How many Mini owners are, or have been in the restaurant business? Everyone, right?

I have "in the biz' for 16 years. I have been an employee, a manager, an owner and a corporate markerter of restaurants. Most have enough sense to get out of this business, I never did. Working at a restaurant is the most physically and mentally demanding job many people ever have. And, the craziest things happen in restaurants!

Many years ago I owned a couple of pizza restaurants. I'm tending the bar when a man walks in with his dog. He puts the dog on the bar stool next to him, and orders himself a beer. (I swear, this is really happened.) I happen to love dogs and I own the place so I say nothing against the dog on the bar stool, besides, tending bar, you've seen it all, right? He says nothing about the dog, everything is fine, we're not busy. In walks a cop and he sits on the stool on the other side of the dog. Cop turns to the guy with the dog and says, "Frank, you're slowin' down, it only took me a day this time." The cop and the guy walk out, and the dog is still on the bar stool. I come around the bar, and notice that under the dog there's a one hundred dollar bill! The guy's gone, the cop's gone, I've got me a dog and a hundred bucks!

Any other Mini owners got restaurant stories?

God speed.

 

I worked as a busboy, waiter, and sous chef when I was in school.

The owner was a little lady from Brooklyn with a big attitude. She had many confrontaions with customers. I just wish I could remember some of them

 

No restauranteer experience here. I just want to say, though, that is a great story about the dog. Thanks for sharing it. There was a luck pooch. I wonder if the guy knew you were a dog lover or just took a chance.

 

HAHAHAHA, great thread!

My dad has been in the restaurant biz since age 12- from busboy to waiter to bartender to manager to GM to area director... over 35 years! He is highly recognized among his peers and has won several awards within his company. My parents met at some resort in AZ where they worked together (and they have many, many stories of partying with the likes of Sonny Bono, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Quaid, Erik Roberts, Michael Jackson and Shaq!) So growing up with the "restaurant background", it was only natural that my first job be in the industry. I worked as a hostess/waitress for 6 years, before graduating from college. I think waiting tables is truly one of the hardest jobs out there! Even at the upscale dining establishments I worked at for 3+ years, the job never got easier.

Of course anyone who has worked in any restaurant has lots of stories. My favorites are of the trans-gendered "ladies" who would come every Friday and flaunt themselves at the bar, consuming mass quantities of margaritas with their tilted wigs and poorly applied lipstick. They were a hoot!

And I'm sure EVERYONE can tell a story or two about people "getting it on" in restaurants. I've never tended bar (thank god!), as I'm sure it is much more common for bartenders to see this, but TOO MANY TIMES I would walk up to my table and see two people completely going at it! One time I was convinced they were REALLY doing the "nasty", not just heavy petting or what have you. GROSS!! I mean, this is in a restaurant full of people!

And one time when I was rolling silverware, there was a bucket of like 50 knives sitting on a ledge (this ledge was about 4 feet tall, separating the last table in a row from the kitchen area). I went to grab the knives and put them on the counter beside me, and they FELL!! ALL OVER A GUEST SITTING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LEDGE! Now mind you, these were STEAK knives, not butter knives! Oh man, were they pissed! (Rightly so)

And, of course, there was the lady who went into active labor at her table, but refused to leave until she finished eating... and the old man who had a heart attack... and the homeless Vietnam Vet who insisted on reinacting scenes from the battlefield... I could go on and on!

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Soylent Green is PEOPLE!null

 

There is a great Jewish deli/restaurant in the town where I live. The former proprietor never had the menu priced, you'd come in and order, eat, and then go to the cash register, where you'd tell the owner what you'd had, and he would ring you up. If he liked you, you could get your lunch almost for free, if not, well at least it wasn't five star priced.

The Story: about 35 years ago, my father had one of those Abe Lincoln type of beards (no mustache). It was the late 1960's and growing your hair was a "statement" against the "establishment". So one day my father has lunch at the local deli. When he gets up to the counter, he realizes that he's forgotten his wallet, and checking his pocket he has only a single dollar bill and a quarter. He tells the restaurant owner as much and that he will leave his watch as a guarantee until he can get home to retrieve his wallet, to which the owner looks at him and says, "Well for you Rabbi, today's lunch special is $1.25." Great price for a meal, especially as my father is Catholic.

My family and I still make it a point to eat there whenever any one of us is in the neighborhood, so the owner's act of kindness has paid dividends in customer loyalty.

 

Everyone who ever eats should have to work at a resturant or food processing plant for at least a month.

 

[warning: this is an illegal post, I'm not a MINI owner! :smile: ]

Does working (surviving) in a fast food restaurant for a year count?

I worked night shift during high school so I was usually part of the clean up crew. Cleaning included emptying the lovely fryers and putting in a clean block of lard. Well one night cleaning didn't go so well, when we drained the old dirty, stinky grease it got onto the floor. Ever try mopping up a thick layer of grease on a grouted tile floor? It sux!

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Treasurer, SCMM | paul@scmm.org | Future MINI owner: [insert name here] Who the hell knows what it will look like??!! :smile:

 

>>Everyone who ever eats should have to work at a resturant or food processing plant for at least a month.
>>
Remember Food and Animals are not different things.

Soylent Green, It's made out of People!

 

They are if you're vegetarian.

 

Does supporting many restaurants by eating out a lot qualify me?

jc

 

>>They are if you're vegetarian.

If God hadn't wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

 

Hi! I usually just read here and don't really post, but I felt like I had to here.

I have been working in pastry since I was 18, but unfortunately I never got a dog out of the deal. I don't even have any good stories about customers- just alot about crazy bosses and coworkers. I am now trying to write a book, and do some stuff on the side to still pay for my MINI.

I agree that everyone should wait tables for awhile to get a perspective on just how demanding it is. Its the only way to really appreciate good service.

amanda

 

I actually survived adolecence without working in food service. I, however, do have a so far successful career in telephone customer servcie going and have a few stories, but that's for a different thread. Just know the phone service folks are right with you food service workers. We're usually good tippers. :smile:

 

Hahahaha, working in restaurants actually inspired me to BECOME a vegetarian!!

 

>>I have been working in pastry since I was 18, >>amanda
Have you ever been compelled to take a bite out of a wall?
Man, it must be Friday afternoon.

 

>>Everyone who ever eats should have to work at a resturant or food processing plant for at least a month.
>>
That has got to be pretty close to 100% of the population, I'd be guessing.
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Paid for college working for four years...busboy, assistant waiter, waiter, captain (tableside cooking). Also worked as an assistant manager at a ski lodge restaurant.

 

did my share of of working in restaurants. hell! we own a restaurant. all my parent's friend own restaurants. well, hell. i guess you can say i was a restaurant brat!

it's hard work!! that's why i graduated from college and work at a office so i don't have to work in a restaurant. too much work for such little pay... well at times.

 

My cousin got me a job as a busboy at a Sizzler when I was a kid about 40 years ago. My first night on the job an old man asked me if I could get him a cup of hot water, so I did. A women sitting over in the corner called me over and told me it was a self serve restaurant and that I was not to serve the customers. I told her to mind her own business. At the end of my first shift I get called into the owner’s office. The lady I told to mind her own business was the owner’s wife. End of my food service career.

 

how about the law enforcement side of food....health inspection?
If you think Meat is gross...well I know stories about vegatables that'll swear you off them too.

Remember frequent handwashing is YOUR best defense!

 

Great thread! GREAT THREAD!

To this day I appreciate great service and tip >20% when I get it.

 

I ate at a restaurant before...does that count?

 

>>alot about crazy bosses and coworkers.

 

I worked at Burger King for a year and a half. Never work in fast food! Customers treat you like dog crap (and not the 100 dollar bill kinda crap that you got). We'll just leave it at that, otherwise I'd be able to fill pages and pages with stories.