Happy National Waiters' Day, waiters! Only, if you’re a
waiter, you won’t be reading this, will you? You’ll be knee-deep in cellar
smells, getting your hands dirty halfway through the infamous Sunday
deep-clean. Or maybe you’ll be working an AFD (that’s All Fucking Day for those
of you who haven’t had the pleasure of working in hospitality), and by AFD, we
don’t mean 9am ‘til 6pm, we probably mean 9am – midnight, or later still.
And it’s not just long hours and shitty pay (more on that in
a mo) we have to deal with when working in hospitality. As a female, there’s
the endless ‘EverydaySexism’: I’ve had my arse slapped, been given the card of
a man old enough to be my grandfather, and that’s not to mention the endless
array of derogatory comments I’ve experienced in the last eight years working in the industry. An ex-colleague of mine was close to the point of
getting a restraining order put out on a customer after the harassment she
received.
Women aren’t alone: there’s plenty of sexist shit that
happens to blokes too. Men are frequently left to manage and lock-up
establishments on their own “because they’re men”. Whichever gender you happen
to identify as, staff shouldn’t be left on their own to cash-up and lock-up a
high turnover site. An owner of a bar where I used to work experienced a bloke
trying to smash through a window with a barrel in order to rob the place.
Fortunately the owner was brave (read: crazy) enough to grab the nearest,
largest knife in the place and yield it in this wannabe-criminal’s direction,
leaving the chancer scarpering off into the night. After that, only the owner
would take the responsibility of locking up on his own; it shouldn’t have to
take an altercation like that to make changes, but at least he acted on it. Many
don’t.
You wouldn’t believe some of the shit that goes down when
you work in a restaurant or a bar. I’ve been reduced to tears by chefs,
“unintentionally” physically assaulted and even been told not to speak to an
owner of one establishment I worked in, unless spoken to. At that point, I
thought I’d Quantum-Leaped back to the 1800s – when I realised I hadn’t, I got
outta that place as fast as I could.
The National Waiters' Day press release says it ‘aims to
change the perception of waiting or waitressing as an unskilled job working
long hours to one of a job that can offer good skills, can lead to a rewarding
careers with good progression routes and great rewards’. Now, I certainly have
nothing against its aim – I consider it a worthy one – but whose perception is
it planning on changing? In my opinion, it starts from the top.
How do you think we’re supposed to be given respect by
customers, if we don’t feel respect? And how are we to feel respected if our
employers don’t show us any? Rotas are often drawn up at the last minute, so
we’ve no idea when we’re working from one week to the next; hours invariably
change: one week it may be 15, the next 65, all depending, of course, on who
the flavour of the week is with the GM at any given time. Bonuses in this
industry don’t exist, other than in the form of being given enough hours to
keep a roof over your head. Ask for a break, and - more often than not – you’ll
be scowled at. Someone remind me - when
was it that employment laws stopped applying to the hospitality industry? From
the reaction I’ve got any time I’ve stood up for my rights, and asked for the
thirty minute break I’m more than entitled to in a 12 hour working day, you’d
think said rights never even existed.
So far it reads like this: long hours, often with no
guaranteed income (if it’s dead, that’s it – your shift’s cut short, and this
could easily happen any time), a
constant tirade of abuse from punters and bosses. All that to deal with, but at
least we’re well compensated for it, right? Wrong.
Most businesses within hospitality will try and get away
with paying national minimum wage – which for over 21s is £6.19 an hour. Try
raising a family on that. And don’t get me started on the age discriminatory
wage practice which means that many 18 year olds with comparable skills to 21
year olds in the industry will be paid over a quid less, and under FOUR POUNDS
an hour if you’re under 18.
Yes, there are tips, but these aren’t guaranteed, and
further, depend on the restaurant’s tipping policy. I may be wrong in
suggesting that most restaurants have been shamed into ensuring tips go
directly to the staff, although I always still check with my waiter or waitress
when eating out, just in case. If it’s quiet – which is rarely the fault of the
waiting staff – it’s simple: no tips. If you’re (un)lucky enough to work in the
‘exclusive’ bars and restaurants of the world, then yes, you might make up to
and over £100 a night in tips, every night, but there’s only so many of them
out there (thank God).
Don’t get me wrong: it’s not all doom and gloom. There’s a
reason why we put up with this shit. Sometimes, it’s fun. I’ve encountered some
of the most interesting and intelligent people I’ve ever met working in
hospitality. I’ve worked with musicians who’ve been on Jools Holland, clever clogs
with degrees from Oxford, linguists who can speak their third language better
than I can my first, high-profile models, budding documentary-makers,
nutritionists and doctors in training, to name but a few.
Note that the aforementioned friends and acquaintances have
been working in the industry as a ‘top-up’ to their chosen career path. And
why? Because these creative and bright people know that if they want to
reimbursed for their expansive skill set, they won’t get very far in
hospitality. I’m not suggesting that all jobs in hospitality result in the
treatment I’ve mentioned above: I’ve worked in some bars and restaurants where
I’ve been paid more than minimum wage, earned a very fair amount of tips on
top, been given breaks when needed and even
been listened to by my bosses! Woah.
All I want to say is: yes, a career in hospitality should be
considered a profession, and yes, our customers should treat us with the
respect we deserve – but we also need that respect from those who thought we
were decent enough to give us a job in the first place.
