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| Source: From the movie "Waitress" |
For our purposes here, I'll call my three co-workers Cheery, Charlie, and Cabernet.
As her nickname implies, "Cheery" usually never gives anybody any trouble, has a pleasant disposition and kind word for everybody, and does her job usually without being asked. She's been around here awhile (long before me), and is one of the few people here for whom this is their first job ever waiting tables. We don't normally hire someone without experience, but we do like to train good workers from within from the hostess and busser pool.
"Charlie" is... well, a bit gruff around the edges. Older and more experienced, she's one of those we closers have to watch out for, and pay close attention to make sure she does her work before leaving - or else you'll get stuck doing it. She's also likely to snake your table on less busy days if you're a bit slow getting there. "Oh I was just greeting them for you, I didn't know if you knew you'd been sat or not. I got the drink order for you... unless you just want me to keep them?" Uh-hummm.
"Cabernet" is so named (here) simply because her true first name is also the name of a very great wine from Alexander Valley, CA that I like, but certainly can't afford. She's pretty experienced and has an outgoing personality, but still pretty fresh out of our training and still figuring out who's who and what's what at this restaurant. We're thinking we like her so far. I was one of her assigned trainers, so she's accustomed to bringing her questions and situations to me still, as you'll see below.
Anyways, especially when we're in a slower season, there can sometimes be little fights and competitions over who gets what tables and how many. When you walk into a restaurant without a reservation, you will generally be seated "in rotation" meaning that whoever's "turn it is" is your server. We consider it lucky when it's our turn and a large group comes in (8 or more means auto-grat) BUT sometimes the size of your party could mean you need a big table that's in another server's section, altho it's not their turn. And that's the the crux of where many such fights stem from. It can be one server's turn, but somehow a table in another server's section is required - and "may the best man win" at times.
Now with most restaurants at a certain number of people, two or more servers are going to have to share the larger tables, to help ensure good service. Here, our number is 12, but as in all places I've worked, there's a somewhat sliding scale based upon several factors. A table of 8 that's drinking a lot of alcohol means many, many trips to the bar, and can keep me much busier and in maybe in need of much more help than a party of 12 that is not drinking, just for instance. 12 people at lunch may involve less trips because it's just "soft beverage, entree, refill bevs and they go" but they may also need to be out quickly and therefore it's beneficial all around to have two servers to get them in and out.
It's almost always the manager-on-duty's call however, based on their take of the restaurant's overall needs, and the big picture of how any given group of servers will function as a team - or not - at any given time. The most common other determining factors would include the server's skill and seniority, and how busy the restaurant actually is. Recently for instance, I had a group of 11 that slowly grew to 14. This time, I was not told to split it by management, but "Villager" stepped in and helped me out at a much needed time, as I've done for him as well - teamwork! - and everything went smoothly. I've also been instructed to split a couple of 10-tops as well, in the same restaurant, for a variety of reasons.
However, sometimes favoritism and politics can come into play, and sometimes someone's need or greed can get in the way of their better judgment - either taking on more than they can honestly handle, or by inviting themselves into a situation where they aren't needed, or wanted.
This story would be a clear case of the latter. Here's what happened.
Cheery gets seated a large table (maybe 10, 12 or 14, I don't even know off-hand). Harry (the manager on duty) apparently makes the call to let her work it alone. Charlie however announces to Cheery that she's going to have to split it with her and pretty much "greets" the table and starts taking drink orders. It was a slow night in a slow season, and she just felt like throwing her weight around a bit to make a few bucks apparently. (I also know that Charlie's a single mom, so being fair maybe she was just in a desperate situation.)
While wronged, Cheery remained agreeable and non-confrontational about it, and just focused on serving our guests, without fighting or making a big scene out of it all. She did her job, while more or less getting "walked all over" by Charlie's aggressiveness, but in the moment Cheery remained professional enough to not fight back right then, nor contribute to more bad vibes, that the guests might pick up on.
Harry however doesn't like this situation one bit, once he catches wind of it. Whether it was personal in that he felt his authority was being challenged, whether he was just sticking up for Cheery's rights in a "fair's fair" way, or whether he just decided that Charlie needed to be reprimanded all around I can't say (probably the last two tho, much more than the first, knowing him).
I'm standing at the front beverage station with Cabernet, neither of us far from Harry, when Charlie comes walking by. Harry - kind of out-of-the-blue - announces "Charlie, you're cut."
("Cut" is just our lingo for going down to fewer servers than we started the shift with, because business is declining).
Charlie... stupid Charlie.. thinks this is a fight she can win, and snaps back "Oh? So now you're cutting me just because I took that party without asking you?"
Only when push really comes to shove, Harry will get up in anybody's face if needed. Out of the whole restaurant, he's the one guy I'd want on my side on a fist-fight (or a court battle for that matter). Once, some drunk and cut-off guests tried to walk out on their $300 tab. Harry's the guy that ran after them into the lobby, showed them the error of their ways, and got the credit card from them before they could hit the door. The phrase is "polite, but firm" I believe... except that Harry has a way of pulling this off with more than a trace of "You really don't want to piss me off" accenting the conversation.
Charlie, I think, pissed him off. He stares her down and adds to his previous statement "Charlie, you're NOT ON the party, AND you're cut!"
Well, that's when the water-works started. Charlie starts protesting and Harry just ends it with "It's not your decision to make" and walks off, before really hurting her feelings, I'd imagine.
Charlie's out the door in less than two minutes, crying some, but also yelling about how she hates and quits this %&#@! place as she goes.
Cabernet's there for the whole thing, watching it with me. Her eyes remain slightly smaller than saucers. Remember, she's new here, and trying to figure out what to think about all of this, probably afraid of getting caught in the cross-fire, I'm thinking.
I'm wrong. She turns to me, leans in while we're watching Charlie hit the bricks, and asks me quietly "So. Do you think I'd get in trouble if I asked to pick up her shifts?"
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!!!
Maybe you'd have to work in a restaurant to see the beauty of that one, I dunno. Nobody likes the strife of working with a greedy table-hog, BUT we all know you have to be a little bit greedy to make it in this business. The trick is finding just the right balance of knowing the right times to step up or step down, and how to seize opportunities as they come to you, but without screwing over others as you do so.
In this case Charlie stepped ON someone it seems, and it back-fired. Cheery stepped down, and got to see the situation take care of itself, without her pushing the issue. Continuing the analogy, Harry put his foot down.
And Cabernet stepped up right on time, and showed us right from the get-go that she'll fit in perfectly around here. I can't help but brag about her to others in fact.
I re-tell that story that night, always prefacing it to my other co-workers by saying "THIS is why we like Cabernet!"
They'd ask "Why?"
I'd reply "All that drama with Charlie...? She comes up to me and asks....."
Well, my co-workers though it was hilarious, and I think like her all the more for knowing that's how she rolls. Hope you could feel the love too.
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