I’m just a server that got a promotion to a lead server. Nothing crazy. But there is absolutely no benefit to being a lead.
I’m pregnant and have a child. A nice thing about being a server is that if you’re not making money on a slow day, chances are you will get cut and be able to leave. As a lead, I’m in charge of cutting but I never am able to be cut. I’ve had morning sickness awful some days and had to send servers home who would’ve been happy to stay. Of course I make more money if I stay on longer but working more hours to make more money doesn’t seem like a promotion. And I’m never the only server on, so there’s always a non lead making exactly the same amount as me. Some days we don’t cut anybody so I’m not making any more than anyone else. If we are slow enough to cut, we are slow enough that me staying isn’t going to make me much more money.
I can’t get my shifts picked up by anyone other than a lead. Almost everyday people are swapping shifts with one another. But if I cannot work, I still have to because there aren’t enough leads to pick up my shift. For a while it was just two of us.
We cannot work without a lead on. So if there isn’t one available for the day, my GM will serve. She isn’t allowed to keep her tips, so her tips get split up between the other servers who worked. People have walked out of there with $400 for 5 hours because they got my managers tips. That would never happen for me. If someone calls off, another non lead will take their shift or we will run with less on.
When we close, I am responsible for making sure everything is done and done well. If someone doesn’t do a good job cleaning an area, it is not their fault – it is mine for not noticing. I’ll get a text about it from my GM. Not that I get “in trouble” but it’s disheartening to hear I didn’t do a good job when I thought I did.
I get paid a couple more dollars an hour than the other servers but sometimes my checks are $1, sometimes they are $25. It’s not like it really impacts me.
I am responsible for training people constantly. It’s not like we only train on the shifts I work, but when I work and there is a trainee or stage shift, I am the one who has to train them.
I’ve asked to not be a lead anymore. They offered me $1 an hour and asked another server to be the lead. I get one day off from being a lead at work. But the lead that got asked recently got into a car accident and has been dealing with ride issues so they will switch with a non lead and I’ll be the lead again that day.
There’s absolutely no reason why I would want this responsibility. My GM said “you guys already average $40 an hour I can’t compete with that”. But everyone averages that. We share tips. So I’d make that much not being a lead. There has to be incentive for me to want to continue doing this. It’s not like the job is too hard for the money. But I’m not being compensated for doing extra.
And other things like, you’d think the best servers all could have Saturday nights. Well, no. Because we can’t have all the leads on one shift. We need there to be at least one on every shift so they can’t all be working the same nights. If I wasn’t a lead, but just a great server, I could work the best nights and it wouldn’t matter.