There are precisely zero people on night shift from when I worked here, aside from the day shift people forced to work nights due to short staffing.
The day shift people I worked with today were very optimistic that my return would mean theyād no longer have to work nights. I took great delight in shattering those dreams when I told them I was working maybe 2 nights a week.
Some things never change.
The other servers at night are an interesting blend of insane and incompetent.
The meth user - he runs around a lot but he doesnāt get a whole lot done. If he used just 10% of the energy he uses zipping around accomplishing nothing just getting drink refills for his tables heād be the greatest server of all time. Sadly he has roughly the same attention span as a kitten, just with fewer teeth.
The drama queen - I think every restaurant has one of these, but seriously, this woman (about 50 years old or so) gets set off by everything more serious than blinking either to tears or rage. I learned this in one night. Things that worked her up (in no particular order):Ā
Nobody was cleaning her tables for her
A table she largely ignored for most of the time they were there didnāt tip her to match the service
A table she largely ignored for most of the time they were there tipped poorly to match the service
The meth head server got a big tableā¦of 6 people that she wanted
SERIOUSLY WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DO SIDE WORK?!
Her husband hadnāt called her all night
TheĀ ānew guyā got a table she wanted
She got sat a party of 4 - 2 hours before her cut time and she wanted to leave early despite being so short handed nobody ever gets to leave early
TheĀ ānew guyā made more money than her despite having a 2 table section
And finally she absolutely lost it when the cook yelled at her to āRUN SOME FUCKING FOOD INSTEAD OF PLAYING ON YOUR FUCKING PHONE!ā
Manager lite - This woman thinks she runs the place, belching orders at everybody. Sheās just a server, like me, yet feels that telling the cook what to make next and the prep people what to prepare and the hostess who to seat and me what table to greet, amongst other things, is doing the best job imaginable. She tried convincing me that I needed to be constantly busy clearing tables - especially in her section - becauseĀ āteam service.ā She didnāt do a lot of it herself, none in fact, so I completely disregarded everything she said. I will continue to do so pretty much forever. Her wrath at being ignored will sustain me.
The dishwasher, if you want to call him that, seems determined to do everything but wash dishes. This would include hiding in the walk-in cooler, hiding in the bathroom, hiding behind the line, and hiding in the break room. Pretty much everywhere but the dish pit. When I left at close the dish pit looked rather untouched for the past 5 hours. Whatever poor bastard opens in the morning has a lot to catch up on.
And then thereās the cook. This is a man of unbridled fury - mad as hell he makes all this fucking food for it to sit in the window while servers doā¦whatever the hell it is they do here until it gets that weird heat lamp shell. I like him. First words he said to me wereĀ āRUN YOUR FUCKING FOOD AND WE WONāT HAVE PROBLEMS!ā Weāll be fast friends, I can tell. This isnāt sarcasm. I want my food run because when the food is served hot I make more money. I have to respect a man who slams a spatula with dedication. Despite us being one of the worst places to get a steak he does manage to make them edible at least. And cooked to temp.
The hostess - a 16 year-old who has been bullied to the point where she apologizes to servers for each and every table she seats - apologized to me at least 6 times tonight for giving me tables in my 2-table-see-how-you-do section. Itās 2 tables of a maximum of 4 people each. How weeded could I possibly get? I told her she doesnāt need to apologize. Then promptly enlisted her to roll my silverware. Yes, I paid her for it, before some smoothbrain suggests I bullied her too. Once I learn the dynamics here a bit better Iām going to cause problems on purpose, largely for anybody who shits on my hostess. The kid wants to do good work.
Night shift no longer has a manager - byĀ āall-new management staffā it apparently means the GM and 1 manager, neither of whom want to work nights. So we get a shift supervisor. A shift supervisor who also doesnāt want to work nights and has a bottle of some cheap booze stashed away where there are no cameras. It tastes awful. She spends her night largely bombed occasionally making a guest appearance in the dining room to slur at a table or a trip to the office to do whatever the hell she does in there for 3 hours. She works here 7 nights per week. Iād drink too. Plus side: sheāll agree to pretty much any request you make so when I said I want a max of 4 tables and never any over 4 people (once my 2 table section bullshit is over anyway,) she agreed. Apparently these other dumbass servers think all the big parties are where the money is. Not since the IRS cancelled auto-gratuity.
The customers are the same as theyāve ever been, just fewer of them since itās winter and this place has been careening into the ground as fast as they can destroy it.
I have opened myself up to much suffering. -J
