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Mithross posted:I'm not really upset, I tried to use the phrase "incentivized torture plan" to communicate that, but I forgot this was the internet, where people can and do complain vocally about every thing, so you had every reason to assume I was completely serious. Speaking as the guy who made a perfectly innocuous joke or two conflating the birth of Adolf Hitler with the demeaned celebration of our savior's divine resurrection in a red state and was apparently taken kinda sorta seriously by a nonzero number of people: I get you. Vegetable Melange posted:Energy drinks have got to be loving rotten for you. Cold brew coffee passed through a superbag and rounded out with simple syrup. Great for sustained energy and not so acidic you give yourself an ulcer. At work front-house always has a hot coffee tank going and its open season for employees, but it's StarbucksTM Brand Blended Coffee Product and each morning I make Sophie's Choice between working uncaffinated and imbibing coffee themed body punishment juice to unfortunately immediate consequences. Each day if/when the lull hits I take five to ten to poo poo and read some of the paper, and ahahahah its all in good fun but, no, seriously, but. But. BUTT
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May 29, 2014 21:42
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Also there's this insistence we use styrofoam cups, but they didn't stock lids too so technically there is no way to caffinate on the job that isn't stealing, violating company policy or violating the health code, so in summary 100% of the kitchen staff blithely violate the gently caress out of some rule or other and I'm pretty sure the whole thing is a behavioral experiment put on by some kind of University research department.
Willie Tomg fucked around with this message at 23:07 on May 29, 2014 |
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May 29, 2014 21:48
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Vegetable Melange posted:Also in fairness we've all worked with enough line cooks with substance abuse issues and a generalized lack of self awareness to take it all at face value. Also food, vitamins, and exercise works well.
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May 30, 2014 06:09
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Vitamins are scientifically of very little, if minuscule use.
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May 30, 2014 07:15
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Get your vitamins from food. Get your exercise from weights. Get swole and flex intimidatingly at troublesome customers/coworkers/management.
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May 30, 2014 14:22
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My first two weeks as sous chef have gone by pretty well. Chef was helping out at one of our other properties that's in the process of hiring a new Chef for most of that time so it pretty much The Rockzilla Show until yesterday. All of our events got covered, nobody died, nothing caught on fire and I only put in 12 hours of overtime. It should be smoother sailing from here on with Chef back to spending most of his time at our location, but they still haven't found a new Chef for the other property so who knows when they'll call him back over there. I dream of ordering produce and I talk to my meat supplier more than my wife, I instinctively wake up at 6 expecting a text from my breakfast guy telling me that he's sick. I think long and hard about throwing my phone off of a bridge every day on my way to and from work. All in all, it's turning out just as I expected.
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May 30, 2014 21:19
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Vitamins are scientifically of very little, if minuscule use. You are supposed to eat and drink them, not do science with them. Sheesh. 
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May 30, 2014 23:07
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I think I posted in here once before. My job is definitely not a career, but it pays well enough. I'm here to add my senseless bitching to the thread: We recently replaced part of our POS soft/hardware. The registers didn't change, but the monitor that displays tickets to the line was replaced with a bigger, clearer-view screen on an adjustable arm mount, while the software was, ahem, "upgraded" to make it easier to understand what's being rang in and all that. The new features include: - A "Average order time" readout. No once gives a poo poo about this, including the owners, because they care more about the customer getting a good product than they do about whether an order went over the magical line of "gently caress you you're fired". -A "% completed on time" section, see above. -Room to display ten tickets instead of eight. The "features": - Call-ahead releases up to 45 minutes ahead of time with no differentiation between a newly arrived web order/call-in counter ringing up a previously completed order/some poo poo that no one needs until next week. -Call-aheads not coming up at all because why not. -Special instructions, e.g. dry, no x sub y, gluten-free, not showing up at all. -Scrambled orders. For example, we have a bread side that comes with a few certain entrees. The new system displays this side despite us already knowing it, and this same side can be used as part of sandwich items. So you can have three sandwiches, two platters, and three bread listings, and waste an extra second sussing out how many extras you need, then another thirty seconds waiting for the cashiers to tell you which sandwich the extra is for. Or you could just have three sandwiches pop up with three buns below them in random order and just hope you win this round of mix-and-match. This is largely inconvenience (and too long) but when you have a literal borderline retard working the other side of the window it's the poo poo cherry on a pile of assholes. Oh, and last month some rear end in a top hat spilled butter all over the grill and followed the instructions of another rear end in a top hat who told him to dump a gallon of water on it. In front of half of the dining room. In the middle of dinner. On a Friday night. I'm still uncertain whether it's for the better or worse that the fire suppression didn't go off. I'd have checked out so long ago if not for an awesome boss and an surprisingly favorable effort:hourly rate ratio.
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May 31, 2014 04:25
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You REALLY need to care about ticket times and % orders complete on time. Your owners sound kind of incompetent, to be quite honest.
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May 31, 2014 04:30
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Waiter gets fired on the spot for running his mouth like a leaky gas truck at a drunken bonfire and getting slammed by the head chef who overheard. Other server walks early out of misguided support for his college buddy. One guy who walked off the line tried to come back and got his rear end turned inside out and sent home in a paper bag. Dishwasher walked out. Was a slow goddamn Friday and nobody made any money anyways. My last table got $20 of food and split it on two credit cards and then tipped nothing for absolutely no discernible reason. We still use printers that take 15 seconds to spit out a ticket for two items listed. And there's still Saturday to come. help
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May 31, 2014 05:12
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:You REALLY need to care about ticket times and % orders complete on time. The place I work at is a hybrid. Imagine Chipotle with up to $20 menu items and a different cuisine. People can walk in, order food that is better quality than your average Applebee's or Olive Garden fare, and be at their table or out their door with it in less time than they would spend in a McDonald's drive-thru at the same time. It's a weird combination of things, but it works (at least for our/most stores).
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May 31, 2014 06:44
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It sounds like you need to just throw that poo poo in the dumpster and get 2-3 printers and ticket rails. A positive side effect of this change will be that you'll weed out every idiot who doesn't have the presence of mind to manage his/her ticket rail. If someone can't handle organizing slips of paper into the proper sequence, you probably don't want them preparing food for people either. However, I didn't really notice this until the end of my career as a cook, it is pretty much loving impossible to find a decent expo so you might end up shooting yourself in the foot here. Also, I don't really think it's that important to care about ticket times, and especially not % of tickets completed on time. Sometimes poo poo just gets all hosed up, and you need to be aware of that. You also need to be aware that sometimes people are just fuckups and, as a kitchen, you have to refuse to tolerate that. I think most people know when someone hosed up without needing a litle machine blinking a red number at them - I feel like if you care about the ticket time itself you are abstracting the goal of "dont gently caress up and make someone have a poor dining experience" to a goal that is more akin to "get food out before X minutes", which makes you basically McDonalds.
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May 31, 2014 08:41
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:You REALLY need to care about ticket times and % orders complete on time. Yeah. I'm not in fine-dining right now, but I still think bar patrons deserve their tacos nearly instantly. And its possible, with efficient systems designed for fast plates. Giving customers the best plate possible is implied when you accept their money. Fast, consistent, and pretty plates make the most money.
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May 31, 2014 08:55
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Reiz posted:
Tracking data points over time that directly relate to customer satisfaction, consistency and the capabilities of your staff make you McDonalds? Okay then. No one is saying you should have something out in X min OR ELSE, but there is a window of what's acceptable and what is ideal, and having a known quantity for ideal/goal/unacceptable is a way to communicate to all staff the level they ought to be performing at. Being able to track that over time gives you valuable data. I've never worked in a restaurant, from Michelin stars to so-and-so's brewpub, where ticket times weren't monitored and used as a tool, because that's exactly what they are.
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May 31, 2014 16:40
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Tracking data points over time that directly relate to customer satisfaction, consistency and the capabilities of your staff make you McDonalds? Okay then. This is all fine, and I expect they probably do look at the numbers, and I really should have been more clear. I'm assuming that the previous system allowed them to pull those figures, but the new system actually shows the line people what % is "on time" and the average ticket time, which is useless to us because we know when we're loving up. The overall point was that we traded away a functional but older system for a new, flashy POS (get it?) that has a couple little bells and whistles at the cost of functionality.
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Jun 2, 2014 02:47
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A company was paid millions and millions of dollars to come in and poke at the restaurant this week, and then tell management what we already knew was wrong and had been saying for a while now. So new changes rolling out soon to make life not such a massive loving hassle that sees nearly one employee quitting per week to go work somewhere else. I guess at that level you just need massive amounts of money spent to have the excuse to do something that anywhere else would have just thrown up their hands and done overnight after one common sense staff meeting. Hopefully it includes getting printers that aren't from 1999.
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Jun 2, 2014 03:51
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I <3 consulting for exactly that reason.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:32
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Vegetable Melange posted:I <3 consulting for exactly that reason. "Oh, you need me to come in and tell you why your kitchen isn't up to corporate standards? Sure, I can do that for $55/hour. Over a few days. No problem." Yep, me too.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:41
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100/hr. Scrub.
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Jun 2, 2014 08:52
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God I wish consulting were a legit option in the Bay. I have a real knack for it, too.
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Jun 2, 2014 09:08
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It's never a legit option, is why we call it a hustle.
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Jun 2, 2014 17:17
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Vegetable Melange posted:It's never a legit option, is why we call it a hustle. Pretty much this. Get to know a whole bunch of people and make them all think that any time they don't know something that you're the person to call. Make stupid money on the side.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:30
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Naelyan posted:Get to know a whole bunch of people and make them all think that any time they don't know something that you're the person to call. Make stupid money instead of working a job you at best tolerate because guests are awful children when they get drunk then work an industry night in a locals bar because that poo poo never gets old. Fixed that for you. Come see me on a Sunday in Brooklyn, I'll show you what loving your job looks like (it looks like tossing an empty bottle of old grand dad into a trash can).
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Jun 3, 2014 03:06
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SF is just too saturated, and everyone thinks they cure cancer for a living but really they just pour drinks. The BF and I are most likely going to Brooklyn in Sept. He grew up and worked there pretty much until two years ago and I've never been. I bet you know my friends Johnny and Jennie, we will all have to get together.
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Jun 3, 2014 03:15
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That's awesome. I feel like half the people I meet at various bartender community events are moving to NYC, which makes sense. We simply have more jobs and more insane people who will pay through the teeth to live here and get elbowed on the subway. Seriously, opening a bar/restaurant in this town is a bloodsport.
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Jun 3, 2014 18:25
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The bay area food scene is so washed out. I just took a job as the CDC of a hotel. The lazy ungrateful cooks here make 25$/h. unreal.
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Jun 3, 2014 20:29
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Currently consulting on a union hotel property, and the wages are absolutely bonkers. Union regulations about what is done and when and how seniority works are also a whole new world for those of us for whom doing more work than the job description was a way to get promoted, not ostracized.
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Jun 3, 2014 23:13
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How the hell do you even get into consulting for restaurants. I've worked in the industry for almost a decade (kill me now) and the best I've done is return to serving in quasi fine dining. I took a line cook job, moved up to km in about a month, took the restaurant from losing three grand a month to making a profit of 2k, and still didn't make poo poo for wages. I ended up switching to front of house in the same company, making more money overall with less hours. The owners don't seem to like me at all, but the area manager probes me once a month about getting back to running a kitchen in a new location. I just laugh in his face. Maybe if I lived in one of these fantastical places where line cooks make $20/hr.
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Jun 3, 2014 23:44
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I am out now, but I appreciate the $20+/hour jobs that have employee protection and union representation a ton, it's insane how much of the industry prides itself on getting treated like poo poo and barely being paid a living wage.
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Jun 4, 2014 00:17
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giacomo posted:I took a line cook job, moved up to km in about a month, took the restaurant from losing three grand a month to making a profit of 2k, and still didn't make poo poo for wages. If you didn't get a cut out of that 5k swing you hosed yourself on that one. I asked for a raise from 9 to 9.50. "I'll have to think about it, I'll talk about it to the other owner." I know the guy who had this job before me was making 9.50. The next time we have a conversation it's going to be 9.50 or I'm literally walking. gently caress that poo poo. I saw the guy loving up the company so I got trained on his job and replaced him, as a result everyone's happier now that creepy drunk isn't around. His nickname is "Stabby" for gently caress's sake. gently caress.
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Jun 4, 2014 04:56
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Apparently corporate came in today to run wild on the place. It was my day off, so, thank christ for that. I hate it when there's 6 managers around all in anus-painus mode over everything. Also, ending up as the waiter for the head chef's family and his daughter is a terrifying experience.
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Jun 4, 2014 05:27
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Holy gently caress yes it is. Thank god the owner where I work just goes and chats and then tells me what the next few courses are, even then its still horrible. He threw his wedding rehearsal dinner at the restaurant and people who have worked for this man for 20 years + made me take the table because they didn't want to deal with it.
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Jun 4, 2014 06:14
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Alobar posted:I asked for a raise from 9 to 9.50. "I'll have to think about it, I'll talk about it to the other owner." I know the guy who had this job before me was making 9.50. The next time we have a conversation it's going to be 9.50 or I'm literally walking. gently caress that poo poo. I saw the guy loving up the company so I got trained on his job and replaced him, as a result everyone's happier now that creepy drunk isn't around. His nickname is "Stabby" for gently caress's sake. gently caress. Please tell me you're a dishwasher...
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Jun 4, 2014 17:50
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Alobar posted:If you didn't get a cut out of that 5k swing you hosed yourself on that one. No, I got a nice raise, but still not $20/hr.
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Jun 4, 2014 21:09
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$25 an hour is not crazy in SF. Skilled cooks deserve that. It's insane that more people aren't making those wages.
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Jun 5, 2014 00:15
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Aww yeah, gettin' a raise!
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Jun 5, 2014 00:28
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Hello industry thread. I don't know where to post this or who to ask. After years of working in crummy diners I got bored and applied to a bunch of places and a very very very upscale small french place really liked my interview. They want me to come in next week for a trial run and have already said they do not expect me to know anything, as my resume shows I clearly do not have the knowledge for this level of fine dining. They said it was cool and would be willing to teach me from the ground up if "the week goes well" because I seem to have the drive for it and have proven in my years of diner work that I most certainly can stand for eleven hours at a stretch. I have never worked in a fine kitchen and have never even touched half of these ingredients. I've honestly never even seen a few of them and had to google when I got home. Does anyone with experience higher than kitchen manager in a greasy spoon [my peak so far] know what they'll be looking for specifically? Other than ability to pay attention. Should I ask lots of questions? Am I overthinking this?
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Jun 5, 2014 14:14
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Simoom posted:Hello industry thread. I don't know where to post this or who to ask. After years of working in crummy diners I got bored and applied to a bunch of places and a very very very upscale small french place really liked my interview. They want me to come in next week for a trial run and have already said they do not expect me to know anything, as my resume shows I clearly do not have the knowledge for this level of fine dining. They said it was cool and would be willing to teach me from the ground up if "the week goes well" because I seem to have the drive for it and have proven in my years of diner work that I most certainly can stand for eleven hours at a stretch. Yes, you're overthinking it. Obviously they liked the cut of your jib and are giving you a shot, with eyes wide open regarding your lack of fine dining experience. All you need to do is maintain that go-getter attitude that got you the spot to begin with. Yes, ask lots of questions. They know you don't know poo poo - if you're not asking questions, they're going to wonder why. Also, congrats!!
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Jun 5, 2014 14:27
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The Midniter posted:Yes, you're overthinking it. Obviously they liked the cut of your jib and are giving you a shot, with eyes wide open regarding your lack of fine dining experience. All you need to do is maintain that go-getter attitude that got you the spot to begin with. Yes, ask lots of questions. They know you don't know poo poo - if you're not asking questions, they're going to wonder why. I do not work and have not ever worked in a kitchen, but having been in the corporate world and read the hell outta this thread I can tell you that the very best companies (restaurants included I imagine) would much much much much rather hire people who are smart, energetic, willing to learn, and excited than people who already "know everything". I've been in over my head in a lot of jobs and have found that sitting back, observing, and asking everyone else about what they're doing is a great way to gain knowledge AND look good. Other people love talking about themselves and their job- so just ask!
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Jun 5, 2014 15:52
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:I am out now, but I appreciate the $20+/hour jobs that have employee protection and union representation a ton, it's insane how much of the industry prides itself on getting treated like poo poo and barely being paid a living wage. I've never understood this either. At my old job some of the older cooks told me, it's cool if your check is missing a half hour or an hour here or there, it happens. And I just stood there staring at them like, no it's not ok for that poo poo to happen. Nobody should be cool with working for free, especially in our industry.
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Jun 5, 2014 20:30
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