The restaurant business is a hot bed of Don't Ask — Don't Tell (D.A.D.T.) happenings that run as separate, but common threads throughout every full-service establishment in the industry. Take for example, The Five-Second Rule which is applicable when your server drops a roll onto the floor, out of customer view. If it can be swooped up in five seconds, it'll most likely end up in your bread basket. How about the exotically grown, house ground, fair trade coffee that's really brewed from a little pre-portioned, air sealed bag courtesy of SYSCO? And the upscale places that reuse the painstakingly prepared honey butter rosettes when they come back to the kitchen? No one is talking.
These, and so many more D.A.D.T. tidbits are a way of life in the business and fortunately not all places engage in all of them all of the time. Internally, D.A.D.T. things cause conflict as individual employees, both front and back of the house, may be philosophically opposed to turning over a dirty table cloth instead of changing it, or pouring house vodka instead of a premium brand to save money and/or time. D.A.D.T. is no doubt the darker, seedier side of the business and very, very few places operate without a skeleton.
But what about the insider D.A.D.T. stuff like sex in the walk-in cooler (during service hours no less) and punching a time card on behalf of a coworker who is on the verge of being fired for being late ... again? These things happen for sure, but according to my creative consulting team, there is no bigger insider D.A.D.T. than the concept of the employee shift drink (employee meals are a column for a different day).
The employee shift drink is a slippery slope because management sanctioned or not, it is going to happen. Many, but not all restaurant employees will drink alcohol after, during and upon rare occasion, before a scheduled shift. Recognizing this to be true and accepting the inevitable, many managers and owners have policies that read something like this, "Each employee may have one draft or well beverage after their shift. Each drink must be rung up on a house tab. Employees may not sit at the bar during hours of service. Employees may not pour their own shift drink. Employees may only have one drink per evening. Employees may not sit at the bar in uniform and drink. Employees must be punched out before having a shift drink." And, so on and on as it's the stuff lined birdcages are made of.
The unlimited variations to shift drink policies don't matter because naive managers and owners who resolutely say, "No Shift Drinks" are fooling themselves. Staff that feels taken advantage of will turn into employees who feel "entitled," often leading to self-justified theft of much more than one drink.
One member of the consulting team and I reminisced about NO shift drinks under an almost house arrest atmosphere with cameras to "protect our safety." We giggled about a server we both love to this day who was fired on the spot for swaying back and forth (hammered is too light a word) at a table of eight on the way to the opera. Like everything in life worth having, the shift drink gets taken advantage of, ruining it for those of us who are slick enough not to take advantage or get caught.
Next time you're closing up a restaurant with your sweetheart because the night has gotten away from you, look over at the staff who are most likely cashing out and doing paperwork. Ask yourself why they're all in such great moods and are drinking coffee so late at night. On second thought ... Don't ask.
(Natalie Ladd is a columnist for The Portland Daily Sun who writes about hospitality and other business topics. Her column appears Wednesdays.)
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