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JacquelineDempsey posted:
If you put that in terms of productivity, high-volume experience, and multitasking skills, it absolutely is meaningful.
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Dec 3, 2015 19:49
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Especially if you are looking to transition into a different restaurant as a prep or line cook, I would emphasize that you have experience working in both extremely high and extremely low volume kitchens, since they're generally very different skillsets and require different attitudes and approaches to teamwork. I've worked with plenty of people (in hotels, usually) that are excellent during the dinner rush but can't accomplish poo poo without a full rail and a deadline. Put them on a slow lunch shift and they just stand there, underprep, and manage to not get any cleaning done. The flipside is guys who come from really small restuarants or stalls where they are sometimes the only employee -- they can run pretty much an entire restaurant by themselves (cashier, dishes, janitor, running all the food, cooking all the food), but if you give them a single ticket over their comfort zone they completely break down. Being able to do both is, IMO anyway, a pretty big plus, especially for dishwasher roles where they're going to want you to be able to handle dinner volume but still be able to meaningfully contribute during slow hours. A dishwasher that you don't have to schedule late and cut early because they double as a prep cook is an awesome thing to have on staff.
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Dec 4, 2015 00:29
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I am staying late at work on my friday so I can catch the bluegrass show we've got tonight and it is weirding me the hell out being here but not working. My brain is trying to be "on the job," and it's stressing me the hell out. The dark and stormy is pretty great, though.
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Dec 4, 2015 01:48
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Trebuchet King posted:I am staying late at work on my friday so I can catch the bluegrass show we've got tonight and it is weirding me the hell out being here but not working. My brain is trying to be "on the job," and it's stressing me the hell out. Yeah, if I have a drink at the counter after work and the phone rings when the cashier is away for a second I have to stop myself from reaching over the bar and answering it.
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Dec 4, 2015 02:02
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I had a plate sent back today. It was a veggie burger. The complaint? It tasted too much like a real burger, and as such they didn't believe that it was a veggie patty. I have tremendous respect for vegetarians and I never cook the the veg pats in leftover burger grease and always clear the grill before searing them. Just a little seasoning and canola oil. But make no mistake, it's a pale brown lump of assorted vegetable matter and tastes absolutely nothing like beef. So I shrugged and didn't season the next one. Guess that did the trick! Life is mysterious and wonderful. I will now enjoy my Founders Dark Penance and $10/750ml bourbon and reflect.
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Dec 4, 2015 08:25
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That's amazing. I used to eat a lot of fake meats and stuff but I can't even imagine going WAIT A MINUTE THIS ISN'T A FAKE BURGER AT ALL YOU GUYS TRICKED ME! It's mind-boggling.
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Dec 4, 2015 11:10
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a james beard chef I worked for once told me '90% of what people think they are tasting when they taste a good steak or a burger is salt' he put about a tablespoon of salt on every burger he sent out, and won many awards. steaks all sousvide and impeccable. ditto with vegetables - people think they hate vegetables because their mom made them bland and steamed or whatever - and if you have a properly roasted veg correctly seasoned it tastes great. anyways, I can totally see a hockey puck actually getting seasoned and treated properly, and someone complaining because holy poo poo it actually tastes like something. bleh.
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Dec 4, 2015 11:30
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mindphlux posted:ditto with vegetables - people think they hate vegetables because their mom made them bland and steamed or whatever - and if you have a properly roasted veg correctly seasoned it tastes great.
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Dec 4, 2015 15:49
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I've found something worse than having a 2 hour FOH lunch shift. It's having a 7-3:30 downtown call center job then hopping on metra to the burbs to work a 4 hour FOH dinner rush.  But the call center job is only temp, so unless they offer me a W2 position, it's 2 jobs for me! Going back to POS systems, we use Aloha and it's ok, but our !!!ALLERGY!!! button doesn't work so I have to manually do it every time, and for a while both our to-go and shake printers were down. ...the shake printer is also how we get our online orders. Fun! "Oh, there's a Hawks game tonight, it'll be dead as gently caress." *cue $1100 hour*
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Dec 4, 2015 15:56
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Illinois Smith posted:That's amazing. I used to eat a lot of fake meats and stuff but I can't even imagine going WAIT A MINUTE THIS ISN'T A FAKE BURGER AT ALL YOU GUYS TRICKED ME! It's mind-boggling. I do get that way about soda sometimes. It's astounding how good perfectly mixed diet fountain soda can taste. THIS CANT BE DIET IT TASTES GREAT oh it is diet well thank you and compliments to whomever cleans your soda fountain. Or maybe you're just putting salt in my diet coke, I dunno
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Dec 4, 2015 17:17
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Boss got me a bottle of van winkle 10yr, just cuz. <3
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Dec 4, 2015 17:22
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Safety Dance posted:Speaking of which, the owner of an Athens, GA bistro took everything of value and ran. http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2015-12-01/east-west-bistro-downtown-athens-closed-after-owner-walks-out Must've been a contract sale.
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Dec 5, 2015 04:02
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Suspect Bucket posted:I do get that way about soda sometimes. It's astounding how good perfectly mixed diet fountain soda can taste. THIS CANT BE DIET IT TASTES GREAT oh it is diet well thank you and compliments to whomever cleans your soda fountain. Or maybe you're just putting salt in my diet coke, I dunno I'm grasping at straws, but maybe a difference in the syrup to water or carbonation ratios? Years ago, there was a specific store that consistently had the most delicious Cherry Coke I have ever tasted. When I stopped drinking pop, that was my only weakness. I could walk past one of those fancy hundred's of flavors Coke machines without a thought, but every time I stopped there it was a serious effort not to cave. A note: The rest of this post is slightly E/N, though not in a whiny sort of way. Just something I found amusing, some people might like it and others won't. A few nights back, I went to take the CC slips form a table that had left. Now, our rewards program is cardless - we get guests to put their phone number on their receipt, and we have a separate terminal where we use that to ID their account for putting the points on. One of these slips has a name and phone number on it, so I take it to the terminal and look up the number. No match. Then I noticed the winking smiley face next to the name "Stephen". This is mostly hilarious to me because of just how slowly my brain began to process what had happened. I'm absolutely not homophobic, and as the guy was handsome and very polite I took it as a compliment; even more than that, I can only imagine the courage it took and good on him for trying. However, given my choice, I'd rather it had been an attractive young woman. This came up tangentially with another table toward the end of the night, and I relayed basically what I wrote above. This led to a very entertaining and enjoyable conversation with an old-school black* woman in her 50s to 60s while her two grandchildren (about my age, mid-20s) looked on in horror. Her end of the conversation was essentially this: Homosexuality is a lot more open than it was when she was my age, and was this guy noticeably gay? No? Well, there's one in every family. I know which one it is in mine even if he doesn't think I do. Y'know, women love a man with a nice body, and if a man likes other men, why shouldn't he want the same exact thing? I LOVE a man with a nice firm body. [Granddaughter] here, she goes to the gym and says she sees women keep checking her out, and she doesn't think it's normal, I say why should she be surprised? You're a very handsome man, Vorenus." *It's important to note that they were black because I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that saved the two younger women from glowing red with embarrassment. While I can take great care of a table, serving is about 90% of my social interaction and I'm sometimes borderline Asperger's on noticing social cues. It wasn't until one of the girls made a "Gogogogogo" motion in conjunction with an absolutely mortified facial expression that I realized their embarrassment wasn't so much "Haha, silly grandma again" as it was "I'm so embarrassed I'm losing my will to live". tl;dr Older lady with entertainingly honest opinions disproves stereotypes. Before anyone asks, while I can acknowledge that the man was handsome, I do not have any opinion or evidence as to whether or not he "gets down". Vorenus fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Dec 5, 2015 |
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Dec 5, 2015 18:31
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Vorenus posted:I'm grasping at straws, but maybe a difference in the syrup to water or carbonation ratios? Years ago, there was a specific store that consistently had the most delicious Cherry Coke I have ever tasted. When I stopped drinking pop, that was my only weakness. I could walk past one of those fancy hundred's of flavors Coke machines without a thought, but every time I stopped there it was a serious effort not to cave. This or attribution bias would be the cause. Malfunctions in the machine may have meant you were getting an unusually high concentration of the syrup/concentrate. Similar things happen with packaged soda. Folks who say they can "tell the difference" between sweeteners are basing the distinction on differences introduced at bottling plants that have nothing directly to do with the content of the can/bottle. They nigh-universally fail blind taste tests when bottling practices are controlled for.
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Dec 5, 2015 20:03
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Vorenus posted:I'm grasping at straws, but maybe a difference in the syrup to water or carbonation ratios? Years ago, there was a specific store that consistently had the most delicious Cherry Coke I have ever tasted. When I stopped drinking pop, that was my only weakness. I could walk past one of those fancy hundred's of flavors Coke machines without a thought, but every time I stopped there it was a serious effort not to cave. Confirmed, older black ladies are a loving blast to serve when they're feeling their oats.
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Dec 5, 2015 21:30
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Discendo Vox posted:This or attribution bias would be the cause. Malfunctions in the machine may have meant you were getting an unusually high concentration of the syrup/concentrate. Ah well, guess a soda just sometimes hits the right drat spot. I thought there might be a trick to it, like places that have good Guinness.
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Dec 6, 2015 04:15
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I am very stupid and do not understand a conflict between waiters and owners. Something about taking 3 or 4 percent of a tip to cover the credit card/debit service? Is that ok for an owner to do? This is a very stupid question ,but you have to remember- im a big loving idiot and don't know how the world works. I've never even really known how rent works, as I just give money to a roommate and at the start of the month, it turns out I'm not homeless! I guess the question doesn't really matter, I'm just curious, as I got explanations from both sides, and responded with my usual Childlike Wonder.
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Dec 6, 2015 08:04
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Any Portland goons looking for a BoH position should PM me~
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Dec 6, 2015 08:08
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Simoom posted:I am very stupid and do not understand a conflict between waiters and owners. Something about taking 3 or 4 percent of a tip to cover the credit card/debit service? Is that ok for an owner to do? This is a very stupid question ,but you have to remember- im a big loving idiot and don't know how the world works. I've never even really known how rent works, as I just give money to a roommate and at the start of the month, it turns out I'm not homeless! I guess the question doesn't really matter, I'm just curious, as I got explanations from both sides, and responded with my usual Childlike Wonder. In most states the owner is stealing from the waiter in this situation. I'm not even talking metaphorically, the owner is committing a criminal act.
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Dec 6, 2015 08:22
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Q. My employer is deducting the credit card processing fees from my tips. Is this legal? A. No. Labor Code Section 351 provides that the employer must pay the employee the full amount of the tip that is indicated on the credit card. The employer may not make any deduction for credit card processing fees or costs that are charged to the employer by the credit card company from gratuities paid to the employee. That's taken from http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_tipsandgratuities.htm so at least in California it's a big no-no. Right now we have a lot of buy-outs for holiday parties. We add an automatic 20% gratuity and the manager takes the same cut as the servers. I'm guessing he's considering that a service charge. From the same website: Q. Is a mandatory service charge considered to be the same as a tip or gratuity? A. No, a tip is a voluntary amount left by a patron for an employee. A mandatory service charge is an amount that a patron is required to pay based on a contractual agreement or a specified required service amount listed on the menu of an establishment. An example of a mandatory service charge that is a contractual agreement would be a 10 or 15 percent charge added to the cost of a banquet. Such charges are considered as amounts owed by the patron to the establishment and are not gratuities voluntarily left for the employees. Therefore, when an employer distributes all or part of a service charge to its employees, the distribution may be at the discretion of the employer and the service charge, which would be in the nature of a bonus, would be included in the regular rate of pay when calculating overtime payments. Still a lovely thing to do imo. The owner never keeps any of that money. At least he's out at the end of the month
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Dec 6, 2015 08:42
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Thanks friends. I guess I will start putting out resumes. I feel I am generally treated well where I work, but I have recently found books by David Graeber and this Kropotkin guy at my local library. I'm not sure I understand everything outlined but I'm pretty sure they would frown upon working for an establishment that practices such things.
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Dec 6, 2015 08:50
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Simoom posted:...taking 3 or 4 percent of a tip to cover the credit card/debit service? Is that ok for an owner to do? Depends on your local labor laws and how the tips are being tracked and reported.
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Dec 6, 2015 09:34
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Simoom posted:I am very stupid and do not understand a conflict between waiters and owners. Something about taking 3 or 4 percent of a tip to cover the credit card/debit service? Is that ok for an owner to do? This is a very stupid question ,but you have to remember- im a big loving idiot and don't know how the world works. I've never even really known how rent works, as I just give money to a roommate and at the start of the month, it turns out I'm not homeless! I guess the question doesn't really matter, I'm just curious, as I got explanations from both sides, and responded with my usual Childlike Wonder. In most states it is allowed and done, as long as it does not bring you below the state or federal minimum wage per week (the 7.25+ one not the serve minimum wage).
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Dec 6, 2015 16:32
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Owners are parasites. Alcoholic parasites.
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Dec 6, 2015 18:34
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We've been saying that since the Civil War.
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Dec 6, 2015 23:00
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Splizwarf posted:We've been saying that since the Civil War. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. I feel pretty lucky as our owner is a middle-aged woman who inherited it from her dad, who won the place in a poker game back in 1971. She seems to have a solid head on her shoulders, though she seems to have a weird predilection for puce.
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Dec 7, 2015 00:18
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Are you sure you're not just tipping out the kitchen?
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Dec 7, 2015 01:52
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San'mierde, 1100 for breakfast in 90 minutes this morning, and we were short. Normal would be 600, and 2 more of us on KP. Still,  We did it.This is one of those posts where I go back against my previous post and say "yeah, I really kinda like the work and the rush." I think a lot of it depends on the crew; I had a great crew tonight, that of course makes a world of difference.
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Dec 7, 2015 03:33
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Did 2600 in about 3 hours Saturday. :| Wouldn't have been too bad but we're a small building with about 20 tables for 2-4 people each and only 2 FoH people plus the GM. Every time I would get the line down enough to bus tables and let more people have a seat, the line would be back out to the door. There was some charity walk going on I guess! We knew we were going to be busy, but the GM thought it was going to be a busy lunch and scheduled 4 FoH for then instead of dinner. We did a whopping 1200 from 10a-2p. One of the cooks started bussing and running food around the time I was 30 mins past when I was scheduled to leave and still hadn't been able to refill the shake cooler past about 15 glasses because people were still coming in and ordering. So I'd have to stop, ring them up, make their shakes, then start refilling again.  I started to get angry around the time the new girl was standing at the window waiting for more orders to be ready to go out when I had a stack of shake tickets left to make and was looking at 2 tables needing to be cleared. I really don't mind working a rush because it keeps me moving but holy poo poo, usually it dies down by 7:30 after dinner and I can reset everything before I leave. Edit: shout out to the 2 old guys who took up a table for 2 hours after finishing their food! moonsour fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Dec 7, 2015 |
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Dec 7, 2015 15:31
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moonsour posted:Did 2600 in about 3 hours Saturday. :| Wouldn't have been too bad but we're a small building with about 20 tables for 2-4 people each and only 2 FoH people plus the GM. Every time I would get the line down enough to bus tables and let more people have a seat, the line would be back out to the door. Sorry, I'm kinda new to industry and somewhat stupid about judging numbers (I'm the last person you want to ask about one of those "guess how many jellybeans there are in this jar!" contests) --- do you mean 2600 dollars, or people? fwiw, in my post I meant we served 1100 people in 90 minutes. So, I guess we did $4235 in 90 minutes? Maybe that's why we're getting a raise come the new year... that and gently caress Yeah Unions. (Srsly, if you got industry chops and want better pay/bennies/a union but don't want to go into IT, consider a contractor job if you live near a mil base)
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Dec 7, 2015 19:10
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Your ticket average is under $4?
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Dec 7, 2015 21:51
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pile of brown posted:Your ticket average is under $4? She works at a dfac, almost everyone who eats at these live in the barracks and use meal cards.
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Dec 7, 2015 22:17
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Secret Spoon posted:She works at a dfac, almost everyone who eats at these live in the barracks and use meal cards. Even if you're not on meal card, the prices on most things are insanely low. I used to live off 15 cent hard boiled eggs in the mornings when I was stationed overseas.
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Dec 7, 2015 22:23
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Yeah, breakfast is $3.85, lunch is $5.50, dinner is $4something. Special events like holidays or when they do Iron Chef competitions against another base go from $8-9, depending on your status. Lunch costs more than dinner because we have a slightly bigger spread and do the theme day (Taco Tuesday, Soul Food Thursday, etc) menus for lunch. We take meal cards and cash, and civvies are welcome, you don't have to be military or a govt employee/contractor to eat there. And we do get civvies; for $3.85 including unlimited beverages (and no tip!), you could do worse as far as stuffing yourself silly for breakfast at my DFAC. Along with the requisite steam table pans of biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc, we have a to-order omelet bar, a waffle bar, a smoothie bar, pastries, and the salad bar. It's nothing fancy, but it's a helluva deal if you've got a hangover and $4 in your pocket and just want to murder a breakfast.
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Dec 8, 2015 03:28
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pile of brown posted:Your ticket average is under $4? How's your ticket avg? Ours is ~$28. 5th highest in company, and I raised prices through the FUCKIN ROOF foe next year. gently caress you, you're paying $23 for our goddamn local chicken, mothafuckas.
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Dec 8, 2015 05:44
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moonsour posted:Edit: shout out to the 2 old guys who took up a table for 2 hours after finishing their food! Reading through this whole thread over the past few weeks as an outsider has made me interested in a project of collecting FoH and BoH guidance for diners on how not to be a terrible dick to waiters, cooks and workers generally. What's the upper limit on sitting at a table talking after finishing eating?
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Dec 8, 2015 05:53
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Discendo Vox posted:Reading through this whole thread over the past few weeks as an outsider has made me interested in a project of collecting FoH and BoH guidance for diners on how not to be a terrible dick to waiters, cooks and workers generally. What's the upper limit on sitting at a table talking after finishing eating? An hour, after that, gently caress off. e: but when I come by the table in my Nice Jacket(that stays in the office for when I need to talk to guests), I'm basically telling your table that you didn't spend enough, and we need to make more money tonight, and you're wasting my time/money, so get the gently caress out. But, I'll do it in the absolute nicest way possible. Chef De Cuisinart fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Dec 8, 2015 |
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Dec 8, 2015 05:57
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Discendo Vox posted:Reading through this whole thread over the past few weeks as an outsider has made me interested in a project of collecting FoH and BoH guidance for diners on how not to be a terrible dick to waiters, cooks and workers generally. What's the upper limit on sitting at a table talking after finishing eating? Really depends on the restaurant and the context. Like, if there's a line out the door I'll get up pretty quickly. If I'm in a nicer/slower place that's doing a single seating with no turns, gently caress it, I'mma be there four or five hours enjoying myself & company. I mean, in that situation we're probably doing drinks, apps and entrees over 2ish hours, maybe another 40m for dessert etc. and then the occasional drink after that. You can bet anywhere that doesn't plan to turn over tables, the bill is gonna be large enough to be worth the staff's time regardless.
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Dec 8, 2015 06:57
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:How's your ticket avg? Ours is ~$28. 5th highest in company, and I raised prices through the FUCKIN ROOF foe next year. gently caress you, you're paying $23 for our goddamn local chicken, mothafuckas. It's hard to say because our servers have not mastered the concept of putting the actual number of people at a table on the ticket even though we use that number to run amuses. I'd guesstimate lunch at 18 and dinner at 35ish, if they get an app or dessert w/dinner. We do have a pretty substantial following amongst elderly couples who order a small soup with two spoons for lunch though.
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Dec 8, 2015 08:36
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All right then, a related question because I am a ball of privilege-aware neurosis; how annoying is it for me to eat out alone?
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Dec 8, 2015 08:49
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