1) We don’t have enough folded napkins to set the dining room.
2) We didn’t fold napkins because there aren’t any napkins in house.
3) Management thinks the staff is stealing silverware.
4) Most of the missing silverware ends up in the garbage.
5) The staff drinks more bottled water than tap water.
6) The staff drinks more espresso than guests do.
7) The restaurant is low on wine glasses because someone broke an entire rack of them.
8) Management said more wine glasses are supposed to be coming in tomorrow… three weeks ago.
9) None of the wine glasses in the dining room match.
10) Somebody left a dirty decanter sitting out overnight.
11) The decanters are all chipped.
12) The one pepper mill in the restaurant does not properly dispense pepper.
13) The one pepper mill in the restaurant, aside from not properly dispensing pepper, has no peppercorns in it.
14) The restaurant’s wine list is not updated.
15) The restaurant’s website is not updated.
16) The meat served for staff meal cannot be identified.
17) One of the servers used the last tip log sheet and didn’t make extra copies.
18) Someone forgot to stock backup printer paper for the POS system.
19) The POS system will freeze during the busiest part of the night.
20) The Health Department will arrive for an inspection during the busiest part of the night.
21) The line cooks, who never wear hats, will put them on for twenty minutes when the Health Inspector arrives.
22) The line cooks, who never wear latex gloves, will put them on for twenty minutes when the Health Inspector arrives.
23) The Health Inspector is an asshole.
24) One of the busboys is hungover.
25) All of the busboys are hungover.
26) The dishwasher is still drunk from the night before and sweating tequila.
27) The dishwasher has colossally ripe B.O.
28) The dishwasher has gold teeth.
29) The dishwasher didn’t show up today.
30) Two people traded shifts and neither of them showed up because they forgot they made the switch.
31) More than half the staff forgot to clock in/out and the manager has to adjust their hours.
32) The manager, in addition to managing, is in the office doing blow.
33) The manager, in addition to managing, is also selling drugs to the staff.
34) The manager, in addition to managing, is also actively interviewing for other management jobs.
35) Everyone hates their schedule.
36) Everyone complains about their schedule to the manager who, in addition to managing, doesn’t care.
37) Managers stress hospitality then spend the entire pre-shift meeting talking about the importance of turning tables.
38) Managers stress going above and beyond for guests, then spend the evening’s service harassing the waitstaff about dropping the check on tables that aren’t ready for it.
39) The sommelier is always complaining about the wine cellar being disorganized.
40) The bartender is always complaining about having to do inventory.
41) Bar inventory is a nightmare because the staff has been pouring themselves drinks.
42) The kitchen thinks front of house are a bunch of spoiled rotten twits.
43) The front of house thinks the kitchen staff should shut the fuck up and switch sides if they think it’s so easy.
44) There is always Latin music blasting in the prep kitchen.
45) The employee locker room is a shithole.
46) The bathroom in the employee locker room is a shithole within a shithole and never has any hand soap or toilet paper.
47) The toilet seat in the employee locker room is broken.
48) A member of the waitstaff will put on unbearably bad music at the end of the night to encourage latecomers to leave.
49) A member of the waitstaff will inconspicuously turn up the lighting in the dining room to encourage latecomers to leave.
50) Restaurant people around the world have amassed a significant collection of umbrellas from the ones you’ve left behind.
51) You didn’t tip enough. (Sorry, we don’t count umbrellas).