7.04.2007

Reasons why NOT to be a hostess

So, I am a hostess at a big chain restaurant here in my town. It is my second hosting job, even though after my first I swore I would never host again (i took my current hosting position because they told me if I did good at the door they would let me serve... two months ago).

That being said, here is advice (warnings) for anyone considering this line of work;

Reasons why NOT to be a Hostess!
  1. You must smile CONSTANTLY!
  2. you are 'required' to hold the door for every customer
  3. A lot of people have their own ideas about where they are going to sit, the customer is always right, put them wherever they want; but what they don't tell you is that when the server gets double sat or skipped (because the fourth customer in a row doesn't want to sit next to a party of 10), you get yelled at for skipping/double seating them like you did it on purpose to ruin their night.
  4. The money sucks. (no matter how busy the restaurant is, you will not make shit for money, the sooner you accept this the better.)
  5. It's 60 degrees in your restaurant and EVERY table wants to sit outside (75 degrees) and there is only one patio server. (see number 3)
  6. Clean the bathroom periodically. (because you don't have enough to do already)
Those first five are typical for every hosting job anywhere. These next are specific to my current position and REALLY SUCK;

7. You are responsible for rolling silverware. (I was at work 1 hour and 50 minutes after we closed at 10pm rolling silverware last night)
8. You must make sure the kitchen knows how many tables there have menus on them. (so seat every customer, stay on top of sorting and rolling silverware, smile, and count menus every 10 minutes, for barely a living wage)
9. When you seat a table; tell them a) the soup of the day, b) the drink feature and c) their server's name; which is different every night (yes, even when there are 6 tables waiting to be sat).

It is safe to say that servers underestimate the amount of responsibility that hosting entails. I've seen a server try to do for one night what i do every night, and refuse to host again. At my current job, we lose hosts left and right. Which means that it will be ages before I can move up to a Server position (and actually make money).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are to cute! I'll remember never to be a hostess.

Brock said...

Reminds me of last summer's stint as a dishwasher. That was the pits.