Restaurants Cleaning While You Eat

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

He's right. In the restaurant industry in Quebec, closing time is about a half hour before listed closing time.

I don't mind that.  I was just pointing out the irony that Canadians would complain so angrily about something like that when they have a reputation for being polite and agreeable ... and ... stuff.

[zil]

21 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Project managers say that the criteria are:

• Scope
• Schedule
• Budget

If you want to shorten the schedule, you've got to raise the budget or decrease the scope, and so on.

Cheaper price?  Which do you want to sacrifice? Scope or Schedule?

But "Scope, Schedule, Budget - pick two" doesn't roll off the tongue nearly so nicely as the other options - the repeating "sk" sounds ruin it.

[Guest MormonGator]

25 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I don't mind that.  I was just pointing out the irony that Canadians would complain so angrily about something like that when they have a reputation for being polite and agreeable ... and ... stuff.

Having known many, many, many Canadians in my life (My moms family is from Quebec) I can tell you that the majority of them know the stereotype of "the polite, friendly Canadian" and think it's nonsense.  And yes, I know there is a huge difference in culture between Anglo-Canada and Quebec. 

Besides, anyone who thinks Canadians are nice and friendly has clearly never seen a hockey fight. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by MormonGator

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, zil said:

But "Scope, Schedule, Budget - pick two" doesn't roll off the tongue nearly so nicely as the other options - the repeating "sk" sounds ruin it.

I thought that more alliteration kinda helped things roll off the tongue.  Neither of the others do. 

Regardless, I'd assume that the IT and food service industries are run off of different criteria than the heavy industrial sector.  For instance, no one cares if a refinery "tastes good" or "is user friendly."

[Guest]

Just now, MormonGator said:

Having known many, many, many Canadians in my life (My moms family is from Quebec) I can tell you that the majority of them know the stereotype of "the polite, friendly Canadian" and think it's nonsense. 

Besides, anyone who thinks Canadians are nice and friendly has clearly never seen a hockey fight. 

Shhhh!! @Sunday21 might hear.  And you know how her face gets red and her ears start steaming.  You thought Bruce Banner was bad.  You ain't seen nothin', pal.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Besides, anyone who thinks Canadians are nice and friendly has clearly never seen a hockey fight. 

I went to a boxing match once.  And a hockey game broke out.

[Guest MormonGator]

7 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I went to a boxing match once.  And a hockey game broke out.

My dad is a huge hockey fan, we used to go to UNH games all the time.  I was never a huge fan but it's fun to watch live. 

[mirkwood]

We have a saying too, "ask, tell, make."

[Iggy]

I have worked in restaurants (3 stars), cafe's/diners and owned my own Tavern (only sold bagged potato chips, hot dogs, and my homemade chili). Never did the restaurant employees get angry/rude or show any distaste at customers who walked in the door at 5 minutes till closing. The hour listed for closing was the time the doors got locked to prevent more people from walking in - but it didn't stop customers from leaving. The kitchen closed (grills & fryers turned off) AFTER the last customer walked out the door. 

The waitstaff, hostess, and bus-staff would clean AROUND the late diners. The kitchen staff would clean in the kitchen around the cook. ALL overhead cleaning was done once a week, two hours before opening. The kitchen was deep cleaned by employees other than the kitchen staff two to three hours after the last customer left on a once a week schedule.

In my tavern, the only time the cleaning stuff was brought out, was to get the last lingering customers to leave. It was 2:45 AM - the last call was at 1:30 am to give them time enough to drink that last single drink and leave. At 2 AM ALL of the drinks were removed from the tables/bar top and dumped down the drain. The evening shift were to clean up the back bar, wash the tables/seats down. Sweep the back bar and mop with Pine-Sol and HOT water. They were also to clean the two bathrooms with HOT Pine-Sol water. ALL of the surfaces in both bathrooms were tile/stainless/porcelain.

We also had carpeting on 3/4 of the floors - that got vacuumed also. Plus the evening shift restocked the cooler behind the bar and made sure all of the glasses, pitchers, AND ashtrays were clean and put away properly.

Most of this was done while the last lingering customers were there, BUT they were never vacuumed under, and the table tops where they say was not cleaned UNTIL after the 2:30 AM time.

As for the restaurants, cafes, diners where I worked as either hostess or waitress - the only time you were allowed to sweep under them, was after they had left. Never, never, never was any dusting/cleaning overhead of them done. NEVER! 

Once when I was eating at a Sizzler's, an employee began cleaning the sneeze protector during open hours. People were there getting food. She had dropped gunk into the salad dressing section. I got up, went into the kitchen and asked for the manager. I told him what was happening out front. One look and he walked over to her and asked her to go to the kitchen, then he had the kitchen staff come out and remove ALL of the food - asking the customers there to put down their dishes and just wait about 5 minutes, then they could come back and get new plates of fresh food.

I never saw that employee again. One thing I did notice after that was the manager sitting at every table looking around him, under the tables, up above-around him. He would make notes. He even turned chairs over looking at the bottoms. My friend and I usually came at opening hour, and occasionally Hubby and I went there around an hour before closing. This manager did his *surveillance* shortly after opening hours. Hubby, friend and I did notice was after this new manager took over, the place was clean and shiny.

Friend and I went every Thursday, at 11 AM for our lunch before we did our grocery shopping. We had the same waitress every time. After a couple of months went by we asked her how she liked working with the new manager. She said nearly all of the employees loved him. He cleaned the place up - literally. Got rid of the dead weight employees, had the staff cleaning EVERYTHING. He even closed the place down for a week so everything in the kitchen could be deep cleaned as well as the restaurant. He even got them ALL pay raises, but he stressed that they had to earn that pay.

She told us that since the massive cleaning, and pay raises their morale was lifted and that reflected through to the customers which resulted in better tips.

So, @clbent04regarding the employee who was dusting over the eating customers, you should have asked for the manager/person in charge and complained about it whether or not it was done above you.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Iggy

[NeuroTypical]

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I was just pointing out the irony that Canadians would complain so angrily about something like that when they have a reputation for being polite and agreeable ... and ... stuff.

I met dozens of Canadians on that trip, all of them but two were the height of polite agreeableness.   I mean, they took us to a hockey game, and gently urged us to boisterously cheer whenever either team scored a point, because hooray, someone scored a point!

[Iggy]

1 hour ago, mirkwood said:

We have a saying too, "ask, tell, make."

Explain, please.

[zil]

13 minutes ago, Iggy said:

Explain, please.

"Please step out of the vehicle."

"Get out of the vehicle."

Bust the window and yank the guy out of the vehicle.

[anatess2]

12 minutes ago, zil said:

"Please step out of the vehicle."

"Get out of the vehicle."

Bust the window and yank the guy out of the vehicle.

I bet if you would have done this in caricature, it would look much better than that yeti.

[zil]

6 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

I bet if you would have done this in caricature, it would look much better than that yeti.

I draw stick people!  Stick people.  And I'm not even good at it.  Not sure I could have done that justice.  If you want to see someone who's good at stick people, check this website by my friend Tas: The Stickman Diaries.  Or you can check out my favorite - the OP here - the guy is expert at making his stick men expressive!

[NeuroTypical]

33 minutes ago, zil said:

"Please step out of the vehicle."

"Get out of the vehicle."

Bust the window and yank the guy out of the vehicle.

Well now I know how it goes, the enjoyment I get from watching Sovereign Citizen Youtube videos just dropped.  What a buzzkill!

[Guest Godless]

9 hours ago, Midwest LDS said:

I actually do try to avoid going to any store five minutes to close if I can avoid it. I don't think there is anything inherantly wrong with it, but I've been where the workers have been. You just want to be done for the day, and then someone wanders in, takes 20 minutes to figure out what they want, and then you're late getting home. I remember when I delivered pizzas for Pizza Hut and someone ordered a pizza at 11:55. Of course she was on the other side of town, did not tip, and paid with a dang check. So I try not to do that to anyone else if I can help it, and if I can't I move as quick as possible so I don't hold them up. 

In my experience, the customers who are considerate enough to eat quickly and tip well if they're in the restaurant close to closing time are also considerate enough to not be in a restaurant close to closing time. Which by default means that the staff is more often than not dealing with folks who'll walk in at 9:57, order a 16oz well-done steak, take an hour and a half to eat, an additional half hour to finish their drinks, then tip under 10%. So yeah, they may be a bit testy at the end of the shift even though, yes, technically they're supposed to give you the same treatment as their 5PM customers. 

[Midwest LDS]

8 minutes ago, Godless said:

In my experience, the customers who are considerate enough to eat quickly and tip well if they're in the restaurant close to closing time are also considerate enough to not be in a restaurant close to closing time. Which by default means that the staff is more often than not dealing with folks who'll walk in at 9:57, order a 16oz well-done steak, take an hour and a half to eat, an additional half hour to finish their drinks, then tip under 10%. So yeah, they may be a bit testy at the end of the shift even though, yes, technically they're supposed to give you the same treatment as their 5PM customers. 

Agreed. It's one thing to help someone out who is just going in and out, but far too many customers who show up at 9:58 are the type to abuse that privilege to the hilt. I think it's important to never forget that while a policy may allow you (generic) to do something, you are dealing with human beings. How would you feel if you had been on your feet for 8, 10, 12 hours or more getting yelled at, and some person sits down right when you're supposed to go home, treats you like crap, and keeps you on the clock for another hour and a half? Empathy is a wonderful thing.

[clbent04]

7 hours ago, Iggy said:

So, @clbent04regarding the employee who was dusting over the eating customers, you should have asked for the manager/person in charge and complained about it whether or not it was done above you.

I just let it go. I probably would have said something to the guy cleaning if he had of come over to our area and started disturbing the dusty vents above us. 

But the crazier thing that happened that meal was our 2-year old started chocking on a bite of cheesy bread. My wife said our daughter turned blue in the face as I was slamming my hand against her back trying to get it out. It finally became dislodged after what seemed like an eternity but really was probably only 15 seconds of commotion. So that left me pretty razzled, and any previous thought to the guy cleaning was completely gone at that point.

As for the Costco lady, I was polite with her. I just thought it was kind of irritating. I’ve been in food service too. I always tried to find the right balance in providing efficient service and letting them enjoy their meal. I prioritized not disturbing them unless they needed my attention, not that miss Costco should share my ideals. 

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by clbent04

[clbent04]

I’m someone who really appreciates good service. I remember going to this hole-in-the-wall Chinese place about 5 years ago. Just an average, run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant. But my server was excellent. I’d be eating my food and had a couple sips of my drink, only to look over at my drink which was suddenly completely full, and the server was no where in sight. The guy was a ninja! And it happened 3-4 times with him filling up my drink unnoticed. Everything was efficient and perfect about the service, and the food turned out to be pretty good too. I think I tipped the guy $20 I was so impressed.

Also, there’s an Olive Garden that’s an occasionally go-to of mine. Unlimited salad and soup. Extra pepperoncinis on the salad and a bowl of Zuppa Toscana, anyone? Good stuff. Anyway, all the servers there are excelllent. Love those guys and gals. Never had a bad experience at that particular location 

Edited December 7, 2018 by clbent04

[JohnsonJones]

17 hours ago, MormonGator said:

Having known many, many, many Canadians in my life (My moms family is from Quebec) I can tell you that the majority of them know the stereotype of "the polite, friendly Canadian" and think it's nonsense.  And yes, I know there is a huge difference in culture between Anglo-Canada and Quebec. 

Besides, anyone who thinks Canadians are nice and friendly has clearly never seen a hockey fight. 

But they are really NICE Hockey fights....and they have rules.  No pile ons, no low blows, and a five minute time out to boot!

Canadians are even polite and nice about their fighting!!!

[seashmore]

On 12/6/2018 at 8:54 AM, anatess2 said:

This is silly.

I don't see the relevance of coming in 5 minutes before close.  If you don't want them coming in 5 minutes before close, then you change your posted schedule to close earlier.  Restaurant workers should know that the posted schedule is for the customers and not for the workers.

 

Please don't take this as my calling you out personally, but the posted schedule is for the business, not the customers or workers.

if the restaurant/retail establishment closes at, say, 9:00, then they have every right at 9:00 to say, "We are now closed, and you have to leave," regardless of whether or not you have received the goods/service you hoped to receive.  They most often don't, because making money is important.  Also, sometimes labor is allotted based on sales per hour, so they may allow a sale to justify keeping their employees there for more time.  Whenever I worked food service and closed, it usually didn't bother me if people came in 10, 15 minutes before close.  I usually had enough work to do around them that it didn't impede my closing duties schedule/routine.  But I would vacuum you out if everything else was just about done.  The people there immediately at open bothered me more, mostly because they expected full hilt service the moment the door was unlocked.  Heard a rumor that Old Chicago has a limited late night menu so they can keep that cash coming in while employees work on pre-closing duties in the kitchen.

In other viewpoints, having customers stay past closing (food and/or retail) can be a safety and liability issue for the employees, especially the one doing the nightly deposit.  A grill and fryer should be completely cooled before leaving (ya know, cuz hot stuff can turn into fire) and most employees working nights in food service are minors, which puts them under labor laws that vary by state.

_{Influencing my thoughts on this topic are: I worked for three chain restaurants in 7 locations (3 states), my mom managed a different chain restaurant while I was growing up (and most of my friends worked for her), my sister has been a store manager for one chain for 7 years (5 locations, 3 states), and I live with roommates who have a combined 15 years retail experience, including 5 years management.  We were just having a discussion the other night wherein we all agreed that arriving five minutes before closing for anything more than a quick in-and-out is a dick move.}

[seashmore]

On 12/6/2018 at 8:54 AM, anatess2 said:

This is silly.

I don't see the relevance of coming in 5 minutes before close.  If you don't want them coming in 5 minutes before close, then you change your posted schedule to close earlier.  Restaurant workers should know that the posted schedule is for the customers and not for the workers.

 

Please don't take this as my calling you out personally, but the posted schedule is for the business, not the customers or workers.

if the restaurant/retail establishment closes at, say, 9:00, then they have every right at 9:00 to say, "We are now closed, and you have to leave," regardless of whether or not you have received the goods/service you hoped to receive.  They most often don't, because making money is important.  Also, sometimes labor is allotted based on sales per hour, so they may allow a sale to justify keeping their employees there for more time.  Whenever I worked food service and closed, it usually didn't bother me if people came in 10, 15 minutes before close.  I usually had enough work to do around them that it didn't impede my closing duties schedule/routine.  But I would vacuum you out if everything else was just about done.  The people there immediately at open bothered me more, mostly because they expected full hilt service the moment the door was unlocked.  Heard a rumor that Old Chicago has a limited late night menu so they can keep that cash coming in while employees work on pre-closing duties in the kitchen.

In other viewpoints, having customers stay past closing (food and/or retail) can be a safety and liability issue for the employees, especially the one doing the nightly deposit.  A grill and fryer should be completely cooled before leaving (ya know, cuz hot stuff can turn into fire) and most employees working nights in food service are minors, which puts them under labor laws that vary by state.

_{Influencing my thoughts on this topic are: I worked for three chain restaurants in 7 locations (3 states), my mom managed a different chain restaurant while I was growing up (and most of my friends worked for her), my sister has been a store manager for one chain for 7 years (5 locations, 3 states), and I live with roommates who have a combined 15 years retail experience, including 5 years management.  We were just having a discussion the other night wherein we all agreed that arriving five minutes before closing for anything more than a quick in-and-out is a dick move.}

[anatess2]

14 hours ago, seashmore said:

Please don't take this as my calling you out personally, but the posted schedule is for the business, not the customers or workers.

if the restaurant/retail establishment closes at, say, 9:00, then they have every right at 9:00 to say, "We are now closed, and you have to leave," regardless of whether or not you have received the goods/service you hoped to receive.  They most often don't, because making money is important.  Also, sometimes labor is allotted based on sales per hour, so they may allow a sale to justify keeping their employees there for more time.  Whenever I worked food service and closed, it usually didn't bother me if people came in 10, 15 minutes before close.  I usually had enough work to do around them that it didn't impede my closing duties schedule/routine.  But I would vacuum you out if everything else was just about done.  The people there immediately at open bothered me more, mostly because they expected full hilt service the moment the door was unlocked.  Heard a rumor that Old Chicago has a limited late night menu so they can keep that cash coming in while employees work on pre-closing duties in the kitchen.

In other viewpoints, having customers stay past closing (food and/or retail) can be a safety and liability issue for the employees, especially the one doing the nightly deposit.  A grill and fryer should be completely cooled before leaving (ya know, cuz hot stuff can turn into fire) and most employees working nights in food service are minors, which puts them under labor laws that vary by state.

_{Influencing my thoughts on this topic are: I worked for three chain restaurants in 7 locations (3 states), my mom managed a different chain restaurant while I was growing up (and most of my friends worked for her), my sister has been a store manager for one chain for 7 years (5 locations, 3 states), and I live with roommates who have a combined 15 years retail experience, including 5 years management.  We were just having a discussion the other night wherein we all agreed that arriving five minutes before closing for anything more than a quick in-and-out is a dick move.}

5 minutes until closing is not the same as closing.   Customer deserves full excellent customer service for 5 minutes.  All bets are off at closing, therefore, proper customer service protocol would be to  inform the customer coming in 5 minutes before close that if they can’t conduct their business within 5 minutes then it’s better if they come back the next day because they will not be able to give them the full excellent experience that they deserve after closing.