This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Dine to five
On behalf of the serving staff of Halifax: PALEEEESE, do not come into our place of work 5 minutes before we close and ask us if we mind if you come in! You are asking a question that you know we cannot answer honestly. “Are you sure it’s OK? We’ll be qu
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Yeah, as little sympathy as I have for waitstaff, you’re right on this one. WTF is up with people? Same goes for retail.
If they are looking for food and you are closing in five minutes, wouldn’t the grill be shut off by then. Tell them it’s too late to order food or even grab a drink.
What would you have them say? Nothing? Just go sit down and wait instead of trying to be polite?Look, yeah it is not pleasant but ask yourself what the owner of the place would want done because that’s the only real consideration here. Customers have certain responsibilities to servers but having to “eat fast and get out” aint one of them.
for the customers: i have never understood why people would even want to sit and eat in a place that is basically closed. you can feel the servers breathing down your neck and god only knows what the kitchen staff are doing….for the staff: sometimes there is just no way to avoid it and it is what the hours are like 9 to 5 not 9 to 4:55. and regardless if someone comes in – you do have to be there until everything is cleaned and put away so your there an addition 45 minutes- deal at least you are getting paid. and if you’re not ( i know some places will only pay you to a certain time after closing) guess what that is illegal, go to the BOARD
oh man, I hate this bitch. if it says open till 10 on the door then guess what, people will come in until 10 and expect food. put open till 9 pm if you dont want to take tables at 945. get a clue. or just say no
If you don’t want paying customers to come in 5 minutes before you close, close 5 minutes early. Oh, but then they’d just come in 5 minutes before that… why? Because the restaurant is still fucking open for business. If the kitchen is still open 5 minutes before close then people are gonna come in. Of every single job I’ve ever had, I have never had a shift end the same time the business closed. Deal with it.
Perhaps if the restaurants didn’t close tighter than a drum at 9pm each night (or otherwise stop serving food), people would not be trying to push in at the last minute. Hfx has a village mentality.
I am sorry to say but if you have no choice but to sit down and eat 5 minutes before a place closes, maybe you should have thought about your dinner plans a bit earlier on in the evening. Whether a restaurant closes at 9 or 12, coming in 5 min before closing is RUDE! Kitchens don’t like it, nor do the servers. Nobody wants to work after hours and nobody loves their job that much to want to stay for idiots that have to eat at the last minute.
I am in the hospitality industry and all I have to say is ‘never piss off your server, you’ll never know what we can do’.
Oh get over it. I could care less if you “have a life” or not because if I walk into a restaurant before it is closed with the kitchen still open then I expect to *gasp* eat!Call me crazy but isn’t that the business restaurants are in?
I am a server. It does suck sometimes to have guests come in just before you close, but guess what? You have to suck it up and do your job; we don’t own the place and Hours of Operation are set for a reason. Respect your business and it will respect you back, never know, it may be one of your best tips that night.
I work in the serving business aswell and i slightly disagree with this bitch. I DO agree that I have being at work longer than i have to, but that doesn’t mean that I wont serve people who come in WITHIN the open hours. I would like to make them hurry up, but their money they spend goes towards my paycheque every two weeks.