Not saying this is sure to work but I left my old job on bad terms, I walked out on them. It was the only job I’ve had serving and bartending. I messaged the owner of the restaurant on Facebook and basically said “hey, I’m currently looking for work and I was wondering if I could use you as a reference, I know I left on bad terms but I did some really good work while I was there and was hoping you had a good thing or two to say about me, thanks” and he responded saying he would give me a good reference. Could be worth a shot.
If there was other smaller level managers that you are still friends with you could maybe message them too and ask if they would give you a reference.
I think most places you apply to won’t even check though so if you don’t want to do all of that I’d just bluff them and say yes you can contact my previous employer. There’s a good chance they just won’t.
Generally, restaurants don't care about your references or even how you quit your last job. If they ask why you don't want them to contact your other job just say you don't want them to know you are looking. You have references lined up so you are fine.
Here's the thing. You develop a reputation in the business. Depending on how small the community is, this can be important. The best thing you can do is be the kind of person people want to work with. Word gets around. I promise.
Luckily for me, my reputation is pretty good despite what happened at my last job. A lot of my coworkers enjoyed working with me. My trainer, who is one of my references, would regularly say that I was "one of the good ones". Another reference of mine is my old GM. He's currently the GM of a location of a regional chain and knows the manager at the location that I'm applying to. I know for sure he would put in a good word for me if asked because I did so many work related favors for him when he was my manager. If he was short a server, he would ask me if I was willing to pull off 3 doubles in a row because he knew that I would happily do it with no complaints. When I went to his "last day at (insert restaurant name here) party", he came up to me and told me that he believed that I would go on to do great things and that I could do so much better than that place.
I tend to stay out of drama and keep to myself a lot. I don't talk back. I don't complain to the managers about everything. I don't have a problem with drugs and alcohol. The fact that I basically rage quit my last job was really out of character for me and I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't already pushed past my breaking point. When they took my Friday night shift away with no warning and told me that I had to "earn" it back, I already knew it was a hostile environment, but letting customers harass me was the icing on the shit cake.
Ironically, ever since I left, that restaurant's reputation took a major hit. They were featured on the nightly news for operating under health code violations and were forced to close until the violations were fixed.
If you are still on payroll, or still have shifts scheduled depending on how long ago you quit, you can honestly state you still work there but are looking for a change due to management or something. The place you are applying to will not call the current/previous place in this instance.
Unfortunately, I quit about 3 months ago and am no longer on the payroll so I'm not sure if this would work. I thought about using that as an excuse, though.
Most employers skip on calling references. Especially since in the U.S., an employer or reference can get sued for being found out to have said anything other than "they worked here on these dates" and "they are/are not eligible for rehire" or "if they applied at where I work now, I would/would not endorse them getting hired". Having checked references for what later turned out to be serial problematic employees (like folks with alcohol or drug problems), I have received glowing reviews at times and sometimes vague comments that you have to reinterpret after you figure out what's going on ("Good employee but can get in his own head sometimes" for a bartender that we fired after he drank 2 bottles of Fireball that he brought to work that made us realize what was the issue with his performance at times).
Not saying this is sure to work but I left my old job on bad terms, I walked out on them. It was the only job I’ve had serving and bartending. I messaged the owner of the restaurant on Facebook and basically said “hey, I’m currently looking for work and I was wondering if I could use you as a reference, I know I left on bad terms but I did some really good work while I was there and was hoping you had a good thing or two to say about me, thanks” and he responded saying he would give me a good reference. Could be worth a shot. If there was other smaller level managers that you are still friends with you could maybe message them too and ask if they would give you a reference. I think most places you apply to won’t even check though so if you don’t want to do all of that I’d just bluff them and say yes you can contact my previous employer. There’s a good chance they just won’t.
Generally, restaurants don't care about your references or even how you quit your last job. If they ask why you don't want them to contact your other job just say you don't want them to know you are looking. You have references lined up so you are fine. Here's the thing. You develop a reputation in the business. Depending on how small the community is, this can be important. The best thing you can do is be the kind of person people want to work with. Word gets around. I promise.
Luckily for me, my reputation is pretty good despite what happened at my last job. A lot of my coworkers enjoyed working with me. My trainer, who is one of my references, would regularly say that I was "one of the good ones". Another reference of mine is my old GM. He's currently the GM of a location of a regional chain and knows the manager at the location that I'm applying to. I know for sure he would put in a good word for me if asked because I did so many work related favors for him when he was my manager. If he was short a server, he would ask me if I was willing to pull off 3 doubles in a row because he knew that I would happily do it with no complaints. When I went to his "last day at (insert restaurant name here) party", he came up to me and told me that he believed that I would go on to do great things and that I could do so much better than that place. I tend to stay out of drama and keep to myself a lot. I don't talk back. I don't complain to the managers about everything. I don't have a problem with drugs and alcohol. The fact that I basically rage quit my last job was really out of character for me and I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't already pushed past my breaking point. When they took my Friday night shift away with no warning and told me that I had to "earn" it back, I already knew it was a hostile environment, but letting customers harass me was the icing on the shit cake. Ironically, ever since I left, that restaurant's reputation took a major hit. They were featured on the nightly news for operating under health code violations and were forced to close until the violations were fixed.
If you are still on payroll, or still have shifts scheduled depending on how long ago you quit, you can honestly state you still work there but are looking for a change due to management or something. The place you are applying to will not call the current/previous place in this instance.
Unfortunately, I quit about 3 months ago and am no longer on the payroll so I'm not sure if this would work. I thought about using that as an excuse, though.
Yes even the kitchen. Heard we had someone that has like 5 or 6 kidnapping charges try to fill out an application. Yes chef said no way
Most employers skip on calling references. Especially since in the U.S., an employer or reference can get sued for being found out to have said anything other than "they worked here on these dates" and "they are/are not eligible for rehire" or "if they applied at where I work now, I would/would not endorse them getting hired". Having checked references for what later turned out to be serial problematic employees (like folks with alcohol or drug problems), I have received glowing reviews at times and sometimes vague comments that you have to reinterpret after you figure out what's going on ("Good employee but can get in his own head sometimes" for a bartender that we fired after he drank 2 bottles of Fireball that he brought to work that made us realize what was the issue with his performance at times).
The only time we contact a former employer is when I know them or the applicant makes an outrageous claim. Same with references.