Note: This excerpt is from the upcoming book: “How to Get Your Food Spit In”. The book is dedicated to anyone who has said “what a terrible waiter”, anyone who has ever called a corporate restaurant’s comment line to complain, anyone who has ever received free food, anyone who has ever demanded to sit in a booth over a table, Secret Shoppers, bad bosses everywhere, and most importantly everyone who hasn’t worked in the restaurant industry.
Introduction: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why
Most of you have had your food spit in. Many more of you have been the victims of unsafe food preparations practices. Virtually all of you have had your food mistreated. As a result you have all been exposed to potentially unsafe food and unsanitary eating conditions at some point in your life. This is the reality of the restaurant industry. Some of it is done very intentionally. Most of it is unintentional. I’ve seen it happen. I know it happens. I consider myself a very responsible person and I have been driven to such rage by waiting tables that I have had the urge to do some terrible things to food. If you will accept that I’m a fairly reasonable person, think about all the really unreasonable people you’ve met in your life. Now, keeping these really unreasonable people in mind, would you want really unreasonable people handling your food? I’m here to tell you that there are unreasonable, dirty, despicable, and just genuinely terrible people in this world and every time you go out to eat there is a fantastic chance that one of the aforementioned people will be handling your food. The restaurant industry has its fair share of dirtbags just like every other place of employment. In my life I’ve worked as a tour guide, a general manager of a retail clothing store, an assistant in the House of Representatives, a shift manager in various jobs in my life, and a teacher in a public high school. I have two Bachelors’ degrees and a Masters Degree in education. Nothing, however, turns me into a raving lunatic faster then the physical and mental stresses placed upon me by the restaurant industry.
The intentional mistreatment of food is not something I condone. It is a deplorable act typically carried out by people pushed to the breaking point. I’m not even trying to rationalize it with this book or its title. This obviously isn’t a “How To” book in the traditional sense. As a matter of fact, this book isn’t really about spit or food. Several books have been written addressing the horrors of food mistreatment in the restaurant industry. It is not the goal of this book to be a depository of unbelievable restaurant stories.
This blog is just as much about bad bosses, bad corporations, and bad policies as it is about the mistreatment of your food. blog is about the way people treat each other in a restaurant setting. This book is about corporate policies and abuse. This blog is about being educated and unemployable. This blog is about 12 hour shifts with no breaks. This blog is about health insurance. This blog is about prostituting yourself for tips. In a sentence, this book is about the stress of working in guest relations and specifically the restaurant industry and what causes that stress.
