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Dear Helena,
An online review of the restaurant where I work complained about "smelling alcohol on the server's breath." The review mentioned a distinctive feature of mine (my neck tattoo), so I knew that server was myself. I feel really insulted. Yes, I did have a couple of drinks, but it was near the end of my shift. It was not affecting my performance. If anything, it was helping me deal with annoying and overly demanding customers. I am not an alcoholic. Please explain to restaurant diners that it is perfectly OK for servers to drink, in moderation of course, while they are working.
—Forgot My Breath Mints
Dear Breath Mints,
You're certainly not alone in the practice of taking the edge off during service. Geoff*, a server in Chicago with seven years of experience, recalls that when he worked at Buca di Beppo in San Francisco: "We served giant three-liter jugs of Chianti. People would leave half of it, and we would often take them back to the server station and mix them with Sprite." Sarah*, a former server, says that when she worked at a very high-end restaurant in San Francisco, servers kept bottles of wine and glasses stashed in various secret nooks: "There was a bottle of white Burgundy underneath the computer in our back room."
Some Chowhounds argue that servers deserve a drink to relieve the extreme stress of their job. At the risk of tarnishing my reputation as a party girl, I have to disagree. Like getting high, swigging a rum and Coke during your shift is just going to make the job more challenging, not less. Waiting tables is a physically demanding job. Just as you wouldn't have a glass of wine before a five-mile run (however yoga might be the exception), you probably shouldn't be drinking to sustain a fast-paced, on-your-feet-for-six-plus-hours job.
That said, there are some exceptions to the rule when you get into the topic of wine at higher-end restaurants.
Michael Jones-Morales, a former server with 24 years of experience, says: "Generally speaking, wine education will take place in a preshift meeting, and every server needs to have tasted and be familiar with every wine that is served by the glass."
Other restaurants do the same with cocktail specials. After all, how can you recommend the goods if you haven't tried them?
And there are other upsides to fine dining for the server.
Jones-Morales says: "If the server has a good rapport with the table, a lot of times the table will leave the heel of a 20-year-old Burgundy or Bordeaux." In this case, it's only fair that the server share the wealth with his coworkers. Above a certain price, it should be considered wine education, not drinking on the job.
*These servers did not wish their last names to be used.
Teachers have incredibly stressful jobs. Therefore teachers should drink on the job. Does not compute. Drink on your own time.
As long as my server was doing his/her job, I wouldn't care if he/she was shitfaced (as long as they're not slurring words and screwing up my order) What I hate is smelling CIGARETTE SMOKE on a server. Sure, they may take their smoke breaks outdoors, but they stink so bad after, and it is enough to put people off their food. Booze? Not a problem.
Name a profession where is it acceptable to drink on the job other than bartender or in this case waiter. Exactly, its not acceptable in these cases either.
Tasting wine is important for a server. Tasting wine, and having a drink are two very different things. If the guest can smell it on your breath, you've probably had too much. You are at work, after all.
MarlboroMan, what's oxymoronic about White Burgundy?
A workplace policy that allows drinking alcohol on the job will make for an interesting court case when an inebriated employee injures himself or a customer. Somehow, I don't think the owner will come out on top and the employee-under-the-influence will surely lose as well.
It's illegal here in Alberta to drink if you are serving alcohol. That being said, when we are tasting wine at my restaurant, most of us will not spit out the delicious wine, but rather, imbibe the 2 to 4 oz... Totally illegal, but we still do it occasionally. However, having a full drink on the job? Not cool at all! I wouldn't even try. Way too much riding on my reflexes to be intoxicated.
Re the section about wine education: in order to know the wine's characteristics, of course it has to be tasted. But spitting out the wine after rolling it around in the mouth is pretty much standard. The server-on-duty isn't required to swallow, just to familiarize him or herself with the details of the wine.
Regarding drinking while on a shift: no, no, a thousand times no. My father was a...+READ
Re the section about wine education: in order to know the wine's characteristics, of course it has to be tasted. But spitting out the wine after rolling it around in the mouth is pretty much standard. The server-on-duty isn't required to swallow, just to familiarize him or herself with the details of the wine.
Regarding drinking while on a shift: no, no, a thousand times no. My father was a surgeon who enjoyed his bourbon, but not when he was either about to operate or was actually in the tension-filled operating room itself. I'd wager that a surgeon's work is a bit more tense than that of any wait staff.-COLLAPSE
OMGWTFBBQHTML Helena mentioned alcohol! Somebody call AA post haste and then post catty commentary about her inevitable self-destruction!
If what these servers are doing is considered perfectly acceptable, then why are they reluctant to use their full names?
I think a drink or two in moderation by a server on the downside of their shift is acceptable but it's a difficult line to draw. Next thing you know they show up after having a couple and continue. That's not cool and could create liability for the owner should the employee get in an accident enroute home. Your host at a private party is almost always imbibing with you but I think this says it...+READ
I think a drink or two in moderation by a server on the downside of their shift is acceptable but it's a difficult line to draw. Next thing you know they show up after having a couple and continue. That's not cool and could create liability for the owner should the employee get in an accident enroute home. Your host at a private party is almost always imbibing with you but I think this says it all: Earn your beer. Business before pleasure.-COLLAPSE
I think it is OK to drink. But after your shift!
I do not mind at all if my server has a drink on the job. But to use the excuse that "servers deserve a drink to relieve the extreme stress of their job" is just ridiculous. Extreme stress? In that case all the nurses and docs in the emergency room should have a few before they go on duty.
This topic makes an existential argument out of an operational question. If you don't want people picking through your trash (and posting the trash online!), don't leave a stinking dumpster of the curb for them to dive into.
Everything about food and dining is presentation. If waitstaff present themselves smelling of alcohol, that's bound to upset some customers. There's no getting around it.
...+READ
This topic makes an existential argument out of an operational question. If you don't want people picking through your trash (and posting the trash online!), don't leave a stinking dumpster of the curb for them to dive into.
Everything about food and dining is presentation. If waitstaff present themselves smelling of alcohol, that's bound to upset some customers. There's no getting around it.
Now all of this said, waitstaff of the world, I'm on your side! I run an IT department, which is the closest analog to food service I can think of. If my staff and I could have a couple of nips to take the edge off, we would. But just like for a waiter, if Users smelled booze on the breath of my staff, I'd get complaints.-COLLAPSE
Drinking on the job in a restaurant is just plain wrong. On the other hand, snorting meth or coke at the beginning of your shift is just good sense!
Having been a part-owner of a restaurant and in food service for most of my 20 years in college or university I can say that it's the norm. And the higher up you go the more drinking you see. The Chef generally drinks the most, the dishwasher and janitor the least. When I was responsible, it was common, -- the rule was: NO EXCUSES. Drop a tray sober, OK, drop a tray loaded -- fired. How many...+READ
Having been a part-owner of a restaurant and in food service for most of my 20 years in college or university I can say that it's the norm. And the higher up you go the more drinking you see. The Chef generally drinks the most, the dishwasher and janitor the least. When I was responsible, it was common, -- the rule was: NO EXCUSES. Drop a tray sober, OK, drop a tray loaded -- fired. How many LAWYERS go out to lunch and down a few? From what I saw in our small town, most. Engineers of buildings and mine shafts, yep, them too. I think the "Professional" guise is a bit self-righteous. surgeons, optometrists, and dentists who are 'on call' or who are going to be doing 'surgery' as part of their daily schedule tend to practice self-restraint, as it's their license on the line. K-12 Teachers also fall into this group, though I've seen their administrators pound more than 'a few' back on a regular schedule. I honestly don't see the problem if food service staff have a FEW drinks on the job. Most DO. but they don't tend to sit at the bar, or at some table in back and relax,-- mostly it's 'on the fly' - For anyone NOT in the 'brotherhood' -- you simply don't know the culture, the pressure, how jerks outnumber the polite customers about 5:1, or exactly what is going on behind the scenes. So until you have walked a mile or two in the shoes of a server, ALWAYS taking the brunt of ANYTHING that goes on behind the kitchen door -- lighten up. Or chose another place to eat. I would not lose the 'family' that forms among a good staff over a few customers, even good ones. A well oiled machine forms a complete staff, and when you have one, a customer can tell me or a partner why they are leaving or not - and we WILL try to keep them if we can, but 'our waiter/waitress' or 'our bus boy' smelled of wine or beer is nothing to 'fix'. Especially late in the evening when we've ALL burned out and are closing up. If there's a problem, trust me, the owner will know it LONG before any customer knows about it. And the customer who leaves part of a bottle of wine and tells the waiter/waitress: "we left this for you, it's marvelous" is one of the highest complements -- and as with any gift, it would be rude to not thank them, and SEE and LEARN if they are right and if there's enough DO share - from the dishwasher to the cook . . . . Think about this while you are on your high horse: I think it was Ohio passed a law that exempted rural Volunteer Firefighters from 'drunk driving' because if they didn't, no one would respond. A study showed that after 8PM 65%-85% (day of week variation) of the firefighters were 'legally drunk'. They do CPR, they do Auto-Rescue,and they crawl into burning houses to save the house, or people in them. I don't hear many rural people screaming about 'drunk firefighters' saving their lives and houses. . . . THAT seems a bit more important than putting food on a table - and having been a firefighter, I'd rather have a good firefighter reeking of beer, wine, or brown liker' behind me on a hose than a stone sober new-be on his first fire......-COLLAPSE
Oxymoron of the week: white Burgundy
When I worked in a club in Seattle, I remember that it was a State Law that servers and bartenders could not drink while working, or even after a shift. Then I moved here to Florida where it is common practice for patrons, to buy "shots" for their bartender or server. It goes with the territory. When in Rome!
I would not return to a restaurant where the server had been drinking and would certainly be putting forth a formal complaint to the owner.
Stress? Give me a break!
This is a reason (not even a good one) BUT Not an Excuse!
This is just a way for a server to have free drinks, and if you have to stash them away, there is something definately wrong. Find another job where alchohol in any...+READ
I would not return to a restaurant where the server had been drinking and would certainly be putting forth a formal complaint to the owner.
Stress? Give me a break!
This is a reason (not even a good one) BUT Not an Excuse!
This is just a way for a server to have free drinks, and if you have to stash them away, there is something definately wrong. Find another job where alchohol in any form isn't served.
And while I'm on topic:
What about tipping?
It used to be only if the service was way above board.
Now you just expect it.
What about the factory worker that works ten times harder than you do?
And don't come across with benefits etc. because in this day and age you are super lucky if you get them, and most times when pension comes around the company has spent your money and there is none for you.
Just blowing off steam!-COLLAPSE
I don't want anyone serving my food close enough to my face for me to smell their breath. My friend, however, can smell alcohol from half way across the room, due to an unhealthy situation as a child. That said, it seems to me that the customer was a real jerk...making comments on a review about a person's tattoo is crass. I don't like them myself, but it is a personal thing and has nothing to do...+READ
I don't want anyone serving my food close enough to my face for me to smell their breath. My friend, however, can smell alcohol from half way across the room, due to an unhealthy situation as a child. That said, it seems to me that the customer was a real jerk...making comments on a review about a person's tattoo is crass. I don't like them myself, but it is a personal thing and has nothing to do with the service, quality of food, etc.-COLLAPSE
Funny to hear some of these people indignantly defend their practice as "perfectly acceptable" .. sure, within your own circle of like minded fellow servers perhaps ... but what about the customer?
sampling cocktails to know what you're selling, and not letting the leftovers of a first-growth go to waste are one thing .... keeping a continual buzz on at work is another.
Just another...+READ
Funny to hear some of these people indignantly defend their practice as "perfectly acceptable" .. sure, within your own circle of like minded fellow servers perhaps ... but what about the customer?
sampling cocktails to know what you're selling, and not letting the leftovers of a first-growth go to waste are one thing .... keeping a continual buzz on at work is another.
Just another example, along with waitstaff's ideas about tipping, of why they're waiters and bartenders in the first place.-COLLAPSE
If, as a server, you have to drink during your shift to deal with "annoying and overly demanding customers" then you are most definitely in the wrong line of work. Was this your first day and first experience dealing with customers? Lots of customers freak out when things don't go according to their version of what "perfect" is. It comes with the territory.
I have worked as a server, and yes,...+READ
If, as a server, you have to drink during your shift to deal with "annoying and overly demanding customers" then you are most definitely in the wrong line of work. Was this your first day and first experience dealing with customers? Lots of customers freak out when things don't go according to their version of what "perfect" is. It comes with the territory.
I have worked as a server, and yes, consumed alcohol during a shift knowing that I should not have been doing it. Your reaction to this situation should be the same as what I was hoping for at the time, that my boss didn't find out and fire me, not "what is this jerk's problem?". On the other hand, I have even worked at places where the owner comes in and serves alcohol to the staff while working. Rest assured, these owners were very smart and only lacked intelligence in two areas, restaurants and business. Those owners quickly ran their restaurants deep into the ground, not knowing when to say when in either case.-COLLAPSE
Bartenders/cocktail waitresses must remain sober so that they can identify an intoxicated person. In Pennsylvania, I believe anyone who serves alcoholic beverages is prohibited from consuming alcohol. (I was slinging beers at a club on the weekends, we had to learn this stuff)
That being said, we have offered our sommelier a glass of wine from exceptional bottles that s/he has recommended....+READ
Bartenders/cocktail waitresses must remain sober so that they can identify an intoxicated person. In Pennsylvania, I believe anyone who serves alcoholic beverages is prohibited from consuming alcohol. (I was slinging beers at a club on the weekends, we had to learn this stuff)
That being said, we have offered our sommelier a glass of wine from exceptional bottles that s/he has recommended. Technically an offense which could carry a fine, but oft overlooked in this type of situation.-COLLAPSE
As long as it does not affect the server's ability to do their job I don't see the problem. Many professions "drink" on the job. Think lunch meetings, client meetings etc. The fact the person commented not only on the servers breath but also commented on their tattoo sounds like they were trying to get the server into trouble in what I think is a cowardly way. If the customer had a problem with...+READ
As long as it does not affect the server's ability to do their job I don't see the problem. Many professions "drink" on the job. Think lunch meetings, client meetings etc. The fact the person commented not only on the servers breath but also commented on their tattoo sounds like they were trying to get the server into trouble in what I think is a cowardly way. If the customer had a problem with this they could have easily spoke to the manager and requested a new server. The server must not smoke or I'm sure the customer would have complained about that too.-COLLAPSE
Seriously- the issue here is much less the drinking on the job (which is completely legitimate and accepted in certain sects of the service industry), rather if you are going to drink and deal face to face with customers grab some gum! Just keep your shit together and it's all good :)
remember Peter Sellers - The Party. it's humor from a certain era, but still kind of funny
on a serious note, the server might think they are being more friendly, facilitating a good time - but ...
what if there is an emerg situation - i have seen servers having to assess a situation, call 911 paramedic, etc.
as long as you get the food to me in a timely manner and you get the job done i don't care how drunk you are...but that said i did have a drunk waiter once and it really sucked to put it mildly. him and his co-workers kept swilling wine at the bar openly at this very small (now defunct) Neapolitan pizza place. he got super sloppy and was outright obnoxious. kept forgetting our order and talked...+READ
as long as you get the food to me in a timely manner and you get the job done i don't care how drunk you are...but that said i did have a drunk waiter once and it really sucked to put it mildly. him and his co-workers kept swilling wine at the bar openly at this very small (now defunct) Neapolitan pizza place. he got super sloppy and was outright obnoxious. kept forgetting our order and talked too much. a drink here and there is ok. tasting a wine before service is ok. that's not enough to get you drunk. but wasted is not acceptable at any job.-COLLAPSE
The customer should move to Oregon where drinking while serving alcohol can carry stiff fines and the loss of your liquor license. After 15 years in the industry I have never had a serving job where shift drinking was allowed. It might happen a bit behind the scenes (a shot hiding in a covered container), and servers would come in stoned quite a bit...but it was more annoying than anything....+READ
The customer should move to Oregon where drinking while serving alcohol can carry stiff fines and the loss of your liquor license. After 15 years in the industry I have never had a serving job where shift drinking was allowed. It might happen a bit behind the scenes (a shot hiding in a covered container), and servers would come in stoned quite a bit...but it was more annoying than anything. Especially in a team environment because the stoned guy was the weak link- no one would want to work with them. I guess honestly- serving is a job like any other and if you want to do your best ( and get the better sections, better tips, have happier, less cranky customers) then you treat your job like any professional would.-COLLAPSE
You take my order, give it to a person to work on (chef or bartender), then carry it back to me. I don't care if you are sticking drunk as long as it doesn't end up on the floor between the kitchen/bar and my table.
Being an alcoholic [and correspondingly being allowed to have a drink or two during work is permissible in certain situations] is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
There is a portion of the title that says it all: "drinking on the job". In most fields this is a professional no-no. Therefore it is surprising to encounter someone who has been drinking on the job- accepted practice or not.
How close did the customer get to that server? I don't think I have ever been close enough to a serve to smell his/her breath, except maybe in a strip club.
How can the server be insulted that a diner smelled alcohol on the server's breath when the server had been drinking, and thus most likely *did* have alcohol on her/his breath? Am I missing something?
Also, I assume from the server's defense that s/he is OK with their doctor or lawyer or hairstylist or bank teller drinking on the job.
Perhaps they can stash a bottle of breath spray next to the liquor stash. Having worked in restaurants, I don't think this is intrinsically a big deal. However, I can understand someone smelling of booze when they wait on you to be a turn-off.
Man, I wish I could drink on the job. :( It would make the patient load more bareable.