Has anyone worked in a restaurant?

Question

waiter,waitress,host,busser..etc

Give me a run down on a busy day at a restarant for you?

Is it really hectic and and are u exhausted at the end?

its for a urban studies project..

thanks everyone

Answer 1

I was a busser when I was 15.  I usually worked between 3 and 4 hours a night.  Busy nights, it was important to get the tables cleared and reset quickly so more people could be seated.  Although, it was normally only busy on holidays and weekends.  Sometimes the waitresses would clean the tables if there were numerous tables that left around the same time.  They wanted to make sure there was an open table for another set of customers.

It was a pretty good job at age 15 because my base pay was a little over min. wage +tips (usually around $10).

This was a disgusting restaurant!!! They had a rat problem, until the new owners came in.  After closing one night, the new owners and employees were very quiet so we could see the rats.  There were a few of them that raced by us!!  They eventually had the problem under control...

We placed a relish tray with carrots, celery, and pickles on the tables as an appetizer.  The vegetables that weren't eaten were taken to the kitchen to be reused.  This only lasted for so long.  Later, we just put only a couple of each vegetable on the tray.  I wouldn't have eaten those carrots or celery.  Who knows how long they were sitting in that tub of water...getting soggy.  

I didn't like being in the smoking section or at the break table where I was exposed to second hand smoke.

There was also one waitress that took advantage of the bussers by having us do a lot of her job.  In the end, I think she was one of the major reasons why I quit.  It would be okay for us to do things every once in a while, but our main job was to clear the tables, wipe them off, then set them.  It was also important to make sure all coffee and water cups were filled.  Just stop asking for so many favors!!!  Do your own job!!! (She also gave us the least amount in tips!)

Miss Demanding would put uneaten food from customer’s plates in a plastic bag for her "cat".  We knew that she really ate it for a snack:)lol

Answer 2

I've worked for Hooters& Canada's Best T.V gentlemen's club.

You are soooo tired after work, dancingaround and wearing tight clothes doesn't help.I wouldsay it's a pretty hard job.

Answer 3

i worked for chili's as a cook. it was one of the worst jobs i have ever had, i was a very good worker so the managers used me alot. the worst was when they sent all the other cooks home( to save them money) and i was left to do it all. ya it was not real busy at those times but one person cooking for 20 to 30 people was not fun. it got so hot in there we had to put towels on our head under our hat to catch the sweat.

we only got two 5 minute breaks a day. worst of all when i put my two weeks to go to another job, they would not pay me for my vacation time i had saved. i worked there for 3 years and only missed work one time and that was because we had a bad snowstorm and was never once late for work. they are a crappy restaurant to work for!!! very physical work!!!

Answer 4

i was an "expiditor". which is a fancy way to describe the person who stands at the kitchen window, and takes the food to ALL of the tables for the servers.

its was generally not busy on weekdays. on fri/ sat, however it was chaotic. usually from about 6-10pm.

lots of drama with costomers, lots of stupid servers. sometimes it was tiring, but shifts are generally only 5-6 hours, so its not too bad.

Answer 5

I worked at restaurants all through college, let me tell you. It is harder work than you would think. You are on your feet, people bitching, dealing with cooks, hostesses that double or triple seat you. It is hard work.

Answer 6

okay I have worked at so many restaraunts and i can tell you its like a second life. The most memorable one was waffle house. i can honestly say it was worth the money because i was bring home at least  500 dollars a week just in tips. It was filled with drama but there was never a dull moment my favorite memory was when master p thats a rapper if u dont know came on with his whole crew it was so exciting but hectic trying to get everyones orders and drinks...I know for a fact not everyone got what they ordered but noone left empty handed..lol not all days were so great sometimes you had to deal with rude people and i couldnt stand when a big group of teens came in working you to death and not leaving a tip.. and a lot of the time the customers would make a big deal about an order being messed up when all i had to do was take it back and get it fixed I was working 10 hour shifts some nights when i got home my feet ached my back hurt and i could barely hold my head up all i wanted to do was sleep. over all being a waitress was always the best job i ever had

Answer 7

Does being a bartender count? Because yes, that is really hectic. I start at eight and usually don't get home until around four, meaning I have to sleep all day and work all night. I mostly love the music, but occasionally they have bands that just make you feel like stabbing someone. And after a couple of drinks, the comments thrown at me start getting more and more colorful. Although it sounds like I hate my job, I actually couldn't love it more, even if it does test my patience sometimes.

Answer 8

Be a waiter/ waitress if you want the most money (that is, as long as you have good people skills and show people that you care). If you don't like to do much or have much responsibility be a busser. And if you want responsibility but don't want to move much then be a host.

Answer 9

I did when I was 15 and it sucks, people treated you like c**p and i got paid $5.50 a hour, I have a profession now that pays 3 times that.

Answer 10

BOY WAS I!

I worked at Red Lobster for 7 months and I was a server.  The max tables that Red Lobster will give at a time is 3 to enhance customer service.  You would think that would make it easier right? WronG!  Sometimes you get triple sat and have to take all three orders right away (you don't want to keep customers waiting)  Customers ALWAYS want something extra that you are not usually supposed to give out but the customer is always right.  SALADS, BREAD, Running food for your tables, running food for other waitress tables (HOT FOOD ALWAYS GOES OUT WHETHER ITS YOURS OR NOT) and getting crappy tips for all of your hard work.  On top of all that, it is QUITE possible that you have to work a split shift which means you work a 5 hour shift, get a small break and work another 5 hour shift in one day. 10 hours!  At the end of the day you have "side work'.  This work is what you have to do to keep the restaurant up... The three tables that you had have to be swept or vaccuumed.  Salt and Pepper shakers full.  Sweet and Low and Splenda Full.  Plates and Silver organized and seats wiped down.  After that you have assigned work according to what time you are CUT.  For example if you are cut early you may have to take out the trash and change all cans or fill up the ice.  If you are cut late, you maybe required to do something heavier like break down the salad bar or restock souffle cups,cut lemons, or vegetables, or restock cups, knives, forks, etc.  Then you have to get checked by the shift leader so if you think you are getting off without doing something, think again.  Turn in your cash, keep your tips and go home.  I PROMISe your feet will hurt until it is time to do it again in the morning! Sometimes the tips are worth it but I used to have nightmares about being triple sat and not having enough time to take all orders so they leave which means no tip for you and bad restaurant rating!  Being a waitress was h**l! Especially on holidays!  MOTHERS DAY TO BE EXACT!

Answer 11

I have worked as a server on and off for ten years at diners, casual dining, and fine dining restaurants.

  A busy day for me?  Let's see: arriving for my shift to find the shift before mine didn't leave things in order, and having to rush around to do their work and mine.  Maybe some jerk co-worker or two can't show up for their shift because they have something better to do, and call in sick.  Then you have a packed restaurant, and not enough servers to properly take care of all of the tables.  Then you sometimes have the hostess that can't seem to get the rotation of table sections down.  There's the busser who is too busy talking to their busser friends to clear and reset your tables so you have to find time to try and do it yourself.  You may be starving, thirsty, or even about to pee your pants, but you are too busy to take a break, and you are working a double shift, because so and so couldn't show up for work.  You're racing around, and eventually can't even think straight.

  And all this stress in hopes that all of your tables will tip at least 15% of their bill!  Yes working in a restaurant can be hectic on a busy day, but it's usually when I am working with incompetant people.  Thankfully that's not every day.  I would have to say that working in a restaurant is the most exhausting and stressful job.

Answer 12

Did my time as busboy and dishwasher. It's hectic but it gives you plenty of aerobic exercise and it's honest work. I didn't much like it, as I always worked at crappy places,  but it got me through the hard times.

I am always patient, understanding, and kind to restaurant staff as a result. And I tip well, in cash.

Answer 13

I'm a cook, and here's what I do five-six days a week:

Show up at the restaurant around 11:45.

Turn off my cellphone, change into my pants, clogs, jacket, hat, put on an apron, scrub my hands and arms.

Check the prep list I made last night, go through my station and make sure that I didn't miss anything.

Talk to my chef about any specials he wants to run, stuff he wants to use up in that day's Amuse Bouche (I also have to discuss the amuse itself with him, and get his approval before I can even begin preparing it), special menus we're running for parties, etc.

Set up my steamtable with all my soups, stocks, sauces, etc that I need to have heated up by service.

Prep the amuse bouche (about 50 servings at an absolute minimum) then work on all the stuff I'm going to need for that night's dinner service, and then get started on stuff for the day after, or work on other projects.

At about 3:30 I take a quick pause to 'set' my station - meaning I grab all the saucing spoons, bain-maries, side towels, sizzle platters, saute pans, etc that I'm going to need for service that night.

Around 4:30 we have 'family meal' which is a dinner we serve to ourselves and the front of house staff before service begins at 5.

At 4:40 I make sure we've got all the house bread trayed and ready to go into the ovens, the amuse bouche are plated, and if not plated at least set up and ready to plate easily, I have to set up the expeditor and patissier's stations, and after all that if I'm lucky I take a quick break to splash some water on my face, take some deep breaths, and get mentally prepared for service.

At 5 the first reservations show up, and service begins. I begin cooking food to order, setting amuse bouche in the passe for each order that comes in, and helping the patissier when he gets too busy with desserts and I've got free hands.

Service usually winds down around 9:30 or so, at which point I make my prep list for the next day, begin to break down my station, and talk to the chef about tomorrow's amuse bouche. If I've got some extra time I'll organize the walk-in cooler, because it's ridiculously small and we never have enough room in it for all the stuff we have. Think playing jenga with boxes, cambros, and sacks of produce.

Once service ends at 10pm, I close my station down all the way and begin helping clean up the kitchen. We usually get done cleaning around 11-11:30, and I'm out the door by midnight or so.

I go home, take a shower, sharpen my knives, clean off my clogs (they're leather, so I try to keep them looking nice), read up on what I want to do for tomorrow's amuse, and then I pass the **** out, because I've got to do it all over again tomorrow. If I've got a little extra time, I d**k around on Y!A because it's fun.

Yes, it's really hectic, and yes, I'm exhausted at the end of the day. I love what I do, and I'm extremely proud of the food my fellow cooks and I produce, and that makes the constant pain in my hands, feet, knees, neck, shoulders, back, etc etc worthwhile. Oh, that whole not making very much money thing, too.

Answer 14

I was a dishwasher for a summer in high school.

You have to clear all the leftover food off the dishes, move the dishes over so the busboys would have room on the metal track/sink to put more dishes. Load the dishes into the trays, spray them down, load the tray in the machine, then run the machine. The dishes come out in about 2 minutes, but they're extremely hot. You have to move them from the machine and reload the dishes into the kitchen and the wait stations. During busy times, it's a bit hectic to stay ahead of all the dirty dishes coming in. At the same time, you have to do the same to the drinkware and restock the bar.

When it's slow in the kitchen, it was my job to lift the debris mats, sweep, then mop the floor. At the end of the day, I had to clean out the pots and pans too.  It's quite tiring since you're standing about 99% of the time and there's some modest lifting (moving trays of dishes and glasses around and to the kitchen and bar.)  That was one job I was exhausted at the end, but it felt good since it was my first job and I could see the results of my work.

Answer 15

I worked as a hostess and started out on, i think it was, a Friday night.  I came home so tired that night , I couldn't believe it.  The restaurant was soooo busy and I was running around all night, seating people, cleaning off tables, helping servers, answering the phone, etc.  After a while I became a server and that was hectic too but the money was a lot better (tips).  I couldn't handle more than like four or five tables, it was kinda stressful.  I did like how the time would go by fast and you had money at the end of the night to take home.  One thing I didn't like was not knowing when I would get out.  My friends were always waiting on me and I never knew when I'd get out.  That was back in college.  From time to time I still have dreams about serving where I have like the entire restaurant filled up and they're all my tables.  I wake up kinda panicky, and I worked there like eight years ago!  So it's not easy, especially in a busy restaurant.  But if you're good at it the money is pretty good, for a job like that.

Answer 16

Yes, I waitress ed for 17 yrs. in a family ran restaurant. The owner's daughters were my best friends. It was the only place the only restaurant that stayed open after the bars closed. It was an Italian place & our food was great. We had the best Fri.nite fish fry in town (very common for northerners). So, after the supper hour passed we'd get a little break & then wait for the bar croud. Rarely were the fights 'cause every one knew every one & respected my wonderful little Itailian boss. We ran our butts off for hours, then we had to clean. OMG! Clean & restock for the next day. We opened at 3:00 pm. & closed on weekends at 4:00am.

Answer 17

ya alot of people have

Answer 18

oh my god dont get me started i am a wiatress and it is so hard when its busy you have people yelling at you because they had to wait for a seat (not my fault) then there mad if there food takes to long( also not my fault) peolpe will say the rudest things im not a slave i dont come to your work and yell at you please dont come to mine and yell at me i once was told to get a real job to that person i say i have a real job if it werent for my job your fat *** might have to get up and cook your own meal but then there are those people who are very nice and relize that your busy runnin around workin your but off to make there dinning experiance pleasent thank you to all those understanding people i challenge any person to work one month in a busy resturant and you will relize how hard of a job it really is

Answer 19

Hostess: depends where you live. In NJ, it's pretty d**n hectic! At the end of the day, I would fall to bed and BAM, Im sleeping already.

Imagine having a 1 hour wait at a restaurant. Would you be pissed? Well, my job was to keep you happy so you wouldn't leave >_>