Server Scams

retsaurant owners/managers... arm yourselves...


http://www.amazon.com/review/RSKY7QLYEDPB4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDgrEFvB ... re=related

Buffets at a flat price are bad for corruption too. I had a food server that would drop a single ticket w/4 buffet prices and 4 drinks over and over at several tables. This was 20+ years ago and we didn't keep track of the number of people seated with each server. Interestingly after I fired the server, his father flew back into town to challenge the firing. I felt pretty bad for the dad.

Yeah, I remember when I was a hostess at the Bristol as a teenager, they had two-ply guest checks for their Sunday brunch. At the hostess stand, we wrote down the # of guests and tore off the top part to stab on a spindle for management. Everything was audited by the brunch closing mgr, and if I remember correctly, they were pretty thorough. All of this was strange to me at first because I was so naive about the inherent urge to steal from your employer. This taught me bit about it.

i was at an establishment recently placing an to go order. i sat at the bar waiting for my order to arrive. the server said $20.00 is what i owed. the amount was $20.00 plus a tip of $5.00 total $25.00. as i sit and read the newspaper at the bar. i noticed the server pocketing the money. he didn't notice me watching him. so i checked the menu and figured what i owed and indeed it came to $20.00 right on the nose. my order arrives and i thanked him. and i made a snide remark, you never know who's watching. he became flushed. i went home and called the manager. haven't seen him since.

in defense of the premise of 'innocent until proven guilty'. if it was a server or host, and not a bartender, that took/delivered your to-go order, they would naturally 'pocket' the money, as a server doesnt work from a till. and its WAY harder than you might think to get any food, much less an entire to-go order, out of a kitchen without ringing up said order.

and in regard to an earlier post by someone else about a 1/2 price wine mishap...
it is extremely possible, and in my opinion very likely, that the server made a mistake and probably forgot or didnt know to have that particular bottle discounted by mangement prior to delivering the check. and that there might be a chance that the interperation of that server's 'guilt' MAY just have been a little embarassment/humilty.

i understand that there are bad apples out there... more than a few.
but PLEASE, as guests first and then customers, try to understand that a good server knows that their best interests are looked after by ALWAYS being upfront and honest with their patrons. and that there are more dynamics at work in the restaurant than are visble to the naked eye. and that, believe it or not, sometimes people really do make honest mistakes.

Listen to Matt on this....I knew I was staying out of this one as soon as I saw the title of the thread. I feel that its just going to perpetuate a bunch of undeserved server stereotypes, but I do want to quickly and quietly voice my support of what Matt F. said.

Aw, Jeremy, my intent was not to stir up disdain and suspicion. It can be a comedic topic if you don't take it all too seriously. Bad people exist in almost every profession, and one of the professions we happen to talk about a lot on here is the restaurant server - because it's a forum about restaurants! I didn't mean to poke a hot button. It really was just for a new and interesting topic of discussion.

Oh, the subject and more specifically this thread don't bug me...I just think it's best for me to read and enjoy on this one, as it can be a very fine line between joke/funny and stereotyping...I figured if I just told myself I would stay out of it from the start, then there was no chance it would turn into an argument! Carry on!

All this because of a DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES EPISODE! Wow!

LOL!!!!!

Shhh... Heather, c'mon - it couldn't have possibly sprung from such a debased source. I don't even watch Desperate Housewives!

(I had no idea when I originally posted that I be so busted, but I should've known)

You weren't SO busted..... look how long it took for someone to actually pay attention to the original post!
Ha.... funny. Love it!

Shit...this thread was up before we (I mean Jackie ) even finished watching the episode!

Aw, Jeremy, my intent was not to stir up disdain and suspicion. It can be a comedic topic if you don't take it all too seriously. Bad people exist in almost every profession, and one of the professions we happen to talk about a lot on here is the restaurant server - because it's a forum about restaurants! I didn't mean to poke a hot button. It really was just for a new and interesting topic of discussion.

dear Jackie,

you already know that your views/opinions are gold in my book. and i DO think this is definitely a worthy and interesting topic.
i just didnt want to see people fall prey to a 'reefer madness' of restaurants or anything.

sincerely yours,

reformed tinfoil hat wearer

A fairly common scam works like this:

You have a 4-top that you are pretty sure will get split checks - think a lunch table of businessmen. Each order an entree and a drink. in the POS you set the table us as a 5-top and ring only the drink on seat 5. Time for checks. You print off seats 1 and 5 (entree and drink) then seats 2 and 5 (entree and same drink). Repeat for all seats. The server gets paid for 4 drinks but only rings one. Again this only works for cash tables but this scam was run effectively for many months at a place I worked at before anyone caught on. It's not a lot of money but $1.79 over and over adds up.