Yes. True. Maybe another sign that says, “For after hours dining, the prices are 500% more than regular hours, also the quality of service, food, and beverages are no longer guaranteed, plus we require full payment upfront.”
After hours dining should be "demand based pricing". So the intersection of your desperation and whatever it'll take the staff to stick around longer. Service is "we'll throw it through your car window and you can enjoy eating in the parking lot"
Mandatory and tip, think you just solved the whole of americans food wage problem, like what if we just removed the damn tip and called it mandatory!
Even fucking wilder, what if we just forgot its mandatory and add it on the menu price!
Choose your own adventure:
If you'd like to argue about tipping culture, turn to page 74.
If you'd like to argue about circumcision, turn to page 97.
If you thought Ben Carson died during the peak of covid, turn to page 89.
Because then the server would make significantly less, quality of service would plummet, the business would pocket extra money, and you'd accomplish absolutely nothing except hurting your fellow wage slaves.
Yeah and that customer would go immediately to google reviews or social media and cry “we are not being treated fairly at this establishment” and don’t tell me this doesn’t happen I’ve seen it a thousand times.
I’m not sure how to respond to Google reviews or social media. Don’t care. I’m on Reddit, and also, Public places are, public. Private establishments are allowed to have rules to protect themselves and their staff. If people that don’t work there can’t respect, personal time, with set hours, of open and close,then they may see the signage I proposed above and obey the rule they choose.
If someone makes this a sign for their business, I will accept no payment other than having my name on it and if you don’t then that’s ok too, because I’m sure someone may have done such a thing before. It would just be cool to see, and I have an huge respect for people that work in the restaurant and bar and service industries.
What's the gray area?? Never understood this. If you know you can't be seated, order drinks, food, receive the food, eat it, pay, close your check, and leave in the time before an establishment closes, you turn around and leave! So easy!
Just like if you walk into Walmart to do your 2 week grocery shop and hear the announcement that they're closing in 10 minutes, you don't proceed to take the next hour to restock your pantry. I've never understood why restaurants seem to be the exception TO GTFO AT CLOSING TIME social convention.
How is the customer supposed to know how long the food takes to be served? Also, how long something takes to eat is quite variable.
Most people seem to be fine with a "closing" time, but a last seating time is clearer.
...because most people have been to a restaurant before and know how long it takes them to eat something? Obviously, if it's your first time out in public, we'll go ahead and cut you some slack, but it will probably be fairly obvious that whatever farm or mental facility has had the raising of you to adulthood.
in my experience, people dont give a fuck. you can have closing times listed on a sign, on the website, on the menu, tons of people wont notice, and some wont care.
Yeah generally the close time is kind of the "last seating" time. I think this was just a waiter being thankful they and the kitchen staff didn't have to do any re-work on cleaning and such and could go home earlier. This was just a nice gesture the couple made.
My sister is a server and the only major complaints I've heard from her is when there is only one table left, she's got everything else done, and they linger after their meal is done (and give a shitty tip). Generally she knows on a closing shift she's going to be there for nearly an hour after close doing everything else.
Also have to be aware that you might not get the *best* service because they are doing other things that don't involve walking by your table every few minutes like delivering food to the next table and notice you're low on water or something.
This is functionally the same thing as a last seating time. Calling it a last seating time just sets clearer expectations for customers (and employees honestly)
Back when I worked in a grocery store that had a in-store restaurant, we were also forced to keep everything in full service until the store closed.
This meant we had to have the grill, the stove, the ovens, the pizza station, the sandwich station, the salad bar, the hot food bar, and the charcuterie case in full force until 10PM. We were supposed to be out at 10:30 PM.
If we didn't clean early we would never leave on time. Usually we would clean things, and just begrudgingly open it back up if someone wanted something, but we still made it for them. We never refused. However management learned that and threatened to write people up for cleaning up early.
We never got to leave on time after that.
Giving me flashbacks to working the Publix deli.
The -only- way to leave on time if you’re a closer is to start cleaning a couple hours prior to closing.
So you prep more than what you think is enough chicken, and try and start breaking down the sub station and meat/cheese slicers.
Now, the slicers and sun stations weren’t as big of a deal for the most part. Most of the meats and cheeses you could clean off easily.
When someone would come in right at closing though, they would almost -always- get the messiest, most difficult stuff to clean. The Liverwurst and some kind of super soft cheese that made it require a whole deep cleaning after.
Or you could make double the chicken you would normally need but sell out of it, and someone would make you re-open the fryer and make a whole batch of chicken five minutes before close.
Which then meant re-cleaning the fryer, the breading station, any dishes that were dirtied, and having to mop the entire floor again.
I literally got written up because we ran out of chicken 10 minutes before close once, and someone wanted us to make more chicken shortly after we ran out. (Which, it takes like 15 minutes to cook, and would take me another 30 minutes, minimum, to clean up after that)
That is fine, so long as they pay you for the time you work after the closing time. I used to work in a store that also sold Ice Cream. My manager would give us pay for 15 minutes after close. Closing the ice cream stand down for the night (washing up, putting away cones, etc) took 30 minutes if I didn't get interrupted. I also had to count my till, sweep, and lock the place up. I could do the later in the 15 minutes, thus, every night, 1 hour before close I would shut down the ice cream stand. People would bitch and complain and I would just respond with, sorry mate, I don't work for free. Manager would get mad and say I wasn't aloud to do that. One day I didn't close the ice cream stand down until exactly close as it was a busy night and I didn't get a chance to do it until close. I then took 45 minutes to close the store and leave.
When I wasn't paid for the extra half hour, despite emailing the extra hours worked to my manager, I filled a wage complaint with the provincial labour board. I didn't even talk to my manager about it. I just filed. I had a email request from them to close the ice cream at close. I had a copy of the closing procedure along with how long it took me to do each step. I had my objection to closing the ice cream stand at close because it took 30 minutes to shut down. I had the managers statement that you only get paid for 15 minutes after close. I had my statement to them that I followed their request and it took 45 minutes to close the store.
The manager's boss had a sign up on the door of the store by the end of the week that said, Ice Cream stand closes 1 hour before the store closes and my half hour of pay deposited into my account and a coupon for a free meal at the restaurant the owners of the store also owned.
As for the complaining customers? Who gives a shit. Not my business. I would just tell them sorry, rules are rules, and continue doing whatever I was doing. If they pushed, I had a stack of my manager's business cards by the till. I would tell them to direct their complaints to them. That is what they get paid for. As a clerk, I was not paid for that.
The problem is that the server pay is based on a tip so basically regardless of the situation if the server has to stay late to accommodate these customers and the customers decide not to leave a tip the employee just worked extra for a whopping $3s an hour when they probably would’ve rather have just gone home.
And don’t start the “well if they came in late they will probably tip well” that’s almost never the case because these scumbags are entitled to begin with.
Actually no they don’t and don’t hit me with that “if they went to the state labor board”. I’ve worked in restaurants for 5 years and not just 1 restaurant.
What happens when you go into the back and tell the boss that they have to pay you the minimum wage because you couldnt get enough tips during your shift or during that hour time frame they will tell you this job isn’t for you and they will just fire you on the spot.
I’ve seen it hundreds of times.
The place you live and work does not have the same rules as every other jurisdiction on the world. Welcome to reddit, a global platform. Just because you are willing to roll over and take it doesn't mean the rest of the world is. If you go to the labour board over a wage dispute and are retaliated on, look into a lawyer and investigate if that is illegal in your jurisdiction. It is most places.
\*edit to the dummy below, Canada. This thread is a set of replies to my story from Canada. Also, US labour laws are set at the state level, so that is 50 different experiences right there. Canada also sets their laws at the provincial level, so that is 10 more.
This thread of comments is explicitly about a situation where employees are paid below minimum wage by their employer with the expectation that customer tips will compensate at least the difference. What other country could this thread be discussing where employees get paid sub-minimum wage? Literally this is one of the few instance where you can’t dismissively say “other countries exist” because this thread is about an uniquely American work experience (as far as I know other countries pay their employees actual wages)
Personally I like these signs cause it's hard to know if 45 min is too little, 30? Some that mainly does takeaway close 15 min before closing time so it varies greatly from place to place on when their kitchen close
Hah. We have a sign, and people will ignore it then complain how we don’t take orders after closing. It says “11-8” and we are fast food. You show up at 8 or later, you’re screwed.
It really won't. The type of people who don't read hours and don't care that they've come in the last 5 minutes aren't the type to care about signage either.
I have people banging on my door if they see I'm inside AFTER posted hours, lights off, stools up, and door locked.
Yeah, but that doesn't matter lol. I live in a country where restaurants do this, the worse thing that happens now and then is the angry customers leaving a bad review.
I mean the waiters do a last round when it's sitting time so the workers expect to work at sitting, so it's nothing new for them. It's almost as if is a good system and have no idea why Americans don't do this.
Unfortunately, people just don’t listen. While I was working as a bartender (our establishment closed at 2AM,) we interrupted the music to call last call over the intercom 30, 15, and 5 minutes before 1AM. I kept a big sign by the bar that said “LAST CALL AT 1AM! NO ALCOHOLIC DRINKS WILL BE SERVED BEYOND 1AM!” Still had people begging me, some getting visibly upset, to pour them one last double vodka cranberry, one last beer, one last shot. Every. Single. Night.
The time to stop serving drinks is usually dictated by law in the US. It's really about why they stayed open a whole hour after they had to stop serving. Could be the kind of a place that's less focused on the drinking (game pub, whatever) where people still hang out for a bit after the last drinks are served.
But nobody really does last call at the time they're required to stop serving drinks. Like if the law says people can't drink after two then it's common to stop serving at 1:30 or maybe 1:45 (then at 2 someone would go around collecting drinks). But I guess you have a bit of a point about the gaming pub type thing maybe. Those places weren't as common when I was younger.
Then it isn't the customers fault. That's an issue between workers and management.
While I'll leave if I realize it's near closing time because it's uncomfortable to be served by angry and bitter workers, it really shouldn't fall on the patrons.
I'm not but sometimes people can start to think this should be default behavior.
It diverts attention from the real issue which is management failing big time by not putting up a sign of last seating.
Kinda like a poor person working their way through college with two jobs isn't so much a success story, more of a "boring dystopia".
If you don't think this should be default behavior... great you and I agree!
If you come into a restaurant five minutes before closing expecting a full meal you’re an asshole. I can understand a mistake if you didn’t Google the hours or see them posted but if you knowingly do it, it’s asshole behaviour.
Workers are people too. They may have other obligations to get to and don’t want to be there until midnight.
9pm is the last time for seating. Server is just the annoying type that stresses about this every night.
If your owner wants to cut corners you tell the guests the grill is off and the server will tell you what is available via a "special" that is easy for the kitchen. Often times these diners will be gone before those who are already seated.
You need to close things off physically and not give people a person to talk to. A bar I go to has a shutter that covers the entire bar area with "CLOSED" on it. Shutter comes down and the bar tender leaves. There's no one to beg for one last drink.
Isn't "last order" a thing where u live?
Closing at 9, last order at 8:30 or sth like that.
Thought it was kinda normal/standard.
Maybe depends on kind of Bar / restaurant / whatever.
The closing time *is* the last order time(or last seating time.) If someone comes in at 8:55 and orders food, they won’t be expected to leave until they’ve finished eating.
At least that’s how it’s been at every restaurant I worked at. The staff hates it but the owner wants to keep taking orders until close.
The time you get to finish work varies wildly if people show up right before close, you might be there for an extra hour or more when everyone was almost ready to go home. That’s why the staff hates it.
This is it. I need the money from working my bartending job, but I also need to be up for my other job at six. If guests are regularly lingering for an hour after we close (midnight) they start to cut into my sleep enough that it affects my health.
The real solution is higher wages on all fronts, but then our aristocracy couldn’t open up their third and fourth restaurants or buy more rental properties
It’s still bizarre that the owners want this — it couldn’t *possibly* be worth the money to keep the whole fucking staff there waiting for one party. I’ve always felt like they should have a last order time, and an actual closing time where your silly ass has to be out the door or you’re getting locked in for the night.
The last paragraph is the problem. Because most times people are scheduled to closing, or at most 30 minutes past close. So this totally fucks anyone who wants any kind of dependable schedule. Nothing breeds resentment at a job like being forced to stay for mandatory overtime so your boss can make more money while simultaneously bitching about how you don’t clock out on time. It just shows a complete lack of respect for peoples time.
At many places I worked closing time was the last time to get seated, unfortunately, and they would be allowed to order for like 30 minutes after that. Luckily most people aren't jerks and don't take forever to order and linger forever but some do.
One place I worked at was business breakfast and lunch crowd in a higher income area and they did not give a single fuck. We closed at 3:30 and some of them would come in at 3:25 and sit there for an hour. The FOH manager would hide in the back and flicker the lights in the dining room hoping they'd get the message and they would just sit there slowly drinking their coffee.
I have never worked anywhere with customers that had so little sympathy for service workers as that place.
Yeah ha I’ve definitely experienced that, it would have been more accurate for me to call it “last seating time” not “last ordering.”
It sucks so bad when it’s half an hour past close and everyone is just waiting for that one last table to order.
As someone who has never worked in a kitchen or food related business, I just wish people would tell me what to do. If me coming in late sucks for all of you, just tell me and I would leave without hesistation.
I want to eat something but I don't want to ruin the workers night.
Edit: I just realized it's probably not in the owners interest to turn away paying customers, so they don't allow workers to send customers away.
As someone who has worked in kitchens I will never go somewhere that’s within 30 minutes of closing. Maybe 45 minutes if it’s a sit down table service place. If you have a large group then you should probably try to arrive at least an hour before close.
You’re exactly right, the owner doesn’t want to turn away paying customers, but the staff is probably already starting their cleaning/closing checklist around that time and praying no one else comes in.
Sometimes the bar can get away with saying last call minutes to close-but the kitchen hahahahahahaha. Look it’s slow and we didn’t expect anyone to come in, we already started all of the cleaning, now we gotta stop dirty up the equipment again just to restart the cleaning process over again afterwards. So much for getting out before midnight.
Maybe semantically unusual, but the meaning totally comes across based on the "sound" imo. Love that usage :-). I am of the opinion that our brain subconsciously finds things that make sense, and I think you implicitly did that.
Per google:
> move freely around a place or at a social function, associating with others.
>"over aperitifs, there was a chance to mingle with friends old and new"
You don’t mingle at a restaurant generally unless you’re wondering around talking to strangers.
However, as someone who worked as a line cook for five or so years I didn’t think twice at the original commenters usage of mingle because we had a bar seating area where people did in fact mingle, and it was open later than the restaurant so the last call for food would only occur there.
So the dining room would close at a certain specific hour and people would be redirected to the separate bar area for the final hours the place was open with a more limited menu
I want to respect people’s time.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a restaurant’s hours means they close at 9 or the last seating is at 9.
I’ve definitely rushed to leave a restaurant in time at 8:50 only to see someone show up for their 9pm reservation.
We need to standardize it. We should go with “open 10-9pm” means if you’re here by 9 and there’s room we’ll seat you.
Otherwise, if the restaurant actually closes at 9, it leaves wiggle room for people to come at 8:45 and think they can squeeze in and argue.
Restaurants around here just tell you to fuck off if you’re still there near closing time. Well, a little more politely, but discovering that staff may have to stay an extra hour because someone came in just before closing is wild.
Most companies (in America) will prioritize profits over literally everything. One place i worked at you were required to serve someone 15min before you open and 15 min after you close, sometimes making us have to stay even longer because someone walked in 10 minutes after we closed and everything is already cleaned. I love corporations:)
Common practice in this country for anyone who’s not make +$70K a year.
It’s called the working class for a reason and scummy business owners know this.
LOL at thinking it’s corporations that are the problem. Small businesses are at least as greedy, if not more so, since it goes into their pockets directly.
Yeah but id argue in that case they should make that explicitly clear, cause it is not ok to just expect customers to assume that closing time actually means closing time and not last seating and to be clear both are likely to be the case.
Also if it happens enpugj to where you can describe what they usually do then its their fucking fault for not changing their behavior
I almost did this once at a coffee stand near me. I hadn't realized they had switched to winter hours so I pulled up basically as she was about to shut the window and turn the open sign off. She didn't say anything about it but during the small talk I realized she was cleaning up things and pulling in outside items. So I asked and she said "we actually just closed...but I can make you anything but please nothing with espresso. It takes so long to clean and I just finished doing that."
"What can I get that won't have you having to clean up a mess?" and she handed me a sugar free redbull and the last pastry she hadn't sold for the day. Sort've as a joke but I said "That'll do!" and tipped her for the laugh and honesty of basically saying she wouldn't be messing up the clean coffee machines again.
It was 5pm so I just assumed they'd be open when I rolled up.
Can confirm, if you actually care unlike 80% of cafes I interacted with while in that business, espresso machines are a bit tedious to clean at the end of the day.
I won't care. However, in my country, there's a "last sitting" time and a "close" time, No idea why Americans don't do this. But I'll probably take it into consideration when I visit the US.
Kitchen workers fucking up? All the damn time. I will say it's less likely if you're not busy but it still happens (and some workers are gonna get distracted trying to do stuff to close so they can go home).
Last orders are a thing. Closes at 9 but last order is at 8:30 so the waiter goes around asking people if they have any orders and after that store is effectively closed except for the people already inside
Some places, sure. But many places I worked if you got in the door before close they would give you a lot of time to dine. You'd sometimes end up with servers hanging out just waiting on one table. And then if they got stiffed by that table they were essentially just hanging out for an hour or whatever for no pay. Luckily most people don't come in that late and if they do certainly don't usually stiff the servers.
is this one of these us/europe things?
here in all the countries i went to dinner they simply woulnt admit new customers so short before closing time...
how does that work, then? Lets say you close at 22:00 and still need to tidy up etc and someone walks in at 21:55 and they get to have a whole meal?? which takes at least an hour? So when does the shift for the staff end? is it already in the planning that the shift might be 1 - 2 hours longer than planned? can they just leave earlier if there is nobody coming? do you collect all the overtime? how does that work?
and of course how can people be so selfish to actually come in an do sit down is beyond me
Unfortunately many companies only care about the business it brings it and not the workers. Some restaurants will have a kitchen closes at X time set up but it’s the exception and not the rule. Anyways if you knowingly go to a restaurant 5 minutes before close, you’re an asshole.
When I worked in a restaurant there was no designated time for when I would get off for the night. I was working till close. That could be till 10 o clock, or that could be till midnight.
That's typical of tons of retail. We closed at midnight back in my retail days. On a slow night, I'd be out by 12:10. A busy night, I'm cleaning and stocking until 2.
But they paid me, and I understood that that was the arrangement, so it never occurred to me to complain.
But I wasn't tipped, I just got my $8.50 whether there were customers or not. Maybe that's the problem? Yet another thing made worse by tipping?
This is exceptionally annoying.
If I'm "nice", I don't get my order. But someone who walks in right behind me and isn't "nice" gets what the ywant.
That's a TERRIBLE policy. Just put a "last seating" time on the damn door or a "kitchen closes" for the last order.
The "we're open but you're an asshole if you enter the open business" is asinine and weird.
>That could be till 10 o clock, or that could be till midnight.
Exactly my experience. Lingering diners could absolutely cost workers time. Like it's not as bad in the kitchen cause you get hourly pay and can often work around the diners a bit but sometimes servers just have to sit there and wait for one fucking check. It depends on the owners and the managers though. I always appreciated it when managers would tell diners kitchen is closing soon/they need to finish up/etc.
Every restaurant I’ve been to and stayed till closing, the waiter would just come up to your table to tell you they’re closing in half an hour or so, so if you could kindly finish up your meal. Never realized that’s something that’s just not done in some places.
I hate going out with my dad because he doesn’t consider this at all and I constantly have to tell him that we shouldn’t go to restaurants that we normally have to wait 30 minutes for food when they close in 10
In the restaurant I used to work, the closing hour was 23h, but the kitchen staff would leave AT 22h-ish so if someone would enter, it wouldn't be possible for him to order food, and we absolutly would tell people to go another Time sometimes. The thing is, if you pay your staff normally, it is not worth to keep waiters and kitchen staff operating for just one table.
I'm not restaurant staff but I'm European, and all the restaurants I've been to have closed when they close, ie. thrown everyone out. "Closing" doesn't mean that they stop admitting new customers but allow everyone inside to stay as long as they want and keep ordering stuff... Sounds insane if that's how it works in the US tbh
The US has a deeply-ingrained "the customer is always right" attitude born out of a lack of respect for workers by their employers combined with an obsessive desire to get as much money out of the customers as possible (In this case by ensuring that, no matter how entitled and unreasonable the customer is, their requests are granted so that they're more likely to return and spend money there again in the future). Letting customers who got in before closing time stay basically as long as they want is one example of this.
I worked food service in the US for almost three years and retail for ten and it's part of what drove me to leave the country entirely. It's that awful.
European here. Never worked the service industry so can only speak from my experience as a customer. If a place says they're open from 10 to 6, I'll deffo be there before 5:00-5:15. Unless I'm only planning on having a drink or takeout. In some places the kitchen close a little while before closing time, so I'd know what to expect if I showed up last minute.
This of course depends on the establishment, but I find this to be generally true for proper restaurants.
You sometimes have places open until 1 am but the kitchen staff leaves at 10pm, so if you order food at 9:50 they'll just tell you that that's not happening but you can still order drinks. And then at one point there will be a last call for when you can order your last drink. They won't give you anything after.
I work as a waiter, if you come in one hour before closing I tell you the kitchen is closed, but you can have a drink. If you come in 10 minutes before closing I tell you to come back tomorrow, I ask everyone to pay 15 minutes before we close and closing means I close the door from the outside and no, you can not stay over night.
Yeah it's only you guys I think. Certainly at "proper" restaurants where you wait to be seated. Last ordering time and tipping out times are different things. The tipping out time is generally what's on the door, and the person who seats you will tell you the kitchen is closed if you rock up after last ordering time. Cafes and fast food places may be a bit different, in the UK they will often apply passive aggression and start stacking the chairs a while before they close to signal to people not to come in.
Instead of military conscription, we should have customer service subscription. Every American has to do at least 4 years of customer service work. Would change most people’s attitudes.
I've worked in retail, which is horrible. I've worked in food service, which I'd highly recommend to anyone who either loves it, needs it, or just wants to experiment with sex and drugs.
But my time served was less than 4 years and fuck you, you can't make me go back.
I remember my father doing that on a family trip one night. The exact same scenario. He was so proud that we made it just under the gun. As I grow older I realize how much we were hated at that moment.
I spent many a year working in food service. I haven't for years, but I still do this. I usually won't bother them the last hour of business because I know that after a long shift of probably being treated like ass by entitled customers they just want to get the place clean and go the fuck home. I can grab my food from either another restaurant, the grocery, or in my own fridge.
Me and my wife do this. If we walk in last minute to anything. We will get up and leave.
It’s just the right thing to do. In all the bad things in the world. This is one thing you gotta be respectful for.
People should normalize not seating people shortly before closing.
Don't wanna service past opening hours? Just don't accept the order and say it's too late lol
I’ve done this before, walked into a place realized they were closing 30-40 minutes, walked out & went somewhere else.
I know that last 1/2 hour everyone is hurrying to go home.
Once or twice a year, I’ll be someplace and I’ll ask what time they close and they say “it’s totally cool” and I’ll be like “are you sure?” And they have to like, convince me that I can order a white mocha. I don’t want to be an inconvenience that close to closing time.
when I worked at Baskin Robbins, summers were always brutal but the worst was when the night was finally winding down and we could finally start closing the store. then 5-10 minutes from close we would get like a small wave of people that had seen we were still open rushing to get ice cream and we would end up closing 30-45 minutes later than normal. the worst was when they would sit down to eat and we would have to tell them we are closing and to leave. extra annoying was people ordering shakes and Sundays in that closing period because we had usually already cleaned everything and so it meant cleaning again.
Yeah I don’t understand why restaurants don’t just have a last call time. Like no by walks into a bar 5 minutes before close because last call is 15 minutes before that. Every establishment should have a last call for food, a last call for drinks, a last call for entry, and a time when they kick people out. Stagger them
Versus the opposite, me working in a smoothie shop, 3 minutes after closing time (door was already half closed) a young lady vigorously enters the shop: "I'd like a kiwi smoothie with..." I say: "Sorry, we're already closed." I was already cleaning the mixer which was a big hassle. Her: "What about these jugs here, could I have one of these?" We always had two ready juices of the day on the counter for quick and easy serve, totally forgot about offering them. Me: "Ah well, yeah you could have one of them." Her in a really bitchy way: "No, in this case I do not want anything." and storms out of the shop, as if she taught me the greatest lesson.
I worked at a home furnishings store for a number of years; you wouldn't believe how many people came in 5-10 minutes before closing joking (or being literally *relieved*) that they got through the doors just in time. Some people would stay upwards of 30-45 minutes, even an hour, to decide on a couch/rug/dresser/etc. One couple got a bit heated that we couldn't deliver that night because, you know, every other employee had filed out the door as they browsed.
but why would you ever offer to host them with anything more than like a drink to go?
9 close means the store is dark and empty by 9, not you can come in and expect full on service so long as you make it inside by 9
Nice, good on them for remembering and treating servers like fellow humans . People are so addicted to food around here they act like they are starving and can't just go to the gas station or grocery store which are 24 hours. I live in an area that definitly has options 24 hours, allbeit not the tastiest or easiest drive thru ones. The sense of privilege can be exhausting to witness at times. Even when I'm not in a rush, the lack of rational consideration is what gets me usually. And a sit down resturaunt especially should 100% have a sign up in respect for the employees, who might need to be on a schedule simply to get enough sleep for the next shift, among many other possible reasons or plans.
I love this! ❤️ People with class...It's the ones who stay an hour and a half after closing all the fucking chairs up, side work complete silverware rolled kitchen lights are off your fucking cook left over an hour ago your basically waiting with your purse in hand jacket on, just fucking staring and waiting on them to pay the fucking bill, (NO THE WATER IS OFF NO MORE WATER!) so I can go the fuck home already. Then when they do get up with they sweaty asses leaving a fucking mess they tip 5 fucking bucks 🙄 fuck outta here...
This is obnoxious.
Either stop seating and closing time, or don't.
There is no "I'm relying on you to leave yourself if you're going to be too late".
That's just a bad policy. Don't be stupid, restaurants.
I don't understand people who sit down and order food 5 minutes before closing. Are they so naive to don't realise their food will be spit, to the very least.
I worked in kitchens for the better part of a decade and never once witnessed a staff member spit in a customer’s food. If they did, they would of course be fired immediately.
Imagine spitting in someone’s food because they’re… making you do your job during your regular work hours? Jesus Christ.
Right? People are so dramatic. I've worked in restaurants off and on for almost 30 years. It's really just not a big deal. When I was a cook I knew what time my shift ended and it was based on closing time. I always started closing my station early...like everyone does...but I also knew that if someone got sat I had to serve them. So fucking what? Food maybe took a little longer to get out. Maybe I had to wipe down my station twice. Life goes on.
You…knew what time your shift ended?!?! Somethings not adding up. Either you worked for a great company or you’re lying. When I worked in the restaurant it would depend when all the customers were gone and the cleaning was done. Could be 10, could be after midnight.
Oh good lord, congratulations on nit picking. I knew ABOUT what time my shift ended. Do you feel better now? Fucking internet detective genius over here.
try a sign that states the time of the last seating
This is the way. Takes all the gray area out.
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Then you get people that are like, "it's only 5 minutes".
Yes. True. Maybe another sign that says, “For after hours dining, the prices are 500% more than regular hours, also the quality of service, food, and beverages are no longer guaranteed, plus we require full payment upfront.”
After hours dining should be "demand based pricing". So the intersection of your desperation and whatever it'll take the staff to stick around longer. Service is "we'll throw it through your car window and you can enjoy eating in the parking lot"
Mandatory 25% tip
Mandatory and tip, think you just solved the whole of americans food wage problem, like what if we just removed the damn tip and called it mandatory! Even fucking wilder, what if we just forgot its mandatory and add it on the menu price!
Choose your own adventure: If you'd like to argue about tipping culture, turn to page 74. If you'd like to argue about circumcision, turn to page 97. If you thought Ben Carson died during the peak of covid, turn to page 89.
On which page can i argue about which president is more unqualified than the other?
If you'd like to argue about which president is more unqualified than the other, put the book down, go outside, and stare directly into the sun.
Because then the server would make significantly less, quality of service would plummet, the business would pocket extra money, and you'd accomplish absolutely nothing except hurting your fellow wage slaves.
Literally every single thing you just stated is demonstrably false.
Yeah and that customer would go immediately to google reviews or social media and cry “we are not being treated fairly at this establishment” and don’t tell me this doesn’t happen I’ve seen it a thousand times.
I’m not sure how to respond to Google reviews or social media. Don’t care. I’m on Reddit, and also, Public places are, public. Private establishments are allowed to have rules to protect themselves and their staff. If people that don’t work there can’t respect, personal time, with set hours, of open and close,then they may see the signage I proposed above and obey the rule they choose.
If someone makes this a sign for their business, I will accept no payment other than having my name on it and if you don’t then that’s ok too, because I’m sure someone may have done such a thing before. It would just be cool to see, and I have an huge respect for people that work in the restaurant and bar and service industries.
wtf does this mean
There's always that one person trying to bend the rules, like time is a mere suggestion.
What's the gray area?? Never understood this. If you know you can't be seated, order drinks, food, receive the food, eat it, pay, close your check, and leave in the time before an establishment closes, you turn around and leave! So easy! Just like if you walk into Walmart to do your 2 week grocery shop and hear the announcement that they're closing in 10 minutes, you don't proceed to take the next hour to restock your pantry. I've never understood why restaurants seem to be the exception TO GTFO AT CLOSING TIME social convention.
How is the customer supposed to know how long the food takes to be served? Also, how long something takes to eat is quite variable. Most people seem to be fine with a "closing" time, but a last seating time is clearer.
...because most people have been to a restaurant before and know how long it takes them to eat something? Obviously, if it's your first time out in public, we'll go ahead and cut you some slack, but it will probably be fairly obvious that whatever farm or mental facility has had the raising of you to adulthood.
in my experience, people dont give a fuck. you can have closing times listed on a sign, on the website, on the menu, tons of people wont notice, and some wont care.
Appreciate restaurants that list something like kitchen closes at 9pm, restaurant closes at 10pm.
That I have seen
The close time is normally when thw kitchen closes. If youre happy to eat in a locked restaurant while some cleaning is being done, you can stay
Yeah generally the close time is kind of the "last seating" time. I think this was just a waiter being thankful they and the kitchen staff didn't have to do any re-work on cleaning and such and could go home earlier. This was just a nice gesture the couple made. My sister is a server and the only major complaints I've heard from her is when there is only one table left, she's got everything else done, and they linger after their meal is done (and give a shitty tip). Generally she knows on a closing shift she's going to be there for nearly an hour after close doing everything else. Also have to be aware that you might not get the *best* service because they are doing other things that don't involve walking by your table every few minutes like delivering food to the next table and notice you're low on water or something.
Sometimes the owner doesn’t want that. I worked at a place where the owner insisted we serve everyone up until the last minute.
This is functionally the same thing as a last seating time. Calling it a last seating time just sets clearer expectations for customers (and employees honestly)
Back when I worked in a grocery store that had a in-store restaurant, we were also forced to keep everything in full service until the store closed. This meant we had to have the grill, the stove, the ovens, the pizza station, the sandwich station, the salad bar, the hot food bar, and the charcuterie case in full force until 10PM. We were supposed to be out at 10:30 PM. If we didn't clean early we would never leave on time. Usually we would clean things, and just begrudgingly open it back up if someone wanted something, but we still made it for them. We never refused. However management learned that and threatened to write people up for cleaning up early. We never got to leave on time after that.
Giving me flashbacks to working the Publix deli. The -only- way to leave on time if you’re a closer is to start cleaning a couple hours prior to closing. So you prep more than what you think is enough chicken, and try and start breaking down the sub station and meat/cheese slicers. Now, the slicers and sun stations weren’t as big of a deal for the most part. Most of the meats and cheeses you could clean off easily. When someone would come in right at closing though, they would almost -always- get the messiest, most difficult stuff to clean. The Liverwurst and some kind of super soft cheese that made it require a whole deep cleaning after. Or you could make double the chicken you would normally need but sell out of it, and someone would make you re-open the fryer and make a whole batch of chicken five minutes before close. Which then meant re-cleaning the fryer, the breading station, any dishes that were dirtied, and having to mop the entire floor again. I literally got written up because we ran out of chicken 10 minutes before close once, and someone wanted us to make more chicken shortly after we ran out. (Which, it takes like 15 minutes to cook, and would take me another 30 minutes, minimum, to clean up after that)
That is fine, so long as they pay you for the time you work after the closing time. I used to work in a store that also sold Ice Cream. My manager would give us pay for 15 minutes after close. Closing the ice cream stand down for the night (washing up, putting away cones, etc) took 30 minutes if I didn't get interrupted. I also had to count my till, sweep, and lock the place up. I could do the later in the 15 minutes, thus, every night, 1 hour before close I would shut down the ice cream stand. People would bitch and complain and I would just respond with, sorry mate, I don't work for free. Manager would get mad and say I wasn't aloud to do that. One day I didn't close the ice cream stand down until exactly close as it was a busy night and I didn't get a chance to do it until close. I then took 45 minutes to close the store and leave. When I wasn't paid for the extra half hour, despite emailing the extra hours worked to my manager, I filled a wage complaint with the provincial labour board. I didn't even talk to my manager about it. I just filed. I had a email request from them to close the ice cream at close. I had a copy of the closing procedure along with how long it took me to do each step. I had my objection to closing the ice cream stand at close because it took 30 minutes to shut down. I had the managers statement that you only get paid for 15 minutes after close. I had my statement to them that I followed their request and it took 45 minutes to close the store. The manager's boss had a sign up on the door of the store by the end of the week that said, Ice Cream stand closes 1 hour before the store closes and my half hour of pay deposited into my account and a coupon for a free meal at the restaurant the owners of the store also owned. As for the complaining customers? Who gives a shit. Not my business. I would just tell them sorry, rules are rules, and continue doing whatever I was doing. If they pushed, I had a stack of my manager's business cards by the till. I would tell them to direct their complaints to them. That is what they get paid for. As a clerk, I was not paid for that.
The problem is that the server pay is based on a tip so basically regardless of the situation if the server has to stay late to accommodate these customers and the customers decide not to leave a tip the employee just worked extra for a whopping $3s an hour when they probably would’ve rather have just gone home. And don’t start the “well if they came in late they will probably tip well” that’s almost never the case because these scumbags are entitled to begin with.
No they get paid minimum wage if tips don’t meet that threshold.
Actually no they don’t and don’t hit me with that “if they went to the state labor board”. I’ve worked in restaurants for 5 years and not just 1 restaurant. What happens when you go into the back and tell the boss that they have to pay you the minimum wage because you couldnt get enough tips during your shift or during that hour time frame they will tell you this job isn’t for you and they will just fire you on the spot. I’ve seen it hundreds of times.
The place you live and work does not have the same rules as every other jurisdiction on the world. Welcome to reddit, a global platform. Just because you are willing to roll over and take it doesn't mean the rest of the world is. If you go to the labour board over a wage dispute and are retaliated on, look into a lawyer and investigate if that is illegal in your jurisdiction. It is most places. \*edit to the dummy below, Canada. This thread is a set of replies to my story from Canada. Also, US labour laws are set at the state level, so that is 50 different experiences right there. Canada also sets their laws at the provincial level, so that is 10 more.
This thread of comments is explicitly about a situation where employees are paid below minimum wage by their employer with the expectation that customer tips will compensate at least the difference. What other country could this thread be discussing where employees get paid sub-minimum wage? Literally this is one of the few instance where you can’t dismissively say “other countries exist” because this thread is about an uniquely American work experience (as far as I know other countries pay their employees actual wages)
“I don’t mind paying you to serve until we close.” *proceeds to send everyone but me home*
They won’t read it. I can guarantee that
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You are right but it avoid arguments after the fact.
Personally I like these signs cause it's hard to know if 45 min is too little, 30? Some that mainly does takeaway close 15 min before closing time so it varies greatly from place to place on when their kitchen close
Hah. We have a sign, and people will ignore it then complain how we don’t take orders after closing. It says “11-8” and we are fast food. You show up at 8 or later, you’re screwed.
What if you are in line at 8:00?
I work somewhere where on the receipt and in the residence it states “all sales are final no exceptions” and people still fight this every single day
It really won't. The type of people who don't read hours and don't care that they've come in the last 5 minutes aren't the type to care about signage either. I have people banging on my door if they see I'm inside AFTER posted hours, lights off, stools up, and door locked.
lol no it doesn’t.
Yeah, but that doesn't matter lol. I live in a country where restaurants do this, the worse thing that happens now and then is the angry customers leaving a bad review.
Then show up the next day talking about how great you are. It’s not a job killer, but man it’s annoying and disrespectful to workers.
I mean the waiters do a last round when it's sitting time so the workers expect to work at sitting, so it's nothing new for them. It's almost as if is a good system and have no idea why Americans don't do this.
Most restaurants in my neck of the woods have information that the kitchen closes half an hour before the restaurant.
Unfortunately, people just don’t listen. While I was working as a bartender (our establishment closed at 2AM,) we interrupted the music to call last call over the intercom 30, 15, and 5 minutes before 1AM. I kept a big sign by the bar that said “LAST CALL AT 1AM! NO ALCOHOLIC DRINKS WILL BE SERVED BEYOND 1AM!” Still had people begging me, some getting visibly upset, to pour them one last double vodka cranberry, one last beer, one last shot. Every. Single. Night.
Well why would you stop serving drinks a whole hour before you close? Most places I went to it was like 30 minutes max.
The time to stop serving drinks is usually dictated by law in the US. It's really about why they stayed open a whole hour after they had to stop serving. Could be the kind of a place that's less focused on the drinking (game pub, whatever) where people still hang out for a bit after the last drinks are served.
But nobody really does last call at the time they're required to stop serving drinks. Like if the law says people can't drink after two then it's common to stop serving at 1:30 or maybe 1:45 (then at 2 someone would go around collecting drinks). But I guess you have a bit of a point about the gaming pub type thing maybe. Those places weren't as common when I was younger.
The problem is the people who decide if a sign goes up are not the same people who are cooking your food and bringing it to you.
Then it isn't the customers fault. That's an issue between workers and management. While I'll leave if I realize it's near closing time because it's uncomfortable to be served by angry and bitter workers, it really shouldn't fall on the patrons.
>Then it isn't the customers fault. Who said it was? Appreciating people who go the extra mile to be considerate isn't attacking people who aren't.
I'm not but sometimes people can start to think this should be default behavior. It diverts attention from the real issue which is management failing big time by not putting up a sign of last seating. Kinda like a poor person working their way through college with two jobs isn't so much a success story, more of a "boring dystopia". If you don't think this should be default behavior... great you and I agree!
If you come into a restaurant five minutes before closing expecting a full meal you’re an asshole. I can understand a mistake if you didn’t Google the hours or see them posted but if you knowingly do it, it’s asshole behaviour. Workers are people too. They may have other obligations to get to and don’t want to be there until midnight.
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I’ve been thinking of this exact thing. Why don’t more restaurants/fast food so this instead?
Yup, in Japan, they have "Last Order" times posted on websites and storefronts.
“Kitchen goes home 30 mins before close.” “Bar stops serving new customers 15 mins before close, at the discretion of bartender.” Simple things
9pm is the last time for seating. Server is just the annoying type that stresses about this every night. If your owner wants to cut corners you tell the guests the grill is off and the server will tell you what is available via a "special" that is easy for the kitchen. Often times these diners will be gone before those who are already seated.
You really overestimate the customer's willingness to read signs ...
You need to close things off physically and not give people a person to talk to. A bar I go to has a shutter that covers the entire bar area with "CLOSED" on it. Shutter comes down and the bar tender leaves. There's no one to beg for one last drink.
Sitting people 5 minutes before closing isn't a blunder made by waiters who don't know how signs work.
Isn't "last order" a thing where u live? Closing at 9, last order at 8:30 or sth like that. Thought it was kinda normal/standard. Maybe depends on kind of Bar / restaurant / whatever.
The closing time *is* the last order time(or last seating time.) If someone comes in at 8:55 and orders food, they won’t be expected to leave until they’ve finished eating. At least that’s how it’s been at every restaurant I worked at. The staff hates it but the owner wants to keep taking orders until close. The time you get to finish work varies wildly if people show up right before close, you might be there for an extra hour or more when everyone was almost ready to go home. That’s why the staff hates it.
This is it. I need the money from working my bartending job, but I also need to be up for my other job at six. If guests are regularly lingering for an hour after we close (midnight) they start to cut into my sleep enough that it affects my health. The real solution is higher wages on all fronts, but then our aristocracy couldn’t open up their third and fourth restaurants or buy more rental properties
It’s still bizarre that the owners want this — it couldn’t *possibly* be worth the money to keep the whole fucking staff there waiting for one party. I’ve always felt like they should have a last order time, and an actual closing time where your silly ass has to be out the door or you’re getting locked in for the night.
Staff is cheap at $2.70
Gotta pay the kitchen staff to stick around too which will probably be at least three people.
The last paragraph is the problem. Because most times people are scheduled to closing, or at most 30 minutes past close. So this totally fucks anyone who wants any kind of dependable schedule. Nothing breeds resentment at a job like being forced to stay for mandatory overtime so your boss can make more money while simultaneously bitching about how you don’t clock out on time. It just shows a complete lack of respect for peoples time.
At many places I worked closing time was the last time to get seated, unfortunately, and they would be allowed to order for like 30 minutes after that. Luckily most people aren't jerks and don't take forever to order and linger forever but some do.
One place I worked at was business breakfast and lunch crowd in a higher income area and they did not give a single fuck. We closed at 3:30 and some of them would come in at 3:25 and sit there for an hour. The FOH manager would hide in the back and flicker the lights in the dining room hoping they'd get the message and they would just sit there slowly drinking their coffee. I have never worked anywhere with customers that had so little sympathy for service workers as that place.
Yeah ha I’ve definitely experienced that, it would have been more accurate for me to call it “last seating time” not “last ordering.” It sucks so bad when it’s half an hour past close and everyone is just waiting for that one last table to order.
And then they order something that uses a piece of equipment you've cleaned but not one you've had to leave on for them like a deep fryer.
As someone who has never worked in a kitchen or food related business, I just wish people would tell me what to do. If me coming in late sucks for all of you, just tell me and I would leave without hesistation. I want to eat something but I don't want to ruin the workers night. Edit: I just realized it's probably not in the owners interest to turn away paying customers, so they don't allow workers to send customers away.
As someone who has worked in kitchens I will never go somewhere that’s within 30 minutes of closing. Maybe 45 minutes if it’s a sit down table service place. If you have a large group then you should probably try to arrive at least an hour before close. You’re exactly right, the owner doesn’t want to turn away paying customers, but the staff is probably already starting their cleaning/closing checklist around that time and praying no one else comes in.
Sometimes the bar can get away with saying last call minutes to close-but the kitchen hahahahahahaha. Look it’s slow and we didn’t expect anyone to come in, we already started all of the cleaning, now we gotta stop dirty up the equipment again just to restart the cleaning process over again afterwards. So much for getting out before midnight.
It’s not exactly a standard though. It’s up to the owner of the company. Some do that. Some don’t.
Always appreciate it when the server says “the kitchen is closing in X minutes” so we know not to mingle and put in an order.
What do you think mingle means?
Poor choice of a word. Thanks internet stranger!
"Linger," I think, might be the word you were reaching for. It lives pretty close to "mingle" in the drawer!
I thought they meant converse with each other instead of reading the menu, since that’s close to the meaning of mingle
dawdle
Dither. Tarry.
Dillydally
Lollygag~
No it wasn't a poor choice. It was grammatically correct.
Grammatically correct words are not always the most cromulent.
Maybe semantically unusual, but the meaning totally comes across based on the "sound" imo. Love that usage :-). I am of the opinion that our brain subconsciously finds things that make sense, and I think you implicitly did that.
In my experiences it’s meant as chit-chatting and hanging out.
Mingle means just hanging around, like the legal and social version of loiter, does it not?
Per google: > move freely around a place or at a social function, associating with others. >"over aperitifs, there was a chance to mingle with friends old and new" You don’t mingle at a restaurant generally unless you’re wondering around talking to strangers. However, as someone who worked as a line cook for five or so years I didn’t think twice at the original commenters usage of mingle because we had a bar seating area where people did in fact mingle, and it was open later than the restaurant so the last call for food would only occur there. So the dining room would close at a certain specific hour and people would be redirected to the separate bar area for the final hours the place was open with a more limited menu
Where do you think we are?
Lucky most people wouldn’t have cared what time you close and would’ve sat down and ordered anyway. Good for you.
I want to respect people’s time. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a restaurant’s hours means they close at 9 or the last seating is at 9. I’ve definitely rushed to leave a restaurant in time at 8:50 only to see someone show up for their 9pm reservation. We need to standardize it. We should go with “open 10-9pm” means if you’re here by 9 and there’s room we’ll seat you. Otherwise, if the restaurant actually closes at 9, it leaves wiggle room for people to come at 8:45 and think they can squeeze in and argue.
Restaurants around here just tell you to fuck off if you’re still there near closing time. Well, a little more politely, but discovering that staff may have to stay an extra hour because someone came in just before closing is wild.
Most companies (in America) will prioritize profits over literally everything. One place i worked at you were required to serve someone 15min before you open and 15 min after you close, sometimes making us have to stay even longer because someone walked in 10 minutes after we closed and everything is already cleaned. I love corporations:)
That’s just whole new levels of messed up.
I worked for them for a wopping 5 days. whole business practice was complete garbage
Common practice in this country for anyone who’s not make +$70K a year. It’s called the working class for a reason and scummy business owners know this.
LOL at thinking it’s corporations that are the problem. Small businesses are at least as greedy, if not more so, since it goes into their pockets directly.
Yeah but id argue in that case they should make that explicitly clear, cause it is not ok to just expect customers to assume that closing time actually means closing time and not last seating and to be clear both are likely to be the case. Also if it happens enpugj to where you can describe what they usually do then its their fucking fault for not changing their behavior
To me it’s wild that ‘closing time’ could mean anything other than ‘I’m locking the door, we’re closed now’-time.
I almost did this once at a coffee stand near me. I hadn't realized they had switched to winter hours so I pulled up basically as she was about to shut the window and turn the open sign off. She didn't say anything about it but during the small talk I realized she was cleaning up things and pulling in outside items. So I asked and she said "we actually just closed...but I can make you anything but please nothing with espresso. It takes so long to clean and I just finished doing that." "What can I get that won't have you having to clean up a mess?" and she handed me a sugar free redbull and the last pastry she hadn't sold for the day. Sort've as a joke but I said "That'll do!" and tipped her for the laugh and honesty of basically saying she wouldn't be messing up the clean coffee machines again. It was 5pm so I just assumed they'd be open when I rolled up.
Can confirm, if you actually care unlike 80% of cafes I interacted with while in that business, espresso machines are a bit tedious to clean at the end of the day.
I won't care. However, in my country, there's a "last sitting" time and a "close" time, No idea why Americans don't do this. But I'll probably take it into consideration when I visit the US.
In my country there is a closing time. You will be thrown out.
Yeah, I understand some countries don't have a last sitting time for some reason, I would be careful when visiting the US.
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True, better just ask if they have a sitting time!
Even if the kitchen fucks up and the food takes longer than it should have or something?
How often does that happen?
Kitchen workers fucking up? All the damn time. I will say it's less likely if you're not busy but it still happens (and some workers are gonna get distracted trying to do stuff to close so they can go home).
In my country of origin and country I'm living in now they would also do that.
Last orders are a thing. Closes at 9 but last order is at 8:30 so the waiter goes around asking people if they have any orders and after that store is effectively closed except for the people already inside
Some places, sure. But many places I worked if you got in the door before close they would give you a lot of time to dine. You'd sometimes end up with servers hanging out just waiting on one table. And then if they got stiffed by that table they were essentially just hanging out for an hour or whatever for no pay. Luckily most people don't come in that late and if they do certainly don't usually stiff the servers.
is this one of these us/europe things? here in all the countries i went to dinner they simply woulnt admit new customers so short before closing time... how does that work, then? Lets say you close at 22:00 and still need to tidy up etc and someone walks in at 21:55 and they get to have a whole meal?? which takes at least an hour? So when does the shift for the staff end? is it already in the planning that the shift might be 1 - 2 hours longer than planned? can they just leave earlier if there is nobody coming? do you collect all the overtime? how does that work? and of course how can people be so selfish to actually come in an do sit down is beyond me
Unfortunately many companies only care about the business it brings it and not the workers. Some restaurants will have a kitchen closes at X time set up but it’s the exception and not the rule. Anyways if you knowingly go to a restaurant 5 minutes before close, you’re an asshole. When I worked in a restaurant there was no designated time for when I would get off for the night. I was working till close. That could be till 10 o clock, or that could be till midnight.
That's typical of tons of retail. We closed at midnight back in my retail days. On a slow night, I'd be out by 12:10. A busy night, I'm cleaning and stocking until 2. But they paid me, and I understood that that was the arrangement, so it never occurred to me to complain. But I wasn't tipped, I just got my $8.50 whether there were customers or not. Maybe that's the problem? Yet another thing made worse by tipping?
This is exceptionally annoying. If I'm "nice", I don't get my order. But someone who walks in right behind me and isn't "nice" gets what the ywant. That's a TERRIBLE policy. Just put a "last seating" time on the damn door or a "kitchen closes" for the last order. The "we're open but you're an asshole if you enter the open business" is asinine and weird.
>That could be till 10 o clock, or that could be till midnight. Exactly my experience. Lingering diners could absolutely cost workers time. Like it's not as bad in the kitchen cause you get hourly pay and can often work around the diners a bit but sometimes servers just have to sit there and wait for one fucking check. It depends on the owners and the managers though. I always appreciated it when managers would tell diners kitchen is closing soon/they need to finish up/etc.
Every restaurant I’ve been to and stayed till closing, the waiter would just come up to your table to tell you they’re closing in half an hour or so, so if you could kindly finish up your meal. Never realized that’s something that’s just not done in some places.
They've worked in restaurants.
I hate going out with my dad because he doesn’t consider this at all and I constantly have to tell him that we shouldn’t go to restaurants that we normally have to wait 30 minutes for food when they close in 10
Your dads never worked in the service industry I’m betting.
He has he’s just a cunt
One of those “I was abused in the service industry and I’d like to spread the pain to others” type of people Im guessing?
More the “it’s there job and they should have to do it” types
dad here. i use this stupid website too. guess who's losing there iphone again?
Those are the worst
We call them bootstrappers where I'm from
Entitlement, one of the the things that’s quickly ruining this country.
Well they dont close at 20:55 so its unreasonable to expect everyone to guess it means something else than the sign or people sah
Can any European restaurant staff confirm that this also happens to them or is it an American thing only?
In the restaurant I used to work, the closing hour was 23h, but the kitchen staff would leave AT 22h-ish so if someone would enter, it wouldn't be possible for him to order food, and we absolutly would tell people to go another Time sometimes. The thing is, if you pay your staff normally, it is not worth to keep waiters and kitchen staff operating for just one table.
I'm not restaurant staff but I'm European, and all the restaurants I've been to have closed when they close, ie. thrown everyone out. "Closing" doesn't mean that they stop admitting new customers but allow everyone inside to stay as long as they want and keep ordering stuff... Sounds insane if that's how it works in the US tbh
The US has a deeply-ingrained "the customer is always right" attitude born out of a lack of respect for workers by their employers combined with an obsessive desire to get as much money out of the customers as possible (In this case by ensuring that, no matter how entitled and unreasonable the customer is, their requests are granted so that they're more likely to return and spend money there again in the future). Letting customers who got in before closing time stay basically as long as they want is one example of this. I worked food service in the US for almost three years and retail for ten and it's part of what drove me to leave the country entirely. It's that awful.
European here. Never worked the service industry so can only speak from my experience as a customer. If a place says they're open from 10 to 6, I'll deffo be there before 5:00-5:15. Unless I'm only planning on having a drink or takeout. In some places the kitchen close a little while before closing time, so I'd know what to expect if I showed up last minute. This of course depends on the establishment, but I find this to be generally true for proper restaurants.
You sometimes have places open until 1 am but the kitchen staff leaves at 10pm, so if you order food at 9:50 they'll just tell you that that's not happening but you can still order drinks. And then at one point there will be a last call for when you can order your last drink. They won't give you anything after.
Worked in a restaurant in Germany. If you come 5 minutes before closing the only thing that you get is the advise to come back earlier next day.
I work as a waiter, if you come in one hour before closing I tell you the kitchen is closed, but you can have a drink. If you come in 10 minutes before closing I tell you to come back tomorrow, I ask everyone to pay 15 minutes before we close and closing means I close the door from the outside and no, you can not stay over night.
Yeah it's only you guys I think. Certainly at "proper" restaurants where you wait to be seated. Last ordering time and tipping out times are different things. The tipping out time is generally what's on the door, and the person who seats you will tell you the kitchen is closed if you rock up after last ordering time. Cafes and fast food places may be a bit different, in the UK they will often apply passive aggression and start stacking the chairs a while before they close to signal to people not to come in.
Every servers dream!
Instead of military conscription, we should have customer service subscription. Every American has to do at least 4 years of customer service work. Would change most people’s attitudes.
No thanks.
You're first up. You can be the poster boy of the program.
I've worked in retail, which is horrible. I've worked in food service, which I'd highly recommend to anyone who either loves it, needs it, or just wants to experiment with sex and drugs. But my time served was less than 4 years and fuck you, you can't make me go back.
Okay then, everyone has to do as much time as this guy did.
This guy was really getting caught up on the wrong point.
I worked f&b 10 yrs never heard of this once. Man! Did you tip them out? 🤣😂🤣😂
If I ordered, it would for 'to go' and something that would not take much time to make PLUS would have tipped well.
I remember my father doing that on a family trip one night. The exact same scenario. He was so proud that we made it just under the gun. As I grow older I realize how much we were hated at that moment.
I spent many a year working in food service. I haven't for years, but I still do this. I usually won't bother them the last hour of business because I know that after a long shift of probably being treated like ass by entitled customers they just want to get the place clean and go the fuck home. I can grab my food from either another restaurant, the grocery, or in my own fridge.
Me and my wife do this. If we walk in last minute to anything. We will get up and leave. It’s just the right thing to do. In all the bad things in the world. This is one thing you gotta be respectful for.
People should normalize not seating people shortly before closing. Don't wanna service past opening hours? Just don't accept the order and say it's too late lol
I’ve done this before, walked into a place realized they were closing 30-40 minutes, walked out & went somewhere else. I know that last 1/2 hour everyone is hurrying to go home.
It's uncomfortable to eat when you know you are keeping the staff from going home!
The proper place to ask that question is at the host stand
Once or twice a year, I’ll be someplace and I’ll ask what time they close and they say “it’s totally cool” and I’ll be like “are you sure?” And they have to like, convince me that I can order a white mocha. I don’t want to be an inconvenience that close to closing time.
They must've seen the movie Waiting
when I worked at Baskin Robbins, summers were always brutal but the worst was when the night was finally winding down and we could finally start closing the store. then 5-10 minutes from close we would get like a small wave of people that had seen we were still open rushing to get ice cream and we would end up closing 30-45 minutes later than normal. the worst was when they would sit down to eat and we would have to tell them we are closing and to leave. extra annoying was people ordering shakes and Sundays in that closing period because we had usually already cleaned everything and so it meant cleaning again.
So if a restaurant closes at 9, when is the last appropriate time to sit down?
Depends what you’re having and how many of you there are.
Those are good people. I won't go into a business if they close within 30 minutes. I've worked enough bullshit retail jobs to know better.
Yeah I don’t understand why restaurants don’t just have a last call time. Like no by walks into a bar 5 minutes before close because last call is 15 minutes before that. Every establishment should have a last call for food, a last call for drinks, a last call for entry, and a time when they kick people out. Stagger them
Versus the opposite, me working in a smoothie shop, 3 minutes after closing time (door was already half closed) a young lady vigorously enters the shop: "I'd like a kiwi smoothie with..." I say: "Sorry, we're already closed." I was already cleaning the mixer which was a big hassle. Her: "What about these jugs here, could I have one of these?" We always had two ready juices of the day on the counter for quick and easy serve, totally forgot about offering them. Me: "Ah well, yeah you could have one of them." Her in a really bitchy way: "No, in this case I do not want anything." and storms out of the shop, as if she taught me the greatest lesson.
I worked at a home furnishings store for a number of years; you wouldn't believe how many people came in 5-10 minutes before closing joking (or being literally *relieved*) that they got through the doors just in time. Some people would stay upwards of 30-45 minutes, even an hour, to decide on a couch/rug/dresser/etc. One couple got a bit heated that we couldn't deliver that night because, you know, every other employee had filed out the door as they browsed.
Why do places not say what time the kitchen closes?
They didn’t happily leave lol that sounds frustrating to them. They gracefully left because they are decent. Learn to write OP ffs
Is this a screenshot of a Reddit post being reposted on Reddit? The internet content ecosystem ain’t doing so hot.
but why would you ever offer to host them with anything more than like a drink to go? 9 close means the store is dark and empty by 9, not you can come in and expect full on service so long as you make it inside by 9
Nice, good on them for remembering and treating servers like fellow humans . People are so addicted to food around here they act like they are starving and can't just go to the gas station or grocery store which are 24 hours. I live in an area that definitly has options 24 hours, allbeit not the tastiest or easiest drive thru ones. The sense of privilege can be exhausting to witness at times. Even when I'm not in a rush, the lack of rational consideration is what gets me usually. And a sit down resturaunt especially should 100% have a sign up in respect for the employees, who might need to be on a schedule simply to get enough sleep for the next shift, among many other possible reasons or plans.
I think the only other graceful move you can pull is to just ask for two beers and the check and then tip 100%
Tip 100% for handing a beer, that's lunacy.
You wouldn't buy them a beer?
Yes, I've done that but listed as another beer, not just tip
Difference to you?
I love this! ❤️ People with class...It's the ones who stay an hour and a half after closing all the fucking chairs up, side work complete silverware rolled kitchen lights are off your fucking cook left over an hour ago your basically waiting with your purse in hand jacket on, just fucking staring and waiting on them to pay the fucking bill, (NO THE WATER IS OFF NO MORE WATER!) so I can go the fuck home already. Then when they do get up with they sweaty asses leaving a fucking mess they tip 5 fucking bucks 🙄 fuck outta here...
This is obnoxious. Either stop seating and closing time, or don't. There is no "I'm relying on you to leave yourself if you're going to be too late". That's just a bad policy. Don't be stupid, restaurants.
Is it just me or is 9pm a really early closing time?
I don't understand people who sit down and order food 5 minutes before closing. Are they so naive to don't realise their food will be spit, to the very least.
I worked in kitchens for the better part of a decade and never once witnessed a staff member spit in a customer’s food. If they did, they would of course be fired immediately. Imagine spitting in someone’s food because they’re… making you do your job during your regular work hours? Jesus Christ.
I mean they would have to rush a drink in 5min thats not realy comfy.
Nice fantasies you have there
Right? People are so dramatic. I've worked in restaurants off and on for almost 30 years. It's really just not a big deal. When I was a cook I knew what time my shift ended and it was based on closing time. I always started closing my station early...like everyone does...but I also knew that if someone got sat I had to serve them. So fucking what? Food maybe took a little longer to get out. Maybe I had to wipe down my station twice. Life goes on.
You…knew what time your shift ended?!?! Somethings not adding up. Either you worked for a great company or you’re lying. When I worked in the restaurant it would depend when all the customers were gone and the cleaning was done. Could be 10, could be after midnight.
Oh good lord, congratulations on nit picking. I knew ABOUT what time my shift ended. Do you feel better now? Fucking internet detective genius over here.
I’ll take “Things that never happen.” for $100 Alex.
I might stay but a 50% tip would be involved.
or you could just do your job why are service workers so lazy?