Chapter Three: The Servers

 

In this tiny society, as in most societies, there crept certain factors that differentiated each individual. For the Rittos, each individual served his purpose in the way of this society, each in part brought aspects to the restaurant in what experienced people in the food industry call the “front of the house”.

            In the front of the house, sometimes dubbed FOH, there worked the servers, the bussers, the hostesses, the bartenders, as well at the floor manager. And yet to be one of these peculiar people, any one of them, there was always an extroverted talent that each must possess: anyone who worked in the front of the house must be gregarious. Fraternization created the character of each of these employees, for working with people was the basis of their duties. Inevitably, this created conflict within the members of the front of the house culture, for if all obtained this inherently out-going feature, then it can be assumed that all obtained a certain elevated level of outspoken and straightforwardness. This was the case at Corrotto’s.

            Beginning with the first person the guest in point may see, would be the hostess. She is a sly creature, beautiful and tiny but with a nymph-like deceptiveness. Her nails are manicured, her hair pouffed or fromped to perfection, masking her inner illusory character. They all were the same, they all were the same. It was up to the server to manipulate over time the actions that the hostess would no doubt resolve to do; the server could tip her out, the server could befriend her, or the server could do none of these things and make little money. It was in this way that Corrotto’s fell into the line of machinery. For it was a machine, and the hostess-server relationship exemplified this.

            It was common to find a female server mosey over to the hostess stand and converse with the hostess: for she deligated which guest or party of guests would be sat at which table (of course, which table belonged to which server). So it was only part of the job of the server to befriend the hostess in order to make a little more money. Each server had his own set of rules in which the hostess must known when being sat. For instance, Matt C. would not allow any white trash, children under the age of 21, black people or Mexicans to be sat in his section. Sarah refused Mexicans at all cost. Vanessa really didn’t care, but god have mercy on the poor new hostess that sat her foreigners (especially foreigners from Europe). It was the unwritten job in the Real employee Handbook that had virtually no merit with corporate Corroto’s that the hostess must follow in order to secure her place.

            But why the racism? It was a fact, beyond all doubt, that those mentioned and their groups did NOT tip well. Can you blame the server? Could you blame the hostess? Not at all. It was an unwritten rule: the non-white groups went mainly to the newest and ignorant Ritto server. Management had no worries about this dirty procedure. And could you blame management? No. The dynamics went like this: Those falling within the non-white or white trash categories simply did not have the funds available to be dining at a “fine establishment” such as Corrotto’s. This is why servers did not appreciate their business. But since these categories did not have the coveted and almighty dollar, management refused (subtly, of course – no one wants a law suit) to follow their motto of “everything goes” particularly with these groups. It is a sad fact, yes, but this is just the beginning of the Corrotto’s way of life.