Restaurant industry thread. - Like r/KitchenConfidential except we can say the N word.

[Jason Wynn]

Worked as a short order cook at a truck stop diner when I was in college.

The stories you hear are true, blacks never tipped and were unreasonably demanding, and church people were absolute slobs and made bigger messes than you’d expect from a toddler.

Biggest mistake would be finally having enough of the place, waiting until it was incredibly busy and then walking out quitting with no notice. Boss was a piece of shit but I feel bad doing that to the waitresses and rest of the kitchen staff now.

 

[MonkeyBaby]

Would servers prefer to be paid a minimum wage of $15/hr with no tips or received a tipped minimum wage of $5?

I haven't done the job in the a few years, but $15/hr would have been a paycut for me as a server, so no I wouldn't like that.

A mistake that leaps to mind:
I once thought I lost a table's credit card. It was a good table, too. Nice people, big check. I frantically retraced my steps, looked everywhere, pawed through every trash can I passed by, heart pounding, dreading having to inform these people that I fucked up big. Then I found the card. It was in my back pocket.

Worst overall restaurant memory:
Working at a Grand Lux Cafe for about a year. It's owned by the same company that owns Cheesecake Factory and is fairly similar. It was consistent money, but I had no idea when I started that on late Friday and Saturday nights, it basically became a black restaurant. Every table after a certain hour would be black. Black people love that place. And they love to go there in parties of 12 on their way to 'Da Club.

Also, all of the stereotypes about restaurant diners are true.

 

[Equal Rights for Androids]

I think we should stop tipping because if you don't make federal minimum wage, the restaurant is forced to pay what your tips don't. I shouldn't have to tip you to do your fucking job. I tip the chefs when they prepare my food that leaves me in heaven (I've tipped them a few times). I won't tip a chef if their food doesn't wow, but still tastes good. I shouldn't have to tip a waitress unless she goes above and beyond. I've stopped going to restaurants because the food is getting more expensive yet I'm still expected to tip.

 

[Sapphixys Shitty Panties]

In my experiences, black customers are generally fine, but Indian people are by far the worst.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Serious question ; why do people take jobs in food service when you can get paid twice as much for half the work in heavy industry?

Many reasons.

I worked FoH when I was in university.

Some folks choose getting into it to 'follow their passion' or because they saw Anthony Bourdain or Gordon Ramsay (or whoever) and have some romanticized view of things. Honestly, I don't know. I figure anyone who willingly signs up for BoH shit either has brain damage or hates themselves.

 

[Quintex96]

Oh boy, I worked as a shift leader in a pizza restaurant on a holiday park for 4 years before quitting late last year, here are some of my highlights

-A Guest (Guest was the term used by the park for the dregs of society that stayed of that godforsaken hellhole) demanding a full refund for a £80 order because their order took 25 minutes after the girl on the till told them it would be 20 minutes. I obliged the refund. They still wanted their food for free. I said no. Said customer then complained to park administration that we refused to refund them after failing to give them their food. I am forced to refund them again despite explaining the situation to the dipshit from park administration. 2 days later I am chewed out by the park manager for refunding them twice.

-In addition to ordering to the till, all guests have an app that they can use to deliver to their accommodation or their tables in the entertainment area. These apps cannot be shut off by us. They can only be shut off by head office who only answer calls between 9am to 3pm and only on Monday to Thursday, which doesn't help much when your only driver quits on a Thursday evening, leading to your already understaffed restaurant having to deliver on foot on a park with over 3 thousand caravans in the middle of peak season until someone finally answered the phone on Monday. Oh, and the stupid bastard app would get updates regularly, which automatically turned them back on if they were off. So halfway through the shift we would start getting orders for delivery and having to scramble to find a way to get these orders to the other side of the park which was often a 20 minute walk in complete darkness.

-The final straw, after a long, painful summer of struggling to open with only 4 members of staff including myself. We finally got some new people on board once the peak season ended. I was then forced to terminate these new recruits because "Due to you failing to reach targeted income for a considerable time, your budget for wages is being cut"

I have more but these are the ones that jump out immediately

 

[MonkeyBaby]

Many reasons.

I worked FoH when I was in university.

Some folks choose getting into it to 'follow their passion' or because they saw Anthony Bourdain or Gordon Ramsay (or whoever) and have some romanticized view of things. Honestly, I don't know. I figure anyone who willingly signs up for BoH shit either has brain damage or hates themselves.

I've definitely worked with BoH people who simply love to work with food.

Another attractive thing about BoH work is that many restaurants are lax about hiring illegals to work in the kitchen. I'm sure this is different in other places, but most kitchens where I live here in the American south are almost entirely Mexican. Good restaurant owners are usually fluent in Spanish because they have to be. My first restaurant job was at one of the corporate mega-chains and half the kitchen staff were related.

 

[A-Stump]

Oh boy, I worked as a shift leader in a pizza restaurant on a holiday park for 4 years before quitting late last year, here are some of my highlights

If that's anything like the commercialized campsites we have here I feel truly bad for you. The only people who go to those kinds of places are absolute misery. The worst of the worst in white trash. I have seen these animals shit six feet away from other peoples allotted campsites, I can't even imagine what kind of factory of torment making them food is.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

I worked at a Subway for four years in the early-mid 2010s. It was in a 2 unit building in a Home Depot parking lot in a ghettofying area and the other tennant was a cash for gold place. So there was some fun stuff there, but in those four years we were never held up.

Worst mistake I did was one morning before opening I was preparing the bread to go into the proofer. I was talking to another employee who was doing some pre-prep cleaning. I wasn't paying enough attention and grabbed the blue cleaning spray instead of the plain water and had to throw two whole trays out. Aside from that, this was a high point of Opioids in the area so we got junkies who went to the huge parking lot plus your usual antics with Shanaynay and Quantavious

 

[oramge cat]

In my experiences, black customers are generally fine, but Indian people are by far the worst.

Especially the lightskin Brahmin women. Absolutely the worst human beings in every regard. I've found that black people tip better working fine dining, probably because the cost keeps out the hood niggos.

I've also noticed that ugly people that are single are terrible tippers, especially older women but ugly people with families/spouses are average-good and the tip actually seems to reflect the quality of the service. Single moms are terrible and also why are you bringing your 5 year old to a restaurant that starts at $60/plate? Order mods out the ass incoming and you'll be rewarded with a $20 tip on a $250 tab.

By far the best are groups of old white boomer guys. When I see a group of 5 already buzzed middle aged white guys in Hawaiian shirts with nice watches on and socks in sandals, dollar signs light up in my eyes because I know they're gonna be guzzling $15 cocktails all night and when calculating the tip they'll figure what 30% is and round up to the nearest hundred. Plus you can bullshit with them. Even better if one of them is wearing one of those "Hot Rod Dragfest 2022 at Whatever Speedway" shirts.

I worked at a Subway for four years in the early-mid 2010s. It was in a 2 unit building in a Home Depot parking lot in a ghettofying area and the other tennant was a cash for gold place. So there was some fun stuff there, but in those four years we were never held up.

Worst mistake I did was one morning before opening I was preparing the bread to go into the proofer. I was talking to another employee who was doing some pre-prep cleaning. I wasn't paying enough attention and grabbed the blue cleaning spray instead of the plain water and had to throw two whole trays out. Aside from that, this was a high point of Opioids in the area so we got junkies who went to the huge parking lot plus your usual antics with Shanaynay and Quantavious

This reminds me of the time I dropped a bowl and it exploded and contaminated like $300 in desserts with broken glass plus some got into the ice machine and we had to burn 500 pounds of ice and send a busser to the store to buy ice to get through the night.

 

[Buck Mullet]

Biggest mistake would be finally having enough of the place, waiting until it was incredibly busy and then walking out quitting with no notice. Boss was a piece of shit but I feel bad doing that to the waitresses and rest of the kitchen staff now.

I've done that a few times, but without much regret. First time was at a pizza place and there was a manger, a server or two, and just me and another cook that was a nice guy who I had partied with outside of work before, but a pretty worthless employee because he was so slow.

The manager was a big ass niggo, who I got along with great when we'd chop it up during smoke breaks. But the dude didn't do anything but the absolute bare minimum, and would get overwhelmed immediately when the rush began. And when it wasn't too busy you always had to go look for him if he was needed, the moment it would slow down he'd disappear into the office. He got by because he was a large friendly guy who was always smiling and laughing, but it pissed me off knowing he's being paid more than me who hustles and busts my ass to get shit done.

Anyways I'm working with the slow dude making pizzas, running the oven and cut board, all while answering phones. Then phones start going off all at once and I can't get away back to the oven side of the kitchen. Slowpoke is getting overwhelmed by tickets, I needed niggo on the phones asap. I suspect he's in the office, so I take a few steps back and look and nope, not there. Then I scan the dining room and the motherfucker is in the lobby playing Street Fighter III. So I yell "Yo Tre', need you back here big guy!" and this son of a bitch with his back turned to me fucking waves me off and says "Just a second man!" and keeps on playing for another ten seconds or so.

Fuck. That. Shit. I'm not going to be disrespected like that. I took my apron off and dropped it on the floor right as his game ended and he started towards the kitchen. He looked at me all puzzled, and the last thing I remember as I walked out was that poor lone cook saying "No dude, don't gooooo...." before I got in my car and drove off.

 

[fìddlesticks2.0]

People finding out I have a very sensitive sense of smell/taste and memory. Like super sensitive. I got included on lots of things I wouldn't normally be for quality and taste testing delcious test dishes. However,

"X can you come and taste and smell this please?" Became a sentence I dreaded

Think it wouldn't be too bad? All the food ingredients would be cooked with no seasoning, generally microwaved to keep the taste as pure as possible.... microwaved clams / chicken breast anyone? We're often the ones I'd do. There was issue we had we a very specific fish for a week.... I will never eat that fish ever again.

Oh and smell/taste all diary products.

 

[Everything]

Sorry If I'm late but I remember a few years ago when I was switching out the fryer oil ,I had a misstep and got a bunch of it on my foot. lost that skin its a lighter tone then everything else now..

still showed up to work the next day, it was a local fine dining establishment working on a skeleton crew so there really wasn't anyone to cover me , glad I left that job / the industry I also received chemical burns from the water steam off of a dishwasher , had roaches crawling in my hair and pants , almost got into multiple confrontations / assaults because of miscommunication , so the choice was easy.

 

[oramge cat]

Sorry If I'm late but I remember a few years ago when I was switching out the fryer oil ,I had a misstep and got a bunch of it on my foot. lost that skin its a lighter tone then everything else now..
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still showed up to work the next day, it was a local fine dining establishment working on a skeleton crew so there really wasn't anyone to cover me , glad I left that job / the industry I also received chemical burns from the water steam off of a dishwasher , had roaches crawling in my hair and pants , almost got into multiple confrontations / assaults because of miscommunication , so the choice was easy.

You ever get the undiluted dishwasher chemicals on you? A drop the size of a grain of sand burns like hellfire. I got some splashed on my face once, thank god it didn't get in my eyes.

New question: Grossest thing you've ever seen in a kitchen? For me it's a friend also in the industry who started at a new spot and sent me pictures of their kitchen. Huge piles of raw steaks interspersed with bloody rags covered in flies, raw meat and veggies intended to be served raw on the same cutting boards at the same time, and apparently it sat out for the entire shift. I showed my coworkers and we counted a total of like 30 health code violations in total from three pictures.

Was a spot I used to like to eat at too.

 

[Orange Tabby]

I once had to soak a cutting board with the bloc whitener, not knowing it’s basically bleach, and my dipshit coworker splashed it on my black shirt and skin.

Grossest thing was the closing crew: they would steal leftover food that should’ve been thrown out (that’s whatever we’ve all done it) but would leave half-eaten things in the back in their little hiding spots among the pots and pans. And then forget about it, until my dumb ass gets to find it the next afternoon or worse later in the week.

 

[That Guy From The Thing]

Worked as a short order cook at a truck stop diner when I was in college.

The stories you hear are true, blacks never tipped and were unreasonably demanding, and church people were absolute slobs and made bigger messes than you’d expect from a toddler.

Biggest mistake would be finally having enough of the place, waiting until it was incredibly busy and then walking out quitting with no notice. Boss was a piece of shit but I feel bad doing that to the waitresses and rest of the kitchen staff now.

You owe them nothing. It was a dick move, but they should know they work in a shitty occupation and be aware of the turnover. Feel no remorse about quitting a shit job whenever you feel like it. Just try and have something else lined up.

 

[Buck Mullet]

New question: Grossest thing you've ever seen in a kitchen?

Most of the dozen or so restaurants I've worked were kept clean, except one. I think the only reason the health department never closed them down was because they were on the take or the owners were mixed up with some organized crime. This place had a rodent and cockroach infestation, and to make it worse they hired kids as young as 14-15 to run the deep fryers and make sandwiches in a kitchen that was located in the basement, while the bread and butter of the business, pizza, was done upstairs.

So you can imagine how lax teenagers might get about cleanliness, and being out of sight to a degree downstairs made it worse. The stairs down there were probably a violation in themselves how slippery they could get, and the 40+ year old lady with health issues who owned the place wasn't going to run down there unless she had to.

I was just a delivery driver at the time, and hardly went down there. One night near the end of my shift I was hungry so I used my discount to order a chicken parmesan but went downstairs to make my sandwich myself. They had what I can best describe as a steamer box to heat sandwiches, so after my breaded chicken patty came out of the fryer I put it on a hoagie roll and topped it with marinara sauce and cheese, then wrapped that in foil, pulled out the steamer tray, inserted the sandwich, then pushed the tray back in.

Something seemed off right away, there was a weird sweet smell coming from the steam, and not as much seemed to be released when you pushed the lever which primed the steamer with fresh water. I took my sandwich out, then removed the tray completely and raised up the outer shell of the machine which was designed for easy access to the inside for cleaning. To my horror every square inch of the inside of this contraption, with the exception of the slotted tray I'd pulled out, was occupied with the liquified, putrid remains of hundreds of cockroaches. The thing was so full of jellied roach carcasses it had to have been operating for weeks or months since being properly cleaned. This thing was also used to heat up rib tips and half slabs, God knows how many meals were heated up in steamed roach water during that time.

 

[din365]

Yeah, i've been in the food service industry for 17 years. my very first one was a fish and chips place that was filty as hell, everything falling apart, severely underequipped, and an owner that was extremely cheap. i'm talking about so cheap that instead of changing out a drain trap that was a couple bucks and 5 minutes of his time, he let it leak for 3 years (or one of his employees has said). the state of that place, I now have no doubt in my mind they were telling the truth. anyways, as mentioned in another thread, that is where i saw the hand-made ceasar salad where the owner mixed somebody's salad up with his bare hands after cutting raw fish, and didn't wash his hand or anything before he did that. I only stayed there for a month before i said "fuck this. i'm out".

And another place that was a pizza place I worked was owned by an east indian guy. A very rude and demanding prick to everybody and doing some illegal shit like paying people under the table for less than minimum wage, breaking overtime hours, and all of that shit. i had a very bad feeling about that place and left after a week. after i left, the owner was arrested for Child porn and his whole business auditted. the kicker? the computer shop that my brother worked at(he didn't work there at the time, but still was in contact with his bosses and co-worker who did) was the ones who discovered it when the sick fuck brought in his computer to get fixed.
Another place i worked(a chinese food place with western options), one of the cooks tried taking an egg roll out of a buspan full of dirty dishes and was going to serve it again, another was microwaving fried rice ad re-serving it 2-4 days in a row, and one cook left a pork belly underneath a wok for 24 hours, but that was the worst of it. the place was kept somewhat clean and when the place was renovated and the old head cook retired, everything was taken outside and powerwashed down, and it was kept spotless the remainder of my years working there, and dirty crap like that never happened again. I worked at that one for about 13 years
Other than that, the places i worked after have been pretty clean.

 

[Tequila Jong]

I've been working in kitchens since I left High School, I'm in my 30s now so that's been a good while. I hate it. Almost everywhere I worked has been understaffed, and any time I tried to apply for the nice, stress free kitchen porter positions I get stuck cooking instead because of my experience. The Rona screwed up any plans I had for getting out, and this year will be my last year, I'm changing for something else in Winter.

I worked with this really short guy who had a massive inferiority complex. Desperately wanted to be in command of the kitchen but was too shit. Anyway, I told him to clean the microwaves one day, not thinking that his midget ass couldn't reach the one on a high shelf. Of course, rather than ask me for help, he got this rickety old chair from somewhere, climbed up and started cleaning. He still couldn't reach properly and put pressure on the shelf, so the microwave fell on top of him, with his head and shoulders caught inside it. One of the guys in the kitchen making the microwave door move like a jaw chewing while shouting "OM NOM NOM" while this guy is standing on a chair screaming for help is burned into my memory forever.

 

[oramge cat]

@din365
@Buck Mullet
One of you wins already. Probably the guy with the pedo boss but cockroach jelly is a pretty horrifying mental image..

I've been working in kitchens since I left High School, I'm in my 30s now so that's been a good while. I hate it. Almost everywhere I worked has been understaffed, and any time I tried to apply for the nice, stress free kitchen porter positions I get stuck cooking instead because of my experience. The Rona screwed up any plans I had for getting out, and this year will be my last year, I'm changing for something else in Winter.

I worked with this really short guy who had a massive inferiority complex. Desperately wanted to be in command of the kitchen but was too shit. Anyway, I told him to clean the microwaves one day, not thinking that his midget ass couldn't reach the one on a high shelf. Of course, rather than ask me for help, he got this rickety old chair from somewhere, climbed up and started cleaning. He still couldn't reach properly and put pressure on the shelf, so the microwave fell on top of him, with his head and shoulders caught inside it. One of the guys in the kitchen making the microwave door move like a jaw chewing while shouting "OM NOM NOM" while this guy is standing on a chair screaming for help is burned into my memory forever.

There's a cook I would do that to where I work.