People that work in the restaurant industry are special people. They deal with people who treat them badly, take and perform ridiculous requests from guests like cutting their steak for them, in hopes of a good tip. Working in the restaurant industry is not for the vain of heart, it takes thick skin to get through some shifts without having a mental breakdown, but we make it through. You have to be willing to brush things off and move on or else you will be very unhappy. Here I have compiled some of the things I have learned working in the restaurant industry over the years.
1.There will always be division between FOH (front of the house) and BOH (Back of the house).
No matter how hard anyone tries there will always be some division between the people cooking the food and the people serving it. It an unwritten rule of the restaurant industry.
2. If you don’t have thick skin and a complete abandonment of political correctness do not go in the kitchen!
The kitchen is a different universe, it is a place that everything and anything can be said, unlike the front of house where there are guests and you have to constantly watch what you say and do.
3.Management is KEY in the restaurant industry
Even the best restaurant can be run into the ground with the wrong management
4. There is nothing worse than working a long breakfast shift when you are brutally hungover
Pick nights that you don’t work in the AM to go out, because suffering through your shift hung over is the worst form of self-punishment there is.
5. If you don’t know what getting in the weeds is, do you really work in a restaurant?
The weeds, aka being completely overwhelmed by needy guests asking for something new every time you go to the table instead of all at once, while you have two orders to put in and food to run.
6.That being said you know that the calm before the storm (or the weeds) are some of the most precious moments you will ever experience.
You may only have one two top, and not be making much money, but those few moments before you end up in the weeds and start to think about all of the things you could be doing instead of being at work are the most perfect moments.
7.You find yourself saying things like “behind” “86” and “heard” in real life, instead of just at work.
Without strange looks from friends and family you would probably speak in restaurant lingo 24/7
8.Service with a smile
Smiling will get you very far in life, or at least get you a few more bucks thrown in on that table that you secretly would like to tell to leave, but you have to keep smiling, just keep smiling.
9. Teamwork
Teamwork is key to making a shift run smoothly, even if the other servers you are on with that shift aren’t your favorite you still have to work together to get out of there at a decent time and make your guests happy.
10. MULTITASKING
Probably the most important thing on this list is the importance of multitasking, if you are thinking about working in the restaurant industry to make extra cash but are not a talented multitasker, save yourself the time and don’t go into the restaurant industry.
11. Self control
No matter where you work you will always have a few tables you will actually think about physically harming, which is where self control comes to play
12. As much as you appreciate compliments they do not pay your bills.
The worst tables are the ones who remind you how great you are over and over and you get excited to look at their tip and you realize the reason they complimented you so much is because that was their tip…
13.You take your work home
When you lay in bed at night and remember you never brought table 14 that extra side of ranch they asked for…
14.Even when you think you have seen it all…you haven’t
Enough said
