To most of you, the end of off-season means your favorite restaurants are reopening and life isn’t so crazy yet that you can’t enjoy an evening out. To us in “The Biz,” spring means one miserable thing: Training.
One of the major problems with training new staff: Those of us who actually train are almost never the same people who get to do the hiring. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard a manager say, “I can train anyone to do any job.” Great in theory, but what he meant was, “I know YOU can train any warm body I throw your way because: A) Her mother is an old friend who runs our bank; B) She’s going to look great in one of those T-shirts we can never get in any normal sizes; C) There isn’t anyone else.”
Yes, many people can be trained to do many jobs. And new candidates don’t have to have experience working in a restaurant … but it would be nice if they had BEEN in one before. No one assumes a new hire will be an immediate expert. However, any person on the floor in uniform should show some level of professionalism. When a customer asks a trainee what he likes to eat, the appropriate answer is not: “Here?”
Common sense, people! If you start a new job, and you are told to wear jeans, please do not have a hole in them that exposes most of your butt. Black shoes are standard: not black high heel boots, or black flip-flops or sneakers that you have colored in with marker. Letting your boxers hang out might be fine in the post office, but if you are bringing food to a stranger, she doesn’t care if they say Abercrombie across the waistband.
And cleanliness … Maybe you did shower for the interview. Run with that. Capilene stank does not disappear because you changed your shirt. If you think some AXE will mask the scent … I hate to break it to you: Ads lie. Customers wants to smell their food, their wine, maybe even their date. Not you.
Finally, new hires, have some respect and patience with the person training you. My voice is not so lovely that I like to speak just to hear it. I know there are plenty of fresh distractions. Some are important, (“What was that bright pink drink?”) others not so much (“Who is that hot bartender? Smokeshow!”) I only get to train you hands-on for a few days. This isn’t my first rodeo, and I genuinely want you to succeed. After we’re done, I am just stuck with you as a team member and a “Finished” product. And we’re all stuck picking up your slack.
