[greenbean]

Oh boy, tyger, good luck!
All I can say is that if you make a mistake (and you will!) just apologize and make it up to your patron. People really get pissed if something goes wrong and they feel like you dont care. Also, always check on each table even if they look like everything is fine. When I started serving I felt like if my patrons looked content, I didnt want to bother them,...but I was wrong because I would get complaints that once I brought the order I never checked back to make sure they were satisified. I assumed they would just wave to me if they needed something but for the most part, people dont want to have to do that.
People will be jerks to you but you just have to grin and bear it, and save your anger for ranting on this board!

Speaking of rants....! Do you ever get those snobby patrons that like to test you? Last night a patron asked me what "maduros" meant, as he pointed to "platanos maduros" on the menu. I said it meant "sweet", and he said, "no it means ripe, but that was close!" !!! Can you believe that jerk! He was friggin testing me! grrrr.

[violentviolet]

Holy shit greenbean; your words just rang true for me.
I just started working in a dominican restaurant around the corner from me; the work is allright, its nearby, and with tips I make a little over $10 an hour, but holy mother of god, the drama.

The reason I have a job is one of the last waitress/busboy/countergirl/phone answerer(because we are ALL of those things, and only one person works at a time), Anna, quit because she claimed sexual harassment by the owner. I don't know if its true or not. The day I started, she sends two boys in to work for here, who obviously aren't allowed behind the counter. Then she and a girlfriend come down, tell the wife of the owner all these charges, and this screaming fight breaks loose. Which I just watch.

Next day, when theres no one in the restaurant, I go to the bathroom. Come back to the counter, and theres four girls sitting there, one of them Anna. One of her friend's orders an empanada, pays, but right after I tell the cook the order he sees them, and forgets to start making the food. Then they start screaming at the owner, insulting me, and the girls trying to get her job back. After 10 or 15 minutes of this, I realize theres a five dollar bill missing from tip jar. Finally, this screaming fight breaks loose, and the girl wants her food, and the cook looks at me and we both realize that he forgot to make it, and I hadnt written a ticket for it. The girl starts screeching, I tell her there's money missing from my tip jar.....and holy shit. The screaming.

Yesterday, two of the girls come in and want to be waited on. They test me on everything on the menu...this, whats this like? What's maduro's mean? What are plaintains? Do you serve Pina coladas? And I'm just like, girls, why are you doing this? And then the one starts crying. And they start insulting everything I'm doing again, and pay the bill with exact change, not a penny of tip.

Everything else about the job is fine...but their making it mad hard.