In article >,
sf > wrote:
>On 8 Oct 2003 15:15:52 -0400, (Mark
>Shaw) wrote:
>>
>> One place I worked kept everybody's check averages on a white-
>> board. Every month or so the names of those who were consis-
>> tently in the bottom 10% (one or two waitrons usually) were
>> erased -- that's how you knew it was time to drop off your apron
>> and pick up your final paycheck.
>
>Eeeew. That's too cold for words.
One of the assistant managers came up with a scheme to get
people to come in on time -- if you arrived for work more
than 5 minutes late, he sent you home. Not so bad, I guess,
on the face of it -- you ought to be able to show up on time
-- but working a busy friday night with a fifth of the rest
of the waitstaff simply missing was no fun.
This was Sea Galley, which was a spinoff of Red Lobster -- in
other words, a cheapo fish-and-chips joint. Around about 1983
they got the idea that they should be more upscale, and started
selling things like parchment-cooked fresh fish, live lobster,
etc. including bottled wine. So we all got wine-service
training, which was fun, except for the half of the waitstaff
who were simply terrified of the concept and would run to one
of the rest of us for help whenever one of their tables ordered
a bottle.
Not only that, but the head waitron (a guy who ended up selling
used cars, which I'm convinced was his true calling) came up with
the bright idea that we were to take a bottle of wine to EACH and
EVERY table, describe it as part of our spiel, leave it there and
offer to open it when we came back -- even if we were serving Joe
Mechanic, wife and six kids obviously out for their quarterly
fish-and-chips treat.
This guy also used to ask his tables who'd paid with plastic if
they wanted him to calculate and add his tip to the credit slip
or "leave that up to them." He even suggested an amount, but I
don't remember if it was 15% or 20%.
--
Mark Shaw contact info at homepage -->
http://www.panix.com/~mshaw
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