Hey everyone,
I work as a server in a small high end restaurant in Dublin. From 16:00-18:00 we do prep, service is from 18:00-00:00, and from 00:00-01:00 we do the closing.
We're supposed to take our breaks 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after the service however this happens very rarely and is not enforced in any way, as our prep schedule is very tight and there's always something unexpected we're supposed to just deal with, while at the end you just want to finish up and go home.
Although this kinda bothered me at first, I figured I'll just go with it as I'm a relatively new member to the team.
The closest we get to a rest break is a 2 minute smoke between 20:30 and 21:00 where we do a reset of the restaurant and there's generally some time to spare during that time. This was vital to us not only because we were getting our 'fix' ,but because we actually got to sit down and unwind for a few seconds.
However, the owner recently told us that we're not supposed to take smoke breaks during service as “there's always something to do”.
This is really frustrating as she expects us to be on our feet running for 6 hours straight in a stressful environment, while also expecting us to be joyful and talk to the guests. On top of that she's also being a real nazi about enforcing this new rule, creating a very hostile climate in work.
I'd really appreciate it if you could offer me some recommendations as to how to deal with this issue.
Thanks in advance.