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Cook and Server Rivalry

There has been a long battle that can rival that of the Montegues & Capulets, Biggie & Tupac, and even Foreigner and Journey... the battle between Cooks and Servers.

I've never seen so many altercations happen in a restaurant than between those two groups.  As stated in the above tweet, cooks think that servers are lazy and don't know how to take food orders, while servers think cooks are slow and don't care because they are not on the front line taking the heat if the food is wrong, or took a long time to get to the table.

Servers are instantly resented by the back of house staff.  Maybe because they think that we make the most money in the restaurant.  Since we work off of tips, the cooks just see us walking with cash and immediately think we make more.  But the trade off is if it's slow, than cooks make more money because they usually make a higher hourly, and some of them may even get health benefits to go along with that.  A slow restaurant means a server is making no money, or worse yet, we may get cut from our shift to save on labor costs for the place.

It's a back and forth trade off.  Cooks deal with the heat of a kitchen, and servers deal with the heat of angry customers.

I have definitely had my fair share of fights with cooks and even chefs.  No saying I look to pick fights during my shifts, but in the end, I am just trying to get food in front of the customer.  My last confrontations had to deal with what the menu said we had and what the chef said we ACTUALLY had.  The chef had a problem with making an entree the way that it said on the menu.  He didn't want to make it because he told me we had run out of the ingredients   Before having to go back to the table and tell the guest that we didn't have their second choice for an entree, I got a little frustrated voiced my concerns.

"Would it be possible for you to actually do what your job says and cook?  They are a regular customer," I stated.

"Tell them they should go eat somewhere else.  We are out of the things they want."

"Well since they have already been here 30 minutes, I think they would like to stay here and finish their meal," I pleaded.  "And being out of something is one thing, not wanting to make it is another."

A bit childish yes, but in the end the customer finally got something similar to what they wanted, and that was the end of it.  At least no knives were drawn.  Seriously, I once worked at a place where two brothers, (not Black guys,) owned the place.  One was the Executive Chef, and the other was the General Manager.  They had a huge fight in the kitchen, the chef pulled a knife and threatened his brother, and all this... over a girl.

Until next time... Server's don't pay their rent with compliments.

 "Bitter.  Party of 1?  Your table is ready."

The Bitter Bistro

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