Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Waitress Diaries: Would You Like Fries With That?
Not being able to blog during the time allotted for other things leads to a lack of posting. I will try to be better about this.
So, I've started working the unpaid internship on the Hill. I enjoy this very, very much (there's nothing quite like watching C-SPAN and knowing that you're in the same building as those people), but it does interfere with the temping. Places like to have you work for days in a row, and I can't do that anymore. And the rent still comes due and I like to eat, so that became a problem.
So I decided to start waiting tables again. During the summer breaks in college, I worked at TGI Friday's as both a hostess and a server. It was incredibly difficult for me to get that first job because I didn't have any table waiting "experience," which I thought was dumb since if no one hires me, then I'll never get "experience." So I expected it to be as difficult this time.
It was not.
India: I'd like to fill out a job application.
Manager: For what position?
India: Serving
Manager: Do you have experience?
India: Yes, I've been a waitress and a hostess at TGI Friday's.
Manager: When can you start?
So in the past week, I've shown up for a couple random shifts and "trained." The point of training is to learn the food, but you don't learn the food until you see the food, and that just takes time. The other point of training is to learn how to wait tables, but I promise, that is not difficult, and I've done it before. The place that I'm now working is way more relaxed than Friday's because it is locally owned and not a franchise, so as far as protocol goes, I'm more than golden. And I don't even have to ask people if they want soup or salad, which to me was the high school diploma version of "Do you want fries with that?"
I think the money is going to be much better than Friday's, too. For those that haven't ever waited tables - you know how you're supposed to tip 15% of your tab? We keep up with the total dollar amount of what we sold too, and base a good day/bad day on what percentage we make. (The IRS assumes that you take home 8% of what you sell for income tax purposes, regardless of what you claim you made). We also have to tip out the bartenders and the busers a percentage of our total sales. So if you're one of those special people that just leaves the Standard Two Dollars (an STD), then you're messing with the system, and we hate you.
On any given day at Friday's, I would walk out the door with about 10% of what I sold, which really isn't bad, considering I usually tipped out between 4 and 5%, which means for all those $80 tabs who left me $2, I made up for it somewhere else. Last night, the girl I was following (i.e. she was supposedly teaching me how to be a waitress, but we both figured out fairly soon that was stupid) sold just under $700 and walked out with $125. That sounds good to me.
So, I will study the menu enough to be able to pass a test on the food, and then I will be turned loose to wait my own tables. And crazy people eat at restaurants, so stay tuned for further developments...
So, I've started working the unpaid internship on the Hill. I enjoy this very, very much (there's nothing quite like watching C-SPAN and knowing that you're in the same building as those people), but it does interfere with the temping. Places like to have you work for days in a row, and I can't do that anymore. And the rent still comes due and I like to eat, so that became a problem.
So I decided to start waiting tables again. During the summer breaks in college, I worked at TGI Friday's as both a hostess and a server. It was incredibly difficult for me to get that first job because I didn't have any table waiting "experience," which I thought was dumb since if no one hires me, then I'll never get "experience." So I expected it to be as difficult this time.
It was not.
India: I'd like to fill out a job application.
Manager: For what position?
India: Serving
Manager: Do you have experience?
India: Yes, I've been a waitress and a hostess at TGI Friday's.
Manager: When can you start?
So in the past week, I've shown up for a couple random shifts and "trained." The point of training is to learn the food, but you don't learn the food until you see the food, and that just takes time. The other point of training is to learn how to wait tables, but I promise, that is not difficult, and I've done it before. The place that I'm now working is way more relaxed than Friday's because it is locally owned and not a franchise, so as far as protocol goes, I'm more than golden. And I don't even have to ask people if they want soup or salad, which to me was the high school diploma version of "Do you want fries with that?"
I think the money is going to be much better than Friday's, too. For those that haven't ever waited tables - you know how you're supposed to tip 15% of your tab? We keep up with the total dollar amount of what we sold too, and base a good day/bad day on what percentage we make. (The IRS assumes that you take home 8% of what you sell for income tax purposes, regardless of what you claim you made). We also have to tip out the bartenders and the busers a percentage of our total sales. So if you're one of those special people that just leaves the Standard Two Dollars (an STD), then you're messing with the system, and we hate you.
On any given day at Friday's, I would walk out the door with about 10% of what I sold, which really isn't bad, considering I usually tipped out between 4 and 5%, which means for all those $80 tabs who left me $2, I made up for it somewhere else. Last night, the girl I was following (i.e. she was supposedly teaching me how to be a waitress, but we both figured out fairly soon that was stupid) sold just under $700 and walked out with $125. That sounds good to me.
So, I will study the menu enough to be able to pass a test on the food, and then I will be turned loose to wait my own tables. And crazy people eat at restaurants, so stay tuned for further developments...
