For almost a year I’ve been sharing my experiences as a GM.

Fun fact: I waited tables until I was 47. This was something I was more than a little embarrassed about.

But.

Also fun fact: I documented my adventures as a server in a journal I kept. On line.

I realized a week or so ago that so much of what I do now Is based in what not to do.

We’ve all had bad managers. Really. Really. Really bad managers.

There was Mike. He was bi polar we think. When you entered the building you’d ask if he was working and about his mood. If it was bad. You kept your head down and stayed out of his way.

There was Karen, the GM of a well known restaurant in Lexington. She was MEAN. I seriously think because she was in the closet. She’d yell and scream. One night she called the entire wait staff into the walk-in where she screamed at the top of her lungs about how horrible we were.

There was Sherry who was straight out of restaurant management school. I was one of 2 servers on the floor. When she sat me my 12 th table I cursed. She fired me me for insubordination.

There was Keith who followed me out of the kitchen telling me all the ways I was bad at my job. You’re a fuck up. You’re fucking stupid. You’re fucking incompetent. I may or may not have launched a tray with four glasses on it at his head. Yelling fuck you! I got fired. But the follow up is fun.

There was the woman who tried to convince me not to take the job because all of their staff was gay. Hehehe.

There was the manager who granted me vacation time. Then scheduled me to work on the last day of my request and then tried to fire me. I used the word harassment a lot when I met with the GM. I got her transferred but that’s a story in and of itself.

There’s the manager….

The stories continue.

So as an extension of my I’d like to speak to the manager posts I’m going to share some stories from before I was a manager as well as posts of me waiting tables.

Fun will be had by all.