Protecting Myself from the Servers

Starting my second week of work, I am happy to receive my first credit card tips check right on time on Monday. No problems, no wheedling of the management to pay me on time, just showed up to work and was handed a check. Love it! Now I can save my energy for actual work, instead of fighting with shady employers.

So they pay me on time and the money is good. But I am not out of the woods quite yet. The biggest challenge will be setting the shady servers straight at this job. Learning a new job is stressful enough, but when you're in the hospitality industry, you have to set the record straight from day one, and establish parameters of civility around yourself or else you'll be thrown to the wolves. "Thrown to the wolves" meaning you won't get tipped out, you'll find yourself running around doing backwards cartwheels for the servers while your guests at the bar are neglected. I learned that very good lesson from a badass lifetime bartender in Oakland.

Working in the hospitality industry can be so damn stressful!

I'm still working on learning everyone's names and where the damn juicers, muddlers, fckin brown sugar are in the bar/restaurant and now I must also make sure to let the servers know they cannot walk all over me. For some reason, though these people are walking with average $200 in tips per shift, they still feel the need to be greedy as hell. To further complicate things, there are no cash registers on site.

I've been very frank and open with everyone though, and I'm hoping that will at least garner some kind of awareness that I am not shady and do not want to be involved with bullshit. Straightforward! I'll give you your money, you give me mine, everything is fine.

I work again tonight, and tomorrow day shift as well. So far I am enjoying day shifts more but I've not had many night shifts yet so that judgement may change. There is a huge festival this Sunday day shift, which I will be working alongside my bar manager, that I'm pretty excited about. He's giving me a chance to get a taste for super busy shifts so I have to be on my A-game...that way he knows I can handle busy, and I'll have a better chance for being scheduled for future insane-o shifts.

Plus I genuinely think its going to be fun! We get along really well and hes a damn good bartender. I will learn a lot from him and hopefully we pull in a ton of money for the restaurant and ourselves.