Bad Management = Revenge Wanna talk about stealing? Oh God, the staff stole sooo much from this place over the years, which they justified because of cheap, rude, and often illegal treatment by asshole management. One waitress had not one but two professional bar blenders at home. Ohhhh, those margaritas were good. I would visit my co-workers in the summer and see some very familiar one-pound portions of steak and lobster cooking nicely on their grills. In the winter, employees would sled in their backyards on large kitchen trays. The glassware, plates, silverware, and cloth napkins in their cabinets were restaurant-quality, as were all of our friends' bar accoutrements and supplies. Each of us had a 2-foot-long wooden pepper mill (but we knew to only take them when they were new, as used ones were regularly set on the filthy floor in the kitchen).
My friend Barb would lift a bottle or two of wine each night before she left. She wasn't even sly about it; in fact, she would yell across the bar to ask for my recommendation and then pop it into her backpack, totally out in the open. Sometimes her pack was so heavy she practically had to drag it. People brought in Tupperware and packed up soups and salads for their lunches the next day. Another waitress left every evening with a pocketful of jumbo chilled shrimp; the cook took raw steaks for his dog and salmon for his cats. As we cleaned up the bar each night, we filled our big 7-11 cups with premium liquor, getting a nice buzz so we could save money at the bars later. I'll save accounts of how staff skimmed money for another time.
How did we get away with all of this? Management was completely lazy and seemed concerned only about which waitresses they could grope in the office.