Hmm, today has been largely unproductive, since I decided to finally apply at The Cheesecake Factory for a job. They often come up as a place to work, based on their high-volume but, moreso, their high turnover. It has kind of been my fallback. If nothing else works, I can always relent and apply at The Cheesecake Factory.

Today, I went there at like 11 a.m. to apply, just as they opened, only to discover that three days a week, Thursday being one of them, they have regular interview windows at 3 p.m. So, cutting into the space in time where I’m supposed to be reading Dickens and working on the novel, I’m back downtown at the Cheesecake Factory, filling in a largely useless document (my graduating from a specific high school in 1986 matters how exactly?).

Then, it’s about a 20 minute wait, and they call me back. Two managers escort me into the back of the restaurant that is not filled with patrons, and we review my resume. Of course, the topic is always the same: why waiting tables?

The manager-dude quickly lets me know that based on the high-quality service of their establishment, I wouldn’t be able to start as a server. And, if I was a host or cashier, even an exceptional one, I could be there as long as a year before I got promoted. How did I feel about that? he wanted to know.

I was still trying to get past the notion of thinking of The Cheesecake Factory as a high-quality place, but pushed that out of my head, and did my normal confident thing (since it’s been working so well getting me a restaurant gig?) and told him that based on my exceptional job performance, I would be a server much sooner than that.

Of course, the biggest question, and one I really should have prepared for: Why do you want to join the team at The Cheesecake Factory? Now, this is a walk in the park everywhere else. I can go on and on about why I’d like to work anywhere in the Castro, Millennium, Cafe Gratitude, anby number of places. But The Cheesecake Factory? I was really stumped. I said something about their excellent reputation, the approaching holiday season, who knows really.

Let’s face it. Why does anyone want to work anywhere? Money.

We go back and forth for a few minutes, but then he says that based on the experience of other applicants, he is unable to offer me a job at The Cheesecake Factory at this time.

Spooky… it will only get worse if The Rainforest Cafe follows suit. Although I still can’t bring myself to work at a horrible chain restaurant AND have to go to Fisherman’s Wharf to do it every day. That seems like too much torture for one person to stand.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2005 at 3:58 pm and is filed under diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.