Restaurant Stories Pt 1: The New Guy Isn't Going to Make It.
I worked at a hibachi/sushi restaurant in college. It was great because I could go to class in the mornings and work dinner shift till midnight. The plates averaged 25 bucks each and sushi bills were higher so our tips were amazing for anyone working in 2005. You can figure out where this is, they are still in business but I do have to let y'all know that 0% of the people who I worked with still work there but still has the original owners. If you go there, be nice, order a bunch of food. I've changed all the names, etc.
I was hired along with another girl a few years older than me named Jane. She was second-gen Korean and spoke English/Spanish/Korean. She learned of the position from our head sushi chef who she had worked with before in Austin. Jane and I were trained at the same time and she helped me learn how to take orders and use the register and all that. She was also my translator because all big meetings (where the whole staff was there) were in Korean.
Anyway, Jane and I had it down pretty well and could run the entire floor with just us two on Mondays because they were slow. We each took 3 hibachis and half the floor tables. (Four tops that people could order from the kitchen or just sushi bar without the hibachi show.) Mondays were so slow we rarely had all 6 hibachis running, maybe 4 max. It was hard but we could do it as long as our manager that day could help fill drinks and bring food from the bar/kitchen to tables.
So Mondays, especially at lunch, were when we trained new people. It wasn't too often that we even had new waitstaff but it did become a challenge to find people who could get hang of the place. On weekends, everyone would be there so we had 3 waitstaff for hibachis (Six 12 tops), and 4 waitstaff for the sushi bar and the sixteen 4 tops in the middle of the restaurant. Me and two guys had the hibachis, Jane and two older women had the floor plus one extra on occasion.
During the summer we didn't need the 4th because school was out and this was a college town. But during the school year we did so we hired from the school. (Like me.) I had a friend join us later from school that did well. But, it took several tries to find folks who could hang.
One guy came in who was the son of a cousin or distantly related to one of the chefs. He showed up the first day chatting up the chefs and trying to be buddies with one of the managers. Then Jane and I were put in charge of teaching him what all we had to do:
Arrive at 9:30: Make ice tea, vacuum floors (The place was carpeted!), clean bathrooms, make salads, and roll silverware.
At 11 we opened. We had him follow us around and basically help us by getting drinks and taking food out to people. Basic shadowing stuff every restaurant does.
Then at 2pm we closed so the chefs could get a break. During this time we had to clean the tables and set up some things for dinner when we got back. (Nobody worked lunch only, if you worked lunch you also worked dinner.)
But it was while we were cleaning up that he started doing just weird show off things. Like there was a full hibachi at lunch that left and we had him bus the table. He proceeded to stack all 12 wet glass cups in this arched tower to prove he could carry all of them himself to the kitchen. Of course they fell and he broke half of them. He was our age. Like, this was little kid behavior. Our boss was livid.
Jane had other issues getting him to pay attention to the tables and not chat with the chefs. He would ask them random questions about sports or something in the middle of service. We would try to get him back on task but he would just wave it off like once he got to it he would do it faster and better.
But of course, that wasn't the case. We had to re-roll all his silverware because it was falling out of the napkins. He would take super long cigarette breaks. (I think there were only two of us who didn't smoke, so it was normal to use this to take breaks.) He would be out there chatting with the chefs or who knows what. Not sure he was ever told "no" before in his life. He didn't last a week. The same older guys who he liked to chat all day with were the ones who told him it wasn't working out.
The next guy was a student at the school. (I never saw him in my classes.) He lasted about a month, but it was excruciating. Because we had so few waitstaff we were easily in the weeds by 6pm straight until maybe 10. For three and a half hours we were in fight or flight mode with drinks, soups, salads, plates, tickets, making change, taking orders, etc. There was no room for "taking your time". We would have a line out the door by 7pm. People would wait hours because our food was great and it lent itself to large groups in town for school events and such. (This was pre 2008 and folks still had money.)
Anyway, this guy was blonde and had just come back from some overseas trip. He arrived the first day in a pair of black Chuck Taylors that we immediately pointed out would not be optimal with the amount of running around we had to do. (Plus the kitchen floor is ultra slippery.) Our uniform was a button down shirt with a floor length black apron and black pants. Your shoes could be whatever had the most support and cushioning. Jane tore through a new pair of Nike running shoes every four months, I permanently curved 3 pairs of shell toes in a year. Thick, durable, leather shoes. Not razor thin canvas ones.
But, as he put it, he would be fine because he walked all of Europe in them. So not only are these shoes not suited for the job but they are also already worn out, got it. Sure enough after the first week he would start hiding in the back and leaning against the counter because - his feet hurt. He made enough money in one day to buy two pairs of Nikes, it was not a cost issue. So while we are all running around like crazy taking care of tables and orders he was sitting in the back taking breaks because he refused to take our advice about work appropriate footwear. Now his tables are behind, folks waiting for checks, or to have their order taken, and drinks and all that.
We would tell him to help us do some task like rolling silverware or cleaning/refilling the soy sauces. His answer: "It looks like you guys have it covered." and then would sit around doing nothing. I should note, we had tip sharing here - we had to give this guy part of our tips - which doesn't work if folks aren't working together and helping each other. He wasn't going to make it. Luckily we didn't have to ask him to leave, he put in his notice on his own.
I think everyone should work in a restaurant or retail position at least once in their life, but not everyone is cut out for it.