9 Waiter Stories That Show How Food Establishments Really Work

According to one of the versions, the first restaurant was opened in 1765, in Paris, and served only soup. Today, we can already choose from thousands of establishments and we have the possibility to order any dish that our heart desires. But for many people, a trip to one of them ends up being haunted by disturbing thoughts: “why is it so expensive?”, “what if I don’t get a fresh portion?” or “Should I tip, since the waiter is going to earn his salary anyway?”, among others.

One of the authors of awesome.club talked to his friend who works as a waiter and discovered interesting details about the daily life of restaurants, bars and cafes. In this postyou’ll find out how some establishments cheat customers, which places should be avoided and whether it’s true that employees taste food from their customers’ plates.

Hi! I’m Miguel and I’ve been working as a waiter for 10 years. Everyone around me thinks I’m very lucky for the job I have, because in their conception, I only need to take and remove dishes, and I still earn more than my uncle, who works doing repairs. However, to do what I do and receive the salary I receive, I studied at a technical school, took private courses and financed internships in Europe. At one point, I got to the point where I worked for free just to gain experience, without which it’s hard to get ahead in my field.

Now, I work at a restaurant considered one of the best in my city. To get here, I had to go through four stages of the interview and work as a courier for three months. It is necessary to know how each dish on the menu is made, as well as their respective ingredients (there are 40 to 50 options + seasonal offers), how to set the tables, monitor the comfort of guests, in addition to showing the skills of a tightrope walker of heavy trays. The work is not easy at all, but I like it.

So, what does a “friend” or “manager” salary consist of, as some customers call us? As a rule, this is an hourly wage plus a percentage of the cashier’s money proportional to the waiter’s qualification level. The rest is tips, which, before the mass transition to cashless payments, could amount to as much as 2/3 of earnings. Now, it ends up being less frequent and we don’t always keep the money for ourselves. However, there are other ways to receive this part of the remuneration:

all tips received during the shift are pooled and, at the end, divided among all employees; they are handed over to superiors, and part of the money is returned as a prize.

Some waiters try to please the customer to get a tip; others find it reasonable to charge for their work. I remember that, one day, customers paid a 65 reais bill with a 100 reais bill. Our new waitress, Maria, wouldn’t give them their change, and when they were outraged, she rolled her eyes and said, “That’s my tip.”

On a good day, we can earn a few hundred in tips. But not all waiters are flush with cash: there are those who need to eat instant noodles and are deep in loans. It turns out that many love to go out and party in expensive establishments. They really want to relax and, at one time or another, be part of the crowd that sits at the table, and not have to be running back and forth between the kitchen and the living room.

I had a colleague named Olga who once got into trouble with a waitress at a cafe across the street. Olga came up with an ingenious revenge plan: after her shift, she would put on a beautiful dress, paint her lips with red lipstick and go to that cafe. Then she would make complex orders, change them ten times, defiantly check glasses for cleanliness, and throw tips on the table. The victim complained to her bosses and demanded that Olga no longer be allowed into the cafe. However, my colleague did not violate any laws or rules of the establishment. But I must admit that she spent a lot of money on her revenge.

According to what I could observe in the course of my work, most of the problems occur in reservations for a large number of guests. Just imagine the situation and judge for yourself: a crowd of people, noise, bustle, no one really looks at what the waiters are serving. What can happen? Well, for example, it is possible that not all dishes are served, or extremely small portions are offered, and the “saved” products are used for their own needs. The most dishonest employees can take something for themselves, on the sly, and add it to the customer’s bill. Therefore, it is recommended to follow these steps:

When booking a restaurant for a celebration, for example, ask to print a list of all meals. It will be easier to notice the lack of dishes. If you make a few requests during the event, try to write them all down. If you have agreed to bring your own food to the feast, it is best not to leave it in the restaurant kitchen. For example, if you want to take sausages, cut them at home and ask to have them placed on the plate in your presence. Otherwise, a good fraction runs the risk of being “lost” in the kitchen. Never order several portions of a dish in the same container. Take, for example, two portions of vegetables or three of rolls and let them be served separately, on different plates. It’s a dirty secret, but some cooks choose to save produce and slightly reduce the amount of food. For example, two portions of 300 g can result in a dish of less than 500 g.

Most customers immediately order what they want, so it makes no sense to leave the menu on the table, which can get dirty during the meal. Even with a large order, we need free space to organize the dishes. But, many times, the restaurant simply does not have enough menus for all customers.

My old place of work had 40 seats and only 6 menus. The hostess instructed us to quickly take the menu to other tables, but some of the customers fought over it. They would hide it under clothing, leave it under dishes, or even place it on a chair and sit on it. If you go to a good establishment, just ask the waiter not to remove the menu. The customer’s word to us is law.

In waiter courses, we learn that there should never be dirty or empty dishes in front of the customer, as it is disrespectful and inappropriate. But if the person simply does not touch the remaining food for 15 minutes, the plates can be removed. However, in some establishments, glasses are not removed for purely commercial reasons: the customer will glance at the empty container and will probably be tempted to order another drink.

In good restaurants, just place your fork and knife on your plate, pointing them at each other. For the waiter, this is a sign that the meal is “on pause”. In simpler establishments, the staff may not know these subtleties, so you need to warn the waiter and ask him not to bring anything. Just do not put a napkin on the plate or “mark” it in any other way, since in this way it will definitely be removed.

I remember an interesting case related to napkins. A respectable looking man placed an order. He ate most of it and looked around. Then he took a pen, wrote something on a napkin and quickly left the hall. I ran to get the napkin and saw the following message: “Please do not remove the plate. I haven’t finished eating yet.”

Upon seeing you enter the establishment, does the waiter rush to remove the crumbs from the table or start vigorously scrubbing the table? No, he is not obsessed with cleanliness. It is quite likely that the situation is just the opposite. Waving a rag in front of the customer is not a professional attitude. Look at it this way: if the surface of the table is sticky or dirty, it probably hasn’t been cleaned properly in a long time and the waiter decided to do it in front of you to try to show work and disguise a care for cleanliness.

Other point. If you order a complex dish and it’s served five minutes later, I put my hand in the fire that was reheated. Only the cook knows how long the meal has been in the fridge. And the same rule goes for the drinks: if they were brought out on time, the full glasses were already ready (maybe for five minutes, maybe half a day).

If the waiter brings you a dish generously garnished with sauce or pepper, ask to replace it. It is likely that another customer did not finish their meal and leftovers were “topped up” and served to you. Sauces and spices are a man’s best friend. chef when it comes to disguising this kind of dishonesty.

Most people who discover how I make a living feel compelled to tell the same little joke over and over again. The customer asks the waiter: “Is it true that you eat after us?” He replies, “Well, we still need to find out who eats after whom.”

At the restaurant where I work, an employee caught “tasting” a dish will be fined and fired. But I know many stories about waiters who did not give up this bad habit of “nibbling” food before serving it, not even with free food available and security cameras. Here in Russia they are called “seagulls”, and only establishment owners can fight them.

In fact, there are not so many “seagulls”, but there are many employees who like to finish the meal. Especially in low-cost places where students often do odd jobs. I myself worked in such places in my youth, and to my chagrin and that of the guests, everyone ate the dishes rejected by the customers. Some took only untouched food; others weren’t even put off by teeth marks on leftover pizza.

Once, a couple came. My professional instinct immediately told me that I was going to suffer with these customers, noticing the way one of them was looking at the water. First, they ordered two portions of julienne with mushrooms and Caesar salad with chicken. When the dishes were almost ready, one of them called out to me: “I just remembered that…