Another day at the office: Denny’s gets sloppy
How is it possible that I made almost exactly the same amount in tips today as I did yesterday? Now I am no Hooters calendar caliber waitress, but I am barely bringing home minimum wage. That is of course after you add my generous $4.24 hourly compensation.
Oh, and today was standard Denny’s. I mean, all of the bad things we were trained not to do, we did. We even had two walkouts. Waitresses were carrying plates without trays, cooks were taking cheese off hamburgers before they were sent to tables, and, might I mention, they were removing their mistakes with their bare hands. All of our training had gone out the door with last night’s trash. I got into some sloppy habits too. I bussed a table without a tray and delivered extra forks without napkins, gasp.
But lets be honest, aside from dealing drugs, serving is among a slim picking of jobs that you get a buzz off. I’m talking about those tips.
I mean, how often does someone get to actually touch the money they earn, immediately. It is so gratifying, so rewarding I don’t mind putting up with the angry trucker who complains about everything and leaves me a $1.75 tip of the hat.
For all of the qualms I have with the restaurant, I love working at Denny’s. I love running around my tables. I love yelling at the cooks who are slipping on grease puddles and screwing up orders left and right. I love that seven hours almost speed by.
I don’t love cleaning ravaged tables or making blue cheese dressing—four cups ranch, two scoops mayo, five scoops blue cheese. And I can’t say I loved getting my finger sliced by the lemon cutter, but I maintain my love for my job, and appreciation.
Throughout the day, more and more people came to drop off, or fill out, job applications. And so, even though I only made $24.20 today, I’ll hold my tongue, at least to management.
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PostingID: 1283901843
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:57 pm
It is a new store so it will take time to develop a regular following.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Note to self: Never eat blue cheese dressing. EEEEEW.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Suggestion- Post on CL asking for a band aid for the lemon injury
February 4th, 2010 at 10:03 am
$4.24 minimum wage?! Are you kidding me?? Is that LEGAL?!?!
February 4th, 2010 at 11:43 am
What’s up man? One of my first jobs was as a pizza delivery guy. $5 wage, used my own car, so deduct gas and it was probably around what you’re making. Loved running around though, tips were great, and my car perpetually smelt like pizza and garlic knots.
Still waiting on my grand slam.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I heard a story on NPR about a restaurant server who did an experiment to see how the quality of her service affected her tips. One half of her tables got the very best service she could possibly offer: friendly banter, prompt beverage refills and plate clearing, being attentive but not too intrusive, etc. The other half of her tables got the bare minimum: no friendly conversation, just “What’ll you have?”, no smiles, no “extras”, waiting to be asked by the customer for refills, etc.
She found that the “excellent” service group tipped about the same as the “mediocre” service group. She concluded that most people have a standard level of tipping that they adhere to in most situations, regardless of the quality of service. Although she allowed that, in the event of truly atrocious, rude, or offensive service, that the tip percentage would more than likely go down or be zero.
The lesson she took away from it was that it’s not worth the extra effort to knock yourself out giving stellar service. The 10% customers will still tip 10%, the 15% customers will still tip 15%, etc.
I don’t really know why I’m telling you this. Take from it what you will. I just thought it was interesting.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
well you should work at bourbon. $100+ on a brunch shift and you don’t have to wear a uniform. And after a hard day, you get an Irish car bomb. Rideshare to DC? anyone?