For me retail was terrible, fast food was a special type of hell. But working as a busser was far and away the worst and strangest work experience I’ve ever had
Everything those other fellows mentioned, plus great stuff like: the manager making me shave my facial hair off before allowing me to work; getting put on 12-hr shifts back to back even though they knew I was a student and had classes; staff expecting me to know everything about the table numbers and layout on my first day and getting pissed when I didn’t; also the amazing capitalist culture of Trying Super Hard So I’ll Be A Line Chef/Mgr One Day and all that comes with it.
Nasty customers leaving messy tables. Host/server breathing down your neck to bus their section yesterday. Dishwasher disappeared so they need you to pitch in at the dish sink. The bin behind the bar is overflowing.
Hosts flat seat -> server workflow gets frontloaded -> servers spend all their time greeting and grabbing drinks/setups instead of prebussing -> bussers have to do more work to get a table guest ready -> hosts start to panic as the lobby fills up -> hosts yell at bussers to teleport around the restaurant as soon as a guest so much as thinks about the check -> repeat
All of this just barely works until someone drops a glass in the ice, or we get behind on a starter, or a piece of equipment breaks, or literally anything goes wrong. And that’s just front of house, when you factor in the drama that can happen back of house when we’re understaffed and FOH demands too much too quickly it’s a miracle that there aren’t mass walkouts.
I live in the death spiral. I have a different seat but we’re all on the same damn ride.
For me retail was terrible, fast food was a special type of hell. But working as a busser was far and away the worst and strangest work experience I’ve ever had
What was strange about it?
Everything those other fellows mentioned, plus great stuff like: the manager making me shave my facial hair off before allowing me to work; getting put on 12-hr shifts back to back even though they knew I was a student and had classes; staff expecting me to know everything about the table numbers and layout on my first day and getting pissed when I didn’t; also the amazing capitalist culture of Trying Super Hard So I’ll Be A Line Chef/Mgr One Day and all that comes with it.
I quit after two days and never looked back.
Nasty customers leaving messy tables. Host/server breathing down your neck to bus their section yesterday. Dishwasher disappeared so they need you to pitch in at the dish sink. The bin behind the bar is overflowing.
Where were you?!
Hosts flat seat -> server workflow gets frontloaded -> servers spend all their time greeting and grabbing drinks/setups instead of prebussing -> bussers have to do more work to get a table guest ready -> hosts start to panic as the lobby fills up -> hosts yell at bussers to teleport around the restaurant as soon as a guest so much as thinks about the check -> repeat
All of this just barely works until someone drops a glass in the ice, or we get behind on a starter, or a piece of equipment breaks, or literally anything goes wrong. And that’s just front of house, when you factor in the drama that can happen back of house when we’re understaffed and FOH demands too much too quickly it’s a miracle that there aren’t mass walkouts.
I live in the death spiral. I have a different seat but we’re all on the same damn ride.