Unbelieveable Interview

[Jeff in BigD]

I stopped at restuarant in a pretty busy area. The 2 key things I'm looking for is a laid-back atmosphere & higher priced &/or high volume & this place seemed to have all three. The concept is a Caribbean theme & the uniform is shorts & a Hawaiian looking shirt. It looked like this place would be the perfect place. They told me to come back tomorrow (Friday) between 11-2.


So yesterday I show up & this is what they hit me with:
-I got there at 12:45 & didn't leave until almost 2 hours later. A lot of that is because the interviewer had pizza delivered & while I was filling out some of the paper work he was eating it in another section. So when I was done I had to wait for him to remember he was doing an interview & come back by.

-It's slow so I'd only make about $250 a week.

-Their training time is 2 weeks (most places require a week or less).

-They don't have trays.

-I'd have to shave my goatee (nevermind the fact that a girl behind the bar had blue tinted hair). I asked him how firm they were on that because I have a mole that it covers (it's really not as bad as I was trying to lead him to think) & he said it's set in stone.

-I'd have to buy my uniform from them for $50 (keep in mind that it's a cotton Hawaiian shirt & they wanted $31 for that).

-I had to take a 116 question quiz, the first part being questions like "if the amount left is $42.79 after they've left a 20% gratuity, how much was the bill before they left a tip?" Then the second part was a personality profile with questions being like "my friends think of me as an optomistic person" & then the strongly agree, agree, unsure, disagree, strongly disagree bit. Honestly I did it more for grins to see how I did, but I was aware that it wasn't a place for me.

-Plus it's part of a chain (bad) & I don't agree with the chains' political agendas (way, way bad). Here's the really screwed up part, he said that if I wanted to keep my goatee, but still work for the company, I could try "ABC" or "XYZ" as they allow goatees.(?!) So for one restuarant goatees are very bad, yet at two others (which have much dressier uniforms) they're perfectly fine?



Anyway, they set up a second interview on Sunday & I'm sure the job is mine if I want it, but I don't, so I'm gonna call in a few minutes to let them know that "It's not the right fit for me at this time & I appreciate their time".

 

[DMickey28]

was this restaurant by any chance a darden concept rest.? Bahama Breeze?

 

[Jeff in BigD]

How'd you know?

 

[Lucky4me]

Owned by Red Lobster aren't they?

I wasn't too impressed with their menu the one time we went for dinner. There are restaurants where you can make $200 a night in tips. $250 a week is pretty weak. I thought Bahama Breezes were supposed to be doing so well too. GOod decision passing it up. You'd be better off working for Red Lobster.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Right now the two I'm really hoping for is either Outback or Jack Astor's. In the meantime I may check to see if I can pick up a few shifts at one of my old restuarants just to get some cash.

I never actually ate there, but I remember a friend talking about eating there (& of course when I mentioned this to the manager, the friend raved about the food), after the interview I asked my friend about it & all she said was that the place was a meat market (huh, never heard a restuarant been called that before).


Anyway I called to let them know, but while I was on hold they were playing country music...huh?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I went there last week as a matter of fact. Most folks go there to DRINK. The bar "menu" is mighty interesting.
I would think you would make more at RL.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Originally posted by Lucky4me
Owned by Red Lobster aren't they?

I wasn't too impressed with their menu the one time we went for dinner. There are restaurants where you can make $200 a night in tips. $250 a week is pretty weak. I thought Bahama Breezes were supposed to be doing so well too. GOod decision passing it up. You'd be better off working for Red Lobster.

Yeah, they're owned by Red Lobster, but I wouldn't work there either. I worked at a wood-fired grill restuarant & I would always come home smelling like a camp fire, I can only imagine what I'd smell like after working at a seafood restuarant all day.

 

[DMickey28]

Red Lobster, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze and Olive Garden are all owned by Darden Restaurants.

Jeff ~ Do you have a Olive Garden down there? When I used to waitress there I only worked Friday and Saturday nights and made enough to survive through my college years. Right now some of my servers (the good ones) pull at least 130 on a single evening shift and our restaurant is really slow.... only about 7-8,000 guests a week.... if not more around 5,000. It's all about the wine!

Plus you don't stink too bad because we hardly fry or grill anything!