When things are running full tilt boogie, the only way to get through the shift is to help each other out. We’re very good at this. And…you get even better at this when you’ve all been working together for a while. “Hey! Have you got a second?” “Yeah, what do you need?” “Can you bring bread and oil to table 134?” “You got it!” Or, “If you’re going out there with the coffee pot, can you refill table 112?” “Sure, no problem.” “Hey! Can someone give me a follow and bring that tray of food to table 130?” “I’m on it!” This goes on all night. We all help each other out.
However, if I am behind the bar, it sometimes becomes a different story. There is limited work space at the service bar, so sometimes help isn’t help at all…..if you’re in my way, you’re a hindrance. The servers realize this, and stay out of the way…..the boss is a different story.
One night he decided to help put clean wine glasses on the rack, which hangs right over the service bar. (He has no idea how quickly we do things.) He would take one glass at a time out of the rack, they were washed in, walk the two steps and hang it up…..then get another glass……and then another…..I needed him out of the way. I can carry 7 wine glasses in one hand, and greatly decrease the time it takes to do this. Also, it was not imperative that these glasses be put away at this time. Because I have to work around him, it slows down the whole drink pouring process, by a lot.
Then he sees 3 servers setting up glasses for their drink orders, and decides he should help pour. How is it helping when it takes him a full minute to locate a wine bottle, (he doesn’t know where anything is) all the while standing right in front of the liquor bottles I need to grab.
The other night I was very busy at the service bar, two people sat down, at the service end of the bar, I turned to them, put down a couple of bevnap, (which is the international sign that I have gotten their order) the boss comes back behind the bar, with a tray, that he spends way too much time draping a cloth napkin over, has to step in front of me to get a couple of cordial glasses, then he turns to the couple and asks, “Has she helped you yet?” They looked at me with a puzzled expression on their faces….like…”What the hell was that all about?” I just looked at them and said, “Yeah, he does that a lot.”
So he poured a glass of wine, or a cordial, good for him….but it greatly hindered the progress of the other 12 drinks that needed to be poured! Ya wanna help me?!? Stay out of my way!!!!
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Okay, seriously. This man must be stopped!!! He is a repeat offender for getting in the way, slowing down the service and creating potential work accidents by being where he shouldn't be and being generally clueless. I had a friend in the restaurant business with the same managerial problem. She would do the following when he would show up: "Oh good, you're here. Do you have a few minutes to do xxx for me?" This usually involved sending him far away from the station to "find" something she suddenly needed and then having him go fetch something else until he inevitably got bored and went off to be a pain to some other poor employee. Pretty soon, he avoided going near her at all.
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