just today had a one day suspension. I mean I don't know how other workplaces deal with stressed out workers but I always had assumed a restaurant environment would be high stress and thought working using a high stress, high productivity mindset would gain my boss' approval.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:26
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No one wants to work with the guy who's getting visibly angry at everyone for stuff that is not out of the ordinary in a restaurant. Because no one wants that guy to flip out when he's got a knife or a pan full of hot oil in his hand. If something absolutely crazy happens, people tend to understand. I've walked out of a cooler after a REALLY hosed up service where everyone in the kitchen could hear me (through two sealed doors) screaming my loving lungs out. I got out, my second in command looked at me and said 'you good now?' and I said 'yup' and we went back to work. That said, that was after a year of NOT losing my poo poo over mundane stuff, or even most aggravating stuff. Restaurants are absolutely stressful, they're usually enough to make normal people flip their poo poo sometimes - restaurant lifers tend to have a higher tolerance for the normal poo poo, because they deal with so much crazy poo poo on a daily basis. If normal poo poo sets you off and you don't know how to deal, restaurants might not be the place for you, because there will never be a lack of stupidity and stress that'll make you want to lose your poo poo. I have said 'poo poo' a lot in this post. poo poo.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:38
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Naelyan posted:No one wants to work with the guy who's getting visibly angry at everyone for stuff that is not out of the ordinary in a restaurant. Because no one wants that guy to flip out when he's got a knife or a pan full of hot oil in his hand. If something absolutely crazy happens, people tend to understand. I've walked out of a cooler after a REALLY hosed up service where everyone in the kitchen could hear me (through two sealed doors) screaming my loving lungs out. I got out, my second in command looked at me and said 'you good now?' and I said 'yup' and we went back to work. That said, that was after a year of NOT losing my poo poo over mundane stuff, or even most aggravating stuff. I see, thanks for the cooler advice, may try that next time I feel aggravated after work.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:49
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gyrobot posted:I see, thanks for the cooler advice, may try that next time I feel aggravated after work. AFTER work? Just leave, man. You should feel the stress just melt away as soon as your chef says 'gyrobot, you're done for the day'. Unless you're management your cares and give-a-fucks should literally just stop as soon as you're clocked out.
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Aug 22, 2013 03:12
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Naelyan posted:AFTER work? Just leave, man. You should feel the stress just melt away as soon as your chef says 'gyrobot, you're done for the day'. Unless you're management your cares and give-a-fucks should literally just stop as soon as you're clocked out. Or during work, I think one of my greatest weakness is my obsession with efficiency. If I see my coworker being slightly inefficient I get antsy.
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Aug 22, 2013 03:28
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Keep in mind, if your co-worker is working slowly or not in a good mood, they may have been yelled at, or are working as much/even more than you. It'll eventually pile up and result in some really serious conflicts that can result in people quitting just because people can't mind their own business (not to indict you or anything). Imagine being someone just trying to get their job done, and having an antsy ball of stress not be able to walk past anyone without commenting or blowing up. I've seen really good kitchens collapse after enough of that. Essentially, if things are getting done on time, and materials aren't being wasted or misused, let it go.
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Aug 22, 2013 04:29
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And as much as most of us don't like people being lovely at their jobs, if they're your coworkers and not your employees, not your issue. Let it go.
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Aug 22, 2013 05:03
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I already had that problem today. One of the servers is a very dry and frankly anti-social guy. He doesn't say hello when you greet him, doesn't make small talk during down time, and makes lots of little mistakes because he crumbles under pressure, and then takes it out on EVERYONE by acting pissy and snide and picking apart everything you do, talking down to you. I'm giving him three strikes before I snap back and let him know I don't appreciate his inability to control his own anger because he isn't a good server. I don't even know why he's in this line of work. Either way I manage stress by just grousing to the right people and then shrugging it off, everyone else there likes me and is good people, even the terrifyingly tall Bulgarian waiter who looks like he's ready to heft an axe to one of us. But he's blunt, doesn't gently caress around, and I can respect him, unlike the other weasel.
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Aug 22, 2013 06:48
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gyrobot posted:Mostly stress issues so far. I just have poor stress management outlets and it is scaring some of my coworkers and just today had a one day suspension. You know how most cooks end up addicted to amphetamines and/or high at work? You need less amphetamines and more weed.
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Aug 22, 2013 12:30
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For a little perspective from the other side, I had to fire a guy the other day because he was an anger bomb that finally went off in a very inappropriate way. He was a server who let the little things get to him. There was other stuff going on, but he was a basically good guy who got inordinately angry when other people didn't do things the way he thought they should be done. His attitude sucked. It was contagious and poisonous to the rest of the staff. He was incapable of being upset and not showing it/telling everyone about it/sulking. There were lots of talks with him, the floor managers spent lots of time managing his moods that they could have spent doing more useful things. A formal write up would have him flying straight for about three days and then he was back to his old ways. He was taking up way too much of everyone's time and energy because he couldn't just let things go. Then last week he went off on a host who asked him to help a guest. In front of that guest. Using colorful language. I had no choice but to fire him. He couldn't see beyond his own narrow view of his job, so he didn't get that what seemed like an injustice or a problem with an easy fix was actually the best solution to a situation that was more complicated than he comprehended. And since I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain every tiny reason why I told the host to seat party X at table Y instead of table Z in his section, or why I went into the kitchen and told the cooks to drop what they were doing and make me one eggs benedict now when he was waiting for his food, too- he just couldn't cope and exploded. I have no idea how much of this pertains to your particular situation, gyrobot, but maybe you might be happier if you just accepted some of the maddening, confusing and seemingly opposite-of-sensible things that happen at your job as just new aspects of your reality, and moved on with the attitude of "okay, that just happened, now I do this."
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Aug 22, 2013 13:43
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I'm curious about the specific behaviors that led to your coworkers being scared and your write ups, gyrobot.
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Aug 22, 2013 15:00
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Taking ragedumps in the ice machine. 
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Aug 22, 2013 15:58
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hhehehe, ewwwww. I'm sure if your rage was really such an issue, if you went to your line cooks all humble and said "hey I need some help with this," they'd be able to cover your station for 3 minutes while you had a cig/rubbed one out/ whatever you need to do to get your head on straight. That'd be much more preferable to your wrath.
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Aug 22, 2013 16:15
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I'm not a chef, but I worked for many years as a server and the floor manager. I remember the first month or so, my heartrate was probably 150+ the whole night, and I was physically and mentally exhausted after every day at work. Even when I worked late, I'd get home around midnight, and my heartrate wouldn't slow down until 0200 or so. It was awful, and at that point I would have started looking for another job if I had the energy to. I remember talking to one of the other servers one day, and he gave med the simplest and best advice I could ever get: Don't take things too seriously. Do your best, learn from mistakes, but accept that you'll mess up. And when you do, try to brush it off and continue doing your best. It probably sounds silly, but that's exactly what I needed to hear. Now I'm pretty much "immune" to stress, I'm in a completely different line of work, but the ability to tackle stress will likely be with me no matter what I'll be doing in the future.
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Aug 22, 2013 17:14
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gyrobot posted:Or during work, I think one of my greatest weakness is my obsession with efficiency. If I see my coworker being slightly inefficient I get antsy. Always been a lurker in these threads but your situation is one I would like to comment on. I'm not sure what your exact position is but I am assuming line cook or prep based on your comments. It is absolutely not your responsibility for the work habits of individuals you have not been given management duties over. I tell my cooks all the time you need to worry about what you are doing not what others do. In the kitchen as well as life in general you should only be worrying about things you have control over. Unless you are managing people their inefficiency is not your problem. If its something that you feel is dire enough that it needs being fixed bring it up with whoever is in control of their behavior so that it can be fixed in the appropriate manner. Learn to let little things go, if you cannot do that go to therapy (I'm serious, not trying to be a dick but if you cannot let little things go you could definitely use either a therapist or a really good friend to talk to). I'm coming at this from a management perspective, I have four cooks working under me any given night and they are absolutely not allowed to lash out at others. Any issues they have are brought up with me or my boss and we deal with it as we see fit. Anger issues can bring down a good kitchen and I have absolutely fired good cooks that had a tendency to get angry and yell at servers or other cooks when angry. That being said I have the benefit of working directly with my crew on a nightly basis, I trust them and they trust me. I know that a lot of kitchens are not as well run as my current situation happens to be and there is a good chance your is one such kitchen. My advice, work on your skills in the kitchen, learn adapt and improve your cooking skills and don't worry about what everyone else is doing. If you are always looking to learn and improve you won't have the time or the energy to notice what your coworker is doing wrong.
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Aug 22, 2013 17:28
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Sjonkel posted:I remember talking to one of the other servers one day, and he gave med the simplest and best advice I could ever get: Don't take things too seriously. Do your best, learn from mistakes, but accept that you'll mess up. And when you do, try to brush it off and continue doing your best. That's what I learned, and it makes things a lot more fun, or just not as soul-wearing. We're just providing food to people, this isn't trauma care or prison sentences. If I make a mistake I just try to take it in stride. Break a glass? Yell "JOB OPENING" and clean it up. Forget enough bread at a table? Tell them "I've made a dire mistake for which there is no forgiveness, so let me go get some more." -- get them laughing a little. Try to do the same with the servers while helping them out. I just ignore the little things that other people do that bother me, since I just sit there and realize *I* probably do a dozen little things 'wrong' that drives other people nuts, but whatever, we're all too busy to really have a time for that stupid poo poo to get in the way. Wrought, you sound like a threshing machine, and I applaud your iron guts to be able to not take poo poo and just weed people out. You sound like you'd be fun and terrifying to work under.
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Aug 22, 2013 18:09
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Tweek posted:You know how most cooks end up addicted to amphetamines and/or high at work? In my case it's coke and Energy Drinks. I think I go through one can a week.
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Aug 22, 2013 21:48
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gyrobot posted:In my case it's coke and Energy Drinks. I think I go through one can a week. One can of redbull a week? drat son, that's such an addiction.
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Aug 22, 2013 22:06
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bunnyofdoom posted:One can of redbull a week? drat son, that's such an addiction. Yeah, I mean, I hosed up my circulatory system when I became addicted to stimulants that would keep me up for five days at a stretch, but Jesus, son. A entire can of RedBull per week? Are you loving stupid or something?! Kitchens are no place to gently caress around like that. It's not just your life you're taking in your hands, it's everyone who works at or visits the restaurant. What if you got wiiings all in somebody's bisque? loving bedlam, that's what. You need to quit your job and check yourself into RedBull Rehab tonight. You can pray God forgives you, but I'm not sure if I can. Jesus...
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Aug 22, 2013 23:19
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Guys, I drink 2-3 Red Bulls daily, even when I'm off. WHAT. DO. I. DO!?
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Aug 23, 2013 02:22
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Guys, I drink 2-3 Red Bulls daily, even when I'm off. WHAT. DO. I. DO!? Man, we need to inject with like the opposite of Adrenaline, like that see from pulp fiction. We had to do it to a line cook one time at work. Unfortunately, he looked nothing like Uma Thurman. Fortunately, I am dead ringer for Jon Travolta. Unfortunately I look like him in battlefield earth.
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Aug 23, 2013 02:47
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bunnyofdoom posted:Man, we need to inject with like the opposite of Adrenaline, like that see from pulp fiction. Don't lie to the kid. You and I both know it's far too late for that. I promised... I prayed we would never have to use this again, but it's more than clear it's big guns time. May God have mercy on our souls: 
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Aug 23, 2013 03:05
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Drank and Redbull: the poor man's speedball.
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Aug 23, 2013 03:16
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I've always just gone for the coffee but then always in quantities greater than 4 if I'm working and only one or two on a day off
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Aug 23, 2013 03:53
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And I thought my line of coke with breakfast lunch and dinner was bad.
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Aug 23, 2013 03:58
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Tweek posted:You know how most cooks end up addicted to amphetamines and/or high at work? Guess which one of those I did for a year and a half. Ugh, I am trash. I tried telling it to some culinary school parsley-sprinkler, and he didn't understand. He ended up taking the job I had quit and had some kind of breakdown two months in. The sous chef at that hotel told me he's going back to PSU for business or something. Seriously, though, you can't be the "I'm sorry, I'm just OCD!" people at work. It'll end up in either a fight, or some people quitting, and I've seen both. Most of the time, it's that one loving guy or chick who just can't walk past you without telling you that you should probably keep an eye on the oven because ovens get hot and these ones are hot in different areas for the FOURTEENTH loving TIME I'VE NEVER BURNED ANYTHING IN THE TWO YEARS I'VE WORKED HERE GOD drat. Because it usually ends up with the stressed-out person losing it when "Lol OCD" person just happens to walk by without planning to critique that one time, and it's just a mess. Like I said, if the person is wasting or misusing materials, slowing down production, or negatively affecting output or other peoples' jobs, call them out. If everything's fine, but they're not doing something exactly how you would do it, then just chew on your tongue and worry about your own job.
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Aug 23, 2013 04:14
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I Was Minding My Own Business When You Seriously Bothered Me and Then I Flipped Out, Publicly Embarrassing Both of Us: a Tony award winning one-act play starring me and all of my coworkers. This sums up my workday pretty accurately. I'm basically playing a giant game of emotional chicken with everyone around me included my laptop.
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Aug 23, 2013 04:50
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I hope that wasn't us at seat 6 tonight. That was in my top three meals of life.
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Aug 23, 2013 07:12
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I'm just glad the busser I got fired apparently had it coming. Everyone could tell from my sudden changed mood one day that things were going poorly, and they suddenly vented at me about how poorly the other busser did all the time. When the boss asked me at the end of the night if he was worth keeping around I just held up my hands and said it wasn't my place to say, it was my third time working with him in as many weeks and I really didn't feel like I has the authority yet to pass such judgment. But a hostess talked about how he ignored her all night and also sprayed disinfectant and laughed when the wind drifted it into a customer, and suddenly the guy is gone. Wonder why!
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Aug 23, 2013 08:15
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20 minutes after opening we had a group of 45 walk in. We seat 86. It was just me and a single cook. Of course they somehow ordered the worst possible combination of items for 2 people to make alone. Also I was taking the orders and making the espresso/blender drinks on top of cooking. Actually handled it pretty OK. Thinking I found my new line lead as well.
Fuzzy Pipe Wrench fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 14:25
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| # ? May 10, 2024 22:12 |
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Are people seriously doing coke to cope with work?
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Aug 23, 2013 15:08
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