Taking Breaks in Hospitality

[Cheganveese]

Started new bar job last night having never worked in hospitality before.

Started at 4:30pm finished at 2:15am - so nearly 10 hours, with no breaks, no drink, no sitting down at all.
I mentioned the long time standing up and they just shrugged and said yeh that’s the job - is that typical for the industry?

AIBU - yes of course it is
YANBU - breaks should have been offered

You need 20 minutes (minimum) after 6 hours (maximum) working www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

You are entitled to breaks (unpaid) it’s tough when you don’t want to be that employee. Are there lots of smokers I often find they get breaks in bar work when no one else does. Just go to the loo every two hours and have a five minute sit down 🤫

Yes it's fairly normal because there is just no time to take a break. It's horrible and shouldn't happen but sometimes a break is a miracle.

I have only ever worked in one place where breaks were fairly normal but even some days it just wasn't possible, especially on an evening shift.

Yeah you're legally entitled to one but I've found in practice it doesn't always happen. I've always been able to have a drink on the go behind the bar though

No, it’s not normal, it’s illegal

It's sadly very normal in hospitality - it shouldn't be, of course, but it is.

You should have been offered a 20 minute break as you are legally entitled to it.

You should definitely be able to have a drink whenever you need it. I worked in hospitality for years and never had any issues with grabbing a quick drink while working.

I can understand them shrugging their shoulders about you saying there was no time to sit down though, being on your feet all day is standard in hospitality. I would often eat standing in the kitchen on my break as 20 minutes isn't a long time to sit down to eat and go to the loo, and often there was nowhere to sit as all the tables were taken by customers.

Yes it's normal, not right, but normal. It's what hospitality staff (and probably others) do every day to provide the service people demand.

It doesn't matter how many staff you have on, people don't want to wait, if not near immediate and perfect service then it's not good enough, even if you're with other customers, so they certainly don't want to wait because someone is on their break, even if there's a replacement available to cover, if they're with another customer then it's not good enough. So people don't have breaks in 8/10/12 hour shifts to try and avoid being shouted at for not being able to defy the laws of physics and split themselves in several pieces and serve everyone at once.

I tried to leave 4 times yesterday, already an hour over my shift, even with my coat on and half way out the door I was being asked to do things by customers because clearly I only exist to serve others.

That and not being able to predict the future as in know how many people you're going to get through the door on any given day to be able to put adequate staffing in place, you can guess certain times and days will be busy and staff to that, and you don't dare turn people away because if you've got empty tables to try and manage the situation on the staff you have, and tell someone you can't accommodate them it's simply because you're being awkward and stupid because you have a free table.

And people don't want to work in this environment, and they certainly don't want to invest themselves in it, especially when there's an attitude towards these jobs that they're 'beneath' others. So recruitment is hard.

So yeah it's normal in hospitality because that's what's expected by the general public.

It’s not normal in hospitality at all. I’ve worked in lots of restaurants so know what I’m talking about!

Everywhere should have one staff member who basically covers all breaks. Everyone should be getting a break, no matter how busy it is.

It's not right but it is normal unfortunately. I used to work in a club and on my rare breaks I would go to pee and then sit on the toilet for the whole break because it was the only place I could sit down, have a breather and not have anyone talking to me. You should definitely be allowed to have a drink! Are you allowed toilet breaks?

I'm glad it's not your experience but given pretty much every other reply says it's normal, maybe you're the exception?

I would also say that bars/clubs/pubs are very different to sit-down restaurants.

Most of the replies will be from people who think they understand hospitality, but actually have no clue.

I’ve worked in everything from part time waitress to supervisor to bar back, to bar manager to GM to area manager to Michelin.

Everywhere I have worked, every person I have known to work in hospitality (thousands!) have breaks. It’s the law, and unless the restaurant is run by idiots everyone gets their breaks.

@Cadela are you saying everyone responding here is lying, then?

Well, either that or there’s lots of places that need shutting down 😂

For working nearly 10 hours, you need more than a 20 minute break!

I think you are entitled to one 40 minutes break and one 20 minutes break.

It's illegal but normal

Sounds like the NHS

Everyone? There's been plenty of other responses saying it's not normal. Because it isn't. It's also not my experience in any of the, many, hospitality jobs I've worked. If it's your experience, then I'm sorry you were taken advantage of.

I think you're being incredibly naive, to be honest 🤷‍♀️

I also think you've been incredibly fortunate if you've genuinely never missed a break or had to work unpaid overtime etc. in any of your hospitality jobs.

@oui by "everyone" I meant, "everyone saying it's normal" - I thought that was a given.

Believe me - its normal, Ive worked in hospitality for 45 years and this job I have now is the first time ever that I get a 15 or 30 min break and its the first job I have had in hospitality where there is a rest room within reach for that break. Usually 15 mins gives enough time for a pee and shovel a bite of food - usually standing in the kitchen

I actually went back smoking at work in my last place, no one begrudged you stepping outside for a smoke break and it got you away for a couple of minutes. Most of the kitchen and bar staff were smokers. Everyone has a drink on the go , you cant be running up and down without having a pint of water or squash to hand

Its very much the norm in independents Where I work now we even have such luxuries as line managers, payroll and HR, so everything is by the book

I think as someone who's also worked in some of those positions that I'm also someone well placed to have an informed opinion as well, and wouldn't do you the disservice of saying that because your experience isn't mine then you 'haven't got a clue'.

You've been in positions that means you get to make those decisions and make sure the staff do get the breaks, so you've had influence there over your own experience by ensuring that the staff who were working with you had that break. We need more managers with your attitude in hospitality, to improve conditions for the staff.

Ime the type of place influences a lot, higher class places tend to look after their staff better and invest in them, and not expecting you to work through breaks to keep filling the till or to save on the staff budget is one way they do that - because they want to hold on to them.

Customers in that environment tend to have better manners as well and less likely to start shouting the odds at the staff because they had to wait 'half an hour' (why is it always half an hour? Everyone who's ever waited at a bar or for an order to be taken has always waited half an hour, no matter how long it actually was, anyway....) and point valid complaints to the right people rather than just offloading their frustration at the person in front of them because they can't deal with their own emotions.

I'm glad you've never experienced it, many have because the hospitality industry is wide and varied. My experience is that yes, it's pretty much normalised that you put the customer first and work through your break if that's needed to keep the customers happy, or at least happier than they would be if there was one less person available to serve them.

Thanks for the replies guys - I’m a grafter don’t get me wrong, but no way can I be on my feet for ten hours straight. I’ve paid for it today with swollen ankles, a sore back, and a headache probably from dehydration last night. I’m not going back.

In my experience you'd get scheduled breaks on double shifts eg. 10am-10pm as you're covering two or three services, but you wouldn't on single shifts that end up being longer than 6 hours eg. An AM shift 10am-5pm or a PM 4-close.

Ideally you should be getting breaks of course, but ultimately if you're working a 4pm until close with continuous customers it's not really going to be possible to duck out for half an hour.

I still maintain that everyone should work in hospitality for a year to understand that the grass is definitely greener outside of it 😂 going from hospitality to the public sector has been hilarious listening to people complaining about "working conditions".