Armageddon

[friendofjimmyk]

But the situation that night was not predictable. Anyone who has never worked food service might not understand this, but these things happen, and there is no telling when they will.
Period.

Jester - I feel you and I think most of the other posters on this thread feel ya. I know exactly what you are talking about. Your restaurant got it's ass handed to ya and it was not an understaffing issue - it was just one of those fluke nights where it seemed as if the entire city converged on your little corner of the world and wanted to eat.

I think that if you have worked in a restaurant, you can be most sympathetic...and there are those who have never worked in a restaurant and even some of them understand where you are coming from.

If you walk into a restaurant that is as the evening you described and expect things to be "normal" (i.e. wait times, food times, drink times, etc) you are sorely mistaken and are probably borderline SC yourself!

[friendofjimmyk]

.Friday nights during football season were a nightmare. The place would fill up with high school kids who took great pleasure in tormenting the staff. It was like a frat party without the liquor. They were playing "adult" and thought it hilarious to order the waitstaff around, send food back to the kitchen, leave 1-penny tips, etc etc. The line would be out the door most of the night, and the wait for food or ice cream was twice what it might be otherwise. What exacerbated the wait for tables was the early arrivals wouldn't leave. The menu had a gimmick item, "Soda water 2 cents plain", the kids would order it and dare each other to drink it, they would start food fights, try to dine and dash, etc etc. Anything to avoid paying the bill and leaving.
.

When I first moved to Texas, I worked at a Chili's. (insert puke emoticon here!) Friday nights were the worse! The high school football game would end at 10ish and we closed at 11. That did not stop the entire school from converging on our restaurant. I had been working in that sports bar in Cleveland before I moved, so I was not used to teeny boppers. It didn't take me long to figure out that I did not like that crowd!

They'd come in and just get stOOpid! They'd all drink water or they knew that our soft drinks were "bottomless" so they'd play games to see how fast they could drink them down to make the server get them more. Literally, I would drop the soft drink to one kid and by the time I dropped the last drink on the table, that first kid was shoving the glass back in my face asking for his bottomless refill. Then the little teeny bopper girls would order ONE kids meal and split it between 4 or 5 of them. We had coasters on the table and they were instant frisbees.

After working about 3 of these horrible Friday nights, on the 4th Friday, I had had enough. When they started their hijinks, I stood in the middle of my section and very sternly, in a loud voice said "YOUR MOTHERS DO NOT WORK HERE! YOU WILL NOT MAKE A MESS, YOU WILL NOT YELL, SCREAM AND CUSS. YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE RESTAURANT! YOU WILL BEHAVE OR YOU WILL NOT GET SERVED! IF YOU THINK I AM JOKING, JUST TRY ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND" or something to that effect. They actually listened. I later found out it was because their parents heard this from the section they were sitting in (the parents NEVER sat with the kids - you know, that would ruin their precious teenage image to be seen with mom and dad) I guess when I left the station, one of the parents came over and told them they had better behave! WTF? Where were you the last 3 weeks?

[MadMike]

When I first moved to Texas, I worked at a Chili's. (insert puke emoticon here!)

Actually, we do have one.

Now, onto my story...
I was a customer in this situation, not the worker, which is probably a good thing, because I think I would have gone ballistic.

I decided to take my wife and son to Pizza Hut one New Year's Eve shortly before we dropped my son off at his grandma's and headed to the party. The place was pretty packed, but we chose to stay anyway. It took a long time for someone to come to our table, but we figured it was because it was so busy, and we were OK with it.

When the waitress finally came to our table, she just looked exhausted and completely defeated, and in a sad tone of voice, asked us, "You're not going to yell at me, are you?"

We assured her we weren't, and then asked her if she was having a rough day. From what she told us, the manager, in his infinite wisdom, decided that it wasn't going to be busy that day, and scheduled only her, and one other person to make pizzas. The place filled up, and she had to wait on all the tables herself. And of course, a lot of the customer weren't as understanding as we were, and some even yelled at her because of the wait time.

She did get some relief earlier than expected -- shortly after we got our food, I overheard the cook telling her they were out of pizza dough, so they closed early. I felt so sorry for her, I ended up leaving something like a 50% tip. I hope that cheered her up at least a little.

[Jester]

If I am correct, potatoe skins are usually pre-prepped...maybe since they were so busy they actually had to cut and prep some potatoes...in that case, being a manager - I would've 86'd the item.

I am afraid you are incorrect, at least as it concerns the chain in question. The potato skin shells were shipped to us frozen, and the kitchen would simply thaw them out, fry them, fill them with cheese and bacon, and bake them. If we ran out of the shells, then we were out of potato skins, period. If we were that busy, no way was management going to have someone actually cut and scoop out potatos. They would have been 86'd.

After working about 3 of these horrible Friday nights, on the 4th Friday, I had had enough. When they started their hijinks, I stood in the middle of my section and very sternly, in a loud voice said "YOUR MOTHERS DO NOT WORK HERE! YOU WILL NOT MAKE A MESS, YOU WILL NOT YELL, SCREAM AND CUSS. YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE RESTAURANT! YOU WILL BEHAVE OR YOU WILL NOT GET SERVED! IF YOU THINK I AM JOKING, JUST TRY ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND" or something to that effect. They actually listened.

I once worked at Denny's. THIS is where you need to insert this emoticon: There. That fits Denny's. Anyway, I worked the night shift, and once a week or so, we would get this group in of parents and teenagers, and of course the parents would sit in one section and the kids in another, as you described in your restaurant. Now, most of my coworkers treated teenagers like dirt, and the teenagers reciprocated. Myself, I have always treated everyone in my section the same, and I treated the teenagers like adults. And I also would not put up with any shit that they did try. And this combination had a few effects. First, they started to respect me. Second, they actually started to tip me. Most importantly, they would LISTEN to me. If they were getting too rowdy, I would go over there, and kind of as a friend type person say, guys, chill out...and they would. They loved me, their parents loved me, and it got to the point that when they came in, the kids would automatically be put in my section. And all of my coworkers and the parents of the teenagers marveled at my control over these punks, especially since I was not much older than them. (I was 23 at the time.) My coworkers just never understood that to get respect, you need to give respect. *sigh* Not all teenagers are bad. They are rowdy and obnoxious, but most of them can be dealt with if you do it right. If you treat them like humans and still make it clear you are not going to put up with their shit, you can pretty much control 90% of them.

What can I say? I rock.

[Tanasi]

Back when I was working for the red and white striped corporate chain restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, we had a day that will never be forgotten. More's the pity. It was the night of the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, played just to our south at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, and that year the University of Tennessee would defeat Florida State University in that game. Not being a fan of either team (being a Sun Devil myself), I really didn't care about the game.

You had to be with them one evening, I have to live with them!!!!
Just about every Saturday from the first of September thru first of Janurary is like that here. UT's stadium holds 107K+ and on home games just the staduim itself becomes the 5th largest city in the state by itself.
Knoxville is a big resturant town, lots of folks eat all their meals out, Knoxville is also a big testing ground for a lot of concepts so most folks know how to act, but there's always a few. I've learned to stay home on Saturday's and cook for myself instead of going out.

BTW how many different renditions of Rocky Top did you hear?

[Jester]

BTW how many different renditions of Rocky Top did you hear?

During Armageddon? None that I recall, as the music was controlled by the restaurant, not the patrons. Can't recall if any of the customers broke into song, to be honest, as this was almost ten years ago and I was running my ass off.

Amusing sidenote...during a different Fiesta Bowl weekend, I was walking around downtown Tempe, enjoying myself with liquid libation, and also baiting the fans of both teams. When I saw Nebraska fans, I would yell "Go Gators!" When I saw Florida fans, I would yell "Go Huskers!" Finally someone called me on it....a fan of one of the teams saw me going both ways on this, and asked, "Wait....who are you a fan of?" To which I replied: "Neither. I'm your HOST!"

Even they laughed at that one.

[friendofjimmyk]

Actually, we do have one.

Where? I do not see it on my emoti list.

[friendofjimmyk]

My coworkers just never understood that to get respect, you need to give respect. *sigh* Not all teenagers are bad. They are rowdy and obnoxious, but most of them can be dealt with if you do it right. If you treat them like humans and still make it clear you are not going to put up with their shit, you can pretty much control 90% of them.

What can I say? I rock.

Now, I am a reasonable person. I gave those teenagers 3 weeks of trying my best to be nice to them, be understanding of thier teenage ways. I believe that if you give someone, anyone, enough rope they will hang themselves. I would not have lost my cool had it not been for the fact that they may have attempted to be cool with me, but it was our other guests that were upset by their behavior. I forgot to mention, after I got done with my little rant with them, the other guests in the restaurant who were not parents or kids, cheered and one even shook my hand.

I agree with you, Jester, when you said to be treated with respect, you have to treat others with respect, but that way didn't work in this situation and even I, with my uncanny ability to be cool in almost any sucky customer situation (I got smacked once and kept my cool That was the first post I posted here) had enough of their little teenage ways and cracked.

I haven't worked in a restaurant in over two years. The last restaurant job I held it became very clear that I was no longer able to maintain my coolness. When I am the one with the problem who is snapping far more often then I used to, it was time to switch industries.

[friendofjimmyk]

When I saw Nebraska fans, I would yell "Go Gators!" When I saw Florida fans, I would yell "Go Huskers!"

You made fun of the Huskers!

Just kiddin'! I am a huge NFL fan. I do not like college football, I just have never gotten into it. I have always lived in a town with a professional NFL team. Now, I don't. I live in Nebraska and that's all you see all over this freakin' state (besides livestock!) - HUSKERS! Makes me want to run screaming!

[Rapscallion]

If you bring up the pop-up, you may notice that the window has scrollbars up and down, as well as a left/right bar. It's on the right side of that window.

Rapscallion

[friendofjimmyk]

Oh, I see all the others now! Silly me!

[Jester]

You made fun of the Huskers!

Whenever and wherever possible! AND, since I am a Sun Devil, I get great joy in reminding them of that 1996 19-0 game. I usually don't even need to say anything more than this: "Two words: nineteen zero." Every Husker fan immediately gets it. And generally, they are not amused.

[friendofjimmyk]

I wish I could be there to see the look on their faces. Husker fans are so rabid!

[Erin]

You made fun of the Huskers!

Just kiddin'! I am a huge NFL fan. I do not like college football, I just have never gotten into it. I have always lived in a town with a professional NFL team. Now, I don't. I live in Nebraska and that's all you see all over this freakin' state (besides livestock!) - HUSKERS! Makes me want to run screaming!

I'm in Nebraska too! (Omaha)

You're not the only one who wants to run screaming away from all the Husker fans. My neighborhood has a large population of Husker fans in it. There's one guy who has a MASSIVE red "N" hanging off of his deck, with red lights running all over his deck, and a light up Herbie Husker that flashes on and off...he doesnt just turn this thing on only on game days...he's got that thing winking and blinking at practically all hours. I think he's got it on a timer.

Husker fans are scary.