A Facebook Servers Rant....Justified?

[Robin Garr]

Ok, GO.

We're not going to beat you up for expressing an honest, thoughtful opinion, Kimberly. Keep em coming!

I don't post much. I'm sure I will post less after this, so have at it. Tipping has always bothered me. I worked as a waitress many years as I went to college and grad school. I always tip 20% UNLESS service is bad, then I drop it down. Here is my issue. You took that job. You knew when you did that most of your income would be based on the good will of those you serve. I was a damn good waitress when I did it and the immediate gratification was sometimes intoxicating, the disappointment devastating.

Now, I am a social worker. Another job that doesn't pay well. I did a damn good job today. No one left me anything extra when I was done. I'm involved in changing the mentality of my profession, not just complaining about it. Oh, I DO complain about it, but I'm also working to be compensated for my education, dedication and hard work by MY EMPLOYER, not those I serve.

Ok, GO.

Kimberly,
Thanks for your post, even though it appears you expected to be slammed. Your point is well taken- ALL jobs have their challenges and (hopefully) rewards. And we all get to choose.

I bet you are a great social worker, and the rewards there are not about money.
Deb

Mr. Shepard, That is one of the main purposes of facebook, to rant, to express yourself, and hope someone understands and commiserates. I waited back in the days of Table-side cooking, flambe desserts, and Caesar salads to order, I would love to see the majority of the population handle all that with grace and a smile on their face. Don't be so quick to judge, and hey, have you heard,,, jobs are a wee bit difficult to get these days!! Walk in my shoes a day, and your back will be aching, and your feet will be stinking. Just saying. Peace on the wait staff. High IQ required for the best waiters that I've met, who are making ends meet the best the can while that great American novel is fermenting, or that photography portfolio is growing, or just cause our country can't subsidize artists, but can oil companies, they have a slightly difficult time.

Susanne,

I am sure your job is the ONLY job where people bust their ass to make a livin....as KimberlyW so elegantly wrote, and I paraphrase, no one is EVER forced to take a job. My guess is that most people feel that they are underpaid for what they do. So, you either stay where you are or you make changes in your situation to improve upon it. Sometimes that means changing jobs and sometimes that means changing careers.

I don't buy the "there aren't any jobs out there" line. Simply put, if you post your resume and wait for a phone call then you are probably right, you'll be waiting a long time. But if you really want to find work there are absolutely things that can be done to find it. You see, what happens is that while someone is complaining about their raw deal in life, someone else is knocking on that door until they find an employer that says, "Come on in, you are exactly who we've been looking for".

I am not sure why our government should be subsidizing artists anyway??

For the spiritual and intellectual good of the country, like every other western society does, including our neighbors to the south. But no, we subsidize and tax break the hell out of offshore companies and wonderful venues like fourth street live with their private property traversing our tax supported roads. But the point being, it is easy to get a waiting job, not so easy to do a good job, takes a mind that can react on an intellectual level that is above many other jobs I've been involved in...and I've had by share, Including teaching University and being a Colby Fellow at the University of Michigan, Circumstance finds us in many lines of work, and just changing because your are burned out or disgusted isn't always as easy as just being in the right place at the right time. Since this is a food blog, and all of us loving foodies, it seems waiters should be the last people we should be questioning when they bring valid points to the front. If you don't want to support restaurants, or the wait staff, or you are under the impression that we have no right to express or views, or rant, or say Fuck once in a while after a hard night, then maybe those persons should eat at home. Give us a break. I'll go you one better, come on by my restaurant and I'll pay you a fair wage to wash dishes and learn prep a couple of days a week to get an inkling of how hard the job is. That is where you really have to start to learn the business, Forget all those fancy schools, I've worked with many a Culinary Grad that do not have a clue. You can't enjoy the fruits of our labors and then expect us to find some other soul fulfilling work as soon as something chafes our asses. I do what I love and also do what I do to support my family. Foodies should know all aspects of the business if they truly want to be experts at their self appointed titles. Its all good. Tip well. Waiters are not servants, but usually articulate, hard working people, who have good and bad days like all of us. This forum was really about what people should tip, and I digress. For that I apologize.
William Smith
Owner
Shady Lane Cafe

I've silently observed threads on LHB about the blight of the server and silently witnessed the rants over the last several years. Before I start coming across as an asshole, (I am not denying that I am one overall, but do not feel I am one specific to this argument) let me say that I have full respect for anyone who is making a living for him/herself via whatever their job as opposed to a welfare check funded from my paycheck.

It's not a secret what you are going to make and deal with. You choose to take a waiter job and its pay. Despite what others post, you have an unskilled position. There are hundreds of thousands of people that can serve tables like you do. There are not hundreds of thousands of people that can apply Six Sigma and Lean Thinking to optimize processes for a Fortune 100 company like I do. Again, not trying to be a dick, but I waited tables as a 18 year old with minimal training and did a great job. I would have been fired in my current role when I was 18.

I didn't get much sleep much last weekend, as a project I proposed and managed was to go live on Monday. The success or failure of the project will have over a $750,000 impact on my company. In contrast, a Charlestown pizza restaurant owner has stated on these forums, that waiters should make more than $100,000 a year because amongst other reasons, they wash their hands allot.

A waiters job in to be nice, write down my order, refill my drink, bring my order and to clear my plate.

Given, a tiny subset offers additional knowledge, such as wine knowledge or a culinary background that will help in recommendations, as a whole, your job can be done extremely well by a high-school graduate with minimal training.

Why does Tom Brady make so much? Because very few people can do what he does.

Why does a waiter not make much? Because the vast majority of people can do their job.

Point #2, why in the hell are restaurants getting a pass on paying waiters less than my neighbor's 10 year old daughter that walks my dog?

For the most part, you get no benefits and make less than Little Ceaser's paid me when I was 15. Yet you bitch about tips and not that your restaurant pays you slave wages.

I don't think Home Depot would get away with paying their employees $2 something an hour and hoping their customers will give their employees enough money to live as a result of the service they receive.

Troy, thank you so much for putting me in my place. I thought I had made an informed decision about my profession, one that works for me at this particular time of my life. Thanks to you I now realize that I do it because I have a very narrow skill set and seemingly provide very little to the community at large except I am not a drain on their paycheck. I am not exactly sure what to do with my resume filled with 30 years of schooling, community service, and professional awards- I imagine it will make good insulation for my shoes since I make so little money.

Despite what others post, you have an unskilled position. There are hundreds of thousands of people that can serve tables like you do.

Damn. Twenty years in this business and I'm still unskilled? People are gonna start thinking I went to Sullivan. lol

Perhaps most people think that their particular line of work is the most difficult/under-appreciated/thankless.

Different people have different skill sets that may make them more apt for a particular line of work.

I imagine that everyone complains about their job at least every now and again. People in your same line of work probably empathize with your complaining, but people in other lines of work probably think you're just whining because they are so busy whining about how difficult/important/thankless their own job is.

so basically, we all bitch about our work, and to others, it looks...bitchy.

I've silently observed threads on LHB about the blight of the server and silently witnessed the rants over the last several years.

Thank you for coming out of your silent observation phase. I find it's always better to know when I'm in the presence of a superior life form.

One of reasons that restaurants don't pay more, is the razor thin profit margin that we make because assholes (your description not mine) would refuse to pay a fair price for the products they consume...just as they won't, as I mentioned earlier, pay a fair price for coffee, sugar, salt, silicon, etc... because they would rather help run multi-million dollar companies, than be assured that children aren't working in Apple factories on fifteen hour shifts, or third world farmers are starving, because damn it, we want what we want, cheap! And I'm sure if your project fails, and you are laid off, you wouldn't even consider applying for unemployment, taking money from my taxes. You should be proud of your superior outlook on life. I bet in your spare time you read old textbooks on eugenics just for a laugh. Hey, I hear they have a Foodie tour coming up at the garbage dumps down in Rio. Everything is free. Sound interesting?

My last words on the subject.
Bill

I've silently observed threads on LHB about the blight of the server and silently witnessed the rants over the last several years.

Thank you for coming out of your silent observation phase. I find it's always better to know when I'm in the presence of a superior life form.

LaDy Gray strikes....I believe she's drawn blood! Wait....no...I see – it is only a thin tomato puree.

Countess De Gray observes the pitiful wretch and yawns her disappointment. Hardly worth the effort for this ageless femme fatale. She slips smoothly back into velvet shadows, leaving us with only a faint scent of oriental wood and lemons, and a single gleam of reflected light that winks out so quickly you doubt you ever saw it.

Wow. Between this thread and the other one on showing up right before close.... I have learned what not to start a thread about on this forum.

Still- with all of the back and forthing here- the original post was on a waiters own FB page, not here. He/she did not post it here to complain. Shouldn't everyone be able to have the freedom to bitch about their own job on their own FB page? I think so. Sounds like it was a shitty night... and there was a need to vent. We all need that, right? And hey, if you are friends with this person, and you think they are a jerk, unfriend them! Then you don't have to hear a thing about it anymore.

Makes me sad the us vs. them themes that I am reading here in both threads. I was a waiter for 15 years, in very high end dining. Loved it for the most part. Been only a diner for the past decade or so and have found that being polite to service staff really does make a difference in how you are treated. Yes, sometimes there will be a jerk waiting on you, but for the most part, if you are polite, the service will be as well.

[Robin Garr]

Yes, sometimes there will be a jerk waiting on you, but for the most part, if you are polite, the service will be as well.

Wise words.

I waited tables as a 18 year old with minimal training and did a great job. I would have been fired in my current role when I was 18.

I realize you're just trying to offer an alternate perspective on this topic, but where where did you wait tables at 18? You have to be 20 and a day to serve alcohol, so what barometer is utilized in determining the quality of your service if we're talking about a place that doesn't serve alcohol and would hire an 18 yr old to serve tables? I just don't think I'm sold on this qualifier that you know what it takes to do well in this occupation, or that at 18 you knew what is was to be good at what you were doing.

My sister is the sales and marketing director for the Indy Marriott downtown (she coordinated with the Giants travel manager for their superbowl stay, had free tix to the game, taste of NFL, etc...) and this statement makes me wonder how she would react to criticism from a Red Roof Inn front desk clerk.

[Robin Garr]

this statement makes me wonder how she would react to criticism from a Red Roof Inn front desk clerk.

hey, let's not be hatin' on Red Roof! They let you check in really late!