'I tell them straight up that the problem is the lack of management': Bartenders quit when owners refuse to accept that they're the problem after being told so by an expert they hired

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  • 01
    Font - Owner of a restaurant wanted me to "spy" and tell them what was wrong with the restaurant, so I did. M OC Not a super juicy one, but I wanted to write it out nonetheless. I've never been a manager before, but I have my bachelor's degree in management. I just started at a new restaurant. I've come from several corporate companies, but this place was a second store of a mom and pop company. I've always been a server, but I was hired as a bartender (important for later).
  • 02
    Font - In the interview, the two owners tell me that they're looking to make the place more professional and turn some things around. Get hired on the spot to come in the next day. I come in, no one knows anything. I'm not on the schedule, my trainer is late, there isn't a manager, and the owners are nowhere to be found. When I actually start working, I'm just thrown in, expected to make drinks, take orders, know the kitchen, everything. No biggie, I jump in and do what I gotta do. Some highligh
  • 03
    Font - The next day, the only server scheduled for dinner shift is running late. The morning server asks me to fill in until he gets there, so I end up just covering the entire floor (about 10 tables) by myself on my second day in training. The owners tell me (over the phone) how awesome I am for jumping in and covering this, and I'm exactly what they need to fix the restaurant.
  • 04
    Font - On day 3, they call me into the office to check in and see how everything is going. I tell them that I'm confused and I need recipes for the drinks, since only one bartender knows any recipes. They ask me what I've noticed is wrong and tell them what the other bartenders are doing that's not supposed to happen. I tell them honestly about the lack of controls, the lack of recipe cards, and the closing early. They blame it all on the bartenders and thank me. Tell me that I need to keep an e
  • 05
    Font - Cue malicious compliance. I tell them straight up that the problem is the lack of management. That if they want recipe cards, training procedures, or drink standards, that they either need to do it themselves or pay a bartender manager wages to do it. That it isn't the bartenders fault that these things are wrong, and they needed to step up. After a long, unproductive, unprofessional conversation, the owner told me to get out of his restaurant right now and never come back.
  • 06
    Font - So I did. And I took the other two bartenders on shift with me, leaving them with no one in the restaurant to serve. They wanted to tell me that I'm "too ignorant" about running a restaurant, but they get to figure out how to run their own restaurant now. ETA: This place charges $24 for a chicken Alfredo and $14 for a margarita with well tequila. I saw so many $200 tickets. Not a cheap place
  • 07
    Font - Cfwydirk +4 Wow! The costs and scrutiny of obtaining a liquor license and paying the insurance bill. No doubt the kitchen is not fully up to speed. This is a tough business. Even well run bar/restaurants can be hard to make money. What a wonderful way to flush money down the toilet! 728 mynameisfifield OP The kitchen is even worse. They also had a "trainee" by themselves with the menu hung up on the ticket rack making the orders. Reply Share 453 Reply Share Cfwydirk +4 Fairly well run by
  • 08
    Font - Open-Attention-8286 My grandparents have been in the restaurant business, both as staff and as owners, since my mother was tiny. They've gotten to the point where they can stand inside a restaurant for 5 minutes and tell you how long it's going to last unless there are major changes. The biggest clue that a restaurant is doomed? Management that doesn't step up. A manager or owner needs to be willing to jump in and do whatever task is needed. Tend bar, wash dishes, mop the floor, whatever.
  • 09
    Organism - StoicJim What they really wanted was for you to ferret out the bad workers that were costing them money. When you did and it turns out it was them, they rejected your claim. 284 Reply Share StnMtn_ +1 It truly was both. Bad owners allow bad workers to run amok. 95 Reply Share
  • 10
    Font - twoonster2020 One of the skills a good manager needs is the ability to listen and graciously take on feedback. Managers are supposed to be leaders. This one sounds like an officer from WW1 leading his troops over the top in the trench in to a hail of gun fire just to wonder why he was shot in the back and then complaining that the ground is dirty 224 Reply Share 91 ... piperdooninoregon I learned that there's a huge difference between managers and leaders. The former are plentiful, the la
  • 11
    Font - spin81 I end up just covering the entire floor (about 10 tables) by myself on my second day in training. The owners tell me (over the phone) how awesome I am for jumping in and covering this, and I'm exactly what they need. to fix the restaurant. Yeah I don't have a management school diploma or anything but that right there is a prime example of a big ol red flag. Reply Share 107
  • 12
    Font - OutrageousKnight I used to work in a place where the owner always wanted to micromanage everything. She wanted to heavily punish people for minor stuff and thought this was the way for better results. My supervisor and I used to complain that things were not okay and needed to change, so she told us that we had to prepare a list of things that should happen to improve the company. She asked for a meeting with all the staff (24 employees) and in her head, we were coming with a lot of punis
  • 13
    Font - [deleted] Where exactly did you take the two bartenders? Did you open a restaurant the next day and hire them? 77 mynameisfifield OP I gave myself a little too much credit here lol. I told them I wasn't putting up with them talking to me like that, so they packed up their stuff and left too 115 Reply Share Reply Share cleantoe Owners: You're fired! Don't come back! 14 OP: I'm not putting up with you talking to me like that, I quit! Reply Share

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