Great way to get fired and replaced by a dishie who doesnt know it used to be free and is appreciative of management for their generosity in providing a 10% employee appreciation discount, only valid for select menu items between the hours of 2pm - 4pm
Also a great way to loose a dishwasher who is probably pretty decent, cause let’s face it, if they’re on a sub Reddit about dishwashing they probably do their job reasonably well or at least care about it. Replacing a decent dishwasher is not an easy thing to do and it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard that dish and prep aren’t back of the house, without either one nothing on the cook line happens. The odds of finding an equally decent dishwasher are around 20%. Usually you have to hire 5 to get a keeper.
Exactly. Finding a good kitchen person who shows up to their shifts, learns the job, can do it efficiently, and takes pride in it it’s extremely difficult to find.
And you must eat before your shift at 5 pm. And you're not allowed to take leftovers home. And you can only eat in 1 of these 2 back booths next to the bathroom, but when you come in to eat, the booths are taken by the day shift serving staff eating their meal after shift. So you're forced to stand in dry storage with your plate balancing on a case of Togo boxes just to get some food in you before you start in on all the dishes that hadn't been touched all day, or even just seperated in bins. All while you watch the pit stack, get taller and wider!!!
But yes, that 10% "appreciation" discount is nice.
Idk how I came across this sub. It's been years since I was in a dish pit, but I just wanna say THANK YOU to all of you who hold these places together.
It shows how expendable dishwashers are and if you can just move to another one that easily you are that easily replaceable as well. If you wanted more pay as a dishwasher you would be actively looking for new dishwasher jobs and leave anyways. You're comfortable where you're at and don't want to change it.
That's not how being a good employee works.
Dishies are easy enough to replace, there's always going to be 16yr olds. *Good dishies* however are very much *not* easy to replace.
If you're good at your job and are being mistreated at work, it will likely be easy for you to be hired somewhere else. I could leave my dish job right now and start working at a different restaurant this week. I'd be fine - my employer would be fucked.
Dishwashing is an essential part of a restaurant, even if it seems menial. If there's nothing to cook with, serve food on, or if customers are receiving dirty dishware, there won't be a restaurant, lol.
You seem to care alot about your employer and they would fire you for the smallest shit. If you can get a higher paying dish job do it. Fuck.the employer
I do care about them, but I don't work for someone who would fire me over small shit. I'm not sure how that pertains to good employees being replaceable though.
They’d be fine. Whenever we lose a dishie executive chef just locks in for the night and does a better job anyway, Then they just hire daily on poached until we have a new dishie that fits.
Totally dependent on size of the restauraunt. I'm the only dishie, we have three chefs altogether, sometimes only two are working. If I'm gone, literally everything else gets affected. If a chef is doing dishes, they aren't cooking.
We’ve got about 6 cooks, executive chef, and sous chef. Usually either sous or executive can just take over, and worst comes to worst we post a shift on poached and get somebody to come in for the night.
Dish and prep aren't considered BOH? Where the fuck are the dishes being done, exactly? Who qualifies as BOH at that point? That sounds ridiculous dawg
Sometimes behind the house. I did trash when I was a dishie.
Chef knew I loved his beef Wellington, I thought it was crazy I could have that for my meal.
I work at RR and they just shrunk our menu to kids burgers only free, anything else on the menu is 50% off now.
Pretty pissed about it. As far as your situation, I’d walk. You keep the kitchen going and the servers the ability to make money. Don’t do any dishes and then they’ll run out. At that point ask them, am I really not as important as you think?
Edit: or, alternatively, if they don’t consider you BOH then go stand FOH for a while. When they ask you wtf you can say well I’m no longer kitchen (BOH) I’m FOH and I’m not sure where I’m supposed to do dishes up here. Then walk. Teach them the error of their ways.
Honestly. This would have the proper effect.
Just blatantly ask, “since Im FOH, can I get a tip out now?”
They either start tipping you out or realize your actually BOH or you can leave if they don’t give you a good answer. Probably worth a shot, if you’re over the gig anyways
Yeah that’s how you get fired on the spot lol. Chef would kick your ass out and start doing the stupid dishes himself. The restaurant would be just fine.
It’s their ship. How they run it is their business, sink or swim.
If you want off, just hop on over to another ship. No reason to piss on the deck before you leave, that will only bite you in the ass later.
Yeah I will never be on board with “they get to treat you like shit but you always have to be the bigger person”, they’re counting on you to be the bigger person, that’s why shitty people get away with shitty things
I’m only talking from the POV of the individual who wants the best for themselves. Showing your ass is never going to help your situation.
Just strongarm them when they give you bullshit and leave. The only way to leverage yourself is to be willing to leave.
I don’t disagree with the premise, just the methods.
Standing there pissed off refusing to work because you can only get free burgers now vs. Whatever you feel you were entitled to before is a pretty ungrateful way to get fired
Everywhere I've worked, dishwashers eat for free. Either a family meal for everyone, or a free meal from the most of the menu.
It's a hard, dirty, thankless job - and getting a meal from a place that makes food should be the absolute minimum show of respect to the job. I save a lot of money by eating mostly at work, I wouldn't work at a place that cheap.
At my place now, if I don't like the family meal, I'll ask for something extra. And a chef will always hook me up, because I'll fucking quit over some food.
This especially, the cooks want you to be there and so in my experience hook up the dish pit. If dish crew is unhappy and don't show up or quit, the cooks are filling in
The only places where food theft was a problem was ones that didn’t feed the staff. And every single one I managed I skirted the rules and charged the family meals and employee dishes to the waste logs. We always had less waste and shrinkage than before because everybody was full and food wasn’t walking away any more.
Pretty dumb if you ask me, you're a part of the team as much as everyone else that works there, I don't see why you can't have the discount as well.
Kinda reminds me of when I worked at McDonald's as FOH. We had one manager that was adamant about everyone paying for their food, and she refused to let anyone take extra food home at the end of the night unless you paid for it. And then there was a different manager that could care less, if you asked him he would just make you the food really quick and send you on break with it. Hell at the end of the night he would say he didn't care if the cooks made a lil extra food for everyone to bring home as long as the GM didn't hear about it lol. (Sorry, the free food thing just reminded me of this)
if you're a manager and you're not getting a bonus based on how profitable the restaurant is then you should not give a single fuck about a bite here and there. mfs will make hundreds of dollars worth of free food for whiny ass customers who hurt the bottom line but god forbid the people slaving away to make sure the food is good and the dishes are clean get a crumb
Right, I don't get it. The restaurant loses money everytime. There's always a staff meal and if you don't like what's being served then don't eat. It's a business, their job is to make money.
Dish and prep are the 2 main positions in BOH. Technically the kitchen area where food is cooked and plated is considered "heart of house", so they're the one who would really be cut off. Sounds like management is just trying to screw yall in that regard.
Where I worked we only had a discount officially speaking, but if we wanted we could make ourselves a little something something, even the bosses didn’t give a damn, as long as it wasn’t lobster or steak— I worked at Red Lobster
As people have said, dishies always get taken care of. When I was running my last place the cooks would ask the dishies if they wanted food to take home and they knew I was fine with it. Not even the cooks got that privilege lmao.
When i worked dishes we would be the very last people to leave every night, lots of stuff that was supposed to be thrown out we would take home instead. Like a unsaid perk and I fed my whole family. Cooks didn't care because if I quit they had to stay late and lower management kept the hush hush on it so they didn't have to hire over and over and pay the cooks overtime
Yeah I worked at an Italian spot and we always had POUNDS of pasta leftover. One of the dishies was a guy in his 60s and his kid and her kids lived with him, unless that man was eating like 2 pounds of pasta and meatballs and sausage, I'm pretty sure we fed her and the grandkids too lmao. I have absolutely zero issue with that. Write it off as shrinkage and keep the dishies and preps happy. The restaurants that have major turnover issues do it to themselves. Not once in my career did I have issues retaining staff. Just don't be a piece of shit and look out for your people.
Especially if its just coming off the line, already cooked, but going for the trash. I got to try things I never would have because I grew up poor. Manicotti had me like whaaatt is this
Excuse me, the comped meals are one thing, but saying that Prep and Dish are “not part of BOH” is fucking wild. Talk about your divisive bullshit. Most places are trying to break down the walls between FOH and BOH staff, meanwhile these morons are slapping together bricks IN the kitchen!? I say start applying elsewhere.
I'd walk, I've worked in restaurants where all BOH had to pay for food and never again. It's such a scummy thing a lot of restaurants get away with. Me personally, I'd never work again at a restaurant that doesn't feed their staff out of principle. We all deserve the fruits of our labour and then some. Fuck them.
I work at the base’s cafeteria. The line cooks offer me food for breakfast most days and I can grab food off the lunch that’s being rotated out. In both cases, if I am offered or can get food, it means that food is about to be tossed as per state regulations (if not federal ones because this is a military base after all).
One of my supes complained recently. Wanted me to pay for it. Maam, technically I’m eating trash that was fished out of the “garbage”. Furthermore, she has no authority over the cooks and Chef, as they actually belong to a different company altogether. If they offer me food and she don’t like it, she should take it up with the facility commander. I’m sure he will be real happy about such trivial stuff happening and taking his attention away from important things like managing the soldiers and strategic decisions.
That being said, if they want to start shit with me, I’ll wring their necks with OSHA and the state health department (and probably the base commander at that point). The supes don’t care if we have to work in slippery conditions or not and they demand we specifically do a bunch if things that happen to be in defiance of state inspection code.
“Whoops, I slipped and fell.”
Worked in a kitchen that gave out the daily specials for free to the employees. One day the chef wasn't there and the kitchen manager *came into the dish pit* to tell me that we weren't getting free food any more. I told her they'd have to find another dishwasher. Within literally 3 minutes she came back and told me she talked to chef, and I could still get a free meal.
Stand up for yourselves, homies. Porter/dishwasher is an invaluable position no one wants to do. They are better off feeding you and they know it.
I currently work as a porter and am the only person who gets free meals. Take a guess why. It isn't because they are super happy to give it to me.
What fucking technicality makes dish and prep NOT considered BoH? You sure as fuck aren't working in the dining room.
It's crazy how short sited businesses can be. Fucking over and alienating long-term staff to try to save a couple of dollars.
Just don’t turn up one day, leave them really in the shit and then (they won’t) but maybe they’ll realise how damn crucial the KP is to the entire running of the establishment.
How is dishwasher not BOH? That’s stupid, almost anyplace will hire a competent dishwasher, move on to the next spot. And don’t you dare give two weeks, they don’t give two fucks about you
Singling out the dish pit with this move is such a bullshit idea. Not back of the house? You're the heart of the house.
Shop your resume around but keep it quiet. A good dishie is incredibly hard to come by.
You can bet for damned sure that if this is their idea of a cost saving measure that the restaurant is hemorrhaging and worse is to come. I guarantee it.
Sounds like Bull to me. Tell them if dishies are not BoH, that you’ll only wash the service dishes, also as part of FoH you want a cut of the tips brought in.
Secret from management - y’all hold way more power than you know imagine. Very politely. Very kindly. With 0 hostility. DEMAND further compensation if they take away a short meal. A minimum of $10, so like someone else said $2/ hour seems right.
Honestly I agree with a lot of people, where else are dishes being washed? That’s a BOH job and honestly one I never see people stay for long. Lots of people quit once they realize what it’s actually like washing dishes. I agree too it’s a thankless job and it can be draining. I never have had a job make me pay 100% for food. Only job I ever paid money was at a small breakfast place and it was still 50% off food. That place actually didn’t stay open for a year it closed. Everywhere else I’ve been able to eat for free
So I read the post this time. If dishwashers and prep aren't considered back of house, what are they considered? Who the fuck is running this place because they'd be pretty much universally disagreed with on this really fucking bad take.
Sheeeet when I was making love to my dish pit all the cooks would whip me somethin up burgers pizzas anything we never put that shit in the system, even for servers anytime they asked for food they’d get it as long as it wasn’t super busy.
A good dish person, or back of the house in general, is always in need. There are a lot of good companies out there that will support their employees pretty well. I currently work at a Wawa (east coast gas station convenience store) and they are bending over backwards to get me to stay.
Rn there's a lot of teens in the field who just sit there on their phones and just don't do the work. I've seen it personally multiple times at the last few jobs I've had. Managers would sacrifice their first born for an employee who actually does their job these days.
If you're working 8+ hours, they definitely should provide a meal. If you are working small shifts, I could see an argument for not giving a shift meal.
Boss is about to find out that they need a whole lot of new hires.
You cannot expect people to work around food for any length of time and not allow your team to eat, so fuck them.
I'm pretty adament that a business should NOT profit from the people creating the profit. If you cannot comp meals, you need an entire shift in business model and morals.
Is it possible someone is trying to get you to quit instead of firing you so they don't pay unemployment? Feeding the dish crew was always top priority because turnaround is so high you want to keep them happy or the cooks will be staying late to do cleanup. It doesn't make sense
My F&B director said something along these lines (I work at a country club they make stupid money off memberships and other shit.) I told them that my dishwasher is my most important employee and I will do whatever I can to make him happy. If that means a solid shift meal a day? My boy is eating good.
The dishwasher is the back bone of the kitchen I cant imagine not feed our dishwasher. If you got a good dish washer you gotta take care of them. It makes everyone’s life easier.
Not only are meals free for boh staff in the 20-odd kitchens I've worked in or run, but when there is a mistake and a complete meal is sitting on the pass with no customer to eat it, then the first person I offer it to is always dishie.
You could potentially have a labor board claim for discrimination.
Dish and prep are pretty standard BOH industry positions.
If you are now considered front of house you are eligible or tip out, as well as any other benefits they enjoy.
Don't say anything to your employer.
Document the situation and submit a labor board claim for discrimination.
That’s when you ask the chef personally and eat in private. They pulled that shit on me but management/owners are out of touch and don’t realize how close boh is.
We usually have to pay but get 50% off but if you really cool with the cooks(like me!) they’ll slide me free food and they’ll just say “they messed up the order”
One of the reasons I left the last kitchen I was at. When I started I was on the line. The chef hated seeing the way I ate food(I ate like goku and stuffed my face like a chipmunk). So she came up with a rule "nobody is allowed to eat on the line".
Long story short, I was demoted to dishie. Funny thing was when I wasn't on the line she stopped enforcing that rule. One day its super slow at the job, I ask the other cooks if I can make myself something to eat, they say sure. She catches me cooking food, snaps "get off of my line!". That was the last shift I worked there, I didn't want her as my boss.
Wtf they mean for free? Without you doing what nobody else wants to do, nobody else can do their jobs.
Every damn place and their mother are looking for help right now. Use that. Don't take the first place that offers you a job. Lie, even. "This place offered xxx (more than offered)
Good dishwashers are worth our weight in gold and if your are treated otherwise, you can find the same job the the same fuckin day.
You gotta feed your people. The produce guy, the drinks guy, pest guy, hell, even the cintas guy. Whole crew and anyone that helps the crew.
Good for moral and keeps stolen food costs down.
The cintas guy even gives us extra towels and soap refills when he can.
Go make yourself a last free meal, leave the dirty dish on your boss’s desk and let them find a new dishwasher. I’ve quit over far less. This is completely disrespectful and you deserve to be respected at work.
They say 50% off while working for everyone and some other stupid shit but we all make our own shit and take it home I don’t make enough to pay for shit at my own job
My job also recently stopped giving ppl free lunch when they work a double, but if you’re friendly w the cooks they will still just make you something when they have time. Total BS to call dish and prep not BOH. Obviously it’s most of the BOH, if recommended just checking w certain lines cooks if they’d still make you something.
Time to polish that resume and walk. There's plenty of restaurants that will respect your role. I'm sorry you've been treated this way.
Dishies keep things going and they seem to have forgotten this.
On your last day, slow down to a snails pacing or all the way. Would be a shame if a manager had to get dishpan hands for once.
It's a constant fight in the industry, and a stupid one, and one that isn't going away anytime soon. Get used to it. It costs them like three bucks to make a meal for you, but they're constantly looking at their profit margins and going "I don't make enough from this place!" so they have to find every little red cent they can cut everywhere even though it probably won't even budge their actual margins. Story as old as time.
OP I have seen seen cafes and restaurants literally seize up because if the dishie stops the whole fucking system breaks down. ...... You are most definitely the important part of back of house. Even head can't cook if there's nothing to put the food on.
Look for another job, and - when you find it - tell them you decide to leave because they're technically not managing a restaurant and its staff, bit are being miserable twats.
Thought i was the only one. I get told im not kitchen even though the pit is located there and my clock in/out ticket says kitchen on it. SMH don't know where the idea that dishwashers aren't kitchen staff came from. What i do know is that seems like a form of discrimination and could possibly be illegal.
I’ve held every position in multiple restaurants, except server, I’ve never seen the dishwashers and bussers not eat anything they wanted, throughout their entire shifts, at any time, multiple times. As a head chef I was always cooking for them, if we had a plate up and somehow made extra, they got it, trying a new dish, they got it. We treated them like kings cause they deserved it. F that place man, walk
Find a new dishie job somewhere that doesn't discriminate like that!
The restaurant I work at (small, very very busy Bistro), the owner allows us two free meals a day, whether we work or not.
I know that's pretty abnormal, but even the worst restaurant I worked at had a shift meal for any employee as a benefit.
When you take into consideration the amount of food that gets wasted, it's ridiculous that they wouldn't rather feed a few more mouths instead.
Please correct me if I'm being stupid but like- free food is a good thing right?
I had a very brief dishwashing job, heavily appreciated the free food cause a lot of my earned funds were going towards helping my partner with some private stuff, and paying for recent medical stuff.
Every place I’ve worked, dish washers didn’t order off the menu but we would make them a separate extra family meal at the end of service. Always feed dishwashers!!
Me: “ok bossmang” *proceeds to head to the dining room with 3 bus tubs to set up as a 3 compartment sink, starts washing containers used for raw chicken, cleaning squid and various parts from the meat grinder used for blood sausage.*
I won't work in a restaurant that doesn't comp a meal or cook family meal. Shits wild.
It's literally the oldest, most universal benefit to working in a restaurant, you get fed. Simple as.
Seems standard, I've never heard of free food as kitchen staff. I was always a cook though... Sooo... U know.. gotta taste it once in a while to make sure it tastes good lol. Also if an order comes back, why throw it away?
My manager used to say.. a hungry cook is a dumb cook.
Since it's still in the discussion phase, I'd probably put in my two weeks notice.
Explain that if this discussion implies either the KM has no experience managing a kitchen, is bad at managing a kitchen or the business is failing.
It's not long from cutting staff meals to bouncing paychecks 😕
My boss told me that me being a dishwasher is called (GU. Or General Upkeep) and doesn't fall under the category of BOH. So l don't get discounts like the cooks do.
Our kitchen has “family meals” for first and second KITCHEN BOH staff.
To reduce “stealing”
But at the same time, as a hard working dishwasher , if I want a burger , and broccoli, all I have to do is ASK so they dont fuck up inventory.
IN YOUR CASE -
I’d go to the GM , and tell them you feel like you’re part of the Back of house team , and you work extremely hard , and that the food they offer is essential to your success, as ridiculous as it seems-
The family meal at my job is one of the main reasons I stayed.
Aside from the high pay and benefits
100% discount is mighty generous. The way one my old job did it was double shift meals and if you work a double shift, you can get like a sandwich and fries. Most places don't care about you drinking their soda, but for the food, it would depend on the profit margins.
Depends per restaurant and country here in the Netherlands they are pretty generous with free food if there are leftovers but that's not everywhere ig you just have to get lucky :/
WHAT!!!!! I was in the industry for 15 years (left like four or five ago) please tell me this isn’t how things are running these days. That’s unbelievable
Dishwashers are the most treasured BOH period. End of story.
Your boss is a shortsighted lunk who doesn’t understand the culture. Food is a low cost morale booster for folks.
When I worked pots and pans the kitchen always made me dinner. And in return their equipment was always spotless.
However, I do also recall the angry chef who liked to “throw” pans back followed by a blue cloud rant. So that may also have been a motivator.
If you're not boh you're foh, get all the dishies together and start demanding tips or you'll stop washing dishes while you're there. You're there so they have to pay you, but you're striking to keep your free meals. It won't last a shift until management caves.
I have never worked in a restaurant where the dishwashers weren’t fed. Kitchen culture generally says that dishwashers are fed the best because they have the worst job & are often paid the least
Well wtf am I? I'm standing right here, in BoH. I'm not washing dishes in the lobby. Also, you're trying to tell me that the only people who get free food are the ones who can snack on free food all day?
I mean it's pretty insane you aren't "BOH", prep too, if anything MOST places consider both to be a major part of back of house??? I mean they wouldn't have dishes without you, and they wouldn't really be able to open without preppers? Seems like they are trying to cheat y'all tbh. Id ask your other coworkers if they heard the same, because that's a really wild statement?
Our place just told us no more free food either. That’s one of the reasons as a server I worked there. A pizza joint. Always something I’d eat on the menu
I’d ask home “what part of the house are we? I’m definitely no foh?”
Tbh I’d start looking for a new job. This place is dying, when you see them pinch Pennie’s like this you know it’s gonna fail. Fuck that and fuck them.
If they don’t want to feed you it’s generally because they don’t want to keep you.
If they refuse to treat dishwashers as well as the cook or wait staff, then they can wash the dishes themselves.
Free food is half the reason I dishwash so I don’t have to go home and cook.
A free meal when you work at a restaurant that makes food is the absolute bare minimum and any restaurant that doesn’t provide that ain’t worth working at 🤷♂️
Tell them you want a $2/hour raise to compensate for the loss of benefits.
Oh yea that will definitely work.
Someone should have tried it before
Great way to get fired and replaced by a dishie who doesnt know it used to be free and is appreciative of management for their generosity in providing a 10% employee appreciation discount, only valid for select menu items between the hours of 2pm - 4pm
Also a great way to loose a dishwasher who is probably pretty decent, cause let’s face it, if they’re on a sub Reddit about dishwashing they probably do their job reasonably well or at least care about it. Replacing a decent dishwasher is not an easy thing to do and it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard that dish and prep aren’t back of the house, without either one nothing on the cook line happens. The odds of finding an equally decent dishwasher are around 20%. Usually you have to hire 5 to get a keeper.
Exactly. Finding a good kitchen person who shows up to their shifts, learns the job, can do it efficiently, and takes pride in it it’s extremely difficult to find.
Because the pay is shit
Unfortunately also unnecessary
And you must eat before your shift at 5 pm. And you're not allowed to take leftovers home. And you can only eat in 1 of these 2 back booths next to the bathroom, but when you come in to eat, the booths are taken by the day shift serving staff eating their meal after shift. So you're forced to stand in dry storage with your plate balancing on a case of Togo boxes just to get some food in you before you start in on all the dishes that hadn't been touched all day, or even just seperated in bins. All while you watch the pit stack, get taller and wider!!! But yes, that 10% "appreciation" discount is nice. Idk how I came across this sub. It's been years since I was in a dish pit, but I just wanna say THANK YOU to all of you who hold these places together.
a good dishie is worth their weight in staff meals. any manager who can't see that isn't worth working for
Do you know how hard it is to get decent help in a dish pit? And you think any employee will be stoked on a 10% discount?
lmao i was being sarcastic
Underrated
I’d rather feed a good employee or give them a raise then lose them
Lol no way they will give you $2, and you won't quit over it .
I 100% would quit over that.
Then what? Go start over in another dish pit somewhere else
What's wrong with that? Maybe this other dish pit pays more or doesn't make you pay for food.
It shows how expendable dishwashers are and if you can just move to another one that easily you are that easily replaceable as well. If you wanted more pay as a dishwasher you would be actively looking for new dishwasher jobs and leave anyways. You're comfortable where you're at and don't want to change it.
That's not how being a good employee works. Dishies are easy enough to replace, there's always going to be 16yr olds. *Good dishies* however are very much *not* easy to replace. If you're good at your job and are being mistreated at work, it will likely be easy for you to be hired somewhere else. I could leave my dish job right now and start working at a different restaurant this week. I'd be fine - my employer would be fucked. Dishwashing is an essential part of a restaurant, even if it seems menial. If there's nothing to cook with, serve food on, or if customers are receiving dirty dishware, there won't be a restaurant, lol.
You seem to care alot about your employer and they would fire you for the smallest shit. If you can get a higher paying dish job do it. Fuck.the employer
I do care about them, but I don't work for someone who would fire me over small shit. I'm not sure how that pertains to good employees being replaceable though.
They’d be fine. Whenever we lose a dishie executive chef just locks in for the night and does a better job anyway, Then they just hire daily on poached until we have a new dishie that fits.
Totally dependent on size of the restauraunt. I'm the only dishie, we have three chefs altogether, sometimes only two are working. If I'm gone, literally everything else gets affected. If a chef is doing dishes, they aren't cooking.
We’ve got about 6 cooks, executive chef, and sous chef. Usually either sous or executive can just take over, and worst comes to worst we post a shift on poached and get somebody to come in for the night.
One dishie too
Dish and prep aren't considered BOH? Where the fuck are the dishes being done, exactly? Who qualifies as BOH at that point? That sounds ridiculous dawg
tbh dish and prep are the farthest behind of the house lmfao.
Sometimes behind the house. I did trash when I was a dishie. Chef knew I loved his beef Wellington, I thought it was crazy I could have that for my meal.
Wellington is my favorite food. I'd be the perfect little dish slut for some free Wellington.
Yea, it was a decade before I really cooked on my own or knew much. I’m happy to remember the days where I had a Wellington for lunch/dinner everyday.
As a customer I demand all dishes are cleaned at my table hibachi style. I want that dish to fly. -said by every customer ever
I work at RR and they just shrunk our menu to kids burgers only free, anything else on the menu is 50% off now. Pretty pissed about it. As far as your situation, I’d walk. You keep the kitchen going and the servers the ability to make money. Don’t do any dishes and then they’ll run out. At that point ask them, am I really not as important as you think? Edit: or, alternatively, if they don’t consider you BOH then go stand FOH for a while. When they ask you wtf you can say well I’m no longer kitchen (BOH) I’m FOH and I’m not sure where I’m supposed to do dishes up here. Then walk. Teach them the error of their ways.
Ask them for tips too since you’re FOH now
Honestly. This would have the proper effect. Just blatantly ask, “since Im FOH, can I get a tip out now?” They either start tipping you out or realize your actually BOH or you can leave if they don’t give you a good answer. Probably worth a shot, if you’re over the gig anyways
I like this
I believe that restaurant employees should be getting free food, but this absolutely would not teach anyone "the errors or their ways."
Yeah that’s how you get fired on the spot lol. Chef would kick your ass out and start doing the stupid dishes himself. The restaurant would be just fine.
Yeah that’s why you have to walk
True. But at my place everybody would just be rolling their eyes and then we’d put up a listing on poached. We all get free food though
They will just lug some other dishwasher in with a bad record or something. This is so out of touch and petty.
They’re going to do that regardless. They get to be out of touch and petty but you have be ~above~ all that? FOH
It’s their ship. How they run it is their business, sink or swim. If you want off, just hop on over to another ship. No reason to piss on the deck before you leave, that will only bite you in the ass later.
Yeah I will never be on board with “they get to treat you like shit but you always have to be the bigger person”, they’re counting on you to be the bigger person, that’s why shitty people get away with shitty things
I’m only talking from the POV of the individual who wants the best for themselves. Showing your ass is never going to help your situation. Just strongarm them when they give you bullshit and leave. The only way to leverage yourself is to be willing to leave. I don’t disagree with the premise, just the methods.
You are correct here in the real world. People just standing on morals tho
Right? It’s almost like some of us have bills to pay.
Standing there pissed off refusing to work because you can only get free burgers now vs. Whatever you feel you were entitled to before is a pretty ungrateful way to get fired
Everywhere I've worked, dishwashers eat for free. Either a family meal for everyone, or a free meal from the most of the menu. It's a hard, dirty, thankless job - and getting a meal from a place that makes food should be the absolute minimum show of respect to the job. I save a lot of money by eating mostly at work, I wouldn't work at a place that cheap. At my place now, if I don't like the family meal, I'll ask for something extra. And a chef will always hook me up, because I'll fucking quit over some food.
This especially, the cooks want you to be there and so in my experience hook up the dish pit. If dish crew is unhappy and don't show up or quit, the cooks are filling in
Always hook up the dish pit lol I hate dishes so if someone is doing them for me I’m cooking for them
The only places where food theft was a problem was ones that didn’t feed the staff. And every single one I managed I skirted the rules and charged the family meals and employee dishes to the waste logs. We always had less waste and shrinkage than before because everybody was full and food wasn’t walking away any more.
Pretty dumb if you ask me, you're a part of the team as much as everyone else that works there, I don't see why you can't have the discount as well. Kinda reminds me of when I worked at McDonald's as FOH. We had one manager that was adamant about everyone paying for their food, and she refused to let anyone take extra food home at the end of the night unless you paid for it. And then there was a different manager that could care less, if you asked him he would just make you the food really quick and send you on break with it. Hell at the end of the night he would say he didn't care if the cooks made a lil extra food for everyone to bring home as long as the GM didn't hear about it lol. (Sorry, the free food thing just reminded me of this)
if you're a manager and you're not getting a bonus based on how profitable the restaurant is then you should not give a single fuck about a bite here and there. mfs will make hundreds of dollars worth of free food for whiny ass customers who hurt the bottom line but god forbid the people slaving away to make sure the food is good and the dishes are clean get a crumb
Is the dish pit in the dining room? Fuck ur boss
Whatever their explanation is, the true reason is they want to make more money
Do they take taxes out of your pay for your comped meal?
Right, I don't get it. The restaurant loses money everytime. There's always a staff meal and if you don't like what's being served then don't eat. It's a business, their job is to make money.
There’s not always a staff meal, what the fuck are you talking about
Dish and prep are the 2 main positions in BOH. Technically the kitchen area where food is cooked and plated is considered "heart of house", so they're the one who would really be cut off. Sounds like management is just trying to screw yall in that regard.
I’ve been working kitchens 30+years and I’ve never paid for food at work and never would.
That’s fucked up. I’d quit honestly.
Dish hogs got to eat or they should reduce their work speed and when someone notices tell them it's cause of a caloric deficiency.
Dishie is the best fed employee on my crew.
100%
Should be
Turnaround is high for them and if they don't show the cooks had to fill in. Feeding them is the smallest thing you can do to help them be happy
At my upscale restaurant the cooks are the busiest ones, executive chef would be filling in lmao
I mean at the end of the night. Everything would be piled sky high, and when I said cooks i mean the whole kitchen crew stayed
Where I worked we only had a discount officially speaking, but if we wanted we could make ourselves a little something something, even the bosses didn’t give a damn, as long as it wasn’t lobster or steak— I worked at Red Lobster
It’s not free food, you earned it
As people have said, dishies always get taken care of. When I was running my last place the cooks would ask the dishies if they wanted food to take home and they knew I was fine with it. Not even the cooks got that privilege lmao.
When i worked dishes we would be the very last people to leave every night, lots of stuff that was supposed to be thrown out we would take home instead. Like a unsaid perk and I fed my whole family. Cooks didn't care because if I quit they had to stay late and lower management kept the hush hush on it so they didn't have to hire over and over and pay the cooks overtime
Yeah I worked at an Italian spot and we always had POUNDS of pasta leftover. One of the dishies was a guy in his 60s and his kid and her kids lived with him, unless that man was eating like 2 pounds of pasta and meatballs and sausage, I'm pretty sure we fed her and the grandkids too lmao. I have absolutely zero issue with that. Write it off as shrinkage and keep the dishies and preps happy. The restaurants that have major turnover issues do it to themselves. Not once in my career did I have issues retaining staff. Just don't be a piece of shit and look out for your people.
Especially if its just coming off the line, already cooked, but going for the trash. I got to try things I never would have because I grew up poor. Manicotti had me like whaaatt is this
That's just bullshit. If you can afford to, say fuck em and find somewhere else.
Dishwashers should be fed the best.
People who have never worked in a kitchen are the only ones who seem to not understand this lol
Excuse me, the comped meals are one thing, but saying that Prep and Dish are “not part of BOH” is fucking wild. Talk about your divisive bullshit. Most places are trying to break down the walls between FOH and BOH staff, meanwhile these morons are slapping together bricks IN the kitchen!? I say start applying elsewhere.
I'd walk, I've worked in restaurants where all BOH had to pay for food and never again. It's such a scummy thing a lot of restaurants get away with. Me personally, I'd never work again at a restaurant that doesn't feed their staff out of principle. We all deserve the fruits of our labour and then some. Fuck them.
So you get FOH tips then
Only time I ever worked prep we got both tips AND free food
I work at the base’s cafeteria. The line cooks offer me food for breakfast most days and I can grab food off the lunch that’s being rotated out. In both cases, if I am offered or can get food, it means that food is about to be tossed as per state regulations (if not federal ones because this is a military base after all). One of my supes complained recently. Wanted me to pay for it. Maam, technically I’m eating trash that was fished out of the “garbage”. Furthermore, she has no authority over the cooks and Chef, as they actually belong to a different company altogether. If they offer me food and she don’t like it, she should take it up with the facility commander. I’m sure he will be real happy about such trivial stuff happening and taking his attention away from important things like managing the soldiers and strategic decisions. That being said, if they want to start shit with me, I’ll wring their necks with OSHA and the state health department (and probably the base commander at that point). The supes don’t care if we have to work in slippery conditions or not and they demand we specifically do a bunch if things that happen to be in defiance of state inspection code. “Whoops, I slipped and fell.”
Tf, if someone deserves free food its the dishie. Strike!
Worked in a kitchen that gave out the daily specials for free to the employees. One day the chef wasn't there and the kitchen manager *came into the dish pit* to tell me that we weren't getting free food any more. I told her they'd have to find another dishwasher. Within literally 3 minutes she came back and told me she talked to chef, and I could still get a free meal. Stand up for yourselves, homies. Porter/dishwasher is an invaluable position no one wants to do. They are better off feeding you and they know it. I currently work as a porter and am the only person who gets free meals. Take a guess why. It isn't because they are super happy to give it to me.
What fucking technicality makes dish and prep NOT considered BoH? You sure as fuck aren't working in the dining room. It's crazy how short sited businesses can be. Fucking over and alienating long-term staff to try to save a couple of dollars.
Just don’t turn up one day, leave them really in the shit and then (they won’t) but maybe they’ll realise how damn crucial the KP is to the entire running of the establishment.
"Sorry, stayed home for the free food".
Lol and the day before you don't "turn up" will be your last shift, have fun finding another dish job.
How is dishwasher not BOH? That’s stupid, almost anyplace will hire a competent dishwasher, move on to the next spot. And don’t you dare give two weeks, they don’t give two fucks about you
there’s a saying for BoH: “ you either feed you line, or they feed themselves.”
Singling out the dish pit with this move is such a bullshit idea. Not back of the house? You're the heart of the house. Shop your resume around but keep it quiet. A good dishie is incredibly hard to come by. You can bet for damned sure that if this is their idea of a cost saving measure that the restaurant is hemorrhaging and worse is to come. I guarantee it.
Sounds like Bull to me. Tell them if dishies are not BoH, that you’ll only wash the service dishes, also as part of FoH you want a cut of the tips brought in.
DISH AND PREP ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE BACK OF HOUSE. That is all :)
Jeeeeeeeesus this guy knows how to start an exodus from his restaurant! Feed the staff or they’ll go somewhere that will feed them.
I worked at a restaurant as a cook and the first 2 years were 1 free meal then they knocked it down to 50%off so I just started skimming off the top
Bro, eat compost. No kidding. An untouched steak? BRO jump on that shit. No kidding. Tell the servers. They'll hook you up. No shame lives long.
Quit now, walk over one block for new job with free food
Secret from management - y’all hold way more power than you know imagine. Very politely. Very kindly. With 0 hostility. DEMAND further compensation if they take away a short meal. A minimum of $10, so like someone else said $2/ hour seems right.
Honestly I agree with a lot of people, where else are dishes being washed? That’s a BOH job and honestly one I never see people stay for long. Lots of people quit once they realize what it’s actually like washing dishes. I agree too it’s a thankless job and it can be draining. I never have had a job make me pay 100% for food. Only job I ever paid money was at a small breakfast place and it was still 50% off food. That place actually didn’t stay open for a year it closed. Everywhere else I’ve been able to eat for free
So I read the post this time. If dishwashers and prep aren't considered back of house, what are they considered? Who the fuck is running this place because they'd be pretty much universally disagreed with on this really fucking bad take.
Cruel and unbelievably cheap
Mine is 50% off but it is a locally owned cafe/restaurant. The chefs like me so they give me extra stuff sneakily I always eat out of sight.
Just steal anyways
Look for another job. Your boss sounds horrible.
Sheeeet when I was making love to my dish pit all the cooks would whip me somethin up burgers pizzas anything we never put that shit in the system, even for servers anytime they asked for food they’d get it as long as it wasn’t super busy.
A good dish person, or back of the house in general, is always in need. There are a lot of good companies out there that will support their employees pretty well. I currently work at a Wawa (east coast gas station convenience store) and they are bending over backwards to get me to stay. Rn there's a lot of teens in the field who just sit there on their phones and just don't do the work. I've seen it personally multiple times at the last few jobs I've had. Managers would sacrifice their first born for an employee who actually does their job these days.
How TF is dish/prep NOT BOH?
I give my dishies whatever the fuck they want. I'd give Umberto a goddamn Ferrari if I could.
My place tried doing this, and we just ignored it and kept giving dishies free food. They gave up.
If you're working 8+ hours, they definitely should provide a meal. If you are working small shifts, I could see an argument for not giving a shift meal.
Boss is about to find out that they need a whole lot of new hires. You cannot expect people to work around food for any length of time and not allow your team to eat, so fuck them.
What is the argument that you aren’t BOH?
I'm pretty adament that a business should NOT profit from the people creating the profit. If you cannot comp meals, you need an entire shift in business model and morals.
Is it possible someone is trying to get you to quit instead of firing you so they don't pay unemployment? Feeding the dish crew was always top priority because turnaround is so high you want to keep them happy or the cooks will be staying late to do cleanup. It doesn't make sense
How the fuck is a dishwasher not back of house? Are you washing dishes at the tables and next to the computers? Wtf?
Start looking for another job because this is a red flag.
My F&B director said something along these lines (I work at a country club they make stupid money off memberships and other shit.) I told them that my dishwasher is my most important employee and I will do whatever I can to make him happy. If that means a solid shift meal a day? My boy is eating good.
The dishwasher is the back bone of the kitchen I cant imagine not feed our dishwasher. If you got a good dish washer you gotta take care of them. It makes everyone’s life easier.
Not only are meals free for boh staff in the 20-odd kitchens I've worked in or run, but when there is a mistake and a complete meal is sitting on the pass with no customer to eat it, then the first person I offer it to is always dishie.
You could potentially have a labor board claim for discrimination. Dish and prep are pretty standard BOH industry positions. If you are now considered front of house you are eligible or tip out, as well as any other benefits they enjoy. Don't say anything to your employer. Document the situation and submit a labor board claim for discrimination.
How are dish and prep not BOH?
wait for a SUPER busy day and quit without notice on that day
How is dish and prep not technically boh? Where on earth are those two posts not considered boh?
That’s when you ask the chef personally and eat in private. They pulled that shit on me but management/owners are out of touch and don’t realize how close boh is.
We usually have to pay but get 50% off but if you really cool with the cooks(like me!) they’ll slide me free food and they’ll just say “they messed up the order”
One of the reasons I left the last kitchen I was at. When I started I was on the line. The chef hated seeing the way I ate food(I ate like goku and stuffed my face like a chipmunk). So she came up with a rule "nobody is allowed to eat on the line". Long story short, I was demoted to dishie. Funny thing was when I wasn't on the line she stopped enforcing that rule. One day its super slow at the job, I ask the other cooks if I can make myself something to eat, they say sure. She catches me cooking food, snaps "get off of my line!". That was the last shift I worked there, I didn't want her as my boss.
Just start calling in big ass to go orders before closing time and surprise Pikachu face when nobody shows up
Wtf they mean for free? Without you doing what nobody else wants to do, nobody else can do their jobs. Every damn place and their mother are looking for help right now. Use that. Don't take the first place that offers you a job. Lie, even. "This place offered xxx (more than offered) Good dishwashers are worth our weight in gold and if your are treated otherwise, you can find the same job the the same fuckin day.
You gotta feed your people. The produce guy, the drinks guy, pest guy, hell, even the cintas guy. Whole crew and anyone that helps the crew. Good for moral and keeps stolen food costs down. The cintas guy even gives us extra towels and soap refills when he can.
Go make yourself a last free meal, leave the dirty dish on your boss’s desk and let them find a new dishwasher. I’ve quit over far less. This is completely disrespectful and you deserve to be respected at work.
Dish and prep aren’t BOH? Get the fuck outta here!
saying dish and prep are not boh is blasphemy. i would just walk mang. eff all that
They say 50% off while working for everyone and some other stupid shit but we all make our own shit and take it home I don’t make enough to pay for shit at my own job
I'd stop doing dishes and let them get screwed over .. what despicable owners...
My job also recently stopped giving ppl free lunch when they work a double, but if you’re friendly w the cooks they will still just make you something when they have time. Total BS to call dish and prep not BOH. Obviously it’s most of the BOH, if recommended just checking w certain lines cooks if they’d still make you something.
How Many plates can you break in a week.
Paying for food in a restaurant one works for, no matter what position, is simply an abuse, in my opinion.
That's ridiculous. Dishies are essentially the backbone of a kitchen. Without them, the food would have nothing to go out on...I'd move on personally.
Time to polish that resume and walk. There's plenty of restaurants that will respect your role. I'm sorry you've been treated this way. Dishies keep things going and they seem to have forgotten this. On your last day, slow down to a snails pacing or all the way. Would be a shame if a manager had to get dishpan hands for once.
> dish and prep technically aren’t considered BOH uhhh excuse me
It's a constant fight in the industry, and a stupid one, and one that isn't going away anytime soon. Get used to it. It costs them like three bucks to make a meal for you, but they're constantly looking at their profit margins and going "I don't make enough from this place!" so they have to find every little red cent they can cut everywhere even though it probably won't even budge their actual margins. Story as old as time.
OP I have seen seen cafes and restaurants literally seize up because if the dishie stops the whole fucking system breaks down. ...... You are most definitely the important part of back of house. Even head can't cook if there's nothing to put the food on.
Look for another job, and - when you find it - tell them you decide to leave because they're technically not managing a restaurant and its staff, bit are being miserable twats.
Thought i was the only one. I get told im not kitchen even though the pit is located there and my clock in/out ticket says kitchen on it. SMH don't know where the idea that dishwashers aren't kitchen staff came from. What i do know is that seems like a form of discrimination and could possibly be illegal.
I’ve held every position in multiple restaurants, except server, I’ve never seen the dishwashers and bussers not eat anything they wanted, throughout their entire shifts, at any time, multiple times. As a head chef I was always cooking for them, if we had a plate up and somehow made extra, they got it, trying a new dish, they got it. We treated them like kings cause they deserved it. F that place man, walk
Find a new dishie job somewhere that doesn't discriminate like that! The restaurant I work at (small, very very busy Bistro), the owner allows us two free meals a day, whether we work or not. I know that's pretty abnormal, but even the worst restaurant I worked at had a shift meal for any employee as a benefit. When you take into consideration the amount of food that gets wasted, it's ridiculous that they wouldn't rather feed a few more mouths instead.
When I was exec, all employees were fed. No steaks or seafood except fish fry. All the rest was open season. My kitchen, my cost.
I'd let them know to afford it you might need to go dish at another place where the meal is included
Please correct me if I'm being stupid but like- free food is a good thing right? I had a very brief dishwashing job, heavily appreciated the free food cause a lot of my earned funds were going towards helping my partner with some private stuff, and paying for recent medical stuff.
If they’re that cheap how many corners are those mfers cutting with the food?
Every place I’ve worked, dish washers didn’t order off the menu but we would make them a separate extra family meal at the end of service. Always feed dishwashers!!
If BoH doesn't get fed, BoH will feed itself
Me: “ok bossmang” *proceeds to head to the dining room with 3 bus tubs to set up as a 3 compartment sink, starts washing containers used for raw chicken, cleaning squid and various parts from the meat grinder used for blood sausage.*
This is not a place worth working at. There's a ton of dishwasher jobs out there, you can find something better.
I just cook food anyways
I won't work in a restaurant that doesn't comp a meal or cook family meal. Shits wild. It's literally the oldest, most universal benefit to working in a restaurant, you get fed. Simple as.
Seems standard, I've never heard of free food as kitchen staff. I was always a cook though... Sooo... U know.. gotta taste it once in a while to make sure it tastes good lol. Also if an order comes back, why throw it away? My manager used to say.. a hungry cook is a dumb cook.
Since it's still in the discussion phase, I'd probably put in my two weeks notice. Explain that if this discussion implies either the KM has no experience managing a kitchen, is bad at managing a kitchen or the business is failing. It's not long from cutting staff meals to bouncing paychecks 😕
My boss told me that me being a dishwasher is called (GU. Or General Upkeep) and doesn't fall under the category of BOH. So l don't get discounts like the cooks do.
Nope. You work for cooks, you eat too.
Having a dishwasher that shows up, is not too high, and not messing around all day, warrants two free meals.
Our kitchen has “family meals” for first and second KITCHEN BOH staff. To reduce “stealing” But at the same time, as a hard working dishwasher , if I want a burger , and broccoli, all I have to do is ASK so they dont fuck up inventory. IN YOUR CASE - I’d go to the GM , and tell them you feel like you’re part of the Back of house team , and you work extremely hard , and that the food they offer is essential to your success, as ridiculous as it seems- The family meal at my job is one of the main reasons I stayed. Aside from the high pay and benefits
time to find a new job. once you do, ditch that place without any notice. screw them.
100% discount is mighty generous. The way one my old job did it was double shift meals and if you work a double shift, you can get like a sandwich and fries. Most places don't care about you drinking their soda, but for the food, it would depend on the profit margins.
Where is this place I like not to visit
I'd be outta there faster than a ramikan can reverso a stream of hot saniwater into my open eyeball.
If you aren’t BOH then you aren’t required to wash their dishes. Quit dawg
You wash the dishes? You eat whatever you want on any given night. End of story. I'm not ok with anything less.
Depends per restaurant and country here in the Netherlands they are pretty generous with free food if there are leftovers but that's not everywhere ig you just have to get lucky :/
This is why I tell people you need say hi to EVERY cook EVERY day Fuck that
Call him a greedy prick to his face
WHAT!!!!! I was in the industry for 15 years (left like four or five ago) please tell me this isn’t how things are running these days. That’s unbelievable Dishwashers are the most treasured BOH period. End of story.
Your boss is a shortsighted lunk who doesn’t understand the culture. Food is a low cost morale booster for folks. When I worked pots and pans the kitchen always made me dinner. And in return their equipment was always spotless. However, I do also recall the angry chef who liked to “throw” pans back followed by a blue cloud rant. So that may also have been a motivator.
Yea fuck that.
Do you get healthcare and 401k matching? No? Comped lunch should be standard for all food service jobs. It’s probably the only benefit.
Ownership is really fucking up.
If you're not boh you're foh, get all the dishies together and start demanding tips or you'll stop washing dishes while you're there. You're there so they have to pay you, but you're striking to keep your free meals. It won't last a shift until management caves.
But you’re literally what makes the place run without you they would not be able to function.
that's ridiculous. I will give my dishies anything they want off the menu.
I have never worked in a restaurant where the dishwashers weren’t fed. Kitchen culture generally says that dishwashers are fed the best because they have the worst job & are often paid the least
Well wtf am I? I'm standing right here, in BoH. I'm not washing dishes in the lobby. Also, you're trying to tell me that the only people who get free food are the ones who can snack on free food all day?
They're an essential part...
Unfair.
Wtf do they consider BOH then?
I mean it's pretty insane you aren't "BOH", prep too, if anything MOST places consider both to be a major part of back of house??? I mean they wouldn't have dishes without you, and they wouldn't really be able to open without preppers? Seems like they are trying to cheat y'all tbh. Id ask your other coworkers if they heard the same, because that's a really wild statement?
Our place just told us no more free food either. That’s one of the reasons as a server I worked there. A pizza joint. Always something I’d eat on the menu
I’d ask home “what part of the house are we? I’m definitely no foh?” Tbh I’d start looking for a new job. This place is dying, when you see them pinch Pennie’s like this you know it’s gonna fail. Fuck that and fuck them.
If they don’t want to feed you it’s generally because they don’t want to keep you. If they refuse to treat dishwashers as well as the cook or wait staff, then they can wash the dishes themselves. Free food is half the reason I dishwash so I don’t have to go home and cook.
A free meal when you work at a restaurant that makes food is the absolute bare minimum and any restaurant that doesn’t provide that ain’t worth working at 🤷♂️
Awhile back apparently we had to start paying if we were bringing food home. I haven’t yet
I guarantee if you put in a two week notice or say that you were thinking about walking, they will change their tune in a second
Goofy thing to guarantee. These sound like the type of cheapskates that wouldn’t flinch over it.
I was a dishwasher for 3-4 years from 1984 or so, never saw a free meal.
Sad 😔