by PkrKat » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:07 am
My Olive Garden Story
I have worked in health care my whole life.
About 12 years ago I left a very stressful job where I was making about 45K a year and decided to take some time off between jobs.
I came up with this bright idea that I would waitress since it was something I had never done before and wanted the experience.
I responded to an ad in the paper for the Olive Garden that was about 20 miles from my house.."no experience needed".
About 20 people were hired and we had to train for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks ...the training was brutal..we had to learn every item on the menu, every ingredient in each dish, the differences between every wine they had, the differences between every sauce they used, which at that time was about 10 of them.
We had to learn about safety in the kitchen and how to clean the kitchen (even though it was not our job)...you could eat off the floor at the one I worked at and every item that came out of the kitchen was tested for temperature before being served.
Every day we had to have our uniforms inspected literally by a guy they brought in just to do the training..he would fix our hair, our tie, our shirts etc .
Only 3 of us ended up staying through the training. I am pretty sure the only reason I was hired was because I was tall and you had to be able to lift the biggest tray ever known to man above your head with your arm outstretched all the way up filled with several plates of food and soup.
All this to get 3 tables during the lunch crowd where everyone ordered the soup and salad and tipped accordingly. I would come home every day and empty my pockets with change and some dollars and I think earned about $15 a day.
I quit after 2 weeks
Hardest job I have ever had ..
Their food might suck but I can tell you first hand that the length they go to to make sure the kitchen is clean and the food is cooked properly is probably better than most other places we all eat at.
Plus I realized that I really didn't like people all that much and being in that industry you sort of have to fake liking everyone...even the asshole who gets 7 refills on his soup and bread and leaves you a $2.00 tip...
"they tell me you rarely speak in person..I told them that seemed impossible given how funny you are online"