Hi there Veeky Forums
So on Sunday I have a job interview/orientation at a small-ish Sushi restaurant in my town. I'm hoping for the best as I really want a job.
My question for you guys would be...as a Sushi Waitress, what should I expect? I have plenty of work experience, but nothing in the food/service industry. So working in a Restaurant is new to me. Is there anything specific to Sushi in particular I should know as well? What is serving Sushi like? Customers? Anything I ought to know?
First of all, good luck!
For customers, it really depends. If it's in a mostly white area of town, you'll need to be able to explain the specials, the contents of the rolls on the menu, and have a few quick suggestions for picky eaters.
If you're not in a white part of town, all of the above, but also be bilingual.
Know the different grades of fish your resturaunt serves, and why they taste different. For example, what the different cuts of tuna sashimi taste like. (Fatty tuna forever imo)
Lastly, don't be a fucking weeb. Dress professionally, leave your geek swag at home, and don't throw in random Japanese words, whatever you do. Just play it cool and match the interviewer's level of hype.
Mate, I don't know how to break this to you but you seem like a weeaboo with the usual intelligence issues, so forgive my harshness.
1. Working a sushi bar (because that's what you are doing) is hard work and requires mental and physical stamina.
2. It's nothing like your Japanese cartoons.
3. Japanese people are going to abuse you, live with it.
4. Your job is going to be as far away from a Japanese work ethic as to be non comparable.
5.Sushi is overrated and you're going to learn this the hard way.
forgot to add, I've open several restaurants and the only one that bombed was the sushi joint because I employed weebs who I now know are fucking idiots.
Sorry.
Also, for waitressing in general, wear super comfy shoes with heavy duty skids on the soles. You don't want to fall down on a wet floor while carrying food.
In the beginning, use flash cards during your time off shift to memorize the menu. I like to make mnemonics.
Carry lots of pens in your apron. More than you think you need. People steal blue pens the least. I used to arrange a rainbow of pens in my apron for keks, but people kept pocketing the purple ones.
If one table doesn't tip well, don't despair. It's a game of averages.
Don't be stingy at tipout. Be matter-of-fact and remember that the cooks are doing most of the work, and pissy busboys can be super annoying.
If people yell in the back of the house, that's normal. They probably are annoyed at you because you're new and slow, but they also sound like that normally.
Don't run. Walk fast, but don't run. Keep a center of balance by concentrating on the space a few inches above your navel. If it's a low-key atmosphere, I find that quietly humming also helps me balance things.
It's fucking waitressing
You take the order of the retard sitting down, and bring them their shit food, and then ask them to give you the fucking money
I've always wondered - when they serve you the shrimp nigiri, what do you do with the tails? I know that eating sushi is highly ritualized and the slightest misstep can get you kicked out. Therefore I wouldn't want to commit a sushi eating sin like spitting out the tail onto my plate or something.
I kind of agree with #3.
Is it just me, or does the resturaunt buisness make people super racist? Everybody bands together based on race/job/class/language, and does their best to be as rude as possible to everyone else.
I deal with it by picking up kitchen Spanish at my place of work and heavily investing in clannish banter.
There's no hope, OP. You're always going to be the gajin/gringa. Best accept your state of friendlessness now. Just keep to yourself and everything will be okay.
Try to form an aquatintce with the most approachable fellow waitress, casually, so you have someone to swap side work with. Be sure to keep up your end of it, though.
There are people skills and kitchen politics involved. It's not complicated work, but there are many ways to fuck up. Especially if OP is a weeb.
If you're a man, eat the tail. If you're a pussy, spit it into your napkin.
chipotle here, im not sure it makes me racist but i can tell people's orders by how they look with a pretty high degree of accuracy.
blonde 17-25 females all get brown rice, black beans, chicken, and mild salsa, then they ask me to backtrack down the line for fajitas, 99.9% of the time
i've seen one black person not get chicken in 2 years of service, no lie
i hold nothing against these people, its just as a human being i can't help but recognize these patterns
*acquaintance
What city is it in? Big city or small town in the middle of nowhere?
Really depends.
I'm pretty sure OP was dissapointed with the relative lack of racism and hostility this thread generated and peaced out after the first few posts.
I know that feeling. It just seems that most of my pattern-based stereotypes are negative? I have ptsd flashbacks from seeing approaching groups of middle-aged white women on a Sunday. Horrible, no tip, water-with-lemon-and-a-side-salad people.
Also, fuck millennials. I don't care about your fake gluten allergy.
Yep, I should probably browse on my phone less. It ends in tears and bad punctuation.
Tits or GTFO roastie
>eating sushi is highly ritualized and the slightest misstep can get you kicked out.
No retard, you pick it up with your thumb and forefinger and dump it in your mouth.
It's finger food, just eat it.
This.
I worked at a caf-like restaurant in a Science Centre. The fact that the centre was a tourist spot naturally attracted a diverse crowd. Observations:
1. Pensioners get relish and onions on their hotdogs (almost invariably).
2. Those women with the black hair, missionary cap, capris, heavy makeup, and artificial tan WILL have children named Aiden and Braden and they NEED their chicken strips. Always the biggest bitches, always wait until their turn in line to actually look at the menu, and will always - and I mean ALWAYS - complain about the price (yet, the prices are written clearly right beside the menu option)!!!
3. Office guys: "workin' hard or hardly workin'????"
4. Unaccompanied children will buy icecream and pay in the smallest denomination of loose coins possible.
5. Black people always get chicken.
6. Asian tourists will order one thing off the menu, intelligibly, and respond to any non yes-or-no with "yiss." They will accept that the finished product is not at all what they envisioned and mosey on to the cash.
7. French guests (be they from France or Québec), will insist on speaking broken-ass English despite my fluency in French. I think it's my accent, but I was raised French tabarnac.
LONDON
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D
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i cant find a comfy enough black shoe for work
I'm glad that I helped you vent.
Let your anger out. Acknowledge your inner racist and ageist. Then remember comfortingly not-racist IQ statistics and go back to being a good citizen.
Do you enjoy working there? Do you get good discounts when there's a new exhibit? I live near the Perot science museum and fucking loved it when they had those body world exhibits. Filled up a sketch book. Sometimes kid attractions are still fun stuff.
Go to REI and invest in a pair of good, sturdy shoes. Thank me later. While you're there, get a few packs of moleskin for the inevitable blisters that will form anyway unless you're already used to being on your feet for hours at a time. It's adhesive cushioning you can customize with scissors.
Thank you for the (You), senpai.
I only worked in the kitchen for the first two years I worked there. The pay was terrible and so was the management. I ended up making friends with some of the scientists/demonstrators and being hired to work in the Centre proper for five more years (in Body Worlds, at one point, actually!). I really enjoyed my job - dissecting eyes and other organs for visitors, blowing shit up, growing hot peppers and giant pumpkins, hosting star parties, and more - all without a background in STEM. I ended up moving to pursue more education - because a BA in music won't get me more than managerial at Starbucks lol
I'm currently applying for my doctorate in theory and composition, but food has always been a major joy and hobby for me.
Do you work in food?
My bad - didn't read your previous post. What kind of restaurant do you work in?
OP here, thank you all for the responses
Firstly, I should make a point of saying that I'm most definitely not a Weeaboo, despite what posting on Veeky Forums would otherwise imply.
Obviously I will not be peppering my speech with Japanese or trying to be anyone's kawaii Hostess-chan waifu.
I realize the mistake I made with the cutesy OP image, I just grabbed a pic of Sushi from Google images since I couldn't start a thread without a picture. My bad.
I applied at this restaurant because they were hiring, not because it is a Sushi place specifically. I've also applied at a Greek place, a cafe, a Safeway, and a bookstore this summer. I'm just going where work is available.
I've been familiarizing myself with the menu (I helped myself to one of their take-out ones before I applied, and I've been on their website as well) and I've eaten sushi enough times myself to have a pretty good idea of what everything is. But thanks for the advice as well.
Definitely going to invest in good shoes, and ditto on the pens.
If it matters, it is a small local place in the middle of a suburb/community village. The town is generally white, there are quite a few white girls working at this place already, and most of the population where I live is older (we have multiple retirement houses and adult-oriented living complexes)
>...as a Sushi Waitress
Tits or GTFO attention whore
Maybe I'm biased because I work at a little family owned place but honestly I've only gained more respect for other ethnicity.
My spanish coworkers are energetic, happy and fun as shit to work with. They'll dance a little and sing while doing dish or prep sometimes and they'll encourage me to rock with em. Which I do.
The japanese ones are animated, funny and very polite in their own way. Rush hits and everyone always comes through for eachother when they need it. I learn a lot about their cultures here and there and even a bit of their languages.
Try not to listen to the cynics OP. Restaurants can be full of fun and wondrously crazy people. Maybe yours will be shit. Maybe it wont. Just something to think about in general.
Since when do people eat shrimp tails?
>FoH
Just fucking kill yourself.
fucking flyover
I'm in Seattle