Why Restaurant Managers Sometimes Lie to You and Why That’s Probably Okay

A regular at a chain restaurant I worked in stopped by to say hi and asked if we had a new chef in the kitchen or something.

I thought for a second and let him know I was pretty sure we haven’t had any additions to the kitchen lately.

He shook his head laughing and said, “He’s dropped my food two weeks in a row!”

I just shrugged and laughed with him, but I knew the chef didn’t really drop his food two weeks in a row.

The manager was just telling him that.

There’s a variety of things that can go wrong in the kitchen when making food.

Restaurant Kitchen

The expo could have sent the food to the wrong table.  Even if it looks untouched when someone runs to grab it back, unless we saw it the entire time, the assumption is the wrong customer touched it.  So it goes in the trash and we start anew.

The kitchen could have run out of a key ingredient.  Our restaurant was by a major grocery store, so occasionally someone would run there really quickly to get what we needed.

Or the ticket got misplaced and your food was never made.

The list goes on and on.  But saying “the kitchen dropped your food” was the managers way of explaining that the kitchen made a mistake and it wasn’t your server’s fault that your food didn’t come out fast enough.

It was too complicated and getting people too into the weeds to explain the exact reason.

If it was our fault the food was late, the manager would make us own it up to the customer and apologize.  But he’d usually let us offer to buy them dessert as an apology.

This happened at most places I worked.  The managers wouldn’t lie about whose fault it was.  They just wouldn’t necessarily tell the customers everything that’s actually happening in the kitchen.

I’ve always thought these were situations where a little white lie never hurt–what do you think?

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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4 comments

  1. “The expo could have sent the food to the wrong table.”

    Expos don’t sent food to the wrong table. A SERVER actually BRINGS the customer their food at their table.

    Expo don’t count in service unless it’s an issue you’d have to touch the food to notice it’s wrong such as a pickle under a bun for example. That would be an expo’s fault issue if the server put in the order correctly.

    Expo’s don’t send out food. A SERVER or MANAGER or FOOD RUNNER actually grabs the plates of food and brings it to the customer’s table. There is not expo that sends out food to a table MORON IDIOT!

    “Or the ticket got misplaced and your food was never made.”

    What a good server would do would be to *CHECK UP ON WHERE IT WAS PERIODICALLY* rather than wait 40 minutes then find out there was no ticket so it wasn’t made. There’s truly not an excuse for my server not checking up on where my food is periodically.

    “The managers wouldn’t like about whose fault it was.”

    Need to PROOFREAD your post better, don’t you mean “lie” not “like?”

    My main point is, don’t write about things you know NOTHING ABOUT!!

    • Jeanne Marie Hoffman

      In our restaurant, the expo directed the food runners (and sometimes ran food himself if it was sitting for a while).

      Thanks for the typo info! Fixed it.

    • lol, you mad bro?

      Not all establishments operate the same. Personally, I would drop your food on you. Whoops.

  2. Springs, I feel that your post was definitely using the tone necessary in any reply to this blog. You perfectly matched Ms. Hoffman’s aggressive tactics. Well done. Hey, are you the same Springs from #gamergate?

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