Yup, you get in, you bust your ass, and everyone works with respect, or it falls apart.
The pay, ehhhh, not so great lol. Small diners like the one I worked have razor thin margins. The supplies for breakfast are cheap enough, but overhead is not, and there’s limits to how high you can price things. Like the meme said, you get much above 10 bucks in a diner, you start losing sales volume in excess of what the price increase can bring in. A little marketing can partially help that with specials and some well selected naming of dishes, but there’s a limit.
And a double hell yeah to the manager or owner needing to be on the ball too. If they aren’t, the whole thing falls apart for one. But when you’re elbow deep in grease, with burns on your arms and sweat barely holding in your headband, if whoever is in charge isn’t handling things too, it’s not good. You won’t hold good staff like that.
The one I worked at, the owners busted hump every single day. When things wound get rushed, one would be keeping things stocked in front and back, and the other would be helping me. And I do mean helping, not trying to take over.
Compared to the waffle house I would sometimes take a shift at, it’s a totally different work vibe, even when the manager is amazing. In my case, the manager was a friend, so it was great, but still different than either the diner in town, or at other places I’d go to as a customer and watch the flow.
It’s insane work. But it is fun, if you find cooking fun in the first place. You’ve got fifteen things going all at once, new orders coming in, and you’re pushing yourself to make everything perfect out of pride and not wanting to do it again. It made me totally understand why stimulants are so common in the business. It’s also why it wasn’t something I kept doing lol.
I think the fact it needs good teamwork is part of why people stay. These diners are also famous for still having the same waitress for 40 years. Even if the pay isn’t the best, your days are more consistent. You know everyone there is gonna work hard and respect working as a team. Knowing you can rely on your co-workers can take a lot of stress off the job.
Yup, you get in, you bust your ass, and everyone works with respect, or it falls apart.
The pay, ehhhh, not so great lol. Small diners like the one I worked have razor thin margins. The supplies for breakfast are cheap enough, but overhead is not, and there’s limits to how high you can price things. Like the meme said, you get much above 10 bucks in a diner, you start losing sales volume in excess of what the price increase can bring in. A little marketing can partially help that with specials and some well selected naming of dishes, but there’s a limit.
And a double hell yeah to the manager or owner needing to be on the ball too. If they aren’t, the whole thing falls apart for one. But when you’re elbow deep in grease, with burns on your arms and sweat barely holding in your headband, if whoever is in charge isn’t handling things too, it’s not good. You won’t hold good staff like that.
The one I worked at, the owners busted hump every single day. When things wound get rushed, one would be keeping things stocked in front and back, and the other would be helping me. And I do mean helping, not trying to take over.
Compared to the waffle house I would sometimes take a shift at, it’s a totally different work vibe, even when the manager is amazing. In my case, the manager was a friend, so it was great, but still different than either the diner in town, or at other places I’d go to as a customer and watch the flow.
It’s insane work. But it is fun, if you find cooking fun in the first place. You’ve got fifteen things going all at once, new orders coming in, and you’re pushing yourself to make everything perfect out of pride and not wanting to do it again. It made me totally understand why stimulants are so common in the business. It’s also why it wasn’t something I kept doing lol.
I think the fact it needs good teamwork is part of why people stay. These diners are also famous for still having the same waitress for 40 years. Even if the pay isn’t the best, your days are more consistent. You know everyone there is gonna work hard and respect working as a team. Knowing you can rely on your co-workers can take a lot of stress off the job.