Who's Gonna Pay Me?!?

Tonight will be my very first bar shift!!

I have had the training. I studied the recipe books until my eyes crossed, and I am ready!!

This SHOULD be an exciting night!!!



So how come I feel a little guilty about working tonight?

Here's the REAL story. The reason I am working tonight is beacuse I was added as the third bartender. The extra help put in place by the additional business we still haven't benefited from.

Since the restaurant only pays bartenders $3.65, - I know, I get a raise!!! - my actual pay will come from the two bartenders already on. Yep, at the end of the night, they pool their tips, then figure out how many hours each worked and everybody gets paid the same rate per hour.

Now they have to pay me too. So, if we don't make any extra money because of all that extra business, they are basically paying me out of the money that they would be taking home to pay bills with. To make matters even worse, I know how much they have each counted on thir Wed night money to make up for other nights.

So here's my question - Why does the restaurant get to decide to hire extra help, then expect their current employees to pay them? I guess it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.......

My New Job

SOOOOOO -

This past week my restaurant was remodeled.

As a group, we are vehiemently opposed to change. In fact, it generally pisses us all off. But they changed our restaurant anyway!

For the most part, the change is actually a good thing. The new system for sending orders into the kitchen is amazing. Ticket times have been cut in half - Always a great thing.

I really do love the look of the new dining room. It is a far more professional decor, and the designers paid very close attention to every detail. The customers have offered some great feedback as well. It is well liked.

The down side - They put more servers on the floor to accomodate the additional business we are expected to receive. This means that my 4 table station is now cut down to 3 tables. And this weekend, we didn't receive the additional business. So when I got home with my cash in hand on both Friday and Saturday nights, I had about half of what I would have normally made. After an entire week off for the remodel and training, this was not encouraging.

The worst part is that everyone else is excited about the additional business. (Truth is we actually sold $2000 over last year for Friday night - Probably went to take out - NOT a big deal to me.)
The kitchen staff is raving about how busy they are. They are all getting more hours because they have been over staffed, too.
The managers are excited about the additional business because they are going to get larger bonuses.
The porters are loving this because there are now more of us to tip them.

The only people losing money are the waitstaff. And they still continue to pay us $2.63 per hour.

They keep promising that next week will be better. We'll see - and I'll keep you posted!

Shameless Advertising

Sorry - I have to do this. I have been running a Craft Resources Website for years, and I recently added a new Auction section. The TRUE reason for my absence was the publishing and promotion of that.

But I'm back.

So if you are looking for any handmade crafts - Please feel free to join us:
www.freecraftfair.com/craftfair

And if you are looking for some waitressing laughs, come back soon!!

Thanks for your understanding!!!

The Black Hole in the Kitchen

"Where did my waitress go???"

My father's reply - "Into the Black Hole in the Kitchen."

Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you really need a waitress, yours is no where to be found? Well, as you can imagine, waitresses are real people, too. And sometimes they may disappear for long stretches of time with absolutely no explanation at all.

I guess that's kind of what happened to me over the last month. I have a ton of explanations, but really, who wants to hear them? When I arrive at a table, I don't go into details about the spill or crash or restroom break or helping a team member that kept me away. I just smile my little smile and pretend nothing happened.

So, I won't bore you with the details. I have a ton of stories from the last month. Some of them may explain my absence and others will make you laugh.

Either way, I have returned, and I brought your dessert with me......