Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Most Ridiculous List of Fines, EVER


This photo was sent to me recently by a reader in Florida. The photo shows a list of fines that were created for the servers at a Florida restaurant and her friend was one of the lucky recipients to deal with this bullshit. The fines are for various things that may happen during the course of a typical restaurant shift and was created by the manager/owner. (By the way, manager/owners are the worst. Every lost dollar comes right out of their pocket so they are usually breathing down your neck about food costs, upselling and drinking on the job.) I was told that every employee was given the list of fines after punching in last week and that any fines incurred would go directly into the pocket of the manager/owner. One employee has already contacted a lawyer and was told that this is pretty much straight up illegal so the likelihood that any fines were actually paid is pretty slim. However, isn't this the most asinine piece of crap to ever fall out of the ass of manager? Some of the fines are ridiculous and if I worked there I would pretty much be in the hole as soon as I punched in.

FINES!!!
  • Not knowing specials...............................................................$5
  • Changing floor plans without okay..........................................$10
  • Not doing side work before taking tables................................$5
  • Not turning in coupons with cash out......................................$3/coupon
  • Cash out not in right order.......................................................$3
  • Chalkboard & specials in POS system not matching..............$2/server
  • End of shift sidework not done or done poorly.......................$5/server
  • Sidework sheet not used..........................................................$5/server
  • Close a check wrong................................................................25% of check
  • Not stacking dishes correctly in dish room.............................$3/server
  • Ordering item not on menu or fish market without okay........$3
  • Walking away from expo when food is up..............................$3
  • Talking about tips....................................................................$3
  • No gift certificate number on closed check.............................$3
  • Taking tables outside your section without authorization.......$15
  • Saltines not in basket...............................................................$5
  • Wrong cover count on closed checks......................................$1/cover
  • Comped checks not stapled to front of cash out......................$2
  • I have to research comped checks...........................................$5

I came up with a list of my own fines that I think servers could institute for all those times the managers or the restaurant dicks us around:

FINES!!!
  • Working a nine-hour shift without ever getting a break to eat..............$100
  • Staying at work past the time I am scheduled to be there.....................$100
  • Having to look for a manger to accept my cash out..............................$100 per minute
  • The soda is flat.......................................................................................$100
  • I run food for someone else who is in the weeds...................................$100
  • I take a table outside my station because that server needs help...........$100
  • The kitchen 86's something that I just sold............................................$100
  • The computer rings up the wrong price.................................................$100
  • The manager is too busy to check my sidework when it's done and then by the time he finally gets around to looking at it, it has to be done again.................................$100
  • My paycheck is not ready when it is supposed to be ready....................$100
  • The kitchen sends out a well-done burger when the ticket clearly says medium rare or they send out french fries when I asked for mashed potatoes or salad. ..................$100
  • There are no clean glasses or silverware to reset the tables....................$100
  • I am called into work on my day off because someone was fired...........$100
  • The floor plan is not ready to go by the time we open.............................$100
  • We don't have any towels to wipe down tables even though we have been saying for two weeks that the manager needs to order some more, dumb ass............................$100
  • My cash out has a big due-back but the manager doesn't have any cash to pay me so I have to wait until another server has a big drop....................................................$100 
  • The manager takes the side of the customer when everyone fucking knows that the customer was wrong wrong wrong and now I look like the asshole when really it's the manager who just doesn't have any balls....................................................................$100
I hope you will share this so that maybe it will eventually get back to the person who wrote this list. It was given to me on the condition that I not reveal the name of the restaurant or the person who took the picture. But wouldn't it be fun for the manager/owner to see his list on the Internet and realize that the whole world is laughing at what a stupid asshole he is?

What fines would you like to see instituted at your restaurant? Write your ideas in the comments and let's have some fun.



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25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I know exactly what I would do if that list was in my hands.

I wonder who would have the nerve to take the time to think about and write out this list.

Really disappointed in this "manager/owner" Not a good way to keep your staff happy.

Donna Newsom said...

Getting yelled at to expo food after being cut, closing side work done and checked out, when there are five other servers who are not cut standing around by the expo window chatting..................$50 each server chatting and ignoring the line.. and whoever yelled at me.

J.B. said...

Ugh. I have a manager/owner at the restaurant I work at. It's the worst. He acts like we don't know how to do our jobs and makes us look stupid in fron of guests. 6 more shifts at that God-forsaken hellhole!!

Manager retroactively bitching at you for one little meaningless mistake you made 2 shifts ago......$100

Rogue Wino said...

"Having to look for a manger to accept my cash out" haha, I'd be wealthy at 100/minute

DMT said...

Name and shame! This dickwad of a manager deserves it!

Anonymous said...

I am a manager, and I have done something similar. I was sick of saying the same things over and over!! HOWEVER, I gave each server $20 in ones at the start of the shift. I only took $1 at a time for the same shit I harp about day in and day out (I didn't add anything crazy, or assign values) Once their $20 ran out, then they had to start paying out of their own money. Any money left over from the original $20, they got to keep as sort of a "thank you". I needed to make clear that we had a very large store, and my responsibilities in the restaurant were endless, and I was spending way too much time saying the same things over and over. They were all adults and should be able to act as such and not need to be watched like a child. Time is money, and it took taking money out of their pockets help them realize how much TIME I spent dealing with this shit!! They needed to come to work, to WORK!
P.S. All the money I collected was accounted for, and went back into the restaurant to use to replace dishes/supplies they break (that was another major issue all on its own)... NONE went into my pocket.

The Virginia Beach Blogger said...

The action of imposing monetary fines for performance is Illegal in all 50 Us states by the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division!!... Report these things anonymously to your Local Department of Labor Office

lee said...

if your check is not ready on time, it should be $1K per minute! not getting paid for work you've done is unacceptable!

Anonymous said...

They have a Dish Room?

What's the fine like for quality-controlling how cold the Jager machine is during the day? Just curious...um, a friend was wondering...

Anonymous said...



...oh wait, I have a second comment, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but why would you EVER BECOME A MANAGER AT A RESTAURANT? Man, I can't think of a more thankless job...it can't possibly be worth it. I went from server to bartender, I'm a vet at my place 'o' bizness, and that's as high as I want to go on the corporate ladder. Tips rock and I don't have to A) yell at anyone or B) answer to anyone.

Anonymous said...

How about $100 for a manager taking their bitchy attitude on you for no reason?

Anonymous said...

If you feel you have to enforce a 'fine system', illegal or otherwise (I'm talking to YOU anonymous) to get what you want out of staff, then you must be doing something very wrong.
Either you are very incompetent at hiring/training/managing or your staff just don't respect you at all and you have to resort to fear tactics. Not so clever.

Delightfully Deviant said...

Am I the only one that thought of the episode where Spongebob and Squidward go on strike when reading this?

Ashbosity said...

Can we add "Vintage on the bottle of the wine that goes to the table does not match the menu - $100/year"?

Noelle said...

I don't think this asshole will be in business long. I have never seen anything sooooo ridiculous.
So greedy to count all your money your going to fine some one for not having it in the right order?

Anonymous said...

Fines should be tallied for: never updating the wine-list...hanging out in the office with a cocktail during dinner rush...spending all night with the cute wine rep during dinner service, short staffed without a bus or bar...I'd make more money a night from these charges than I do on a Saturday night in the heat of the summer:) (cause I would charge what its worth to suffer through this and that is a lot!!)

Frankie G said...

Holy Mother of WTF? Couldn't agree more about owner/managers. This guy's a real blow-hard though. I knew you would have a great come back list for him. If my last boss sees this, she'll squirt.

Fool Critic said...

Time is money, Anonymous? So how much time is wasted by the owner following every server into the dishroom with a notepad on a busy Friday night to make sure dishes are stacked correctly? Is there somebody stationed at the expo at all times to monitor who is taking how much food and when? How much time is wasted following up heresay about who talked to whom about tips? What about the possibility that staff will try to incriminate each other, or that you fine people based on wrong information?

Imposing fines within your business is not only illegal, it WASTES time, when the presence of an efficient and effective manager should be all that is required. Thousands of restaurants all over the world run just fine without this system, for good reason.

Sherry QuiteContrary said...

All the fines are illegal and no way in hell would I pay one. To the anonymous manager who posted, you too are breaking the law no matter how magnanimous you try to sound. Broken dishes, et al are business losses a restaurant keeps track of and is considered a business loss for tax purposes.

Anonymous said...

This is absolutely illegal and in most places retroactive, meaning not only will the department of labor and law require they pay back everything to present server but they will contact everyone in their former employ and investigate if they too had been illegally fined.

Anonymous said...

The funniest part of this is that it's in a restaurant that has a basket of saltines on the table.

Anonymous said...

Here in Australia that's highly illegal, and if that happened all the workers would walk out simultaneously and call fair work Australia straight after. The place would be fined itself for doing it.
Asiah

Anonymous said...

That's illegal here, thank heavens! We have managers for that stuff. It's your fault for trying to do everything.

Anonymous said...

micromanaging -$100

Anonymous said...

"if I worked there I would pretty much be in the hole as soon as I punched in ".... and also have a problem with being told you can't drink on the job?

boy, it must be real tough having to follow rules and stay sober while at work huh? maybe your in the wrong line of work.. oh hang on, all workplaces have rules and a sobriety policy, so your choices are kinda limited... never work anywhere again, or grow up.