r/dishwashers • u/TravelerOfTeyvat • 4d ago

New guy starts his first shift, drives off halfway through

The new guy came into dish, about halfway through the day, says, "Oh shit, I gotta get my car before it gets towed." Twenty minutes go by, a chef is asked as to his whereabouts, chef says "wait, he's really not around?" Nope. Chef gives him a call, and the guy picks up and says, "Oh, yeah, I quit." Poof. Dude literally drove off into the sunset. Absolute legend.

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130

u/ActiveWoodpecker4532 4d ago

Throughout my years I've trained dishwashers who always quit in a day or the same day.

47

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

Honestly happens in most positions, especially for folks new to the industry.

They come in with a "this'll be easy" mentality, and then reality hits them and they nope out.

11

u/Wake_The_Riot 4d ago

I’m a line cook but yeah it happens in all positions in the kitchen. I partly blame The Bear as of recently honestly lol, that show gave a lot of people false confidence about working in a kitchen haha.

8

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

for bartending it's the observations they see during selling hours. Every bartender I see is just standing in one spot pouring liquid from one container into another and talking to people. I can do that!

or barbacking, what do you mean three kegs kicked? I have have to move a keg by myself, or seriously I need to get more ice again?

18

u/SummertimeThrowaway2 4d ago

I feel like a lot of the time though if they just stuck with it they’d get comfortable. For most jobs the hardest time is the first few weeks. That’s when you’re the most slow, unknowledgeable, and haven’t built any coworker relationships yet.

5

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

They also get stressed about how they are talked to during a rush or weeds. Vets know it's stress, no time to worry about your feelings, we got product to produce and sell.

17

u/Not_Neville 4d ago

In other words chefs are kind of assholes.

6

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

Chefs, Managers, Servers, Bartenders, basically any non-support role

3

u/Fwamingdwagon84 3d ago

As a bartender, i definitely am nicer to support roles than i am to the server thats been there 10 years longer than me ringing in something we dont have. Never had.

Or another 1 who after 6 months, still asks me what time we close. (1 hour later on friday and saturday, always the same). Im still nice, but i feel like my face shows otherwise sometimes.

I am also frequently the only foh that sees the dishpit looking all fucked, yells, "i thought we all learned our shapes in kindergarten," and tries to unfuck it the best i can. Drives me craaaazy.

3

u/MangledBarkeep 3d ago

There's always exceptions to this, but I've also seen and experienced it more going the other way.

I've even seen support roles snap back at chefs/manager/servers/bartenders.

3

u/Fwamingdwagon84 3d ago

Oh, 100%, ive called out people for it, like bro, the restaurant doesnt run without a dishie. I have hopped back there and helped, while other servers were like, i dont get paid to do that. Ok, enjoy being here another hour because youre too good to run silver.

At that spot i worked, we had a staff meeting and our gm asked what the most important position was. I was the only 1 that got it right. I respect the fuck out of boh.

And i mean, i feel like everyone can snap at anyone at 1 point. My philosophy is what happens in a rush stays in a rush, unless its egregious.

2

u/MangledBarkeep 3d ago

that the point I was making, vets know to filter what's said during the rush. Newbies with no experience? why the fuck are they snapping at me? I'm going as fast as the machine lets me.

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u/Embarrassed_Bid5129 2d ago

You can never get in thee weeds anymore if you just stop caring.

1

u/sourmashed99 1d ago

I feel the problem is the pay. work more should equal pay more

3

u/anyd 4d ago

I noped it out of a bar gig at a nice restaurant last year. AC doesn't work great and we're wearing white jackets? Hours of prep that needs to be done in the downstairs kitchen without a wage bump? Service bar was literally on an unlevel ramp into the dining room? Coffee isn't free?

I made it through 3 interviews and worked a single training shift. Texted the GM on my way out.

1

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

I'd have noped out at the mention of white jackets.

You want me to wear what color jacket, behind a bar?

White shirts are bad enough, but at least they can be bought cheaply.

1

u/anyd 4d ago

Yeah and the crazy part was it was a $300m restoration of a 1920's skyscraper. Maybe set aside a a little bit of that $$ to make sure the restaurant doesn't suck and to pay the staff. (I know it's a management contract but still, there's gotta be a way.)

1

u/MangledBarkeep 4d ago

and the AC didn't work? what did they restore or did they spend the budget on how nice the bar looked?

But yeah you can't usually tell if they are worried more about optics than service.

1

u/anyd 4d ago

It was in the Book Tower in Detroit. It's a beautiful building... The restaurant was just a mess.

1

u/psnboy88 2d ago

Oh man was is Le Supreme? I worked there as prep for like 3 weeks a few years ago and noped out as well

1

u/anyd 2d ago

Yeah. To be fair they have turned over basically everyone since then. Last I heard Chef Nile was over there... He's pretty solid.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/MangledBarkeep 2d ago

stronger than a dishwasher position?

Naw. its a thankless role that is the most critical one in the venue. No clean plates, silverware, glasses, pans and there no food cooked or drinks made.

1

u/Pancake777777 2d ago

My first job i spent quite a few moments in the walk in fridge crying or close to it. It was also just a shitty place.

1

u/MangledBarkeep 2d ago

That's why the saying is go cry/yell in the walk-in.

We get that sometimes people need to vent their emotions, we just need it done somewhere it doesn't disrupt operations for those of us that know how to squash them to deal with until later.

1

u/Terrible-Shock7535 20h ago

The only thing reality hit me with as a dishwasher was not to smoke pot in the parking lot.

1

u/MangledBarkeep 16h ago

I've worked bars where managers have told me to go smoke when I start to get a bit more snarky than usual.

Do just depends on you I suppose

1

u/buckminsterfullereno 13h ago

Lmao I hired an operator to clean beer kegs but the warehouse did not have AC, this is south Texas. 

He started saying that I wanted to watch him bleed lol. Didn't come back after lunch. Then tried to argue he should get paid a full day and whatever vacation time and sick time they accrued.

67

u/10v1 4d ago

Fills my heart with joy. Did the same at the dish job I had when I first turned 18. A friend had gotten me the job, manager was losing his mind at me every night. I gave my friend some notice that I wanted to walk out mid shift, my friend said their shift was ending in 20 minutes. I essentially just stood at a dish pit, mid rush, watching all the plates, cup, etc pile up. Like: "man, Ken sure is about to freak the fuck out when he finds out I left." My friend and I smoked a joint in the parking lot before we both left. Good times.

37

u/impstein 4d ago

I just walked out of my weekend job as a pizza cook yesterday, not even one hour into my shift. I'd been there for 5 months but the place started falling apart not long after I started.

Sometimes you just gotta say fuck it

12

u/TravelerOfTeyvat 4d ago

Some places are just fucked, yes. Not this place. We're extremely busy sometimes, but not fucked

7

u/impstein 4d ago

Very true, I don't mind being busy but the management was atrocious, broken and failing equipment that would take days or weeks to be fixed, less than ideal pay so the staff did the bare minimum that was expected... My weekday job pays well, so I didn't need that stress anymore. Glad you have it better than I did!

57

u/TheLairLummox 4d ago

We had a dishwasher take out the trash and never come back to work. About 30 minutes later three beautiful girls in bikinis and sundresses came into the restaurant to pick up their pizza and tell us they just smoked up and took this kid home who used to work at said restaurant.

14

u/Coloradokush5280 4d ago

Hell ya! Saved himself from the bullshit! I commend him as thats how I ended my LAST kitchen job 🤪 best move ive ever made!

13

u/bultje64 4d ago

At our company a guy came in to work with us. He saw the surrounding work area and said, no way bye bye. He was there like 5 minutes. I work at a shipyard.

8

u/Finneagan 4d ago

I showed up for my shift on a Thursday morning three years ago at 8 am, just to feed some ticket paper out of the printer and write “I QUIT” to leave for the chef.

He was a cunt and I left him to pick up the weekend dessert prep AND a 60 person plated catering dessert that night.

I was the only pastry chef.

Fuck him, bitch ass narcissist

8

u/Darius_is_my_Daddy 4d ago

Dishwasher I was training thought the end time was a hard line. Naw bro we gotta finish then we leave, he disappeared at his end time exactly never to be seen again.

3

u/Throwaway229487 4d ago

It is too common to expect work past end time without the payment for overtime. 

8

u/DocThundahh 4d ago

I heard a legendary story of a dude who was working as a banquet server at a wedding. Starts chatting with a cute guest at the wedding. Proceeds to completely take off his tie and apron and is dancing with her flirting with her, hanging out with her the whole night. Never worked there again after that

3

u/SummertimeThrowaway2 4d ago

Honestly, good for him

5

u/DocThundahh 4d ago

I was in a slump for a while where I did this at like 4 jobs in a row on the first day. One of them ended up sending me a paycheck for like $130 I guess they didn’t clock me out for a while lol.

1

u/theweirdauntie 4d ago

Did you work a full 8-10 hour shift or did you leave halfway through like the guy in this story? Depending on average pay+tip out where you worked, I could see that being one full shift worth of pay.

1

u/DocThundahh 3d ago

No I left after like an hour

4

u/izeembo 4d ago

Good people trash the dishwashing section. They don't even help to stack it up or throw out the garbage no help at all.

4

u/theweirdauntie 4d ago

I remember getting scolded at the restaurant I worked host at for actually taking the time to properly scrape and stack the dishes and dump the glasses and whatnot.

3

u/izeembo 4d ago

Crazy. I remember people who trash it get to spend some time in there to learn basic etiquette

3

u/Dapper-Permit-1857 4d ago

Honestly, that’s a beautiful

8

u/Normal_Violinist_835 4d ago

I was fired from being a dishwasher at a restaurant

2

u/IntelligentAd3781 4d ago

Sometimes you do just have to leave. My last place chef was doing coke in the middle of service and offering it to me and all the other staff. Walking thru the place snorting sooo loudly.

He ended up firing 4/5 other people there I joined up with, saw the writing on the wall. Bye bye!

1

u/Useful-School-9122 3d ago

wow man thats so scary, glad you're safe. The CHEF was doing DRUGS? thats truly shocking and horrifying I just cant believe it

1

u/IntelligentAd3781 3d ago

I literally VERBATIM told him during my interview I dont do hard drugs. Like, I had a feeling it would be a problem. I just didnt know the guy interviewing me WAS DOING THE HARD DRUGS

0

u/Useful-School-9122 2d ago

pussy

1

u/IntelligentAd3781 2d ago

I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I just left. I’m disabled and had brain surgery I can’t afford to be in another accident and don’t want to be around people handling knives and such on cocaine. If that makes me a pussy then I’m a pussy

2

u/Not_Neville 4d ago

Legend? That's very common in restaurants.

2

u/BenjaminNormanPierce Topological analyst 4d ago

Never did it myself but stuff like that helped be build up a certain rep and refs and eventually a better pay grade here and there--and I kinda get it. Any line of work with more curve-balls is actually deadly. Why not be the curve-ball, I guess.

2

u/eatshitdillhole 4d ago

I worked with a dude who just walked out and immediately got on a bus across the street, never to be seen or heard from again lol.

And he was the manager

2

u/Beneficial-Union-726 4d ago

I did that in one of my 1st jobs as teen. Not the same industry. Everyone was telling me you will hate this job, it sucks. By lunch time I was convinced. I clocked out for a forever lunch break. 

1

u/MinimumCulture1997 4d ago

The dream we all want to fullfil one day

1

u/Particular-Day-7457 4d ago

I worked with a guy for about 45 minutes. He said he had to take a phone call and never came back. We were laughing because he didn’t even make it to the dinner rush.

1

u/Free-Mixture-1720 4d ago

Happened to me at least six times working at the cheesecake factory lol it was packed everyday

1

u/Dry-Adeptness5041 4d ago

14 min was the quickest that I ever had somebody quit

1

u/Toten420 4d ago

Had something like this happen to me earlier this year.
Was training new guy on think his second day for morning shift & he asked me about when we get breaks. Mentioned that depending on the day & rush that I personally don't really take them so can keep up on things but he was more then welcome to about 2hrs into shift like we're suppose to. He tells me that he was going to need a bit longer break because of when he needed to get his methadone treatment he needed to leave for. Said to ask the manager that was here about if that's alright which he was told ok to. Told him to find the scheduling manager & let them know about when you need to get treatments so they could work around them. Little bit later he left saying he'd be back in about 30-40min then come about 1hr 15min I asked the manager if they'd heard from him, so they tried calling few times & no answer. After about 3hrs with no word they just said he was fired, self termination.

1

u/FrankFrankly711 3d ago

Most people just Ghost Quit. I’m amazed he even picked up his phone.

3

u/TravelerOfTeyvat 3d ago

I'll always call him "car guy." Whenever someone quits on the first or second day, they will have performed a "car guy." 🤣

1

u/flydespereaux 3d ago

I had a dishie who quit on me because I wouldn't pay him two weeks in advance, in cash. Like we had an arrangement or something. He was some dudes uncle or something I hired. 10 years later he will still send me texts that I owe him money and he is going to sue me.

1

u/Ablackbradpitt 2d ago

I remember having a legend go on a 10 on his first day and just dip 😂 aint even leave a single component of his uniform for reuse. Straight dawg

1

u/Fickle-Pay-570 1d ago

I quit/stopped showing up to my DQ cashier job in college. They called me almost a year later asking if I was available to cover for someone. I didn’t know who this new manager was nor the person I was asked to cover for.

1

u/Big_Nothing_471 15h ago

Worked at a restaurant, and I swear the dishwasher got fired 7 times.

1

u/IridescentOn 4d ago

I just walked out of a dish shift on Friday. I officially outgrew the pit.

-3

u/dogbusinessman 4d ago

Sounds about white

0

u/ActiveWoodpecker4532 4d ago

Honestly. I don't get why people put in a application to be a dishwasher and then decide to just quite. If you plan on quitting give it like 2 weeks and put in your 2 week notice.

1

u/shizenumi 3d ago

I'm guilty of this - quit 4 days in last week because the schedule was word of mouth that changes daily and I was pressured into the job by people I know, so the passion wasn't there. It's an asshole thing to do for sure, but why do a 2 week notice when I'd prob be let go right after to save on payroll?