killing waitstaff

why is it all the girls that dont pull their wait cause the most problems ?staff meal sucks , specials suck , this job sucks ect...why cant we just get them to go away? Thats wright no one will work any more.

[m brown]

Please don't kill the waitstaff.
for staff meals make pb&j sandwiches, make specials you like and take a nice bubble bath. Calgon take chef Phil away from all the evil waitstaff!
We understand here at cheftalk that sometimes folks we work with need new brains.
be cool. and stay hydrated.

[Chef David Simpson]

I've felt like this but only before payday.
You know, those few days when all you can
think about is your bills. and all these
waiters coming in the kitchen with thier
30 dollar tips, and your the one thats busting your #$% to get it out!!!!!!!

Oh! man I had flashback.

[Nick.Shu]

perhaps my approach is wrong, but here goes:

I have waitstaff who love to:

Tell me how to make specials
How to cook (ive spent 5 yrs on trade/post trade cooking courses)
How to identify bad quality food
how to cook at a basic level
how to do my job.

One advantage to this is that after explaining my point, my buttocks are getting the airing of their brief life as a impromtu exclamation point (heheh, rebuttal).

Two nights ago Cass came into the kitchen...I said, "Cass, pick up table xx"
She turned and looked at me with her best blank expression and said, "Right now"?

Phil, I been at this 25 years (gulp) and can tell you the back-o'house v front-o'house battle will rage on for centuries to come

I try and remind myself that the waitstaff have their' problems too...like the woman who likes her tuna (I swear this is true) cooked all the way through but red in the center...or the guy who sends a Filet Mignon back because he can't eat grill marks.

All you can do is pound sand and smile.

Cheers,
Topchef

[Pete]

Or the woman who ordered the filet but when it came to the table thought it would be a fish fillet. LOL

How about serving staff who complain that the food is coming out too fast...and when they wait (this is for real) ten min. for a salad they ***** about how long it took...

I once had a woman say oh I am deathly alergic to all fish...and I know you do not serve Caesar salad but it is my favorite...could you make it for me?

What are the odds that she has eaten fish....

[chefjohnpaul]

Or the fellow who wanted the braised lamb shank medium rare, or the other guy who wanted the prime rib medium but hot in the middle. I sent the waiter back on both occasions to explain the legistics of things. I actually get along with all the waitstaff and they love me, really. When I get mad or kurt I aleays apologize after the shift and so do they. We are in a high pressure business and they take as much if not more flack from guests than we do from them. I think we are a team and good waiters can suffer burn out like we can. We do need to give them a break. Now for the ones that shouldn't even be on the floor, i think that's more of a problem with front of the house management.

[Nick.Shu]

heh.

The unfortunate thing about front of house (IMHO) is that they lack the extensive knowledge of cookery.

Given that, it is our duty to educate those staff to the best of our ability.

The biggest let down about FOH staff i find generally extends to training and knowledge.

My favorite reply to the front of the house staff when they feel they need to give the kitchen staff there unsurpassed input on the culinary arts is " YOU DO KNOW THAT WE DO THIS FOR A LIVING DONT YOU ?

[Pete]

One way that I got even with one of my staff members just the other day was to shadow her all evening long. First of all she was amazed at the knowledge that a lowly sous chef had of the FOH, but soon that amazement turned to dismay as I constantly corrected just about everything she did. From the way she greeted guests, to the way she set tables, to the way she rung in food. She finally turned and snapped on me. To which I asked her how it felt to have someone (who knows what he is doing) constantly badger her, and how it feels to the cooks when she does the same (and she has no clue about cooking). Needless to say, not only has she stopped complaining all the time, I rarely see her in the kitchen any more, unless she really needs something.

I just have to add this story. When I was cooking in Alaska we had our slow nights in the winter. Monday night, 2- 2tops thats it. One of the dueces are friends of mine with a special night out. We had discussed a menu prior and I created a special dinner for just for them. Of course the one waitress had both tables (mind you this is a fine dining establishment) I proceeded to crreate all 4 dinners and separated the 2 of them and told her what was what and what the course of the meal would be. She took out the regular 2 top and while she was serving I looked back at the special dishes. Don't you know she took out 1 regular dish and one of the special dishes to the 2 top. Leaving me with 1/2 of a special meal for my friends. By the time she came back the people had already started on the meal not realizing the difference in their order apparently. I about had a heart attack but only after I killed her! Mistakes happen I know but with only 4 people in the entire house, at 2 tables...... I was mad but her indifference to the mistake and her BFD attitude pretty much killed any hope of us ever being friendly again.

[m brown]

Sometimes you just have to say, People are stupid, I hate people. So when you do find intelligent life, you will be pleasantly surprised!

[youla]

I love your idea Pete,wish I had the time to implement it....but today I got an order for 2 caesars...no anchovies...but with salmon instead and mushroom sauce! please please please...i called back the waitress who took the order [for about the 5th time that lunch and she assured me that was what they wanted...I asked her to check it ...she wouldnt cos she knew what she was doing!! so I make it up ,turns out the client wants 2 caesars no anchovies followed by as a main salmon with the asian mushroom sauce. !!!and tell me about 2 days ago when room service somehow had all the old menus in the rooms [400 rooms] and all these orders start coming through...problem is some of them say will come through as say chicken breast which on the old menu was a burger but on the new menu is a truffled honey chicken etc etc...please ring the client [cos they asked for no avocado which was on the burger but not with the truffled chicken ] after about 20 remakes I MADE THE ROOM SERVICE STAFF go to every room and check they had the right menus...what a waste of time and food!!!

[Nick.Shu]

heheh, let me share a story with you all:

"one day, aliens came to earth seeking intelligent life and walked into my place of employ. as they arrived late, the only person there was the restaurant manager cashing up. They cautiously approached him and look him up and down. needless to say, they turned around, rushed back to their spacecraft and hurriedly left earth, thoroughly disgusted that they should fail such a basic mission."

so there you go, its not just us unhappy with FOH staff.