Since Duckface quit/fired (it was boring, she just stopped showing up) Iāve had a relatively peaceful experience with other servers.
See, I work with this Karen who has been serving forever but still somehow absolutely sucks as a server. She fucks up so many times in a day that sheās single-handedly brought food cost up 3%. Given that we have around 35 servers, thatās huge. Weāre so short staffed that they canāt fire her, but anywhere else sheād be gone.
Anyway, Karen doesnāt ever want to do her side work or section and more or less bullies servers into signing her off (or forges their initials) so she can leave.
I closed tonight, and Karen needed my signature. The restaurant wasnāt busy by any reasonable standard, so there wasnāt a whole lot to actually do for side work.
For those of you new here or who only read this when drunk, Iām really good at 3 things:
1. Not giving a shit about other peopleās drama
2. Not dealing with bullies
3. Being really bad at putting up with bullshit
Bear in mind that despite these things, I try really hard to get servers out as soon as I can because I donāt want to deal with their whining and I get that theyāre making about $2 an hour. I just expect they do a decent job with their stuff and I let them leave. And before somebody gets the idea that I get a power trip closing please understand Iād much rather just pencil whip people so they can leave vs. giving them a hard time. Itās easier.
Karen wants signed off, and tells me her stuff is done.
I donāt even make it to her section and I know that her stuff is indeed not done. The napkins under the one table tell me everything I need to know.
I tell her that Iāll check her stuff when sheās done it. She shoves her sign-off slip in my face and tells me to sign it.
Sure! Once you do your side work and section. She then commands meĀ to sign her off.Ā
āGet fffffffffffffffffor realā I almost told her to get fucked, but that would cause me problems that I donāt want to deal with ever.
She storms out of the kitchen, presumably to clean her section and talk shit about me. Jokeās on her dumb ass, I talk more shit about me than anybody.
I tell the night manager that I will let her know when Karen is ready to go - and about the conversation was we just had. Communication is key, and soon youāll read why - assuming youāve even read this far.
I donāt see Karen for another 20 minutes. She comes back and slaps her sign-off sheet on the counter in front of me and issues another command to sign it. I must have misheard her since I balled it up and tossed it into the garbage and told her to try again with respect next time.
She reprints her sheet, signs it herself, and goes to the night manager so she can leave.
The night manager, clever girl, asks over the loudspeaker if Iāve signed Karen off. I open the office door and say I have not - but Iāll check her section and side work in a few minutes once my table is set.
This isnāt good enough for Karen apparently, as she blocks the door to the kitchen so I canāt get back in after running my food. This is stupid for several reasons, primary reason being that I could easily bowl her ass over and thereās another entry door. I just go to walk through the other door and when she runs over to block it too - to force me to check her section immediately - and I just walk in the door she just vacated.
Meanwhile, after dropping my prebussed dishes off at the dish pit, I sign off two other servers without checking a damn thing because theyāve never once been a problem. Karen witnesses this and goes full bitch.
She grabs my apron and attempts to drag me over to where her side work was. Problem being thatās like trying to drag a tree because Iām triple her size and quite frankly Iām not moving unless I want to. I fucking bellow at her to get her damn hands off me, and then I go let the night manager know that sheāll have to check the bitch out because now that sheās touched me Iām not doing a fucking thing for her.Ā
I donāt like being touched. I like having a personal space bubble thatās interrupted only by things like a hand on my shoulder or back or whatever to let me know that somebody is there and the occasional hug. Otherwise, I like to remain contact-free. Donāt touch me. Donāt grab me. Donāt try to tug me anywhere.
Anyway, the night manager had her there another half hour fighting with her to just do the damn side work and section - bringing her total to over an hour. For reference, it takes most servers less than 30 minutes to do both.
I close with this bitch tomorrow too. Iām not signing her shit, the GM gets to do it.
Iām working on a comprehensive guide to serving, but as expected itās a lot of words for such a simple job. Itās competing with Pokemon Shield for time soā¦.-J
Also, if you have a few bucks lying around and feel like it, my friend @friendly-neighborhood-patriarch could use a few bucks. Donate if you want, heās a nice guy.
https://www.paypal.me/cookiemonstr