Is being given almost no chance standard for a restaurant job?

At the beginning of the summer, I was ecstatic to be hired as a busser/food runner at one of the nice restaurants in downtown Baltimore. My foodservice experience consisted of several years in a retirement community, and the person who hired me was well aware of this. My first shift ended up being scheduled on a night that was really busy--there was a special fundraiser, as well as numerous large parties, and the place was packed. I was supposed to stay with my trainer (who was also the person who hired me) most of the night, but this ended up not happening--after an initial period of her explaining stuff to me, I got put with the guy whose job I was replacing, and then eventually was on my own entirely (with various members of the staff occasionally barking orders at me).



The job turned out to be a server's assistant-type deal in addition to the other duties: getting drinks and bread, refilling water, and so on (honestly, I'm not sure what the servers themselves do if they have so much help!) I guess I didn't do *overly* well--I was (relatively) slow and often didn't know what I should be doing at that moment--but I feel like most of that was to be expected from someone on their FIRST day. And I didn't make any huge mistakes--no spilling of food, falling, confrontations, etc--and the customers I dealt with all seemed perfectly happy (unusually so, really... I guess a well-hyped, fancy place will have that effect). At the end of the night, my trainer reappeared, asked me leading questions with the implication that the job was probably too far outside the realm of my experience, and said that we'd give it another week and then revaluate whether or not the job was right for me. She said she'd schedule my next shift for a slower time so I could really learn the ropes. I was too exhausted and emotionally drained to say much back, so, figuring I'd still have a chance to learn and prove myself, I agreed and went home (where I cried for an hour :( )



The next time I came in before the restaurant opened and followed the hirer/trainer around as she did all the opening work, explaining it to me and having me do a little. At one point I was told to sweep the floor, with an emphasis on thoroughness. As I was doing so the chef/owner came by and said I wasn't doing it fast enough! (If they would have stopped being cheap long enough to buy one of those dustpans-on-a-stick, it would have gone much faster! I was trying to do this with a handheld dustpan and a crappy old broom!) After the restaurant officially opened, the hirer/trainer had me water the first table that came in. Then she told me that it looked like the restaurant was going to be really empty for lunch, and so she was sending me home. I'd been there maybe an hour and a half.



A few days later, I got a call from the hirer/trainer, telling me she'd decided the job wasn't a good fit for me. I was so shocked and caught off guard that I didn't even ask for details or fight back--just said something polite and hung up. I wasn't paid for the 6-7 hours total I spent there. And now I'm left with a $8/hour temp job that expires in November, and no one responding to my applications for work relevant to my education :(



I guess I have a few questions, the main one being: is this standard treatment for fancy restaurants? I desperately need money and want to apply for more restaurant jobs, but I'm terrified of having a horrible experience like this again, where it's basically impossible to succeed and just a huge time waster. Also, was this fair? Am I world's worst busser/server's assistant? Should they have given me at least one more chance at a dinner shift? Could anyone, with any amount of experience, have done much better in a brand-new environment? I've since seen the job I had reposted twice on Craigslist, so maybe this particular place is just impossible to please...Is being given almost no chance standard for a restaurant job?
That restaurant let you go because you were too slow for them and you were struggling in their fast-paced environment. You shouldn't get upset over this, as you now learned that was not the right situation for you. Happens to a lot of people in foodservice, so you're not alone.



You just have to continue looking for the right job. I am certain you will find the right situation.Is being given almost no chance standard for a restaurant job?
A retirement community is so different to a popular busy restaurant it is like two completely different jobs, and so your previous experience was largely irrelevant in the environment in which you found yourself. Some employers simply don't know what they want. I know of an instance where a reputable agency sent twelve decent applicants for five positions in an ordinary large supermarket. The supermarket didn't take even one of them and when the agency politely asked why (feedback) the supermarket couldn't give a satisfactory answer