"Sweetbitter" on Starz.....Bring up Old Memories for Any former restaurant workers here??

Just heard about this show, definitely brings back memories for me. I earned my money during college by working at a pretty nice restaurant for 4 years, started at the bottom, dishwasher and was fortunate enough to move up through kitchen to the floor, first as a busboy, then waiter (where the real $$ is). Learned a multitude of life lessons, working as a team, time management. Just a great appreciation for life frankly (my everlasting life lesson, Juan, about 35 with 3 kids, wife, Cuban immigrant, LOVED to get the second shift (no OT then) just to bring home that extra $16 (we made $2.10/hr.)) Any other restaurant vets here? Will you watch?

 

Waited tables in college and afterward.
Fortunate to have done fine dining.
Did a brief stint in restaurant management for a well-known buffet chain and HATED it.

As for this thread title: I have no idea what this is.

 

I worked in restaurants for 6 years and actually loved it, unlike most others.

But I’ve never heard of this show. Nor do I have Starz.

Sorry. Carry on.

 

Changed title, hope its clearer now. Thanks

 

It the restaurant in the show doesn't have a cappuccino machine that always needs fixing, I ain't interested.

 

Washed dishes between newspaper jobs in the summer of '98.

Quit the day the owner ordered me back into the kitchen instead of letting me see if McGwire could tie Maris.

Walked out the back door -- the best door ... -- and hauled ass around the block to the pool hall, which had a teevee, to see McGwire ground out to second.

The home run chase of '98 was all I had that summer. Losing a shit dishwasher gig to be able to watch history was worth it.

 

Dishwashing is the lowest position in the restaurant; everyone throws dishes and pots and pans at you expecting spotless items in return, the food gunk gets ingrained into y0ur clothes, your shoes, your body, and you're paid the lowest wage in the house. Nearly thankless. Nice waiters would at times tip out to us or buy us a drink afterwards, those guys were memorable and I did my best to remember that when I got on the floor.

 

A few shifts as dishwasher before getting 'moved up' to busboy and bar back.
Did it my senior year of high school through that summer before I left for college.
Lots of good recreational drugs in the restaurant trade. At least there was back in in 1986-87.

 

Washed dishes at a truck stop for $1.50 an hour senior year of high school. Boss cut pay to $1.25 claiming school board member had gotten wind of exorbitant pay and was afraid we'd drop out of school.

I quit. The job, that is.

P.S. This was back when dishwashers had to deal with cigarette butts. Nothing worse than one crushed out in egg yolk.

 

One of my many regrets in life is never working in a restaurant. However, I don't have the personality to work front of the house and from some of the stories I hear now, I would not have survived working in a kitchen. I still think about becoming like Alex Chilton and wash dishes in small towns in the South.

 

I entered the restaurant biz the summer after my freshman year in college, working in the kitchen at the Olive Garden. I wore a tie to the interview, which may have helped get me out of dish. I started - no lie - as the bread guy. That was my job - to break the bread. Eventually, I was taught how to throw breaded mozz and breaded zucchini into the deep fryer. I loved working in the restaurant.

Spent a few years after college waiting tables before landing a newspaper job. Lots of drinking, lots of smoking. Bartending, though, is where it's at. Every bartender in town knows each other some how. It's a little clique you had no idea even existed until you get an acknowledging nod from another bartender you've never spoken to.