Real Talk: Working in a Restaurant

Alright folks - let's get to the nitty gritty.

Working in a restaurant.

Sounds busy and it can be.  And it SHOULD be.  Being bored for 8 hours and you're not allowed to use your phone in the kitchen is very frustrating indeed.

Once upon a time I was 19 and a waitress for my aunt for a summer and it was one of the most exciting and exhausting jobs I have ever done (other than motherhood - which is a forever-long gig) so now that I have some experience and have witnessed what the owners have done as well and can perhaps give you some insight on what it's like to work in a restaurant.
Bear in mind - these are based on my personal experiences and every restaurant and person is different.

Waitress

Things you (may/most likely) have to handle or deal with:

• Cleaning the restaurant 
• Washing windows
• Cleaning tables 
• Clearing off tables
• Vacuuming and mopping floors
• Cleaning the bathrooms
• Doing dishes
• Cleaning up accidents (i.e. spilled food, broken dishes, vomit -hopefully not)
• Refilling condiments 
• Salt and pepper shakers
• ketchup or other sauces in little bowls perhaps
• filling a salad bar or buffet
• Customer service
• As a host(ess) finding seating for your customers
• Accommodating customers needs and demands
• Taking their orders
• Serving their food and beverages in a timely manner
• Handling customer complaints
• Packing take-away orders or leftovers
• Handling customer reservations and inquiries on the phone/e-mail
• Processing payments (cash, bank/credit cards, gift cards, coupons and discount vouchers)
• So much math....splitting bills for example and calculating tips if need be.
• Other
• Planning schedules for other staff and handling reservations
• Long hours and on your feet for most of it
• Organizing catering services (includes setting up the location and food perhaps)
• Dealing with extremely flirtatious customers that might not accept "no" for an answer.
• Dealing with alcoholic or troubled customers that may exhaust you mentally and possibly try to hurt you physically if you deny them services.
• Dealing with customers smearing you publicly and privately - for example by word of mouth or describing you on the restaurant's public social media pages.
• AKA bullying

Cooking

Things you may/most likely have to deal with in the kitchen:

• Running out of ingredients
• Naturally this is prime time that customers want that particular meal or dish with those missing ingredients! :)
• Equipment breaking or missing
• It's why it's crucial to know where everything goes and to put things back once you're done!
• Yelling - you're yelling, serving staff yelling, your boss yelling - everyone yells...
• Usually depends on the size of the kitchen!
• Lack of space  - counter space can be limited and you may be bumping elbows with that coworker you can't stand more often than not.
• Also when it comes to unloading a lot of ingredients and stock/supply - it can get pretty cramped!
• Service staff dropping food and having to re-do a dish from scratch.
• Pain
• burning yourself
• cutting yourself
• losing a finger (tip or whole) or other body part *I personally haven't done this or witnessed this - but I've heard stories!)
• bumping yourself by walking into or tripping over something
• dropping heavy things on yourself
• heavy lifting
• Long hours on your feet
• dry skin from excessively washing and disinfecting your hands
• Bear in mind I live in a dry part of Finland.
• Stress
• Customers complaining and returning food
• Large groups of customers ordering at once (or several customers ordering at once)
• Customers changing their orders last moment - usually once their food is about to be served.
• Not having enough staff to assist
• Messing up dishes or plating
• memorizing the menu - especially if it's a large one or changes regularly
• Cleaning
• doing dishes and putting everything away
• emptying the deep fryer and cleaning the grill
• cleaning the gas stove
• cleaning floors
• washing some dishes by hand
• cleaning dishes with hard stuck-on food (this is why rule #1 is to SOAK it all!)
• emptying the food traps in the industrial dishwashers or in the floor (they smell rotten and like death and only the brave can handle it without vomiting all over themselves)
• doing a massive deep clean a few times a year 

Owner/Management

• Planning schedules for catering and staff
• Taking orders via e-mail and phone calls for reservations, dinner parties and catering services requests
• Handling social media accounts and television/radio interviews for promotional purposes
• Handling customer/staff complaints and conflict
• Creating new menus and specials
• Dealing with repair and regular maintenance/check-ups for all equipment and the building itself
• Taxes (ugh)
• Processing everyone's pay
• Interviewing and hiring new staff
• Ensuring they are properly trained for the work environment
• Ensuring there's enough food per shipment and ordering regularly
• Budgeting
• Firing staff
• Handling inquiries within staff (i.e. if someone is stealing tips or possibly stealing from the restaurant)
• Ensuring all bills are paid on time
• Ordering new equipment and dishes/supplies
• Deal with busier times and not so demanding times from customers (ie Christmas time is usually quite busy but after the new year - not so much).
• Little sleep (depending on the hours of the restaurant - you might work from morning to close!)
• Little personal time off or vacation time

I am sure there are a lot of things I am missing and some might not apply to you!

But perhaps this will give you a glimpse into the life of a restaurant worker and show you how difficult it can be.

It is partially why I do not want to have my own place.  I used to think it would be a great way to live but now that I have children - I don't think I could do it until they perhaps were independent and moved out.

It's also why I strongly believe that those who work in a restaurant are super strong mentally - because they have to do and remember so many things and work together as a team to get through the day.
A cook or head chef is no better than a waitress and vice verca.  Both are very demanding jobs and should be respected equally.

XO,
Dominique