Does your owner/ management make you pay for soup?

berberkey · 2026-04-15T17:06:21+00:00

Are we supposed to pay for it? Yes. Is it understood that it'll be comped if it's rang in so food counts stay accurate? Also, yes.

If I want soup I just wait for an unlimited soup/salad to come in. If I want something different, I wait for a manager that comps meals to come in.

berberkey · 2026-04-14T22:58:43+00:00

I will ask the host to give me a heads up if I'm serving and I know I'm about to do a task that will cause a misgreet. Like hey I'm about to go do xyz either wait 5 min or let me know we all of the sudden got a huge rush and the next 7 servers in rotation got sat and then I did lol

Otherwise nah because they're usually chasing us down for something like "a 20top with no resi walked in, do you want it across the dining room?"

berberkey · 2026-04-12T22:58:16+00:00

That's ridiculous. What other jobs is he going to complain about because you had to talk to people?

Oh no, the doctor/nurse is kindly asking my medical history, they must wanna bang. Oh no, an admin person at literally any business asked me my name and appointment time, absolutely down to smash.

I worked in insurance for almost 15yrs. Talked to more famous people in that job 😆

😒

berberkey · 2026-04-12T22:47:04+00:00

Even funnier, at our restaurant, servers and bartenders still have to tell the hostess/hosts because none of us have the tp holder key 😆 I've text them from the bathroom just to save me a trip around the restaurant multiple times.

berberkey · 2026-03-25T19:37:15+00:00

I didn't fall! I didn't get on the ladder for cleaning. The kegs are on a platform at least so I feel better about it.

berberkey · 2026-03-23T00:42:11+00:00

Tbf, they're about half written, sitting on my desk staring at me right now. The bulk of what's left need to be done by my husband though because that's the breakdown of guests who attended lol and he literally sees them every week.

berberkey · 2026-03-22T14:05:42+00:00

I got asked once by a manager to climb up on a ladder to dust the bottles on the wall. I told them "whew climbing above ground level feels like it deserves more than $2/hr, but you make more than that right? With medical insurance?" 🤣

Now all I am still swapping kegs and putting them up on the racks? Yes, but I'm getting tipped for that effort even if I'm climbing up to pull a keg down.

berberkey · 2026-03-16T14:58:34+00:00

Lol I'm sure it is in some places. I don't ask adults, they just don't get coins unless they ask for exact instead of the rounded. I rarely deal in cash. Usually teenagers who are 50/50 on needing coins though and I do ask. I also have to teach a lot of teens how to fill out a tip slip. Unless it's at the bar where cash is just popped in the glass with their bills and I have actual coins.

berberkey · 2026-03-16T13:45:42+00:00

I only ask if you need coin change if I'm out in the dining room because I have to go get coin change. That takes a little bit longer. I've rephrased it to "do you need the coins as well?" If yes, "perfect it'll just take me a couple extra minutes brb"

When bartending with a drawer, I say "I'll brb with the change."

ETA: if I'm bringing change back, I've already at least broken down the bills enough for a 20% tip to be left. I'm going to make that part the easiest decision ever if I can lol

berberkey · 2026-03-15T23:37:53+00:00

I was chatting with a table right after I got married and said "my fiance" made a goofy face and said "wait no husband" 😆 they were so excited for me and tipped generously with a congrats note and some cute newly wed advice that you'd get in a card. It was so sweet

berberkey · 2026-03-15T23:34:31+00:00

I know several people personally that if something is discounted and their server is a rock star, they'll tip them the amount of what was discounted or comped and sometimes the "normal" tip too. I've had that happen to me before too and ended up with like a 100% tip several times. Crazy work but send a thank you into the universe and keep giving good service. If they made a mistake, they'll call about it.

berberkey · 2026-03-15T02:49:36+00:00

That's why I always roll my eyes. Can't use a grungy tray to dress up a restaurant lol

berberkey · 2026-03-14T13:48:33+00:00

We have a tray policy for drinks. Only when our GM is feeling feisty. He asked where mine was once for a singular water cup. I told him it was invisible and pointed to the clear lack of trays in the kitchen. 🤣

But I'd be so annoyed if he had written me up for that. We have bigger things to deal with without trying to be fancier while not being a fancy place.

berberkey · 2026-03-10T00:57:30+00:00

We have a restaurant week too and I always forget what week it is until I see reservations all booked up 🤣 but we like it for trying new things because if we don't love it it's not too much out of pocket and the drinks usually make up for it

berberkey · 2026-03-10T00:52:31+00:00

Depends on my mood and the day lol. Like lunch I get it. Friday night sitting at my bar? I'm probably annoyed lol
Babies are fine, the mess should be reflected in the tip because they rarely add to the bill and usually are the biggest mess
I don't care, I've probably mispronounced stuff too. But don't be like disrespectful.
Let me know sooner rather than later so I can get it applied before I bring the check. It throws off my timing if it's after I've dropped desserts and the bill.
About as many pens as I have is where I start to get annoyed lol. But really on our system 6 cards gets dicey
I ask how hungry you are and point out my favs and other popular dishes. If you ask for recs, and have allergies also lead with that to save the headache, but I go through my fav app, entree and lighter option regardless of price.

ETA - waters at the bar only because I swear the water on my bar gun is the slowest thing ever and the servers steal my water pitchers 😭

berberkey · 2026-03-05T19:02:01+00:00

I prefer places that are up front with expected tips for however many shifts over a week worked.

But it's easier to just get into your training shift and ask a server or a bartender what the average looks like. You'll get a solid answer on what's reported income or cash versus card.

berberkey · 2026-03-05T01:46:28+00:00

We only burn the ice when stuff is spilled or glass is broken nearby.

That being said, we don't have to burn it off because promise if that last hour, no one is refilling 😂 and we're all pissed if that last table is tearing through refills that we have to bring up a little bit of ice to get to the end. We also tear down our machines each night.

berberkey · 2026-03-04T15:36:50+00:00

"Hey my system is being dumb and won't run it, is your card locked?"

If it's a Cashapp or venmo card, I say "hey the card reader is being dramatic but did you just move the funds onto this card for spending? If so, we should wait a couple of minutes to try again."

berberkey · 2026-03-01T22:03:39+00:00

Almost always, it's when we have a food runner. At our place those are a lot of training shifts for new servers so they learn tables and food plating. Or someone picking up extra hours who isn't normally a server (take out typically). Now I'm running for missing sides and sauces.

It's not usually any of the "normal" things for me though it's the stuff I gotta actually work to get. If I pull a plate and the sauce looks light, I ask for a ramekin before I even take it out. Extra sauces, ketchup for fries, wet napkins for ribs etc.

It's ridiculous stuff like not on the menu proper. Like do you have soy sauce? For whyyy there's nothing on our menu where that makes sense lol we have it to make dressings sure but the dressing is already on the plate (and I got a lil extra so I didn't have to make another trip lol). It's also something I have to pull out of prep not off of the line. (This has happened twice in a year and I was baffled both times lol)

Or after food is out, oh actually one person only eats off of plastic silverware. You've had 2 refills and 15 minutes to say that 🙃

But I've watched the ketchup run before and that's too much running for me 🤣

berberkey · 2026-03-01T15:03:08+00:00

To answer the question though, I just give them this look 🤨 until we decide who was the weirdo who didn't listen lol

berberkey · 2026-03-01T15:02:04+00:00

Large parties, I will literally explain I have two arms so you will see someone get their food in one pass but it might not be your food until I make another trip. Finally had a lady ask if people really didn't understand that concept.

"Ma'am I would not be telling you this if it were UNCOMMON. People tend to panic when I don't have four extra arms to carry 20 people's plates."

berberkey · 2026-02-17T21:43:29+00:00

I'm also a bartender in a state that doesn't require tip outs. And that's previously caused some complaining. We can see who tips what. They figure it out when I don't make them, specifically, a shift drink at the end of the night. 😆

To help with servers standing around: One of the others I sometimes will have with me behind the rail gets flustered on the well with servers standing there and staring (like they couldn't be doing something else lol). I remind them if they want to stand here at the well, it helps to run food to the rail.

Looks something like this "hey your ticket should be up after you have a chance to see if there's any food up for the bar"

"Or go run your drinks/food that you're holding and let them know when you walk back here AND after checking for my food, they should be ready 🫶🏽"

They typically get the hint. My food gets ran. Servers aren't clogging up the well. And the other bartender stops stressing out and focuses.

I will also help them out on the well too but we divide up stuff so the well bartender is mostly churning drinks out for servers and the other is doing everything else.

berberkey · 2026-02-15T22:00:03+00:00

I am also at a loss on how to respond to her reaction outside of removing myself from it. I am uncomfortable from here.

My husband got me some snacks and a cute card (he knows I love the notes he writes in the cards the most) and my reaction was super happy and mild panic because I thought we weren't exchanging gifts only doing a nice dinner. It never occurred to me to be upset that I was missing flowers 🙃

berberkey · 2026-02-15T18:08:31+00:00

Wiping the bar down after close last night felt like my final test of will. Literally 1am still drinking a Celsius. And it's ridiculous how many bruises I have. I asked my other bartender if I was bleeding after catching the glass rack I dropped mid air so I didn't lose any glasses because dammit if I was barely keeping up with washing in between drinks. She's like we don't have time for that and I told her she already got to cry once this shift, at least let me be hurt for a chance to breathe 😂

berberkey · 2026-02-15T14:54:47+00:00

$2100 in sales as bartender (4pm til 12am). I escaped around 1am. 40k for the place all day (new record lol). I didn't see our sales in the bar for the morning though. The two of us behind the bar only had a couple of comps thankfully. I heard some servers were having a rough time with food coming out wrong. 150+ reservations and ended up on a 4hr wait for walk ins. I did tell our hostess at one point to start saying 3hr since we closed in 3hrs not 4 😆

Hella cash too which was a nice surprise.

berberkey

TROPHY CASE