That deafening roar you heard across the land on Monday afternoon was the sound of every TGI Fridays server bemoaning the new promotion that started at their jobs: Endless Appetizers. Yes, that’s right, someone who works in the corporate office of TGI Fridays probably got a two million dollar bonus when they sharted up this idea. Beginning on July 7th and running until August 24th, customers can pay $10 and get an endless amount of loaded potato skins, pan-seared pot stickers or some other fried piece of crap until they are bursting at the seams with MSG and other Sysco products. Don’t worry about the server not getting tipped by people who are eating a lot of food but not spending a lot of money because marketing officer Brian Gies says that sharing is discouraged. Ummm, yeah.
I can see it now, can’t you? Four teenagers show up but “only two of us are eating” they say. They sit down at your only money maker, Booth 5. They ask for for four waters and one asshole orders an endless order of boneless buffalo wings and another asshole orders mozzarella sticks. The server spends the next three hours running back and forth from the kitchen as all four teens shovel handful after handful of defrosted food into their eating holes. “At the end of the day, our servers aren’t policemen,” says Gies. “We’re not going to slap someone’s hand if they reach over and share someone else’s mozzarella sticks.” In other words, “We don’t really care if the servers get totally screwed by our customers and make no fucking money. As long as we have people in the restaurant and we can continue to sell sub-par food to them, we are satisfied.” When the four teens are finally too bloated to stuff one more cheese stick into their bodies, they get their check which is for $21.65 and they leave the server three dollars. Hurrah.
I also predict that parents will bring in their brood of five kids and order one endless app for the table and easily feed five kids on ten bucks. Of course they will only do this if they can’t find someplace where kids eat free. “Well, it ain’t free, but it’s only two dollars a kid,” says Ma Kettle as she sucks down her third Blackberry Long Island Tea Shaker. “And if I only gots to pay ten bucks for all them children to eat, that means I can afford to get the Jack Daniel’s® Sirloin and Grilled Lobster Tail. Thanks, TGI Fridays!!”
Some analysts think that the bold move will destroy the TGI Fridays chain, but let’s be honest. Wasn’t TGI Friday’s pretty much already a big piece of crap? Who the hell even eats there anymore? I guess that’s the reason they are desperate enough to try this approach. It might bring in new business, but it’s not going to be quality business. It’s scraping the bottom of the fast-food chain barrel and it’s only going to make TGI Fridays go the in the same direction of Bennigan’s, Fuddruckers and Friendly’s and that direction is the toilet.
The Endless Appetizer Promo will end on August 24th, but I would like to suggest some other ideas for them to try for their next bid for relevancy:
- No Tip Tuesdays: Come in on Tuesdays and order whatever the fuck you want and then stiff your server. We don’t care. (This offer is also good on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.)
- TGI Fridays Frequent Diner Program: For every dollar you spend you get a point. The more you spend, the more points you get and once you reach 10 points, you can redeem those 10 points for a free party for 200 of your closest friends. The party will consist of unlimited pitchers of water and three orders of Tostado Nachos (you must pay extra for the toppings of refried beans, seasoned ground beef, melted cheese, salsa, sour cream, house-made* guacamole and jalapeños.) You don’t really have to tip your server, because we don’t give a shit. [*house-made is not really house-made. It comes in a big plastic bag that we cut open and squeeze into ramekins.]
- Buy One Dessert Get Five Free: Yep, you heard right. All you have to do is pay for one crappy ass Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and you get five more for free. We are happy to put them in a to-go bag for you or you can stay all night and eat them, we don’t care. And don’t bother leaving a tip, it doesn’t matter to us.
- Complain On Facebook: If you go to our Facebook page and leave a negative comment about anything at all, we’ll make sure to send you a gift card to make up for the fact that you found a piece of plastic in your birthday cake or that the bartender took too long to make your drink and it ruined your Girls Night Out. We also give you a “Get Out of Tipping” card to give to your server so that you don’t have to bother with that pesky extra 20%. We hate our servers.
- Your Weight in Food: Step on our TGI Friday scale and whatever you weigh is how much food you get for free. If you weigh 250 pounds, you can get 250 pounds of whatever you want. 250 pounds of Jack Daniel’s® Ribs? Sure! 250 pounds of mashed potatoes? No problem? 250 pounds of Parmesan Meatballs? You betcha! The more you eat the more you weigh and the more you weigh the more food you get for free. It’s terrific! The only tipping you’ll do is that of the scale. In fact your server will leave you a tip, because we totally don’t give a shit about our servers or if they make any money whatsoever.
Good luck, TGI Fridays. And my heart goes out to all those servers. As if it wasn’t already bad enough to work at TGI Fridays.
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Shyrlle
NOOOO! THAT NASTY MANAGER OUT ON TOWN CENTER DRIVE. SHE NEED TO GO BACK WHERE SHE CAME FROM. IT IS HARD FOR EMPLOYEES TO WORK WHEN MANAGEMENT IS SOOOOOO SCREWED UP. ALL THEY DO IS TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK AND TALK IN FRONT OF THE CUSTOMERS. YOU CAN JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH THE SHOW WHILE YOU’E THERE. NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duane Douglas
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Dick
And that’s why people spit in your food
jablowme
Finally tgi Fridays does something to benefit customers. Now I don’t have to spend $50 just to have a full meal, only to have to think about the 15% tip. Why don’t you do something that actually deserves a tip bitch. Bend over at my table so I can put endless amounts of mozzarella sticks up your asshole. 100 sticks for a 20% tip. Better yet, go be a slut to one of the other tables and I’ll walk to the kitchen and get my own food, which isn’t fucking hard.
TJ
Well, I was rflmfao , I work at fridays now and did so back in 1989-1995.
While TGI has seen many changes over the decades it is one of the most reconized casual dinning places in the world in over 90 countires. With that said they obviosly do/did something right.
I was here when the endless apps ran and yes every server was frreakin out HOWEVER I made great money durring the promotion AND it will be back next week! Now the last one was $12 per and you could switch up the items, this time its back to the $10 and you cant mix it up.
I find that I make on the average of 24% in tips give or take but I am an “old school” server. Server now, past 30 years in managemnet and I have to give a lot of credit to Fridays training for my career, now these days I jusr serve and I love it, but I guess when you are working in the happiest place on earth with Mickey at your back door who wouldnt be happy
Tara
I work at Fridays and I absolutely HATE it!! I’ve been working there for a little over seven months and I’ve already gone and asked my previous employer who paid me minimum wage for a job back. I make $2.13 an hour and most days leave with $10, $30 on a good day. These endless apps SUCK! Not only did they decide to continue them till the end of October (yes, through football season) but I also just found out on my own that we do in fact HAVE to tip out of our pockets for ALL comps (the stuff managers take off that the guests doesn’t have to pay for.) That means the servers are having to pay for the guests “free” refills. Aka, not free for the servers. And most people forget to tip anyway. Needless to say, people should give servers above and beyond on tips, especially if they make us run around giving seemingly free refills when we still have to pay for them.
RockyMtnHi
They just closed the TGIFridays in the town where I work on Saturday. I feel so bad for the employees, some were former co-workers of mine. Of course they didn’t let the employees know. Looks like they might be going the same route as Bennegins.
craig
Well working as a busboy/host over 20 years ago I still remember to tip based on what your bill would have been even before discounts. Heck I even tip well for a buffet as I always tell people you do not see how hard people are hustling.
Atli Steinn Gudmundsson
Your Weight in Food, HA HA, I liked that one!! 🙂 But really, do the owners expect Fridays to benefit from special offers of this….caliber or generosity (or madness) or what to call it? This will only be inviting the abuse you mention. Fridays in Iceland wouldn’t dare to try this, it would be a disaster. I see on their homepage that they go as far as offering two free children’s meals WITH every bought main course on Thursdays and then there is happy hour every day from 16 – 19, a little cheaper than usual beer and cocktails 2 for 1.
Anyways, it’s finally time for my much anticipated and two years delayed honeymoon so this Friday I’m flying all the way from Norway to San Francisco to stay for a whole month, see concerts down at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga and mainly eat and drink myself into the worst shape in the history of medicine!! So, I know about the 20% tips, that much have I picked up here so we can put that out of the way. Any suggestions or favorite restaurants in SF that I should definitely not miss?? Now is the chance to share it with the mother of all food-and-alcohol-tourists in the western hemisphere: ME.
#ONTHEFLY
6Yes! Gary Danko’s on Hyde and North Point, Grubstake on Pine @ Polk Street, Off the Grid food truck round ups, the Hyde Away on Hyde @ O’Farrell, Tommy’s Joint on Geary @ Van Ness, Fiddlers Green 1333 Colombus, and if you’re feeling extremely adventurous, you can come to my restaurant Wipeout on Pier 39, which I wouldnt recommend to either foodie or someone who wants to experience SF away from the tourists…but you can see where I try to maintain the little sanity I have left…
Atli Steinn Gudmundsson
Thank you for taking the time for this extensive reply. Wipeout on Pier 39, why not? Ambitious website at least and since it’s a bar too I can always drop in for a drink… 😉
#ONTHEFLY
No problem! There’s always the ever-popular clam chowder in a bread bowl! Great suggestion to bring a jacket! And multiple layers, the weather fluxuates like crazy!
Atli Steinn Gudmundsson
You’re on. Is there a name out there? Little bit interesting popping up at Wipeout Bar & Grill going “Hey, where is that guy who calls himself Onthefly on the bitchy waiter blog? We’re like this and he insisted my presence here but I just don’t have a name to it sorry…” and onwards 🙂
chacha1
Have a great trip!
I wouldn’t necessarily call it one of the “best” restaurants in SF, but certainly a unique dining experience – the Cliff House, at the west end of Geary Boulevard hanging onto the edge of Point Lobos.
Being from Norway you probably have a good jacket. You will likely be needing it out on that NW corner of the city. 🙂
Atli Steinn Gudmundsson
Cliff House is on my list already, seems like you can’t read through any SF restaurant page without seeing that name. Look fwd to it.
We’re actually Icelandic, refugees from the banking collapse in 2008 so I do have a winter wardrobe yes 😉 (don’t want anyone to think I’m Norwegian, they’re nice people and all but still not our tribe he he).
#ONTHEFLY
Oh yeah, well first of all,I’m a girl. My name is Lisa. Any idea when you may stop by my humble surf-themed restaurant? I know you’ll love it here in San Francisco! It truely has quite the array of fantastic restaurants and sites; and the people are awesome too!
Laurie
I’m still laughing at the dope that goes to a site called the Bitchy WAITER and proceeds to keep calling BW ,she. Hey dummy..it’s not the Bitchy Waitress. Reading comprehension is your friend.
Loved this post..I turned all the staff onto your blog and FB. Thanks for keeping me laughing. It is appreciated.
Christy
This made me crack the fuck up. Awesome. You inspire me to never stop bitching. No one where I work bitches enough for my tastes. Your blog is the highlight of my shitty day, I’m so glad I have something to make me laugh when I’m hating my life. Thanks Bitchy Waiter!
PurpleGirl
You’ve got to be shitting me. Who the fuck comes up with these stupid fucking ideas?!
Amanda
This promotion just doesn’t make any sense to me.
There is no way I could finish even one serving of, say, mozzarella sticks. I am not sure how many come in an order at TGIFridays (I am assuming 4-6)but I would be stuffed after 4. In order to get my money’s worth on the promotion though, I’d have to eat at least 2 orders. How many people can (or even want to) eat 8-12 mozzarella sticks at one time?? I wouldn’t want to pay $10 just to eat a bunch of the same food item.
ex employere
i have worked for Fridays and red lobster. you can complain all you want about endless promotions but if you read the rules for fridays endless apps, it is ten dollars per person. so the table of 4 it is 40 dollars for the cheese sticks. if they get a second app like boneless wings it is another 40 dollars. it is 10 dollars per app per person at the table.
are you people telling me it is different then that?
as for endless anything, like shrimp at red lobster, you have to take the good with the bad and it doesn’t effect your pay as much as you think. some days i made more and some days i made less but the average was about they same. you are a hell of a lot busier during endless shrimp then other promotions.
as for running your ass off, take control of the situation and run your table, don’t let the table run you.
i get tired of servers that don’t know how top manage their tables complaining about things under their control.
when you put things in is under their control and when i worked for red lobster, during endless shrimp, you put it in and it was out in less then 3 minutes during volume. didn’t matter what it was
elsewhere1010
About those Mozzarella Sticks… according to TGI Fridays nutritional info page (https://www.tgifridays.com/nutrition.pdf), one serving of Sticks is 1,100 calories, 30 grams of saturated fat, 62 grams of carbs and 2,350 grams of sodium (which is more than the suggested daily sodium intake for an adult of either sex).
Take a look at the nutrition information page and make an informed decision on whether or not you really want to go to TGI Fridays.
But if you do go, tip the waiter; they’re already in the Second Cirlce of Hell and could use your help.
Todd
That’s what corporate restaurants call the WOW factor, such as wow can you believe the SIZE of the portions, or in this case , wow can you believe our server can live on these crappy tips?
Patty Blum
Went this week…with 2 others. We did share..but we left tip based on FULL PRICE of apps…bartender was LOUSY…also our waiter.
could have sold more drinks…never even asked..I had to ask him!
Only 2 plates on table…had to ask for 3rd plate & didn’t have enough sense to bring SILVERWARE???
So She could tipped well and probably shouldn’t have.
It goes both ways…next time WON’T overtook.
Fridays Server
Patty,
The reason why there were probably only 2 plates on the table is because we are told we are not allowed to let people share. So when a server comes to your table and you tell them that 3 people are going to share 1 endless appetizer for $10, how do you think the server feels as most people do not tip on the cost of what the food should have been. You are lucky that the server actually allowed it. Myself, as a Fridays Server part time, would have said to you that unfortunately you cannot do that. If all of you intend to have endless appetizers as your meals, all of you must pay $10. I would then encourage you to order 3 separate appetizers so you could share a variety, but I would certainly stick up for my company policy and for myself so I don’t get “screwed” for lack of better words. As far as the “LOUSY” bartender and server, I can understand your dissatisfaction with them as they should be doing their job better. Not to condone their behavior, but if you were the 3rd table to come in that night and share a $10 appetizer when I bet the other two tables did not tip on the original amount (because that is very rare), how discouraged would you be to give fantastic service and not get paid for it? Many people with this promotion are racking up bills well over $100 and only paying $20 to $30 for that, and are ONLY tipping on that. It is discouraging. I, unlike this server and bartender, would never let that affect my performance as a waitress (of over 12 years), but I can 100% understand their frustration. This promotion, as well as $3 martini Wednesdays and $3 drinks and apps Thursdays, have made me start looking for a replacement 2nd job. That being said…
Try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Kerri
And rude people – like the teenagers and the “feed five kids” people – are the reason that I tip the way I do… $5 on a $16 breakfast bill this morning (at a place that didn’t require a lot of work by the waitress, but she was attentive), and have taught *MY* teenager to do the same (which is why the pizza delivery guys now literally fight over who gets to bring him pizza on payday, because he orders a $10 pizza and gives them a $5 tip). For everyone who’s ever left a 10% tip (or less)… unless the wait staff intentionally screwed up your food and made it clear that they’ve done so… unless you saw them spit in your food… unless they purposely ignored you when you did everything but stand on your table and yell their name… unless one of those things happens, they DESERVE a MINIMUM of 10% of the bill, regardless. Extra work (like the endless whatever)? Try 20% or more. Until you’ve worked the job yourself — getting paid crappy wages, coming home smelling like food, having to wear special shoes that cost an arm and a leg, dealing with snotty people, dealing with unsupervised and uncontrolled children, and all the thousand other things that wait staff goes through… until you’ve done it, you have NO CLUE how talented these people are to be able to get your order, get it to the kitchen, make sure it’s right, get it to you while it’s hot, make sure it’s right a few minutes later, refill your drinks, and generally be sure you’re ok… times all ten tables (or more) in their “area” for the night. Go ahead. Go get paid a whopping $4/hr to do all that, and see how long you can stand it with people’s tips bringing your wages ALMOST up to minimum wage at the end of the night. BE the person who makes their trip into work that night worthwhile. TIP the waitstaff, knowing most places make them split it. BE NICE if there’s an issue with your food. And be thankful that you probably work somewhere making enough to afford a place to eat where you sit down and they wait on you.
Just sayin’.
jiggy
Waaaaah I work at a less than mediocre place that I’ve already designated as my career because I have no real life skills waaaah my tips
Fuck you bitch you wasn’t getting no tip anyay
With yo cunt ass self
Get a manager I ain’t payin for this shit
Anonymous
Go fuck yourself with something hard and sandpapery.
Bear
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the average T.G.I. Friday’s patron.
Jacq240
I’ve been workin at TGIF in Toledo, Ohio over 2 years. I’m a well trained bartender, I’m fucking amazing at my job We get a lot of trash and this deal has been hell. Your tips honestly depend on how good of a worker/person you are. I’ve made amazing money all week, just like I always do. Just because you’re trained at a TGIF does NOT mean you’re any less of a bartender then of those with an actual degree. We go through intense training, some just don’t do as well as others. Which that applies to any job. My bar is full on a daily basis with my regulars. Can’t beat making 44 grand a year Bartending, & that only what I claim.(:
philnyc
Bartending (retail, not service) is better than serving. For instance you can talk to your clientele, buy them back, and they can see you the whole time they are sitting at the bar. A server, especially with a ‘special’ like this is so busy running plates of crap to kids, they have no time to build a rapport with anyone and therefore don’t get to earn the good tips.
sally
My guess is that they are cleaning out the freezers so they won’t have much to move come eviction day.
Kalllen
A lot of people are using the term “career” in these comments. There are indeed servers and bartenders who can make marginally decent money, but generally speaking, this is a JOB, not a career. Careers tend to offer something along the lines of lifelong sustainable income, opportunities for advancement and professional growth, etc. People usually retort with saying some untrue fairy tale they heard like “well I know a guy at cheesecake factory who makes $100k+ a year.” As unlikely as that is, how exactly has he grown in his years there, what does his retirement plan look like? Point being, service jobs are a great place to start, I started there, enjoyed it, then aspired to have a car worth more than $6k. Don’t cap your aspirations at being a “career” server.
Laurie
I am a career server. I clear about 1200.00 working a 4 day week..my house is paid for. My property taxes are 10k a year so it’s obviously not a dump. I have a retirement fund and I put in 700.00 every 2 weeks. I DO, however have a 6000.00 car. I’m 49 and see myself retiring very comfortably when I’m 55. Dont be such a snob about your “career”.
White Russian
it depends. Some restaurants can provide enough cash to cover the lack of all long-term incentives at jobs where you have to stick to your $12-13 an hour just for the benefits that you don’t get to use that often anyways. And its taxable $12-13. I can be making $20 non-taxable (or at least taxable at lower number than $20) an hour that adds up to a nice difference at the end of the year.
Sophia
My heart aches for you guys. Omg. It also brings flashbacks to when my BK gave out endless free ice cream cones ….. *shudder*. Or when we gave samples of our coming-up products and the customers demanded to know why they weren’t bigger *cue eyeroll*.
Ross
Look at all the publicity they are getting, I have seen it at 4 or 5 sites in the last week. It will definitely work, it’s not like the deal is going on forever.
Alli
Sounds like everyday at Olive Garden…. run around getting soup and salad for an hour for $2
Anonymous
My best friend wanted Olive Garden for her bachelorette party, and as maid of honor I paid for her. Sadly, I was low on cash so I couldn’t afford to order an entree for myself if I wanted to tip well, so I filled up on breadsticks and salad and gave the server the money that would have been for the entree (it ended up being like a 15 dollar tip on a 20 dollar tab, if I had gotten an entree it would have been like 5 on 30)… I still kinda worried that I pissed off the server by not ordering anything though…what do you think?
kim
Oh yeah this totally sounds like another restaurant i know and work for….all because they
hire some untrained douche who’ll work for ashitty pay compared to other corporatevompanies and then do pitches like these that screw not only employees over but eventually the whole company meanwhile the president or ceo is being robbed blind…all because he hires someone so incompetent. But hey sounds good,ill make sure to stop in have my drinks and then satisfy my drunken hunger with all u can eat appetizers.,…but ill have the decency to tip!;)
Diello
This is a bad idea if they’re offering ALL apps as endless. I can see it working out with only a select few of them being endless, but all of them is just asking for toilet service and waiters running for their lives. Red Robin does endless fries, and people don’t go there to make a whole meal out of it (those poor innards of those who do).
Gavin, you have no idea what you’re talking about. You’ve clearly never been a waiter (or maybe you’re the a-hole who came up with this idea in the first place).
Gabe, you win by a fuckin’ landslide. Absolutely everything I wanted to say to that jerk.
Anonymous
Its not all the appetizers, just a few (like boneless wings, mozzarella sticks, pot stickers, etc..) and you have to sick with that one. In my training manual for this promotion it specifically said “sharing is discouraged, but we dont mind if they share a few fried grean beans between the table.” They also said this: If one person orders the endless appetizer and shares, do we have to charge each person $10? And the answer said exactly this: No, but hopefully everyone is enjoying their own Fridays entree and beverage…wow.. just wow. Fridays did an endless french fries promotion a few months ago and it was so bad that they had to pull the promotion early. My GM and other managers expect this to happen with this new promotion.
karen may
I often say that TGIFriday’s taught me my work ethic and how to be part of a winning team. I was blessed to have work there from 1980-1984, when it was a great place to work and we made boat-loads of money. With that said, I have to agree with The Bitchy Waiter on this one. It is a shame, but TGIF has turned into one giant crap-hole of a restaurant.
mfonso
Yup, historically TGI’s has a respectable and well deserved international reputation for standards and education in hospitality. However, nowadays they’re not cool and everyone knows it.
Jessica
Okay- I don’t eat at Friday’s, but the cheap-ass in me (and the gross lover-of-mozz-sticks) is very excited about this promotion. I’m definitely planning on going there and ordering these. I tip like a pretty damn well, though. I know it won’t be enough to counteract all the douchebaggery that is going to go down because of this promotion, but I will try. 40-50% is my norm. BW, you think I should do 40%-50% of what the bill would have been if I had to pay for everything we got? I feel like that’s probably fair.
Jessica (again)
….I tip pretty damn well, not *like a* pretty damn well. Ugh.
Chris
Gavin sounds like the douche bag who came up with this idea or some brown nose GM up his DOs’ ass. I have worked for Fridays for over 10 yrs and still do and the reason the company has gone to complete shit and the reason we are FOR SELL at the moment is because stupid promos like this. Which only causes a trickle affect and whatever decent servers and bartenders to quit because why would anyone stay for no money and get their ass ran to death. So, now all you get is shitty servers and shitty bartenders and closed doors like half the stores are getting now. This is what many companies do before they go under. They show traffic is up and people are interested in your company and when someone buys u they see the food cost and profit margin are completely screwed and close shop. Anyone who thinks this is a good idea, I dare you to work a week worth of this promotion and see if you thoughts of paying your bills or THE GOOD OF MAN, will do for your moral thoughts of other or your sanity.
Johnnie
This would be the part where I would quit,if I worked at Friday’s. Fortunately, many restaurants have been on this “give them whatever they want and don’t ask questions” trip for a long time. Now that more people are working and have a little more money to spend, our restaurant is dropping this act in favor of actually making guests pay for their food. To much, too late Friday’s.
Liz
That is awful. I saw the commercial and instantly felt so sorry for those poor servers! My advice is to get away from chain restaurants. I’ve worked at one that does unlimited pasta promotions and another that does unlimited pancake promotions, and I finally got fed up with the obviousness of how much these corporations don’t give a damn about the servers who work for them. I work at a little Mom and Pop diner now where the customer is sometimes wrong and they want us to make money so that we care about making them money.
Unlimited food for a low price is the meanest thing a company can do to it’s servers, not to mention that it encourages the extreme gluttony that Americans really need to stay far, far away from. I got so grossed out watching people stuff themselves to try to make sure they really got their money’s worth. Their money’s worth of the cheapest things in the whole restaurant. All-you-can-eat is always crap food.
Angie
As a former Friendly’s server who somehow escaped with her life…. I am so, so, so sorry.
Gavin
Your blog name says it all… No one cares about your bitchyness, take your sense of entitlement and shove it up your ass. Almost every significant and influential bartender on the planet got a start with Fridays training, and is thankfull for their ingenuity and willingness to take a risk trying new things. Try running a restaurant full of muppets like yourself and see how much cash you make.
It’s easy to be negative and bitch, try being positive and pushing the envelope with something beneficial or productive. I predict a deletion of this comment or an even bit hire entitled response. Lol
josh
Amen.
JSN
What is a bit hire entitled response?
Laurie
Think stupid meant higher but isnt quite smart enough to spell it.
Nigger Dick
Welcome to Tumblr, where all you’re going to find is sense of entitlements and complaining. That’s alright, though – with this attitude, this bitch is never going to make it far. Just wait until she lets it slip that she used to run “thebitchywaiter.com” at a big-girl job. Out the door on the same day.
Amy
Bitchy is a man you idiot, not a chick! PAY ATTENTION!
Jamie
lmao Are you stupid? His job already knows he has this blog. He’s been on t.v., interviewed for news articles, and has a live show every so often. His managers are obviously okay with it.
He’s careful never to outright mention exactly where he works, so it isn’t a problem.
Anywho. I feel bad for these servers. I ooo once had to endure Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster for a spell.. Though it comes with a bigger price tag than endless appetizers @ Friday’s, it’s still a fucking nightmare, and not much better tip wise.
Management insisted we only ring in -1- order of refill shrimp at a time to prevent anyone taking home leftovers, which meant we were stuck with the same 3 tables for at least an hour. Unless someone ordered the shrimp pasta and got full quicker. Even the computers were set up that way. 1/2 of us skirted the 1 at a time rule, though. We’d have to log in, ring in the new orders, send it, log out, wait a few seconds,and then do it all over again so that we could get guests out quicker instead of waiting around for them to finish a round before we rang in the next.
Tazzy
This isn’t an issue of entitlement. It’s an issue of income. This program means that those employees are going to take home less money every month, essentially subsidizing part of the patrons’ meals out of their own pocket.
Can you honestly say that if your own workplace instituted a program that significantly cut your pay for reasons completely unrelated to your job performance, you wouldn’t mind?
If restaurants aren’t going to pay their servers a decent wage, the least they can do is ensure their staff isn’t getting actively screwed.
I’d say getting the word out about how this program negatively affects employees IS beneficial and productive. People can’t effect change if they don’t know what needs changing.
Your post implies that you run a restaurant yourself. If that’s true, I pity your employees and bestow upon you the curse of the internet: May your business have many negative reviews.
Nance
Tazzy, please marry me!
GREAT response!
philnyc
You clearly get it 🙂
adam
Almost every bartender that started at Fridays in every place I have worked in the last 15 years, has been axed because they cant make the simplest of drinks or attend to the guests in front of them. Don’t care where you came from or where you trained. Bartenders are servers that pour drinks. Don’t like it? You will never work in a respectable, stable place where you can have a career.
Josh
If you think this has anything to do with “entitlement”, then you’ve clearly never worked in the restaurant industry. And it becomes even more clear if you think Fridays has any level of “ingenuity”, especially in this situation. In any well cited article you read about this new policy, it’s basically universally recognized as a cheap ploy and something that many experts expect to have a negative impact on the company as a whole.
Can we get some sources on your claims for influential bartenders starting at Fridays? Because that sounds and smells like something you just pulled out of your ass.
At the end of the day, giving endless anything at a restaurant is a bad idea. It has the potential to kill profit margins and as pointed out here, has the potential to rob servers of tips that make up a stunning amount of their income, especially at Fridays. A table of people, regardless of number, could easily be fed entirely with just an endless plate of wings and some waters, and when the check for $10 comes to them, even a “generous” 25% tip would only be $2.50 in that person’s pocket, for likely a hell of a lot of running around and the waste of a table that could’ve sat a group willing to tip that well on a much bigger bill.
Brad
Hah. It is entitlement. Waiters feel entitled to a big fat tip just because they brought a lot of food to the table. Give me a break. They will make their minimum wage regardless, just like a lot of other thankless and tip less jobs where people bust their ass just as much. So don’t tell me it isn’t entitlement because that’s the whole point of this post. “Whaaaa my employer is running a dumb promo where customers will come to the restaurant order cheap food, I have to go back and refill it a bunch, and I won’t get as big of a tip!” If you don’t like it, go get a better job.
Also the supposition that the table “could have gone to a party that would have tipped more” is a ridiculous assertion. A lot of the people coming in to take advantage of this promotion probably wouldn’t have walked in the door at all. Or does your TGIF always have a line out the door?
philnyc
I’m not even sure that servers get minimum wage. I know that in 15 years in bar and restaurants, no tipped employee got it. I was a bartender for two years at China Club and got $1.10/hr salary.
SC Hunt
The federal wage for tipped employees is $2.13, not minimum wage. See the following, and try a different argument for not tipping your waiter:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
BJ
Servers still make the federal minimum wage. For example, if their wage is $2.13 an hour, and they only make $5 in tips for each hour, then they would have made $7.13 each hour. The owner of the restaurant has to then make up the difference to bring the server up to the federal minimum wage. Servers do not make less than that by law.
Gabe
Are you kidding me?
“Almost every significant and influential bartender on the planet got a start with Fridays training, and is thankful for their ingenuity and willingness to take a risk trying new things”?
What a joke. Please list off as many places as you can where the above statement rings true so that I can avoid them like the plague. All of the good bartenders I know and have worked with got their training at bartender school, culinary school, and/or from exploring mixology in their free time by reading and practicing using funds from their own pocket. All of which are far better than making L.I.T.’s at T.G.I. Fridays.
You come to a site called “THE BITCHY WAITER” and then complain about said waiter’s bitchiness. That’s like visiting a site called “Massive Dicks for other Men to Look At” and complaining about all of the massive dicks.
McKinsey Maynard
This cunt here^^^^
McKinsey Maynard
@ gabe the gloryhole attendant
McKinsey Maynard
Sorry, not gabe, gavin
Paige
The bartending training is great, but if you’re not a bartender, the tips are better off going to another restaurant. Friday’s is dying, it’s a fact.
Joseph
So how much is Fridays paying you to be their e-spokesperson? You’re not doing a good job.
sally
Yes of course. ALL the significant and influential bartenders I know trained at TGIF. DUH. Why don’t you tell us something we DON’T know, Gavin?
David Sutherland
This sort of entitlement mentality, and the bland taste and mediocre quality of Food from a Sysco 5-Gallon Bucket ™, is why I try to avoid chain restaurants. Why do I want to support an industry of hanger-on’ers?
The Bitchy Waiter
Gavin,
Nope, I’m not gonna delete it. I want it to stay here so that your boss at TGI Fridays knows you are doing your job of standing up for your corporation.
Yes, my blog name does say it all and plenty of people do actually care about my bitchiness.
Also, fuck off.
Anonymous
Shut the fuck up, please.
Anonymous
(That was aimed at Gavin)
Rebecca
Who goes to bartender school? That is the biggest waste of money. Just work for Friday’s. You will master the blank vacant stare in a matter of days.
Rebecca
Oh poor gavin. Which Fridays did you loose your soul at? I agree it’s not easy running a piece of crappie restaurant like Fridays. The reason is, no one is happy. Not the staff, management or customers. I had one woman try to pay with food stamps. (True story, former manager here) when I saw this promotion, my response was funk that. I feel for you man, I really do. Not sure if you realize how this will effect your bottom line. I guess you’re store will not bonus this quarter.
Mark W
No one cares? Really? That’s why he has over 100, 000 followers on Facebook. That’s why he’s been asked to appear on Dr, Phil, the Today Show, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning, and numerous other television programs. That’s why he’s quoted on CNN.com and has been asked to guest write for more than a few dining sites. That’s why his one-man show sells out every performance.
No one made you read it, but obviously you care enough to try to tear him down. It’s a shame that he’s more successful than you or you might have actually scored a point with your own bitchiness there.
Christy
Hav
Reginald Van Der Slythe III
Obviously one person cares. That person is you, Gavin. If you truly didn’t care, you wouldn’t post a giant whiny post all about it; you simply wouldn’t post and leave the site, never to return.
Still, feel free to leave anyway, and take that sycophantic moron josh with you.
David
Well Gavin. I must say she is not totally wrong and her blog is a little over the top and exaggerated. You must be in Friday’s management. Bartenders at Friday’s are pretty awsome and I got my training at bennigans. Never want to see another blender again. Anyway lighten up and honestly she is right. Who really goes to Friday’s anymore anyway?
Jesse
Have you ever worked at Friday’s?? Until you do you have no say. She was spot on and you don’t know $h!t
Kaos
“…significant and influential bartender…”
“Significant and influential?” Gonna need names.
Duck
With a name like Gavin your comment is not surprising at all
Josh
I used to be a host at one. Asked to be trained as a server, but was told they needed me as a host a little while more, just to train the newest batch. (I was considered one of the best at my location, and was training new people only like a month into being there) Most of the new hosts they hired quit or were fired. The rest got bumped to serving before me. Eventually quit when one of the managers outright accused me of not knowing how to do my job one Friday night because of mistakes made by new hostesses who spent most of their shifts on their phones. Never looked back.
Claire
Putting in my notice tomorrow. Gotta get my soul back.