I (25F) have spent the last couple of years working as a server/bartender at various restaurants. I have also had other full time jobs, but right now I’m back in the restaurant industry for a bit.

I have a really great seasonal summer job that pays very well and I return to each summer, but it is not summer anymore so that job ended about a month ago. I started working at a new place (3 weeks ago) that a few of my coworkers from the summer job ended up at as well. It’s a tavern type establishment. I HATE it. I am making no money (less than $100 per night), I don’t like the other people who work there, I don’t like the customers, and I think the food and the kitchen are gross. It’s always painfully slow. I spend most of my shifts standing around waiting for customers. Long story short it’s just not a good fit for me, especially money wise. I need to be making way more than that and I know that that is possible and I’m selling myself short by working here.

I have applied to a handful of other spots and had an interview yesterday with a more upscale establishment that should pay better and I think be a better fit for me and my experience. They want me to come in to train next week, but of course my schedule for my current job is already out for next week and I’m supposed to work. I want to just work my shift tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow, and then just tell them I won’t be coming in for any future shifts. I know it’s technically unprofessional and the wrong way to go about it, but I’m losing my mind working here because I dislike it so much and NEED to make more money. I feel bad, I usually try to do things the right way, but I need to put myself first.

Part of me feels like I’d be an asshole to essentially quit with no notice, and leave them with no coverage for my upcoming shifts, but to be honest I don’t really care at the same time. This current place is so goddamn slow that most weekdays I’ll only have 5 or 6 tables in a night. I think they can manage without me for this upcoming week. Plus I’ve only worked here for 3 weeks. I don’t feel an obligation to them.

Anyways, would I be the asshole if I work my weekend shifts and then quit my serving job because I found another one that pays better, suits me, and wants me to start next week?

I've had a lot of managers in my day, used to work a job where I had no joke 50 supervisors I worked under. A lot of them weren't qualified, not the brightest etc. But my current manager is probably the most uprofessional I've ever worked under if not at least in the running. My first week working this job she took a pregnancy test at work, on the clock, and had another server show her the results IN the server station. She then immediately turned around and tried to face time the baby daddy on the clock.

Every single night, the second it hits closing time shes on the phone with the same guy, speaker phone at max volume, doesnt matter if theres still customers inside or not, shes on the phone with him. Last week she called this guy, full volume speaker phone, while she was doing the scheduling, in the same room as a couple trying to enjoy their meal so they had to listen to her. Not only that but when I and the other server on duty had to talk to her, we had to talk to her with the guy on the phone able to hear everything.

She's gotten complaints of her personality and how inhospitable she is. I've requested time off and she's scheduled me that day and when ive asked about it she just asks, did you text me? I've been told she forgets about time off a lot. I just. I've had a lot of bad managers but she seems to have absolutely no regard for those around her and its driving me crazy.

Looking for advice from people who know this industry better than me. I’ve been working as an SA at a fine dining place for the last 6 months.

I get out of bed at 4am and average 4 hours of sleep a night if I’m working. My job involves a lot of constant manual labour - setting up the breakfast buffet, carrying heavy trays and washing dishes, cleaning the dishwasher, taking the very heavy trash down stairs etc. I’ve developed skin conditions on my hands from all of this and I am absolutely exhausted most of the time but somehow manage to power through.

When it’s particularly busy, and especially if I’m on the coffee machine that day, I can feel my nervous system frying. I don’t have a second to breathe or drink water sometimes. I had severe anxiety in the past and worked hard to heal my nervous system so I worry about the detrimental effects this job is having. We’re also very understaffed at the moment so I find myself getting increasingly angry when I’m made to do the work of two people. I also feel resentful when I see the servers or hosts walk in without having to do any of the manual labour I’ve already done that morning, or when they go on their breaks and I know I can’t even start my break because I have trash bags to take out or breakfast buffet items to pack away before I can.

For context, management really made a big song and dance about me when I first joined. They were very impressed by my wine knowledge and everyone kept saying they didn’t understand why I was in the back and not a server. I never expressed a desire to move up but they told me they were gonna train me to be a server and gave me a timeline that never ended up happening. It genuinely feels like I faded into the background and they forgot all about me. I’m new to the industry and I guess this taught me not to take any of that stuff seriously when it’s just words.

At this point I genuinely don’t care what I do next, whether it’s server or host or something else, but I just know I can’t be an SA much longer. I know every role has its unique challenges but being an SA is wrecking my physical and mental health.

So I'd been outta work for a couple months and was getting very discouraged. Got hired on a new place and did my first shift off training tonight.

Some background, I've been in the industry for 13 years, server, bartender, FOH mngr. This also means I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I've been a victim of ageism recently and it really got to me. Even though I always go hard and usually run circles around younger coworkers.

So my first solo shift tonight:

I made 2 mistakes but caught them before they went to the kitchen, didn't get in the weeds at all, AND made $102 in a four hour shift. 😊

Altogether a good night. I think it put me back in the groove.💜😎

Guys how bad is the server business for yall ? Were not doing great our sales are way down and i work Friday’s Saturday and Sunday night with two other servers and we can barley get our sales past 1500 lately ive been at work for four hours with two tables this is getting rough and will it get better ? Ive been serving for tens years I’ve never seen it this slow around this time of year . Yes it slows down but were almost at a standstill. And the tables we get aren’t great ..

To all my night staff ganja connoisseurs. What is your preferred way to partake:

A) wake up in the morning and hit that bong beside your bed the minute your feet touch the ground.

B) roll a couple small joints and go sit in the park somewhere you won't be seen.

B) wait until afternoon and then go into your garage to load your glass pipe and hit that a couple times.

C) while driving your car to work you hit the shit out of your cart multiple times. So you'll be a little high at work.

D) 20 minutes before work starts and you are ripping the fattest knife hits possible AFTER smoking that big ass black and mild blunt. Work? You got that shit on lock.

anybody work at Del Frisco’s Grill? I saw online that they were hiring and I was wondering if anybody ever worked at the one in Rockefeller Center. It looks pretty solid, but just trying to figure it out.

So I started at a new restaurant as a food runner. The job for the most part is really nice and I don’t mind a bit of hard work. However, after my first real shift, I was struggling to pick up the heavier items (this was after a 3-4 hour period.) my arms got really weak and sore. For reference we usually had a huge tray where sometimes 6-7 plates are stacked on it and have to walk down a staircase. I’m like 5’2 and 135 pounds wet. There was only two times I didn’t believe I could pick it up and safety get it to the server (since we deliver the food to the server). Anyways I felt bad about it and wished I could do more. My balance was also not great and food and kept slipping and it was usually always to the managers section. After all this I was thinking of strength training to get better at the job. I’m only working two days a week right now so I don’t think my body will really get used to the food running if I waited a few more weeks of work.

So it'll be my first time working FOH (I came from dish washing) as a food runner. Any advice? Nervous because you know how restaurants are. When you are new to the role and obviously you're going to be slow, people get upset at you.

I’m a high schooler who recently applied for a part-time hostess job at an IHOP near my house. They responded the same day I applied, and now I have an interview today!

I’m not really sure what to expect. I’ve only had two jobs before: one helping promote my mother’s business online and another working a summer job for my uncle, where I took customer orders at the register. Neither job required an interview, so I’ve never had to go through the process before.

With my experience, do I have a decent chance of getting hired? I’m also wondering what kinds of questions they might ask and how I should prepare. As for my availability, I can work Mondays, Thursdays, every other Wednesday, and Sundays.

Would that be enough availability for IHOP to consider hiring a high school student? I’d appreciate any advice!

I’m a 30 year old restaurant manager in a pretty small and rural tourist town and im once again feeling lost about what the hell I’m doing with my career. I keep thinking about if I have to go through these biannual breakdowns for the next five years and no retirement and no plan and then freaking out.
I’ve been with the same company for about 5 years. I started when they opened their first restaurant, helped them open their second, and have been officially managing for about a year and a half.
I’m currently at $18/hr with no benefits or bonus structure.
Right now, I manage FOH, scheduling, hiring/firing and HR, training, created all of our training materials and SOPs, do our liquor/beer ordering and vendor relationships with 6 distributors, inventory, menus and cocktail menus, social media, event menus, tasting dinners, and act as the middleman between the restaurant, hotel and catering when we have larger events in our event space coming through.
I’ve definitely kept the longest staff relationships either restaurant ever had, and revenue wise we’re already nearly 25% over our predicted annual revenue for this point in October.
I have a genuinely good relationship with the owners, especially the head chef that I work with in the current restaurant. However, there’s nobody above me managing me or helping me figure out what my role is supposed to be, exactly…. The only feedback I ever get is you’re so amazing! Keep doing what you’re doing! And then when I cry and freak out they talk me down and this is how I’ve gone from 13->15->18 in two years, hourly wise. The owners are currently buried in closing/renovating our first restaurant into an event venue, so I’ve basically just been figuring things out as I go.
And I feel like I’m constantly just fixing shit.
I have my weekly distributor orders/meetings, but beyond that I struggle to actually structure my week. It’s constantly employee issues, communication problems between departments, events, staffing, something somebody forgot, something that needs to be ordered, etc.
I also find myself shorting myself constantly to make sure my employees are taken care of and to keep labor where it needs to be. I can’t just cut half the staffs hours come the off season when we already lay off half the people so that I can make money. I can’t realistically cover the day server bartender and still meet with the people I need to meet with in the afternoons.
I just constantly feel that if I were to go anywhere with like 5,000 more people I’d be so clueless I’d have to just start over.
So I guess I’m looking for some perspective from people who have been doing this longer than me.
Is $18/hr completely insane for the scope of this job, or is this pretty normal for a hotel tourism spot semi upscale restaurant?
What would you even call this position? FOH manager? AGM? GM? Operations manager? Some weird combination?
My partner is a sous chef, and we’re talking about making a 2 year plan to eventually move somewhere with more opportunities for both of us. I just don’t want to spend the next two years being miserable and burned out at $18/hr without actually gaining the skills I’d need to move up.
I’d really appreciate advice from other managers who have been in this weird middle ground where you’re trusted with basically everything, but nobody is actually investing in YOUR growth and development. I feel like a big baby. :(