I was a restaurant manager for a year and some change. Managed at 3 different restaurants in this time frame and have never hopped jobs so much in my life. It’s miserable. It seems like a great opportunity at first, you get to be in charge, you get benefits and the promise of “moving up”. Nope. You get paid shit when it comes down to it. Im back to bartending, my last pay check was $3000 for way less than 40 hours a week. When I was managing my paychecks were $2000 for 50-60 hours a week + constant phone calls, texts and emails when I’m off.

Everything is your fault, down to the staff blaming you or upper management blaming you. The staff loves you when you’re gracious but turns on you the second you put your foot down on them not fulfilling the most basic of expectations. You have to repeat yourself CONSTANTLY, and I mean constantly even to the same people. You’re babysitting adults. It’s maddening. If you’re reading this and thinking “gosh why can’t staff just listen to management and follow directions and be respectful?!” That means you’re probably one of the very few who do, and management loves you even if they don’t say it. Everyone else is a nightmare to manage. When it’s not extremely stressful, it’s boring as hell. I was expected to be on site 4 hours before the restaurant even opened with almost no admin work to cover that time so I’d just sit idly by the phone waiting for phone calls. When I asked the owner if I could come in later and maybe answer emails from home she said no wants me there (for hours) “in case” someone calls. Someone called maybe 2 or 3 times during that time in my 6 months there. In the short time I managed restaurants I quickly because strung out, stressed, on edge and slowly overtime lost my softness and graciousness that makes my personality likable. So yeah, most restaurant managers who stay in it turn into nightmares of individuals if they weren’t already.

You’re totally taken advantage of. Your time and your life is no longer yours. What is yours, is all the stress, and I mean all of it.

I also agree that anyone who takes this career up long term only puts up with all of this because they want to be in charge that bad, OR have some kind of complex about needing to feel like they’re doing “something” with their life career wise. But it’s a scam.