HRM

I began working as a hostess in a seafood restaurant located in Edgewater, New Jersey in the summer of 2009. The restaurant is rather popular in the summer, due to its scenic view of Manhattan. A few of my friends were working there at the time and it was a more pleasurable working environment. The restaurant is rather large and has a large bar area, which leads to the main floor dining area. There is also outdoor seating, which has a beautiful view of Manhattan, as well as a banquet/party room located on the second floor. This is a very large area for a hostess to have control over, especially when there is only two individuals working at the hostess stand. For the majority of the time, there would be three individuals at the hostess stand. One would have control over phone reservations as well as the waiting list (if one was needed at the time). The second person would be referred to as the "greeter" and would greet the patrons as well as inform them of the waiting time. The third person was referred to as the "seater" and would seat the patrons in order of the waiting list, as well as do a mental table check. This is where the flaw occurred, it was very difficult to seat the patrons and parties of guests as well as pay close attention to what tables were about to cleared or were on their last course. Due to the large area of the restaurant, it is not an easy task to seat individuals on the second floor as well as the outdoor patio, while attempting to hurry back to the host stand to seat the next waiting guests.

After bringing this to the attention of management, they agreed to hire an additional hostess for Friday and Saturday evenings. Unfortunately, this further worsened the situation. I would often find the fellow "seater" approaching the same table I was bringing my party to as well. There was a very big gap in verbal communication. Although this only happened a few times, it was a few times too many. Communication between the hostesses was also lacking in other areas. When the restaurant approached high levels of waiting times - greater than an hour, it became very chaotic. We would find ourselves cleaning the table areas, in order to reduce the wait times, and seat the agitated guests. This caused further confusion between one another. When we left our designated roles, it applied further pressure on our co-workers. For instance, if the "greater" left the host stand, the "seater" would have to seat, as well as greet customers. It is very easy to become forgetful and panic in this type of high pressure environment. Hiring of an additional host was not the efficient solution to the restaurants dilemma, hiring additional staff was needed. If additional bus boys (cleaners of the restaurant tables) were hired, hostesses would not feel the pressure to clean the tables themselves, as well as leave the host stand.

Unfortunately, it was more of a management issue. Very poor management was exercised at the restaurant and we would often be managing ourselves in times of need. There was a lack of communication between ourselves as hostess as well as with the restaurant staff. Due to the size of the restaurant it was very difficult to communicate with fellow employees. I tried to convince management that walkie-talkie headphone devices were needed and it would be very sufficient to communicate with each other through it. However, being a corporately owned restaurant, upper management did not approve. Thankfully, I left the restaurant and its stressful nights behind last summer. The money being made was not worth the aggravation as well as working  holidays. Management should hire additional bus boys, as well as contribute themselves more to the guests. Being available to the staff and guests is extremely important in this working environment.