'Owner of the restaurant wanted me to "spy"': Undercover restaurant staffer boldly informs owners about what they need to change

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 7, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

The owners of this restaurant couldn't handle the truth! 

At this establishment, management was trying to figure out how to make their store "more professional and turn some things around." That's an admirable goal: wanting to make a restaurant a better place for both staffers and customers alike is sure to benefit a business. However, some restaurant owners don't want to take the obvious (and free!) option to figure out what should change. They could ask their hardworking employees and managers what should be improved. More schedule flexibility? Bringing on more servers each shift? Better communication? Any of these changes could be ascertained based on just asking the workers what could be improved at this restaurant. 

Instead, the restaurant owners tried to be sneaky about their motives. They hired a dude to go undercover! U/mynameisfifield was that employee, and they shared their story of malicious compliance with the internet. Commenters agreed with the original poster's stance, and also applauded their honesty with management about what exactly needed to be changed for the restaurant to run more smoothly. 

Next up, read about the unholy foods some people brought to potlucks, like one person who admitted that someone arrived with "pizza with the cardboard cooked to the bottom." 

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  • 01
    'I come in, no one knows anything. I'm not on the schedule, my trainer is late, there isn't a manager'
    via K8 on Unsplash
  • 02
    Owner of a restaurant wanted me to "spy" and tell them what was wrong with the restaurant, so I did.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 03
    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.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 04
    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).
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 05
    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
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 06
    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 highlights: the staff are drinking alcoholic drinks on the job, not measuring any liquor, giving out free drinks, not checking IDs, and close the restaurant 2 hours early, etc.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 07
    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.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 08
    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,
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 09
    and the closing early. They blame it all on the bartenders and thank me. Tell me that I need to keep an eye out and stay in touch with what's going wrong in the bar. 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,
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 10
    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.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 11
    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.
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 12
    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
    via u/mynameisfifield
  • 13
    Open-Attention-8... 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.
    via u/Open-Attention-8286
  • 14
    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. You hire people to do specific jobs, but the manager needs to be able to do any and all of them at any time.
    via u/Open-Attention-8286
  • 15
    Pretty sure my grandparents would agree with your assessment here.
    via u/Open-Attention-8286
  • 16
    [deleted] 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.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 17
    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 punishment for minor stuff and new rules to
    via u/[deleted]
  • 18
    micromanage people. We, instead asked for better working conditions, better organization, and better raises. She got really angry during it and cut the presentation short. She did nothing to improve things while I worked there and fired me some months later.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 19
    I visited there some months later to buy some stuff and my former colleague showed that they put forth some of my organization suggestions, but only this. And she set new rules to severely punish employees for minor stuff. Dani, just go f yourself.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 20
    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.
    via u/spin81
  • 21
    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.
    via u/spin81

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