Waitressing Woes
by Kate
(USA)
This summer, I got a job as a waitress at a local restaurant to help pay for my books next semester. My boyfriend works there, so I thought it would be fun! WRONG. The first week or so I got to work the dinner shift, which is when my boyfriend works, and I made killer tips! He works in the kitchen, while I'm a waitress, so we only saw each other in passing. I was beginning to think I had the best job in the world! Then the manager, who is a total bully, told me we can't work together anymore because we "distract each other." We barely even talk!
Since then, I've been stuck at lunch shift, where I make little to no tips, and then scolded by the managers for not making enough tips! We have to report our tips because they're part of our wages; if we don't make enough, the business has to comp. us the difference between waitress minimum and federal minimum. So, as you see, they yell at me for a situation that they themselves put me in.
The other waitresses, who I got along with at first, are all vindictive high school girls. They started trying to steal tables out from under me and take the tips, and of course the manager would never believe me if I told her. They ALL gossip about each other (manager included), and try to get me to say something so they can catch me, but I refuse to stoop to their level. If something goes wrong that shift, i.e. someone got an order wrong, it is AUTOMATICALLY blamed on me; the manager never asks me my side of the story, she just yells at me. I'm tired of being gossiped about, lied about, stolen from, and yelled at. Is a summer job worth all this? I think not.
