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JacquelineDempsey posted:If you're lucky. When I worked at the co-op deli, our peeled garlic was "product of China". Always amused me that I was slinging free range organic gluten free fair trade non-GMO [insert food buzzword] seitan wraps to hand-wringing yoga moms that was made with garlic of questionable provenance with a Godzilla-sized carbon footprint. I think you can spec the Christopher Ranch stuff by levels of fanciness. One of my produce guys sells a 5# bag of what they are telling me is California garlic for $27, and the "organic" variety for $31. Garland sells a product that is South American harvested garlic and peeled in the United States for $14/5# Chinese peeled garlic (no spec, just "Peeled Garlic") is listed at $16.something I like to buy unpeeled stuff so I can give tasks to dishwashers who would otherwise just watch youtube all day.
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Mar 8, 2018 14:44
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infiniteguest posted:What's the law on this in, uh, Texas or whatever? In NY it is straight up illegal to work a 7 day week, even as a salaried person, even as "The Chef", and having any sort of document indicating someone worked a 7 day week (we keep signed documents of managerial days on/off for legal purposes) is considered a liability. They can work you to death in Texas. Only retail and healthcare have a mandatory 6 days in a row only law. Everyone else can be required to work 14 days 7 days a week as long as they are paid.
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Mar 8, 2018 16:09
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empty whippet box posted:So I work at Fuzzy's Taco Shop now, and I like it. Good place to work even if the pay is poo poo, because of course it is. But we get 50% discount on the clock, 25% off the clock. So I go in with my wife to eat and order at the register and ask for my discount. The FOH manager comes over and painstakingly reviews the order to only put the 25% discount on my food, and not on my wife's. Didn't even discount our loving $2 chips and salsa, which we were both eating, obviously. I really don't understand why you'd go out of your way to be a dick to your employee over like $2 like that - it's my loving wife. I'm not bringing in a crowd of my homies to get a discount. I'm sitting there, in the restaurant, eating with my wife. Paid for with my money. The Maestro posted:Or, the owner is particular about things like that and it’s not worth the stress for the FoH manager. It’s not like he or she is going around discounting everybody’s friend’s food and not yours. There are probably written policies regarding that particular thing. Employee discounts are tightly regulated where I work. Maybe instead of just writing that person off completely, ask about the policy? They're tightly regulated at a ton of places simply because a lot of owners have been burned by it a bunch. The very last place I worked wouldn't let employees eat in the restaurant on days they worked (except staff meal) - to go orders only. On off days they had to sit at a table, not at the bar, and the discount only applied to them and their SO, no party of 8. I'm forgetting something else, but the bottom line is that an overly lax employee discount policy WILL be abused - and not even necessarily maliciously, just by people who are broke and think "Hey, XX% off, let's take all our friends there twice a week!" As Maestro said, find out the actual policy. Hell, there's a Tex-Mex joint near me that does a 30% off anything on the menu (other than alcoholic beverages) for the entire table on Mondays provided someone lives in the neighborhood and can prove it (has an ID with one of 3 specific zip codes on it). I've seen people get into arguments with their server over not getting the discount because they forgot their ID and nobody else at their 6 top lived in the area. If you offer discounts, it will be abused so you either have to limit them severely or design them so you're not absolutely losing your rear end on them.
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Mar 8, 2018 16:34
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infiniteguest posted:What's the law on this in, uh, Texas or whatever? In NY it is straight up illegal to work a 7 day week, even as a salaried person, even as "The Chef", and having any sort of document indicating someone worked a 7 day week (we keep signed documents of managerial days on/off for legal purposes) is considered a liability. Working someone 7 days could be a liability if you get sued and the person worked like, 16 hours a day, and they never did drugs ever, etc. in Texas.
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Mar 8, 2018 16:55
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The Maestro posted:Or, the owner is particular about things like that and it’s not worth the stress for the FoH manager. It’s not like he or she is going around discounting everybody’s friend’s food and not yours. There are probably written policies regarding that particular thing. Employee discounts are tightly regulated where I work. Maybe instead of just writing that person off completely, ask about the policy? They could have simply taken 25% off the whole order; instead, with a line behind me, they went through each item figuring out which was mine and doing 25% off that and added it up and keyed it in specifically. They did not explain or warn us in any way that they would do this when they told us about the discount. They said '25% off your order'. They didn't say '25% off ONE entree' or any such thing. I've also seen the actual owners - who work in the BOH - give people food and hook up their orders more than what they paid for. I dunno man, I don't see any good reason for it Shooting Blanks posted:
This is a long shot but do you live in Houston, and are you talking about Montrose Mondays? Like I said....it was just me and my wife, not a 6-top. I could have just called it in as a to go order and gotten the full discount, which is what I will be doing now. Maybe if I ever own a restaurant I'll understand the drive to be petty towards employees, I guess.
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Mar 8, 2018 17:54
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Maybe you could find out if there's a good reason for it, before jumping to the conclusion that your manager at your new job arbitrarily hates you and wants to make your life difficult.
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Mar 8, 2018 17:56
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pile of brown posted:Maybe you could find out if there's a good reason for it, before jumping to the conclusion that your manager at your new job arbitrarily hates you and wants to make your life difficult. I don't think she hates me at all. Hell, I think the management and owners love me thus far. I don't think anyone wants to make my life difficult either. I literally just think this one FOH manager was petty over a discount and gave me bad vibes during the experience.
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Mar 8, 2018 17:59
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Well, you know her and the situation better than we do. Just remember you have to keep working with this person and stewing over it won't make that any easier.
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Mar 8, 2018 18:31
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empty whippet box posted:I don't think she hates me at all. Hell, I think the management and owners love me thus far. I don't think anyone wants to make my life difficult either. I literally just think this one FOH manager was petty over a discount and gave me bad vibes during the experience. She might have been pretty about it, but you also sound like you’re being petty about it.
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Mar 8, 2018 18:38
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The Maestro posted:She might have been pretty about it, but you also sound like you’re being petty about it. Fair enough, I guess it's just the sort of thing where I think I'd do things differently and it took me by surprise and put me off. Seems like the solution is to be more clear about this type of poo poo during orientation and training. Thoht posted:Well, you know her and the situation better than we do. Just remember you have to keep working with this person and stewing over it won't make that any easier. I'm not stewing over it, just bitching a little on the internet. So far I quite like working there. Kinda waiting to see what the situation will be like after the first month or two and the lovely employees are weeded out though(not sure if I mentioned it already but the store opened about two weeks ago). I'm getting tons of hours right now - even got 7 hours of overtime last week - but I know that poo poo ain't gonna last empty whippet box fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Mar 8, 2018 |
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Mar 8, 2018 19:02
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empty whippet box posted:I don't think she hates me at all. Hell, I think the management and owners love me thus far. I don't think anyone wants to make my life difficult either. I literally just think this one FOH manager was petty over a discount and gave me bad vibes during the experience. I've been working at my resto for years and we get a 40% discount on days you work and a 10% discount on days you don't. The other day I had friends visiting so while I was at work I ordered some food for delivery for the next day, I paid for it in advance, and put my 40% discount on it. When it got delivered the next day I had to pay extra at the door because my discount had been adjusted from 40% to 10%. That seemed petty.
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Mar 8, 2018 19:35
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Mezzanon posted:I've been working at my resto for years and we get a 40% discount on days you work and a 10% discount on days you don't. The other day I had friends visiting so while I was at work I ordered some food for delivery for the next day, I paid for it in advance, and put my 40% discount on it. When it got delivered the next day I had to pay extra at the door because my discount had been adjusted from 40% to 10%. Well it is petty, but it's also you trying to game the system, so from an operational standpoint I kinda get it.
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Mar 8, 2018 19:48
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The Midniter posted:Well it is petty, but it's also you trying to game the system, so from an operational standpoint I kinda get it. I 100% admit I was gaming the system.
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Mar 8, 2018 19:52
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Jesus. If I wasn't able to give my crew a staff meal on every shift (or eat one myself, for that matter) I don't know how I'd function. My fridge at home is empty (because I haven't had a day off in a while) and today is my only day off this week, but I have to stop by for an hour to do some ordering, so you better believe I'm grabbing some food while I'm there. If the owner or the bar manager are in, there is a 100% chance that when I sit down to send a couple emails there will be a (free) beer waiting for me. A couple weeks ago when I brought a date in for an event we were doing (that was also a day off for me), when I asked for my bill at the end of the night I got called a loving idiot and told it was taken care of. It would not have been a small bill. I understand why large corporate places and chains have staff meal policies like that, but I guess I've just been working in smaller privately owned places for so long that it seems foreign as gently caress.
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Mar 8, 2018 20:02
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empty whippet box posted:They could have simply taken 25% off the whole order; instead, with a line behind me, they went through each item figuring out which was mine and doing 25% off that and added it up and keyed it in specifically. They did not explain or warn us in any way that they would do this when they told us about the discount. They said '25% off your order'. They didn't say '25% off ONE entree' or any such thing. I've also seen the actual owners - who work in the BOH - give people food and hook up their orders more than what they paid for. I dunno man, I don't see any good reason for it Montrose Monday is exactly what I'm talking about. Interesting that you ask - I wasn't aware there was a Fuzzy's still open, the only one I knew of burned down. That said, it really does depend on what the policy at Fuzzy's is. The owner can give away whatever he or she wants, it's their restaurant. If there is no written policy, however, that's an issue. I dunno dude, sorry you had that experience with your employer but I'd specifically ask what the policy is next time. Naelyan posted:Jesus. If I wasn't able to give my crew a staff meal on every shift (or eat one myself, for that matter) I don't know how I'd function. My fridge at home is empty (because I haven't had a day off in a while) and today is my only day off this week, but I have to stop by for an hour to do some ordering, so you better believe I'm grabbing some food while I'm there. If the owner or the bar manager are in, there is a 100% chance that when I sit down to send a couple emails there will be a (free) beer waiting for me. A couple weeks ago when I brought a date in for an event we were doing (that was also a day off for me), when I asked for my bill at the end of the night I got called a loving idiot and told it was taken care of. It would not have been a small bill. In my experience, staff meal is very different from ordering off the menu - it's been one large meal of whatever (roast chicken, stew, tacos, whatever). There are no choices, you either decide to eat or you don't but it's free. That said, it sounds like you're management if you refer to "your crew," you're getting a beer while you're working, and you're going in on your day off to place an order. Management typically gets taken care of differently, with more perks - it's part of the job. The point is, it varies widely from owner to owner. I know of one bar that not only does inventory every single night, they weigh the bottles every single night because years ago the owner was getting ripped off. That doesn't happen any more, and it's one of the smallest bars around. Corporate is more likely to have strict policies, but even small, individually owned joints will have policies that reflect their past experience.
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Mar 8, 2018 20:33
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We also feed all the staff Fernet after busy services, and everyone from FOH to dishwashers gets to order whatever they want for their staff meal (with the exception of a few expensive proteins), so I realize my place is on the far side of the spectrum of things, but hearing about places itemizing staff meals while there's a line of people still makes me sad.
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Mar 8, 2018 20:48
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Naelyan posted:Jesus. If I wasn't able to give my crew a staff meal on every shift (or eat one myself, for that matter) I don't know how I'd function. My fridge at home is empty (because I haven't had a day off in a while) and today is my only day off this week, but I have to stop by for an hour to do some ordering, so you better believe I'm grabbing some food while I'm there. If the owner or the bar manager are in, there is a 100% chance that when I sit down to send a couple emails there will be a (free) beer waiting for me. A couple weeks ago when I brought a date in for an event we were doing (that was also a day off for me), when I asked for my bill at the end of the night I got called a loving idiot and told it was taken care of. It would not have been a small bill. This is actually a franchise store, not a corporate one. Fuzzy's has like 100 locations and some are corporate and follow all their guidelines to the letter and then franchises do what the gently caress they want outside of general experience guidelines like core menu items. I'm not sure if the employee discounts would fall under that umbrella, but I don't think they do. Shooting Blanks posted:Montrose Monday is exactly what I'm talking about. Interesting that you ask - I wasn't aware there was a Fuzzy's still open, the only one I knew of burned down. Fuzzy's is a chain with like 100 stores. I think you're actually referring to the original one? I'm not totally sure about the origin story of fuzzy's. Also your posts have now made me miss El Real. Naelyan posted:We also feed all the staff Fernet after busy services, and everyone from FOH to dishwashers gets to order whatever they want for their staff meal (with the exception of a few expensive proteins), so I realize my place is on the far side of the spectrum of things, but hearing about places itemizing staff meals while there's a line of people still makes me sad. The line thing is what really bugged me about it. Taking an extra 2-3 minutes to do that while there's a line out the door is absurd - you wait in line, order, then sit down, so it was genuinely holding up every one of those people. Whatever you gotta do to make your point, I guess.....however, bitching about it here has honestly chilled me out about it, it's really not a big deal and as long as I know what the rules actually are it won't slap me in the face when it turns out they aren't what I thought. Now, in the back of house, I haven't seen any stinginess. If an order gets sent back, usually one of the owners(who stays on the line cooking all day, which I respect a lot for an owner to be doing) walks back to the prep area and says '[whatever it is] goin in the garbage! 15 seconds!' and whoever wants it/part of it can come by and grab it. I knew one owner who would literally fire people for eating anything that got sent back, because, and I quote, "it's my food, I paid for it and if I want to throw it away then I'll throw it away." Also I love that the owners are in the kitchen with us busting their asses every day - the last place I worked, the owner sat at home and watched us on the cameras and would call up and bitch about little poo poo. It was awful. empty whippet box fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Mar 8, 2018 |
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Mar 8, 2018 20:54
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pile of brown posted:ready to get down I understood that reference.
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Mar 8, 2018 22:52
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empty whippet box posted:Fuzzy's is a chain with like 100 stores. I think you're actually referring to the original one? I'm not totally sure about the origin story of fuzzy's. Also your posts have now made me miss El Real. Fuzzy's started in Fort Worth, actually - the one I mentioned in Houston was the first one, but I checked and apparently they opened 3 more. And yeah, El Real is great these days - they've been hit or miss over the years, they've gone through patches of being really awful and patches (like now) of being fantastic. Montrose Mondays are among the best meal deals in Houston, even after they lowered the discount (which is completely reasonable given how food costs have increased since they started that promotion). Where are you these days?
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Mar 9, 2018 03:27
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I live in Hattiesburg, MS - I've never lived in Houston but my twin brother did until recently, my sister and aunt still do and my grandparents both did 'till they passed. My brother lived in Montrose for a while and thus I've eaten at a bunch of awesome mexican places there when visiting. Montrose Mondays happened several times because, I mean, c'mon, how could you not?
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Mar 9, 2018 04:02
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Turkeybone posted:I understood that reference. So good of you to check in every 4 months you sellout motherfucker grats bruh
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Mar 9, 2018 07:32
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Finally caught up on the thread. I guess I'm one of like 4 FOH people here? Bartending was supposed to be a side gig for a few months and I've crammed almost eight years into those few months.
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Mar 9, 2018 12:01
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I've got a work trip to Detroit this coming week. Last time I was there, we had a team outing to Firebird Tavern near Greektown. I ordered their diner burger, and it came with the best shoestring french fries I've ever had in my life. Perfectly fried to a pale golden blonde but amazingly crispy, and salted like a goddamn french fry should be salted. I was so impressed that I told the server that I wanted to buy a round for the kitchen. She looked at me quizzically and went to clear it with the manager or something, I guess. When she came back she said "They all want a shot of Jameson, but they'll have to wait until after their shifts to have it." I'm like...yeah, I know, I didn't expect them to take shots on the clock right now. Anyway, the way it was handled seemed like it was a rare or even unheard-of instance, but I'm always seeing peeps in this thread talk about buying a round for the BOH. Is it really that unheard of, or did I do something wrong? It was the first time I've ever done anything like that.
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Mar 9, 2018 15:44
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Nah, you didn't do anything wrong. It doesn't happen very often in my own experience but it's definitely not unheard of and it sounds like you made their night special. Good on ya 
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Mar 9, 2018 18:38
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If I know the BoH I’ve definitely hooked the line up in the past, but most places look at you funny if you’re handing a bottle of mezcal off to chef before the meal (which crushed us, shockingly).
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Mar 9, 2018 19:31
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Nothing wrong at all - hell, one place near me has it on the menu to buy a round for the kitchen (I don't remember the cost but it's cheap). But it's not common, especially from a first time so an odd look isn't unwarranted.
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Mar 9, 2018 19:47
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Penisaurus Sex posted:Finally caught up on the thread. I guess I'm one of like 4 FOH people here? Yeah as I recall it's you, me, a man and his dog
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Mar 9, 2018 20:44
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I tend to buy a lot more rounds for the kitchen when I`m traveling than when I`m just out for a dinner at home. A few years back someone (I can`t even say who it was at this point) started buying BOH rounds, so then when people were at their place they bought a round, and then elsewhere, and then all of a sudden (not everywhere in the city, but at all the restaurants in our cliquey little in-group) every loving BOH had 2 or 3 drinks at the end of the night and every time I went out I was spending an extra $20-40 on shots for the kitchen even if I was just meeting my girlfriend for a drink after work and it just got loving ridiculous so we just kind of all stopped. There was one night, a Monday, at a pretty regular industry bar, that the back had so many drinks for them that the closing cook just came out of the kitchen with a tray of shots and started handing them to random people. I was already drunk that night. I may have contributed to the stupid number of BOH drinks. I may have gotten even drunker after that.
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Mar 9, 2018 21:17
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Mezzanon posted:Yeah as I recall it's you, me, a man and his dog Bar manager checking in
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Mar 9, 2018 21:51
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Mezzanon posted:Yeah as I recall it's you, me, a man and his dog Skwirl is FOH, I'm former FOH and I think bloody ghost titty and maybe Turkeybone are both former FOH as well.
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Mar 9, 2018 23:43
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I'm FOH
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Mar 10, 2018 01:36
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former bartender/server
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Mar 10, 2018 02:30
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The Maestro posted:Bar manager checking in Same. I got trench promoted last year. It's been mostly frustrating with tiny bursts of joy. I work for a major hotel chain in a pretty backwater town and moving beyond what's directly in front of my staff is a huge challenge (in that, what is our competition selling and establishing the bounds of what you can get away with?)
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Mar 10, 2018 03:12
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Mezzanon posted:Yeah as I recall it's you, me, a man and his dog Truly glorious representation of the FoH.
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Mar 10, 2018 03:19
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Finally found and caught up on this thread. FoH/BoH switch here, mostly BoH now. I'm stuck in a small town in the Midwest where the fancy dining options are pretty much limited to: Applebee's, Olive Garden, and Buffalo Wild Wings. I hate chicken wings and never really got into sports, so naturally, I work at Buffalo. On a good day, our fryers don't literally catch on fire. Hopefully, someday, we'll get the remodel we were promised in 2015! CdC, I showed a picture of your kitchen to my GM about a week ago, and I actually watched him start daydreaming about being there instead. So much kitchen envy.
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Mar 10, 2018 07:33
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Penisaurus Sex posted:Same. I got trench promoted last year. It's been mostly frustrating with tiny bursts of joy. I want to know more, for two reasons: I don’t really understand what you’re saying, and I want to help you overcome whatever it is that you’re saying.
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Mar 10, 2018 11:44
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We get 50% menu price on the clock, nothing off the clock, and two free shift drinks that we're allowed to start drinking within the last 30-60min of our shift, depending on how busy we are. Speaking of fryers, we have two and only two in our 12' stretch of kitchen behind the bar. We have 6 different kinds of fries, 30 different deep fried apps, are known locally for our wings plus have boneless wings and chicken strips. Our fryers get super hosed, and the amount of sediment that can build up in the bottom of them in a day or two is staggering. Also, working the charbroiler/fryer side is a constant time management puzzle and lots of fun. E: ask me about having Jalapeno poppers, 3 cheese jalapeno bites, jalapeno cheese bites, pepper jack cheese bites, and white cheddar red pepper bites all on the menu at a place with hand-written tickets. Oldsrocket_27 fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Mar 10, 2018 |
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Mar 10, 2018 16:21
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The Maestro posted:I want to know more, for two reasons: I don’t really understand what you’re saying, and I want to help you overcome whatever it is that you’re saying. As I understand it, he's struggling with a staff that can work even semi-autonomously which is taking time away from what he thinks bar management should be doing - competitive analysis within his local market (hotel chain in a backwater town) and how to improve sales based on that, and understanding how much authority he has to implement changes (which I'm assuming are things like drink menu, product mix, staffing, promotions, etc.) Also, I was a bar manager for years, happy to lend any advice as well if you can go into more detail.
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Mar 10, 2018 16:34
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Oldsrocket_27 posted:We get 50% menu price on the clock, nothing off the clock, and two free shift drinks that we're allowed to start drinking within the last 30-60min of our shift, depending on how busy we are. loving hell, man. I'm regarded as the queen of the fry station, and I don't think I could handle that hot nonsense. Out of curiosity, how often do you change your oil and clean your fryer? We're currently doing full changes and cleanings three times a week, but our sister store has switched from doing that to straining the oil every day, and doing a full change only once a week. On the subject of discounts: we eat whatever the hell we want on the clock, and get 50% off anything from our store off the clock. We also get half off anything but entrees at the sister store, and $2 pitchers of draft beer. I think I lucked out in that area.
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Mar 10, 2018 21:32
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Shooting Blanks posted:Skwirl is FOH, I'm former FOH and I think bloody ghost titty and maybe Turkeybone are both former FOH as well. I was FoH for more than a decade, moved to supply side. Feels good, man.
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Mar 10, 2018 22:15
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