I’m confused, did you expect them to teach you the ins and outs of serving in fine restaurants, or just train you on the specifics of the restaurant? I’ve never served, wouldn’t know the first thing to do, so I’m not sure what they actually teach you.

You not getting paid is your fault Why did you not pick up your check? You worked, they don’t care if you get your money.

I’m also confused. Everything you described sounds pretty standard for fine dining training. Most places (fine dining-wise) expect their servers to come in knowing how to open and serve a bottle of wine. Its also standard to test their servers on the food – its a good thing they had you try everything – some places worry too much about the overhead that they don’t let their servers try the dishes unless they’re paying for it. Honestly, it sounds like you were young and in over your head and didn’t ask for help w/ polishing certain skills that you were expected to know.

Honestly, they should have asked for more detailed work experience and had training ready as a result, but since they didn’t, you needed to step up and start asking.

Most fine dining restaurants will train new servers for at least a week, sometimes two before sending them out on their own. Three days of improper training is not enough to get to know everything. There are appetizers, entrees, deserts, specials, wine lists, liquor menus, computer skills, opening and closing duties and probably side work that she should have been trained for before being tested by management. Not to mention correct etiquette for greeting and serving tables. She should have been properly interviewed and trained but its a good thing she got out of there because managers like that can be a nightmare to work for.

Baloney. You bunch of snobs. Quit putting the blame on her. She came in honestly and wiling to work and learn. She was treated badly.

Should she have been hired in the first place? Probably not, but again, that is management failure.

Eaxctly, Kit. Coming in, they KNEW I didn’t have the experience. Because of that, I assumed I would be taught. Instead, they took advantage and used me for free labor. You people are a bunch of jerks!

Your being under-qualified for a position then claiming ignorance when you slip through the cracks doesn’t put your lack of knowledge on them. If they didn’t specify there was a training program, outside the uniqueness of their restaurant (such as allowing tastings, which it sounds as if they did), it’s on you to arrive knowledgeable and ready for work. I’m guessing they didn’t advertise for “inexperienced help wanted”.

They should have trained you better. End of story. How do they expect people to get experience in fine dining serving if they don’t train their servers? It sounds like you might should have been a little more assertive, but otherwise I think you did the best you could.

It seems like people get nasty over serving stories. One simple question could have prevented her from being hired. A yelling manager is intimidating, and his (her) asshole-i-ness is what kept the writer from being a good worker.

I thought it was funny and nightmarish. And if you’re confused reading about it, imagine how confusing it must have been to do it.

I have worked hospitality since I was big enough to help out my parents in their restaurant, and “allowing tastings” is not unique. Any decent restaurant is going to push the waitstaff to try the food, because that way they can answer questions from the customers (“Is it lemony? Is the seasoning very strong? Are there eggs in it- I’m allergic to eggs”). Even chain restaurants like Chili’s does this.

In the US, it is against the law to ‘audition’ restaurant staff- they MUST be given a wage, so the OP could have demanded her wages.

However- the blame for her lack of training is 50/50. The hiring manager should have been more clear in asking her history, and she should have been more up front about her lack of experience after hiring, for EVERYTHING she didn’t know, she should have spoken up to say that she didn’t know it. ie: I’ve never done that before, can one of you show me how it’s done?

The inappropriate humiliation and yelling… in the most American manner possible, I would have gone running to the BBB, and Yelp and UrbanSpoon and Google’s comments on the place to write scathing reviews.

I guess it’s back to the restaurants with numbers next to the meals.

@the rest…. That was a little cold dontcha think. >:(

It sounds awful, but it IS probably a good idea for the manager to ask, “Do you have experience in a high-end restaurant” and if not, to say, “I haven’t worked in fine dining. IS that a requirement?” before taking the job. I am sure it’s not unusual to expect they train you. Also, why did you not pursue payment? I would have made absolutely sure I’d gotten paid. I’m not being judgemental here, I am sure it was a lousy experience but it also shows that you need to be assertive in certain situations.

Serving stories are always the nastiest – especially when you’re young, naiive and really excited to work.

@OP – there’s only so long you can claim ignorance to stuff like this. There are ALWAYS going to be a number of places with half-ass management and use their trainees as free labor. At the end of the day you’ll be the one responsible for your situation and training. It totally sucks, but its pretty standard – sounds like you learned your lesson the hard way (as a lot of us servers and former servers did) – I hope you’re working somewhere that treats you a little better at least Welcome to the club honey!

@therestofthestory – probably one of your greatest and most fitting comments.

and OP – don’t change your story. You originally state they were ignorant on your complete lack of qualification to the job and now you state they knew you were completely unqualified? What gives?

@ tronner, by the end of the story, you’d have to be stupid to not know she was unqualified. That’s not changing the story; that’s getting to the end of the story and having reading comprehension skills.

Also, where do you guys work that your employers don’t require an application or a background check? The employers probably have a better idea of what’s required of their employees than prospectives. How pathetic do you have to be to troll some kid’s story?

I suspect that the writer is just overly sensitive because she’s very young– doesn’t sound as though the manager was THAT harsh. (Nor were the first five commenters, yet she found it appropriate to call them “jerks”.)

I remember being humiliated by the slightest criticism when in my early 20′s– I thought just about anyone who corrected me was a jerk– in retrospect it was I who was the jerk (me and my oh-so-fragile ego).

If you had you squelched your tears & soldiered on, it sounds as though the manager was willing to teach you until you got it right. Do you expect an employer to coddle a trainee at the expense of his customers? Should he have praised your lack of skill for the sake of your delicate self esteem?

Regarding the pay, I’d wager that you were too temperamental to even ask for it.

It was their mistake to hire you without really finding out your work experience and education. It was your mistake not to demand your salary.
I don’t know about the U.S., but at least in my country it’s almost impossible to find a job in fine dining without a proper education – or really lots of work experience (it’s of course easier to train you, if you already know the basics like opening a wine bottle).

@Claire, if you read through all the comments before commenting, “you’d have to be stupid to not know” that tronner was referring to the writer’s comment above in which she contradicts the story she submitted. That IS changing the story; “that’s getting to the end of the story”, reading the comments, “and having reading comprehension skills.”
Yeesh.

mostly, i’m amused that the manager even hired her. i had three years of fine dining serving under my belt and was grilled like crazy for a position i eventually wasn’t hired for.

in defense of the OP, fine vs. casual dining serving is pretty different. she has a skill-set i don’t have, and vice verse. however, i hope you learned your lesson: speak up if you don’t understand your job!

If you read between the lines, it’s clear that the OP deliberately didn’t mention she’d never worked in a fine restaurant because she wanted the job and thought she could hack it. She found out otherwise. Sure, it would have been good if they had checked her background better, but what she describes is absolutely normal for that type of job. Clearly she was not right for that job and it was best for all parties that she quit.

Fine dining is a serious matter. The manager probably liked your look. I assume you’re cute. In the hands of the clawing wait staff your were chum. In fine dining it is expected you hit the ground running. No time to train anyone. Believe me no one knows the wines really you have to fake it. You have to learn the basic characteristics of the grapes and blends. After that match the wines with the dish. Then you get into acids. It can go on and on. Carry that bottle like its a newborn baby, the label is the face, why would you hold a baby upside down or spin it around when you change it’s diaper? As far as the rest, some of the blogger s are right. You should not have been there or you should have asked more questions. It’s tough business and very competitive because the money is soo good! Give it another shot.

Man you people are harsh. She was treated unfairly, end of story. A little compassion would be nice – but I guess it’s too much to ask of some people, especially those who’ve had similar jobs and have now developed delusions of grandeur.

Some people will never realize how obnoxious they are to others.