No holiday for the server

Sports Bar is closed on Thanksgiving so I had the day off yesterday. Lucky me, that translates into two 15 hour doubles over the next 48. Actually, 39 hours.
I have a problem saying no. A few weeks ago the Saturday night server asked if I would work for her this weekend. I knew that the Saturday bartending shifts were close to being mine, but I said yes anyway. Why did I do that? I don't want to work two doubles in a row,let alone a Saturday karaoke night. I said yes because I feel guilty if I say no. In the restaurant industry we get no paid holidays or vacation days and only having 3 servers makes the shifts hard to cover. I have this strange idea that if I don't have plans, I should be working. Great for making money, but not so good for my health sometimes, and certainly not for my social life.
Some people call this a good work ethic; being on time, covering shifts, not calling in sick. I call it a problem. The root of the problem I do not know. One thing I do know is I need to start saying no to picking up shifts. I already work 7 shifts a week, 6 days. Its reasonable not to want to work extras after all that.

Sunday Fun

It seems as though everything will work out. One of the night servers wants my day shifts so we just need to hire a part timer for her Monday and Tuesday nights.
This week has been rough on me between work and school. I worked on Sunday last weekend and am working Saturday this weekend so it will be a 7 day week for me.
Sunday I encountered a common problem in the sports bar industry. There was a Bears game on and I had several tables seated to watch it. One table consisted of two guys,one of which asked for a draft which we have on special, the other for water. I gave them a menu as they said they would order later. After 5 glasses of water for the one and 2 drafts for the other I asked if they would be ordering anything off the menu. They said no. I regretfully informed the water guy that he would have to order something, anything, as my manager would not allow me to continue to serve him only water. I suggested a soda, a bottle of water, a draft, or simply an appetizer. He raised a huge stink and could not understand why a business would insist that he pay for a $2.00 item while sitting there for 3 hours.
Water guy had no money apparently, and his friend said to order something and he would cover it. Water guy proceeded to order 6 drafts. The two guys were by far the most difficult customers I had during the game. When one was down to a few gulps of his beer I would stop by and offer another. Every time I was told "Maybe in a minute." I continued to care for my other tables and was flagged down minutes later by the guys looking for another beer. They would then have to wait for me to finish with the table I was serving at the moment and get the draft from the bar. Annoying as it was, I was still a good little server and never even rolled my eyes. I was, of course, rewared for this at the end of the game with a $2 tip for 4 hours of work on a $24 tab.
After the game my bartender left and I took over the bar. I was blessed with a table of 8 celebrating a birthday an hour before close. One of the women at the table asked what stouts we had. After listing the 3 we carry she informed me that those were not stouts. OK....she then asked about wheat beers and selected one from the list. Of course we were out of the one she wanted, but no one had informed me of this. I sold her something else and went back to tend bar.
At the bar I had two men from out of the country. Their initial order was easy, two drafts. After that they began asking what the strongest American beer on tap was, what bottled beer we had, and where each was bottled. As I'm tryingto answer their questions,a table walks in for dinner. My kitchen is closing in 5 minutes so I let them know they will need to place their order soon. While taking their drink order they want to know what beer we have from the South Pacific. What?
Sundays are usually an adventure. I'm wondering if Saturdays are going to be similar...

I feel like I'm on a swing...

Hooray for meeting goals! I have officially been offered the position of bartender on Saturdays at the Bar. I, of course, accepted. The manager that spoke with me yesterday about it agreed that I can cut down on my serving shifts during the week so I have more time for school and am not working 7 shifts each week. Today I spoke to another of the three managers and told him the same thing; I wanted to give up my Monday through Wednesday lunch shifts. This manager was less agreeable. He told me that just because they wanted me to work Saturdays didn't mean they wanted to lose me during the week. After I made a few good points about the number of shifts I pick up per month already, the number of shifts the night girls want to take off, and how working less during the week opens me up to be more "on call", he agreed to ask the third manager about it. I also made it clear that I could still work all 7 shifts until the end of the year, giving them over a month to find a new girl and allow me to train her to perfection.
Part of me thought I should wait a bit before bringing the issue up to the most high strung of the managers, but being honest and up front has worked so far with them so I decided to continue down that path. I hope I haven't screwed myself.
If they're smart they will see that this is a good move all around. Hiring a fourth server means having a fourth person to pick up shifts. As it is it's difficult to get anything covered because one of the other two girls either already worked that day or is at school or with kids. Out of the three of us there is one mother and two full time students. It can't hurt to have another server. Also, when I was part time at the Bar, when I first started, I rarely said no to covering a shift. I wasn't working alot, needed the money, and had the time. Getting me back to that place can only help them out.
So the waiting continues. Two steps forward, one step back.

Server vs Bartender

I made the mistake of accepting fill-in bartending shifts at the Sports Bar. Why is this a mistake you ask? True, bartenders make two to three times as much as servers per shift. Their tips average higher per tab and they usually get tips immediately when people pay by cash per round. This was a mistake because it made me realize just how much waitresses get screwed.
The first bartending shift I covered at the Sports Bar was spur of the moment. My bartender came into work feeling dizzy. She made it through lunch but it was clear she needed to leave. After my tables had cleared out she was approved to go and I took over the bar as well as continuing to take the few tables that walked in. Most of them ended up sitting at the high top tables in the bar area where I could keep an eye on them. When they initially sat I came from behind the bar and approached their tables. Upon greeting them I politely told them that there was no server and that I was bartending but would be more than happy to get them anything they needed. After delivering their drinks I went back behind the bar and continued to serve the customers seated there. After several minutes a man from one of the tables walked up to the bar and asked me if there was a server. Uh…no. I thought we had covered that already. He proceeded to ask me for two menus. I collected two menus from the other side of the bar and turned to give them to the man but he had returned to his table. Sighing, I walked out to the table to deliver the menus.
Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t mind multitasking and doing the job of both waitress and bartender. It keeps me busy and the tips are usually phenomenal when people see that you are doing both. What I don’t like is the attitude that some people have regarding the service industry. The Sports Bar is a very low key and laid back place. While I pride myself on giving great service to customers I, in my disillusioned way, expect to be treated with respect by the customer as well. He had already walked up to the bar, what is the harm in waiting to take the menus back with him?
Now I am allowed to cover bartending shifts when no one else wants them or the Sunday bartender asks for the day off. We have had an agreement for the past 8 months that if she asks I will say yes. It is the only shift that is “mine” to pick up. Being that I work 6 shifts there a week and go to school in the evenings I am not available for the others that may open up for the night (on the off chance that the other bartenders don’t want to pick it up). This week the Sunday bartender injured herself and needed the weekend off. Since it was a game day, another bartender snatched up the shift before I could say anything. I worked all the slow summer Sundays and the bye week and my reward is having seniority pulled on me and losing out on a $500 plus shift.
Seniority should only count to a certain point. I understand the concept, but being that the turnover is low among the bartenders no one has the change to move up the seniority ladder. I will always be the last for opportunity even though I am the lowest tipped employee there due to my regular shifts being lunches.
My mother did teach me that life is not fair but that’s not going to stop me from saying that the Sunday situation was not. Being that most places make an employee work up to the position of bartender I am better off where I’m at than starting over somewhere new. In the meantime my frustration will continue until I am kindly thrown a bone by one of the superior bartenders.

I can count on it

One thing I always liked about waiting tables was the randomness, the aspect of daily change. You saw different people every day, you were an anonymous server. I don't have that at my current job. I can see almost exactly how today will play out. During the lunch shift I will see the same people; the guy who has one Honeyweiss and then water, the guy that always orders wings and never requires me to even check back, the two ladies with iced teas that always order a dinner special for lunch and then sit for 2 hours talking. After 4 there will be the usual after work guys, the MDG 64 in a bucket to keep it cold, two Coors bottles at a time because he drinks so fast, and the couple that will drink a pitcher, then order their dinner and another pitcher. At night I will have some dinner tables and my group of 25 at 10:30. When they leave I will have nothing for the remainder of the night and will probably get off work at last call.
There is no change, no anonymous serving. I miss this. It becomes tedious and boring when there is no change in the daily schedule. Maybe if I started working somewhere else I would miss the structure and reliability of the Bar, but today I miss randomness and change.

Text Message Breakup

I know they say good help is hard to find. The last few months that has proven true at my bar.
The Sports Bar is a small beer and shot place with a separate dining area for lunch and dinner patrons as well as the late night underage crowd. The bar area has seating as well. All together the dining room consists of 21 tables ranging from 2 to 6 tops. The bar area has 10 tables, and when the weather is nice there is a patio with 8 tables. There are no sections, no rotated seating, and no hostess. On any given shift there is only one server working the floor. This is one of the reasons I applied for a job at the Bar.
I had been working at a place that had no less than 3 servers working at a time. Most nights we were fighting over tables. There were sections that were unfair and assigned (some sections had over 10 tables, including a "party table" seating 20, while some had 5 tables consisting of only 2 and 4 tops) and customers were asked to seat themselves. There were nights when one server would have no tables and another would be in the weeds with their entire section full.
Most servers are coming from places with sections and multiple servers. In fact, I have never been to another place with only one server working the entire floor unless someone called in sick or quit. It can be difficult and overwhelming at first, but when you count your take home at the end of the night you realize it is totally worth it. I have made one third of my rent on a lunch shift, and my entire rent in 2 weekend shifts. I love this aspect of my job.
At the beginning of the summer we fired the only other server the Sports Bar had (yes, there were only two servers). One of the bartenders picked up two of the shifts while we looked for a replacement. We hired 2 new girls about 3 weeks later. I trained both of them on the second half of doubles and their first nights with me were Friday night, our busiest night by far. After training both girls a few times, the first worked her first shift and called to quit the next morning. The second never showed up after training (there is a story on this but I will tell it later). We were able to hire another girl who worked all summer until she went back to school.
After she left we hired two more girls, both part time. One is OK, Katie, the other...
In the middle of the lunch shift I received a text asking if I could work Katie's shift that night. I told her I was sorry I couldn't but gave her the number or the other server and a bartender that sometimes covers serving shifts. As the lunch crowd began to thin out I received another text from Katie. "I hate 2 do this but i can't get no one and its 2 much stress have them mail my check i quit" I replied telling her to call the boss. She sent me another text saying she was not going to call. Great. Now I was left with the unpleasant task of telling the boss that the server that was supposed to be there in 4 hours was not coming in ever again.
Who quits their job by texting a coworker?
I ended up staying at work past the point of making it to class.