SIX THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE SERVICE INDUSTRY

I have been back in the food serving industry for six months now. I believe there are some things about this industry that most people do not realize. Some of these things seem minuscule but added up all together; it can be quite an eye opener for some.

Minimum wage for servers in my state is $2.13 per hour. It has been this rate for as long as I can remember. Servers make their living off of tips – this should be considered a commission-based industry.

Most servers do not clock in and hit the floor to make tips.  Some servers even have to pay parking where they work so essentially they paying money to be able to park to work before getting a dime in tips.  After paying to park, many servers have at least half an hour to an hour of “pre-shift” work to do (at $2.13 an hour) before they can get on the floor to serve and make tips.

Servers do not get to keep all of their tips. Most establishments require tipped servers to “tip out” other employees.  This includes bartenders, food runners, bussers, hostesses and at some places, kitchen staff. Some places I have worked at has allowed the server to tip what they deemed appropriate, but most places rely on a percentage of food and alcohol sales to determine the amount that the server is to “tip out”.  This amount is then divided amongst the crews it gets given to. At my workplace, the tip out is between 2.5 and 4% (depending on the amount of people working) of my food and alcohol sales (bartenders get tipped off of alcohol sales, others get tipped of off food sales). This is non-negotiable.  When a table doesn’t tip me or forgets to leave me the correct credit card receipt with their tip and signature (which I am required to claim a $0 tip on), I am still required to pay my tip outs.

Most diners are unaware of credit card fees.  Where I work, we are required to pay 2.5% of our credit card tips to pay credit card processing fees. This is the only place I have worked for that has operated this way, but I have been out of the industry for over a decade so perhaps now this is something standard.

In order to serve alcohol in Indiana, servers must obtain a Liquor License and pay a fee. In addition to this, some establishments require additional training and courses such as Serve Safe and Bar Smarts (many of which time spent to complete the course is not paid for), some are free and some require out-of-pocket costs billed immediately and directly to the server.  The most recent course I was required to take was four modules that included reading and videos to watch and tests for each module, combined with a final exam at the end of the course. The total personal time invested was 3-4 hours. Most of these modules covered alcohol knowledge and history, which is extremely knowledgeable for certain servers and especially bartenders. I usually work breakfast shifts and rarely have anything ordered other than a Mimosa. I do work lunch shifts but most of my clientele are having working lunches so I found little use nor do I feel I will remember much of what I learned six months from now. However, this was a mandatory course for me to continue to be scheduled to work.

Many servers enjoy their work.  To some people that have never served before, you might think that we are all a bunch of college kids working for our nights out. This is not the case.  Most people are serving tables because they enjoy it and can usually make decent money in quick amounts of time. I have worked side-by-side with grad students, graduated students, sales professionals and others. I worked with one gentleman who graduated law school but is still working in the same restaurant. Why? Because it provides him a quality of life he enjoys and it usually pays the bills.

Next time you go out to eat, remember this blog. Think about the big picture while you are dining. Put yourself in your servers’ shoes; most of them are there because they enjoy it and want to make your experience better.

RESTAURANT "SPARES"

Spares

I have been serving tables full-time now for 6 months.  I have gotten one shift covered and have called in once due to a family emergency. I show up every day presentable, in a good mood and ready to do a good job; and I do a good job. I have regulars that ask for me and MGNT knows I have built relationships with their clientele and several have become my Facebook friends and a few have bought my children’s book.  I had a good review 5 weeks ago and I know I am dependable.

This serving job is my current only source of livelihood for my daughter, her guinea pig, our three dogs and myself.  I haven’t received child support in 5 weeks and I have been trying to maintain a large house with a large mortgage on my own since I got divorced over a year and a half ago. I need to work and I need to make the money I was told I would make.

This week in particular has been rough. The snow had us delay opening one day and slow business everyday. I have tried to maintain good spirits but it was hard after seeing what I am scheduled for on Saturday, normally one of our busiest days. I am scheduled for a “spare” shift. I have worked in several restaurants and have only known two to practice this method of scheduling.

Scheduling “spares” or “extras” is a method of scheduling used in the event that not all servers arrive for their scheduled shift. Typically, “extras” or “spares” show up at the scheduled time of the other servers, helps set up for the upcoming shift and then is released if everyone scheduled to work arrives and wants to work their shift. If someone does not come in, the “extra” or “spare” will work their scheduled shift; if someone does not want to work they can ask the “extra” or “spare” to work and if the “extra” or “spare” wants to, they can. The “extra” or “spare” may just choose to go home, which they can if they desire. Kind of sounds like rules to a games, doesn’t it?

I have been scheduled this shift once before and not knowing anything about it (the “rules”), I agreed to the first server asking if I wanted to work their shift and section (I didn’t “want” to work their shift – I needed to work their shift) which I came to find out that it wasn’t a great section and there were other servers who would’ve given up better sections.  I also watched someone scheduled as an “extra” or “spare” go home last week when they wanted to work because no one wanted to give up their shift.  This shift is all about chance. I was not in a position to take chances.

I really began to think about this shift and why it was a method to begin with. I know the answer and had it confirmed by discussing it with the General Manager: Restaurants have to protect themselves in the event that servers do not show up to work their shifts. I am not a complete stranger to this method nor am I to the workforce today. I have worked in numerous restaurants and retail settings. I have recruited, hired, trained, coached, rewarded and disciplined countless employees. I have only had to let one go in the eight years I managed stores.  Is it really hard to find quality employees that will show up and do their job?  Sadly, yes, but why do we let go so easily of employees that do show up and do their job? Why do we keep the people that are essentially hurting us?  Why don’t restaurants reward employees that are helping them? I have never worked in a restaurant that gave raises to servers. I have to wonder what can be done to help the restaurants help themselves. I would think most restaurant owners desire a consistent, dedicated staff but for how long can the staff remain consistent and dedicated if they are not being compensated well?

LEAPING OFF THE LADDER

Leaping off the (Management) ladder, I began working full-time day-shift as a waitress in an independently owned and operated Café where I live.  I feel like I happened into this position by being referred by a current employee whom is well thought of there.  I had never worked in any other restaurants willing to give me a Monday through Friday day-shift schedule. 

I left a very lucrative retail management position where I was in charge to wait tables in this Café.  What was the difference in the jobs? Plenty. Schedule, stress and pressure, quality of life, the atmosphere, the goods I would be selling, my role (being in charge vs, not), management and of course pay. I had made my pros and cons list and took a leap of faith.

My first week I was scared to death.  An industry I hadn’t worked in for over a decade and a training pay of minimum wage.  But the people! Not only is the management super helpful but also the guests are lovely! I’m not sure that this transition would have gone so well somewhere else. My first day training one of my managers told me I was doing a good job. It sent me reeling on a natural high for hours! I remember later in the day asking myself why I was still reeling from this and it hit me that I had not had praise from my retail boss in quite some time. My retail job was all-consuming and I barely ever got an “atta girl”. I devoted myself to my position and my store and just got asked for more and more.  There came a time where I was empty, nothing more to give.  This is the “emotional bank account” that a previous manager has told me about. We have to deposit in order to withdrawal.

A few weeks into it I wondered if I made the right decision.  I was told I could make close to what I was making in my current salaried position, and I was maybe at half of that.  I showed up every day, with a good attitude. At first, I noticed I wasn’t scheduled for the “prime” shifts.  I got scared, nervous. I was able to put more time into my true passion, writing, but that wasn’t paying any bills.  I actually managed to self-publish one of the children’s books about my wiener dog that I had written over a decade ago.  That has to count for something, right?  I did break even or maybe even a little ahead with my first book (so far) but that still wasn’t paying the bills.  I talked to management, who said they would work to get me scheduled more for the “prime” shifts.  I worked on my “Daisy books” in my downtime and kept going. 

I am now a few months into it and I am still undecided on whether or not I made the right decision.  I am having fun in my current position.  I have built relationships with customers that are now my regulars.  I have had a few that bought a “pawtographed” book from me. I enjoy my early shifts (I hate the world at 4:35 when my alarm goes off, but I love it at 2:30 when I am done for the day). I enjoy most of the people that I work with. Unfortunately, none of those good feelings pay the bills. 

At this point, I have nothing left to do but to keep going on.  I am excited to have more time for my family and my writing but I am afraid this “daydream” will end soon and I will find myself in need of another “big girl job”.  For now, I am taking it day-by-day in hopes that all of my hard work eventually pays off.  

HOW DID I LOSE SEVEN YEARS?

Often we find ourselves asking that question. I have said for over a decade that I want to be a writer. So what’s the problem? How have I let a decade past before giving it true effort? Before trying to make my dreams come true? Oh, that’s what happened: a career.

Rewind back a decade. A single mom, working two or three jobs at once, going to school online and trying to stay financially afloat. I put all my eggs into one basket, took a leap of faith, walked away from two of my three jobs at the time and began working full-time as a jewelry consultant in our local mall.

I was with a good manager that told me I could sell. I didn’t really believe him, but I went with it. We worked well together. Soon I was beating his numbers, became Assistant Manager. The money was almost enough, I made it work. Soon after that another store in our district needed a manager. This store was closer to my manager’s house then our store was. He wanted that store, I wanted our store. I still remember the meeting with the VP of the company. I sold him that I was already running the store and I that deserved the store.

At the time for where I was in life, the money was decent. At first the time away from home didn’t bother me too much. My second year as manager I won the coveted Manager of the Year award. I felt good. Money was decent. Time away from home was beginning to wear on me a little bit but I knew I just had to keep on keeping on and do what I had to do. I got recruited away. Now I was making great money. Bonuses were real, commission was real, so was my commute. Driving 50 minutes door to door and this company socked it to me when it came time for holidays. I remember working 18 days in a row in December, having one day off for Christmas and then being right back there the next morning for “after Christmas traffic”. My quality of life was starting to stink. My daughter was growing up and I was missing it. Mandatory closing shifts two nights a week and mandatory Saturdays were part of my weekly schedule. They did allow Sundays off and I appreciated that and felt like I had half of a weekend.

My old store opened back up with Management opportunities and I was heavily recruited back. They matched my salary and I thought it was a great chance to get back to Bloomington and cut my commute back to normal. I worked twelve days in a row my first December back. I had my two mandatory closing shifts through the week, every Saturday and every-other Sunday, forty-seven hours minimum a week.

My daughter turned fifteen. She grew taller than me. When did this happen? It happened while she was either with my mom or her dad, while I was at work.

My 11-year-old Dachshund had a stroke and lost all mobility in her paws in June. She almost died. We said our goodbyes to her. She was with the vet for two nights. I thought back to my dead “writing career” I had dreamed of earlier in life. I had written five children’s stories about Daisy the Dachshund and had not touched them in over a decade. I had managed to write two short articles for Hubpages in 2011 and that was it. That was it. And that was seven years ago. I had not had time for one of my favorite passions for seven years. I had been so consumed and sucked up into this retail management career thing that I had not done anything else. I mean, my house was clean and I had a decent relationship with my daughter but I suddenly realized I’d done nothing for myself except climb up the ladder. I’m not at the top of the ladder, but do I want to go up any further?

I decided I wanted off the ladder. I longed for normal weekends and a decent schedule. I felt I had three years left with my only child and knew she deserved a mother. I had stopped feeling like a mother. I had skipped concerts and parties and open houses and volunteering because I had to be at work and I was suddenly realized all the years that I had missed, all the time I would never get back. I had worked around the clock making the holidays special for others and then ultimately beginning to hate them, as I knew my work/life balance would struggle. My heart broke at the thought of losing the past decade or so. I knew something had to change.

I put some “feelers” out there. I applied with an engineering company in the county next door but then remembered that I would be going back to commuting (well over fifty minutes one way). I was having a pool day with a good friend who’d waited tables at the same restaurant for four years. She mentioned they needed someone full-time, day shift, Monday – Friday. Go back to serving? Me? I’m in Management.

I applied. Went on vacation, did some soul searching. Talked to family and friends. There was a mixed reaction. Some said they understood, others confused I would be willing to go back to being “just a waitress”. I fought with myself, cried over the decision and then decided to take another leap of faith and see if I could step down and be a part-time associate while waiting tables full-time.

Instantly I was relieved. Not only would this give me more time with my daughter, but it would also free up time to get back to my passion – writing. My boss wasn’t thrilled but when I told him it was time for my daughter to have a mother – the rebuttals stopped. I think he understood. I simply could not be what they needed nor could they be what I needed.

The week before I stepped down I was home alone in my beautiful country home for four nights in a row due to my work schedule. I did have three wonderful dogs keeping me company, but I did not buy this house for them. What is the point in working to have things to enjoy if you don’t have time to enjoy them? Life is too short to be consumed by work. Children grow up fast and life doesn’t stop moving. We only get one chance at it. Make sure you are not slaving your life away for the wrong reasons. I am off the ladder and ready to be at home with less stress for this chapter of my life. I cannot wait to see how it reads.