Pete Posted a Blog Post

Pete posted a blog post

A Waiters Tool We All Needed

This may be a bit of self promoting here, but screw it, I'm excited about it and I think you will be too.What I'm referring to is my website insidedish.comAs an actor in NYC, I, myself, wait tables and bartend.  Through the years, I found it became increasingly more difficult to find that "perfect" day job that allowed flexibility, where I could make decent money, and still not sell my soul to an establishment.  I felt the demands in a lot of restaurants were not suiting to someone like me, whose focus was in show business.It was early 2010 when I was without a job and had no money.  At this time, I was pounding the pavement looking for that next restaurant that would get me back on track so that I could pursue my acting career again without distraction.I started training as a bartender at a restaurant (at little pay) for about a week and a half, borrowing money to eat and pay bills, until I could get behind the bar and start making tips.  Finally, after a long orientation process, it was my time to start shaking up cocktails, only to find out that the restaurant had planned all along to give me a different position in the restaurant that they were having trouble filling, because the earnings were low!  I was told there were no bar shifts available but I would have one as soon as one opened up!  I was duped into thinking I'd be bar tending, instead, I was making terrible money in another position.  I was doing 12 hour shifts, getting blisters on my feet from the excessive walking I'd be doing, in a position that didn't even require training!After leaving this job, my fear was that this could happen again, and... how could I prevent it? I began to develop insidedish.com.  A site that I had started in 2008 as a blog, mostly, for industry people to vent on their workplaces.Now, however, I would make it a full database, criteria-driven site where servers and bartenders could review a restaurant in the same way that a customer does, only for different reasons.  My hopes were that someday 10's of thousands of anonymous, restaurant reviews would be posted by industry people for others who potentially want to work at a restaurant or bar.  These job seekers would now know all the inside stuff about a particular restaurants conditions, BEFORE a single day of training!  Thus, saving time and money.My site features details about:Union statustip poolingearnings on lunch and dinner shiftsbenefitsmanagement support...and more!On the customer end of the site, for a nominal fee, they will be able to access inside information about eateries and bars that they frequent or might want to patronize.  Information that a server could only tell a customer(within reason), if it were strictly anonymous.As a server or a bartender the most common questions asked are:1. Where's the bathroom?and2. What should I order?With my site, not only will the servers be able to HONESTLY answer number 2, but will also be able to tell them about the "not-so-known" restroom on the second floor where there are no lines!  You get the idea.Anyway, my dream is to one day change the whole damn industry, so that management will have to think twice about whether they want to be the worst rated restaurant to work in.  Revenge is as sweet as chocolate mousse.See More