Working in restaurants throughout undergrad and grad school, I have learned a thing or two when it comes to the lingo. Kitchens are fast-paced places to be, and you need to know whats going on in order to keep up.
So this goes out to all you servers, expo-ers and hostesses alike: things you'll only understand if you've worked in the service industry.
1. "86 _____!!!"
2. "Sell table ___!"
Meaning that a server has a table's order on hold, and now its ready to be processed in the kitchen.
3. "On the fly!"
This means drop whatever you're doing because we need it NOW. Table for two on the fly essentially means, "THEIR RESERVATION GOT MESSED UP, AND WE NEED A TABLE RIGHT NOW."
4. When you say to a table "hot plates coming in," but they DON'T PAY ATTENTION, AND YOUR HAND BURNS OFF.
When you finally do put the plate down and they inevitably touch it anyway, and go "oh, thats hot!" You don't say...
5. "Send to expo!"
6. "In the weeds."
When the restaurant is CRAZY BUSY and you have to multitask like nobody's business. Also you may be on fire.
7. "Weekend"
That's cute, boo. You work at a restaurant, which means your busiest work days are Friday and Saturday.
