Eating at Applebees for the first time in four years.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

The nursing home was by far the most fucked up place I ever worked. There was a resident SCREAMING in the cafeteria this one day for FATHER DANIEL!!!!!!!!, and this nurse yells at me, "Hey! Come out here for a minute." I walk out there to this screaming insane old woman and kind of got what the nurse was going for. I did that catholic hand jive business and said "amen!" Then she shut up and ate her peas.

[Nighthawk]

And people bitch about euthanasia... It's cruel to keep these people alive.

[godthedog]

where in florida does inc live--jacksonville? tallahassee?

 

i was a server for two summers at damon's. i'm a terrible multitasker, so i naturally sucked at it. weekend nights, the busser, food runner, and bartender automatically get 1 percent each of all the checks, and the servers have to tip them out at the end of the night; for example, if a party orders 40 dollars worth of food and they tip you 8 dollars, you have to give 40 cents to the bartender, 40 cents to the food runner, 40 cents to the busser.

 

one night i got a couple who ordered 80 dollars worth of food (most of it to take home), and tipped me 2 dollars. so it cost me 40 cents of my own money to do my job and serve them. that restaurant had the worst patrons.

 

 

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Were they old? That sounds horrible.

 

Since most of you (unfortunately) worked in food service, how often does food actually get tampered, and what does it take for that to happen?

[Nighthawk]

I know you don't want to hear this, but I and people I know did it all the time, purely for the hell of it. Without even knowing who was going to eat it. Yeah.

[King Kamala]

I know you don't want to hear this, but I and people I know did it all the time, purely for the hell of it. Without even knowing who was going to eat it. Yeah.

 

 

Why doesn't that surprise me?

 

 

Goood thing I eat at home most of the the time.

 

In fact, I've never even been to Applebees or most of the big sitdown chain restaurants (TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, Olive Garden). When I go out to eat, I get fast food or go to a local place.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I was a line cook @ a Perkins restaurant through high school & college (I worked all shifts during my tenure - breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night, bar rush), and never once saw any cooks tamper w/ any food.

[Nighthawk]

Yeah, that was when I started developing disgusting sexual fetishes as a defense mechanism. It's like this anecdote Jim Norton relates on the Lucky Louie dvd, about how Louis CK one time rubbed his hands all over Norton's food, as a joke, and Norton says "Are you kidding me? I pay women to shit in my mouth." and proceeds to eat it anyway.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Much like King Kamala, I try to avoid eating out anyway, and most of the places where I do eat they cook the food in front of you (fast food) or are too nice to afford to fuck around. At least, I think they're too nice.

 

I'd never be cut out for that line of work anyway. I can't be nice to people or cheery like that all the time, and probably wouldn't get big tips since I wouldn't really care enough to do everything properly. Thankfully I was never in a situation where I had to get such a job.

[Jingus]

I was a line cook @ a Perkins restaurant through high school & college (I worked all shifts during my tenure - breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night, bar rush), and never once saw any cooks tamper w/ any food.

But it was at just one restaurant, right? Where presumably the boss was strict about stuff like spitting in food? Trust me, there's plenty of places out there who don't share that philosophy.

 

i was a server for two summers at damon's. i'm a terrible multitasker, so i naturally sucked at it. weekend nights, the busser, food runner, and bartender automatically get 1 percent each of all the checks, and the servers have to tip them out at the end of the night;

Wait a goddamn minute, when I worked as a food runner at O'Charley's, I sure as hell never got tipped. (Of course, that was the same time that company instituted an Arbitration Agreement that basically forced all their employees to forever sign away their rights to bring any lawsuit against O'Charley's for any reason ever, so it might've just been example #392943 of how that company was fucked up.)

[godthedog]

i'm pretty sure that all legal agreements like that are very disputable in court, unless they're over company secrets or something. probably just to discourage you from doing it, like the waivers they have on the back of amusement park tickets. what would you have sued them for anyway?

[Smartly Pretty]

Have I missed the cheesecake factory discussion? Because I need to add that the vanilla bean cheesecake is one of the greatest food items ever made.

[Jingus]

what would you have sued them for anyway?

In case I got seriously hurt on the job (which would be super-easy to do in that place) or something similar.

[Nate]

When I was in college, I was fired/mercy quit from Applebees after saying "fuck" in front of a bunch of customers after only half a shift. Foodservice ain't my bag.

 

i worked at Pizza Hut for a couple weeks as a server and thought i did ok, made 30 bucks on a Sunday, then come to find out the last day i worked they let me go because i wasnt "Fast" enough, mind you the broad training me had been there 5 years and it took her about 2 or 3 years to have it down to a T, honestly i dont think the GM wanted to fire me, i think the girl who trained me had someone she knew who needed a job and somehow got me fired, because when i went to get my check the GM talked to me like nothing had happened and that broad didnt even say anything so much as a "Hey how ya doin" or anything and couldnt even look at me

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

where in florida does inc live--jacksonville? tallahassee?

 

i was a server for two summers at damon's. i'm a terrible multitasker, so i naturally sucked at it. weekend nights, the busser, food runner, and bartender automatically get 1 percent each of all the checks, and the servers have to tip them out at the end of the night; for example, if a party orders 40 dollars worth of food and they tip you 8 dollars, you have to give 40 cents to the bartender, 40 cents to the food runner, 40 cents to the busser.

 

one night i got a couple who ordered 80 dollars worth of food (most of it to take home), and tipped me 2 dollars. so it cost me 40 cents of my own money to do my job and serve them. that restaurant had the worst patrons.

 

That's fucked up. I'm glad I didn't work as a server long enough to really understand how shitty it is to not get tipped appropriately. I actually can't think of any scenario as a waiter where I wouldn't get fired. Not to mention the fact that I can't stand not having a steady income. I don't understand the people that barely scratch by as waiters (unless they're one of those fuckos that honestly love serving people) when there's so many light industrial jobs with similar hours, less actual physical labor, and higher wages.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

You can certainly make a lot of money serving as long as you're at the right restaurant; I made more during my time at the Cheesecake Factory than I did at any other retail/service industry job I've had.

[godthedog]

some restaurants are better than others, depending on the location and the clientele they attract. i can imagine the cheesecake factory being a pretty sweet deal.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh]

I worked at an Applebees for about 6 months. Average shift from 5pm to midnight I'd make anywhere from $80-150. Busy little place. Lots of sidework though - (if you're cut from work at midnight, you'll be there until 1 am rolling silverware settings, cleaning tables, sweeping).

[River City Rocker]

I've never had a problem with Applebee's. I still usually stop there during my lunch hour at least once per month. The food's usually pretty good.

 

The only Cheesecake Factory I've ever seen is in Schaumburg, Illinois. I swear that I have never seen that place without a huge crowd just inside the entrance waiting for a table. I've still never eaten there, and it really doesn't sound like a place where I would enjoy going.

 

As for the guy who remarked about how there was "eight hours of nothingness" on I-10 between El Paso and San Antonio...he's right. I've seen a photo essay elsewhere online with a lot of pictures of that freeway between those two cities. I found it fascinating to look at, but it doesn't sound like a ride I would really want to take.

[haws bah gawd]

The Cheesecake Factory is pretty good. I go to the one in Charlotte, NC about once or twice a year. I've never had an actual meal there though, just the cheesecake.

[Rendclaw]

I ate at Applebee's once, and I am never going back.

 

I ordered steak tips and my ex ordered something else, some chicken dish, and they fucked up both orders. My steak tips were still fucking mooing, they were so rare, and after complaining to the manager they sort of fixed our food. By that time I made the decision.

 

Chili's has hardly ever let me down, and neither has Bennigan's. One plate of fajitas from Chili's or a full rack of ribs from Bennigan's, and get away from me or you might lose several fingers from the ensuing carnage.

[Smartly Pretty]

Cheesecake is delicious. What's everybody's take on the cheesecake factory though?

[Nighthawk]

Pretty awesome all around, if you ask me. I went there for my birthday last year.

[Red Baron]

They were building one in Buffalo at the Mall. That was spring of 07.

[CanadianChris]

My wife and I went there for dinner in Fort Lauderdale in January. I don't think I've ever been so full.

[Jorge Gorgeous]

I've got not issues with Cheesecake Factory, though I've only ever had the cheesecake. Can't speak for the entree's. The cheesecake is fucking delicious.

[Smartly Pretty]

See, I've always thought the cheesecake was fantastic but everything else was ok at best.

[CanadianChris]

See, I've always thought the cheesecake was fantastic but everything else was ok at best.

That was my take on the place.

 

I couldn't decide which cheesecake to have. I had trouble narrowing it down to 10, let alone picking one.

[Guest Bullshiterica]

Cheesecake is delicious. What's everybody's take on the cheesecake factory though?

On the topic of chain dining, how do you guys feel about the Cheesecake Factory? Me, I'm underwhelmed. There's one in Woodfield that I end up going to now and then, and I never seem to walk away from it saying "I'm glad I went there." First of all, there's always a long wait that necessitates those Logan's Run-ish LED discs that you hold for like 20 minutes in the loud and crowded restaurant lobby. There's always way too much clattering of porcelain dishes. The menu is extensive but unremarkable, and the physical menu itself is this little spiral-bound plastic thing that looks like the Franklin-Covey daily planners they hand out to you in middle school and punish you with detentions for not filling out, and as for the numerous items on the menu, they seem to be matched almost 1:1 by advertisements for real estate agents and ice skate rentals and other such Schaumburgian businesses. I think I always end up getting some variation on a chicken sandwich. The portions are big, which is apparently a big selling point, but I have no use for a fuckload of French fries, so it means nothing to me. I've never even had any of the namesake cheesecake. Oh well. I hate the Cheesecake Factory.

 

It's pretty hit-or-miss at the Cheesecake Factory for me. You know you're going to spend a lot of money there. But if you get good service, the food is usually worth it and, at least in my experience, the ambiance is enjoyable. However in the last excursion there, our waitress poured water onto my friend's shoes and spoke broken English with a thick Baltic accent. Normally, said lingual shortcomings are a requirement for the women who service my compatriot, but not when she was trying to explain the specials. I'd suggest picking up some cheesecake to go.

 

 

Oh fuck the Cheesecake Factory. There is always and I mean always, a ridiculously long wait. By the time I get to the table I usually have gone from hungry to thoroughly annoyed. Then they give you this menu with roughly 1,000 items to choose from. I can never find what I want or narrow it down because I have to juggle fifteen pages of choices. Therefore, I end up with some mediocre meal that I didn't want in the first place that comes in such a large portion that I ruin my appetite for dessert, which was the whole reason I came to said restaurant in the first place. Fuck them.

[Guest Vitamin X]

NBA players LOVE the Cheesecake Factory