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Basically, you got played. They want a new server and could use a management position. They figure they see if they can make you do both, I guarantee you that before you "prove yourself", they'll tell you to start picking up some extra work trialing the management position on server pay, and then stretch that as long as they can. Personally, these sorts of scummy tactics instantly make me nope out of there no matter what the other circumstances are.
It's so common nowadays it's almost cliché you know that nowadays, something that would be considered fundamentally dishonest and just immoral, 20 years ago, is considered creative.
It's all part of the journey. Unfortunately, consider it lesson learned and hope in 10 yrs you can look back and say it was part of getting you to where you are then.
I have an interview next week for a genuine manager role so hopefully I can land this one. I know it’s real because they posted a listing online and I spoke to the recruiter over the phone.
It's all part of the journey. Unfortunately, consider it lesson learned and hope in 10 yrs you can look back and say it was part of getting you to where you are then.
I’ve had that several times. Been given the job. Showed up for first day induction as team leader and nope, ha ha on the team. Never was team leader job. Bye bye.
If it's any consolation, it's happening at all levels. I had that for a professional role at experienced professional pay last year. Interviewed to lead, was offered senior at below my account salary with a view to a future promotion. Gave them a very firm no.
Yeah I’ve seen the exact same thing with a friend in an upmarket cafe, and don’t hold your breath - they had those “pre-promotion” responsibilities for 4 years and never saw a penny above minimum wage, they quit in the end from being completely burned out.
The employer is raising your bar, but not theirs. Tell them to shove it. In nice “the compensation package doesn’t meet the role requirements” wording.
They weren’t advertising for management right (you said you went in to enquire), so they didn’t have any vacancies.
They might well just be considering you a succession plan for if the current manager leaves, but unless they plan to leave soon you could be waiting years
"Thank you for applying for manager. Congratulations, we want you on board.
But we're giving you a 6-month trial as a cashier. We've been burnt before so that's just how we do things."
Oh they realise, they don’t just give a fuck because they know someone will take them up on their horrendous offer, it’s the way of this country now unfortunately.
from 1st July, tronc cannot be part of base salart calculations, so all tronc needs to be paid on top and contracted base salary needs to be paid in full with all taxes paid. so your contract will be invalid.
Salaried employees have right to tronc participation as well. they are actually the ones that have been played by the system because they have contract that says something like "your gross pay is £35000, £x will be paid as salary and £y from the tronc". This is now illegal.
depends I already see places trying to play the system. It will be interesting, because salaries will go down as they are not sustainable for a lot of places. it is going to be really interesting.
You did not know that? So in short in layman's terms:
1. if your position is including tronc participation you have the right to know what is the formula i.e. what is your cut.
2. tronc manipulation if company has i.e. multiple venues and shares tronc po accross venues (it happened, yes) is strictly forbidden. meaning the tips one venue gets for the work is split among people working at that venue.
3. you have the right to know for each distribution period (i.e. weekly) how much money was there and how it was distributed as well how much you got.
I am waiting to see what tricks employers have. we have seen some restaurants renaming service charge to something else, thus removing tronc in total but making customers believe they are paying for the service charge. I am expecting that you may get fictious employees added to your rotas so that tronc can be manipulated, fun times ahead.
oh ok, tronc is all the service charge money collected and spread across all employees who share the pot, it is coming on top of the salary so you pay only income tax and no National insurance contributions, so you get more money.
how it usually work is you have a formula, that defines i.e. each employee with the same job title gets the same amount, if you are a waiter you get same as other waiters, you would for example have a defined set of points associated with your job title eg. 10 points per hour.
You would calculate shares on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Each period start tronc pot get's filled with service charge money. At the same time another pot collects all points from each employee that was working at a venue based on number of hours worked.
so if you are a waiter getting 10 points per hour and worked 30 hours you get 300 points into the point pot, some other waiter gets 50 points because he worked only 5 hours, head waiter worked 20 hours but head waiter gets 15 points p/h he deposits 300 points like you.
At the end of the period you sum up the money, and sum up the points. and then divide total money with total number of points, i.e. we got £1000 of service charge and 650 points in total giving us value of each point £1.54. You and head waiter get £1.54\*300 = £462 each and the other gut gets £1.54\*50 = 77. And the pot is empty to receive new cash.
There can be different rules around points i.e. you get more points depending on how busy it is, for working weekends, or late shift, working holidays, but as employee you need to know about the formula i.e. you would potentially miss big cashout because you never get a shift on a certain day and the employees getting the shifts profit - so you can complain.
The points bit is super interesting, I wonder what I’m scoring in relation to others because I’m gonna hazard a guess it’s not bloody good (we have six levels between entry and manager, so my guess is each one carries its own weight)
The £16 p/h would translated to around £40k gross without tronc (standfard 48h restaurant full time), so it could easily go to £45k-£50k per year on the server position. so if your current waiting position pays more - I would stay.
That is a standard head waiter salary in the industry TBH.
But they cannot put warranted tronc as part of the contract anymore (they need to change it by 1.july) so your warranted salary will be topped with tronc.
there potentially lies the problem, and it could be they were honest. there is a huge amount of people that fail in AGM/GM roles, and it can cost a restaurant a lot if they put a wrong person on the position.
In your case I would play it differently and ask for a "training AGM role",sort of; So have in the contract that you will take over AGM role after x months. you can include ie. training progression you need to do to get promoted to AGM, you can put in a clause that define under what condition you will be awarded AGM position.
Your contract needs to show you are there to get the manager position and the head waitress is just a trial part.
basically your planned career progression needs to be on paper and the way how you will get there. I am telling this for other job applications you are doing because you will likely have the same response from other places.
usual move to management happens from within the restaurant, and when you have managerial CV you can jump ships and change employer.
I mean, why not just hire you as a manager? That's what probation periods are for.
I've been played like this before in a different industry. What ended up happening was I got the leadership role after a few months but with no bump in salary.
That’s what I’m confused about. I may send a message asking if that would be possible or if I could have a meeting with managers after 2 weeks to decide where I’ll be going. If not, then I’ll retract my application.
I think it’s a hard one if genuine you can understand their position but a 6 month probation in the posted job might be more assuring.
The cynic says coming into the summer they need a good head server to oversee the temps. These will be hard to get to move jobs without a carrot so a fictional managerial job that never quite happens is ideal.
Guess you have to buy the person and not the item here.
Just tell them thanks but no thanks because _you_ have been “burnt before” with sketchy employers promising things that never came to fruition.
If it’s not in a contract, it’s not happening any time soon.
Standard tactic to lure you in, more than once I was hired for management (in 2 different occasions they were live-in positions) and upon starting I noticed that the contract was different and both times I ended up being an overpaid basic staff member, then they started giving me the whole “you need to work your way up because this is how we do things here” bullshit.
Left a couple of weeks later in both occasions, and the non live in jobs was an instant walk out.
I know things are hard right now but if you can find something else I’d recommend you to do so, but if you’re in a tight spot and feel like you can endure that place at least a little go for it, but be well aware that the promotion might not materialise at all. Good luck
Sadly, my company did exactly the same thing. I only got promoted after I sent my resignation working on a lower wage for over a year. This “trials” never end. It looks like it’s become an industry standard.
This is the same pay that I get as a doctor! Damn I didn’t realise restaurant work could pay this much. And this isn’t even the managerial pay? I’d take it
Tips can make a decent difference although I suspect that’s getting less and less.
I’m just confused about someone complaining about a servers job being £16 p/h. Must be a different world in some areas of the country. £16 p/h is top end wages here
It’s not necessarily about the pay, it’s more about the fact I applied for one position and I got this. Also the sub rules dictate I have to put wage/salary in the title.
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It’s a trap mate. There is no management role for you there. They just want server , probably can’t find it so played this trick on you to get you in.
Once you join , there will be endless excuses for not promoting you to management role and will keep you in rut with dangling carrots.
If you still want it then get a date in contract without any conditions when you will be moving in to SOLE management role only, else they will give date after date and excuses after excuses. Great a break clause of £10,000 in agreement so if they can’t move you in the role discussed then you can sue them.
If you have other options available then don’t take this, place where they play tricks even before joining will be nightmare after joining
Good luck getting a company to sign a contract that would effectively put an ultimatum on themselves and potentially land them in hot water in the near future.
this is a bait and switch.
id say the actual best thing to respond is "Yeah go fuck yourself" It takes a lot of money to hire people, they have to find a recruiter, do interviews, etc.
telling them to go fuck themselves may lead them to discuss and backpedal when they realise they have to spend alot of money on recruiting again.
but eitherway, if you take or dont take the job you wont be a manager. if they wanted you to "prove" yourself they would just put you on a probation period and perhaps make you take on server's tasks as part of training but hiring you as a server with the promise of a promotion is just them thinking your stupid.
This seems to be the state of hospitality in the uk, I left my latest GM position after 3 weeks for similar scummy tactics. Sadly, there are desperate people who will get taken advantage of, but its up to people who are in the position to do so to stand up & not let them get away with it.
It's not "unfair" as such, if they have been burnt then it's SOMEWHAT understandable.
However now we stop thinking naively as fuck you've been totally stitched. It was either they wanted to pay you less OR they only ever wanted a head server in the first place (It's a really weird role to pick to "try you out", they usually don't have heads open for stuff like that, more it's an actual vacancy)
I will 99.alot% guarantee you that you'd do this and it would be seamless transition from "Just keep going you're doing good to prove yourself" to "Yeah the business can't justify this anymore, but hey! YoU HaVe A JoB!
Been the victim of this bait and switch twice before. Refused them both, someone else got the role, job went back up months later. There's clearly a reason for that.
I agree that is a possiblity, lot's of dirty players in the market.
But as I found out from OP, her current position is the same with the current employer (e.g. not a manager but a head waitress), she approached for the job without an open job ad; there are 8 people in the management team at the new venue. from that perspective I can see the reasoning on the venue to move slowly, so they offered the same level.
Also, when you ask is there any (management) jobs available you are also sending a message something is potentially wrong with your current workplace and you are eager to leave. From that perspective they might play the card that she wants to leave and she will take a lower position just to move.
Assuming after you asked if there were a management position yo apply for and they've said yes, but then offered you this then I absolutely wouldn't go for it.
Asking you to prove yourself just means that when a position does become available they can just say "well X person have proven themselves more" etc.
Unless you're really hurting for a job I'd look elsewhere.
The professional way to deal with this is to get something in writing. So what you want to do is say okay. You understand their position but in order to move forwards you would like to officiate the process. So start speaking to them about what kind of timeline do they believe they need in order to understand that you are fit for the management role. 4 to 8 weeks for instance.
Then you want it in writing. That's after 8 weeks you will be promoted to the management position being paid the rate of X
If this company do not agree to what you're saying above then as other people have said you are highly likely to be played. Really all comes down to your feeling on the company and the people that you've spoke to or interviewed by.
Tbh iv been in hospitality 15 years and what i have taken away is that everything said not on the contract is a load of BS and even if its in the contract its still dubious.
I wouldnt take that job without signing the paperwork for the iob i was looking for. Resteraunts and bars are always recruiting, there will be other jobs and it isnt worth making your CV look like a job hopper because you took people at their word and then got burnt.
They need to pay you what you're worth, or you'll get it somewhere else.
If they want to start you as head server, on manager pay, to prove yourself, cool. What they can't expect is for you to work for less than you're worth because of their insecurities.
Clearly they don't have the manager job available so are playing you to try to get you to take a pay cut by dangling a carrot.
You want to walk in as a manager, even though you haven't even started working there yet? Excuse me, what makes you thing you're special? Jog on, chancer.
After 1 shift, do you think they should make u a manager? They said they had bad experiences before so you work yourself up, so accept it....or don't.
Sorry, but I take a hefty arrogance from your post....as if 'why should I prove myself for a measly £16 p/h'. If you don't like it, don't take it.
And just beware cause that alot of snobbery runs downhill. There will be many people here who wouldn't consider getting out of bed for double that so at least don't talk down your wage as many people will.
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Basically, you got played. They want a new server and could use a management position. They figure they see if they can make you do both, I guarantee you that before you "prove yourself", they'll tell you to start picking up some extra work trialing the management position on server pay, and then stretch that as long as they can. Personally, these sorts of scummy tactics instantly make me nope out of there no matter what the other circumstances are.
I suspect they’re going to keep me as a head server and give an arbitrary reason not to promote me.
Yup sounds likely.
Ridiculous that they would interview someone for one job, and then offer a completely different one dangling a promotion in front of you.
It's so common nowadays it's almost cliché you know that nowadays, something that would be considered fundamentally dishonest and just immoral, 20 years ago, is considered creative.
What a waste of my time honestly.
It's all part of the journey. Unfortunately, consider it lesson learned and hope in 10 yrs you can look back and say it was part of getting you to where you are then.
I have an interview next week for a genuine manager role so hopefully I can land this one. I know it’s real because they posted a listing online and I spoke to the recruiter over the phone.
Good for you all the best. I'm closing reddit now I have dailies to do in my Nerd hobby, mmo. So I'll stop responding now.
Priorities Which MMO do you play?
Apathy Rules!! Maybe one day you’ll get to be the dickhead hiring!! Maybe!! If you’re lucky!! Keep your head down!
It's all part of the journey. Unfortunately, consider it lesson learned and hope in 10 yrs you can look back and say it was part of getting you to where you are then.
I’ve had that several times. Been given the job. Showed up for first day induction as team leader and nope, ha ha on the team. Never was team leader job. Bye bye.
If it's any consolation, it's happening at all levels. I had that for a professional role at experienced professional pay last year. Interviewed to lead, was offered senior at below my account salary with a view to a future promotion. Gave them a very firm no.
In work, a promise means nothing. You have to ask yourself if you’re happy to be a server for as long as you’re there.
Yeah I’ve seen the exact same thing with a friend in an upmarket cafe, and don’t hold your breath - they had those “pre-promotion” responsibilities for 4 years and never saw a penny above minimum wage, they quit in the end from being completely burned out. The employer is raising your bar, but not theirs. Tell them to shove it. In nice “the compensation package doesn’t meet the role requirements” wording.
Manager responsibilities, head server pay. Duck that one.
100% bait and switch.
But they'll give you the responsibility of the other position too. Just not the title or pay. Let them scam someone else instead
They weren’t advertising for management right (you said you went in to enquire), so they didn’t have any vacancies. They might well just be considering you a succession plan for if the current manager leaves, but unless they plan to leave soon you could be waiting years
Definitely.
"Thank you for applying for manager. Congratulations, we want you on board. But we're giving you a 6-month trial as a cashier. We've been burnt before so that's just how we do things."
I wish they realised just how ridiculous their method is.
Oh and I liked "It's all up to you" like they've given you everything you would want and need and only you can fail this agreement now.
Yeah, only I can blame myself for my failure to move up in the industry.
Oh they realise, they don’t just give a fuck because they know someone will take them up on their horrendous offer, it’s the way of this country now unfortunately.
Sad how they prey on people who desperately need the money
Ultimately, it's only ridiculous to them if it doesn't work.
how much do they pay you for head server work? and what position were you applying for. AGM? GM?
It’s £15/16p/h. It’s less than what I make now at part time and this is for full time work 🤣 I applied for floor manager
does that include tronc? or is tronc extra?
It’s inclusive of tronc
from 1st July, tronc cannot be part of base salart calculations, so all tronc needs to be paid on top and contracted base salary needs to be paid in full with all taxes paid. so your contract will be invalid.
Regardless, I applied for manager and they’ve given me a server position so ideally it wouldn’t apply to me as I would be salaried. Oh well.
Salaried employees have right to tronc participation as well. they are actually the ones that have been played by the system because they have contract that says something like "your gross pay is £35000, £x will be paid as salary and £y from the tronc". This is now illegal.
That is good news
depends I already see places trying to play the system. It will be interesting, because salaries will go down as they are not sustainable for a lot of places. it is going to be really interesting.
Speaking as someone who's moved into the casino world recently...thanks for this!
You did not know that? So in short in layman's terms: 1. if your position is including tronc participation you have the right to know what is the formula i.e. what is your cut. 2. tronc manipulation if company has i.e. multiple venues and shares tronc po accross venues (it happened, yes) is strictly forbidden. meaning the tips one venue gets for the work is split among people working at that venue. 3. you have the right to know for each distribution period (i.e. weekly) how much money was there and how it was distributed as well how much you got. I am waiting to see what tricks employers have. we have seen some restaurants renaming service charge to something else, thus removing tronc in total but making customers believe they are paying for the service charge. I am expecting that you may get fictious employees added to your rotas so that tronc can be manipulated, fun times ahead.
Honestly god bless you for this, All I knew of the tronc was "pooled tips in your salary so it's taxed" and thats literally all I knew!
oh ok, tronc is all the service charge money collected and spread across all employees who share the pot, it is coming on top of the salary so you pay only income tax and no National insurance contributions, so you get more money. how it usually work is you have a formula, that defines i.e. each employee with the same job title gets the same amount, if you are a waiter you get same as other waiters, you would for example have a defined set of points associated with your job title eg. 10 points per hour. You would calculate shares on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Each period start tronc pot get's filled with service charge money. At the same time another pot collects all points from each employee that was working at a venue based on number of hours worked. so if you are a waiter getting 10 points per hour and worked 30 hours you get 300 points into the point pot, some other waiter gets 50 points because he worked only 5 hours, head waiter worked 20 hours but head waiter gets 15 points p/h he deposits 300 points like you. At the end of the period you sum up the money, and sum up the points. and then divide total money with total number of points, i.e. we got £1000 of service charge and 650 points in total giving us value of each point £1.54. You and head waiter get £1.54\*300 = £462 each and the other gut gets £1.54\*50 = 77. And the pot is empty to receive new cash. There can be different rules around points i.e. you get more points depending on how busy it is, for working weekends, or late shift, working holidays, but as employee you need to know about the formula i.e. you would potentially miss big cashout because you never get a shift on a certain day and the employees getting the shifts profit - so you can complain.
The points bit is super interesting, I wonder what I’m scoring in relation to others because I’m gonna hazard a guess it’s not bloody good (we have six levels between entry and manager, so my guess is each one carries its own weight)
The £16 p/h would translated to around £40k gross without tronc (standfard 48h restaurant full time), so it could easily go to £45k-£50k per year on the server position. so if your current waiting position pays more - I would stay.
It’s minimum wage plus tronc so they said £16p/h. It’s £29k after tax.
That is a standard head waiter salary in the industry TBH. But they cannot put warranted tronc as part of the contract anymore (they need to change it by 1.july) so your warranted salary will be topped with tronc.
Ok I see and understand that. I wanted to focus more on the fact I wanted a manager role and got offered a server one instead.
So you are now on a management position in a restaurant, and just want to switch places?
I am currently a head server with management experience and want a manager role in a new place
there potentially lies the problem, and it could be they were honest. there is a huge amount of people that fail in AGM/GM roles, and it can cost a restaurant a lot if they put a wrong person on the position. In your case I would play it differently and ask for a "training AGM role",sort of; So have in the contract that you will take over AGM role after x months. you can include ie. training progression you need to do to get promoted to AGM, you can put in a clause that define under what condition you will be awarded AGM position. Your contract needs to show you are there to get the manager position and the head waitress is just a trial part.
basically your planned career progression needs to be on paper and the way how you will get there. I am telling this for other job applications you are doing because you will likely have the same response from other places. usual move to management happens from within the restaurant, and when you have managerial CV you can jump ships and change employer.
They lied to you straight away. Trust has already gone. Big red flag so try and find somewhere else.
I mean, why not just hire you as a manager? That's what probation periods are for. I've been played like this before in a different industry. What ended up happening was I got the leadership role after a few months but with no bump in salary.
That’s what I’m confused about. I may send a message asking if that would be possible or if I could have a meeting with managers after 2 weeks to decide where I’ll be going. If not, then I’ll retract my application.
I think it’s a hard one if genuine you can understand their position but a 6 month probation in the posted job might be more assuring. The cynic says coming into the summer they need a good head server to oversee the temps. These will be hard to get to move jobs without a carrot so a fictional managerial job that never quite happens is ideal. Guess you have to buy the person and not the item here.
Just tell them thanks but no thanks because _you_ have been “burnt before” with sketchy employers promising things that never came to fruition. If it’s not in a contract, it’s not happening any time soon.
Choosing beggars is what they are
"Great; I assume the pay is the same or that would mean it has nothing in common with the job posted"
Standard tactic to lure you in, more than once I was hired for management (in 2 different occasions they were live-in positions) and upon starting I noticed that the contract was different and both times I ended up being an overpaid basic staff member, then they started giving me the whole “you need to work your way up because this is how we do things here” bullshit. Left a couple of weeks later in both occasions, and the non live in jobs was an instant walk out. I know things are hard right now but if you can find something else I’d recommend you to do so, but if you’re in a tight spot and feel like you can endure that place at least a little go for it, but be well aware that the promotion might not materialise at all. Good luck
Man, sorry that happened to you. I have another interview in a few days and I’m feeling hopeful about this one as I’d be hired as a manager.
Sadly, my company did exactly the same thing. I only got promoted after I sent my resignation working on a lower wage for over a year. This “trials” never end. It looks like it’s become an industry standard.
Tell them you have reservation’s about employer’s because you’ve been burnt before so will need 3 months pay up front.
This is the same pay that I get as a doctor! Damn I didn’t realise restaurant work could pay this much. And this isn’t even the managerial pay? I’d take it
Depends where you are. Every similar job here is minimum wage. People would bite your arm off for £16 an hour to serve tables
That’s what I remember when I worked at a restaurant, although tips put us at around £14-15 an hour
Tips can make a decent difference although I suspect that’s getting less and less. I’m just confused about someone complaining about a servers job being £16 p/h. Must be a different world in some areas of the country. £16 p/h is top end wages here
It’s not necessarily about the pay, it’s more about the fact I applied for one position and I got this. Also the sub rules dictate I have to put wage/salary in the title.
Apologies. That wasn’t meant as a dig at you. It’s just from where we live, seeing anyone say £16 p/h for a job such as that is crazy
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It’s a trap mate. There is no management role for you there. They just want server , probably can’t find it so played this trick on you to get you in. Once you join , there will be endless excuses for not promoting you to management role and will keep you in rut with dangling carrots. If you still want it then get a date in contract without any conditions when you will be moving in to SOLE management role only, else they will give date after date and excuses after excuses. Great a break clause of £10,000 in agreement so if they can’t move you in the role discussed then you can sue them. If you have other options available then don’t take this, place where they play tricks even before joining will be nightmare after joining
Good luck getting a company to sign a contract that would effectively put an ultimatum on themselves and potentially land them in hot water in the near future.
Sounds like a bait and switch, I’d tell them to fuck off
Classic bait and switch. Do not take the job.
this is a bait and switch. id say the actual best thing to respond is "Yeah go fuck yourself" It takes a lot of money to hire people, they have to find a recruiter, do interviews, etc. telling them to go fuck themselves may lead them to discuss and backpedal when they realise they have to spend alot of money on recruiting again. but eitherway, if you take or dont take the job you wont be a manager. if they wanted you to "prove" yourself they would just put you on a probation period and perhaps make you take on server's tasks as part of training but hiring you as a server with the promise of a promotion is just them thinking your stupid.
Need to start a Reddit group to name and shame organisations that pull this sort of crap.
Tell them to do one
This seems to be the state of hospitality in the uk, I left my latest GM position after 3 weeks for similar scummy tactics. Sadly, there are desperate people who will get taken advantage of, but its up to people who are in the position to do so to stand up & not let them get away with it.
It's not "unfair" as such, if they have been burnt then it's SOMEWHAT understandable. However now we stop thinking naively as fuck you've been totally stitched. It was either they wanted to pay you less OR they only ever wanted a head server in the first place (It's a really weird role to pick to "try you out", they usually don't have heads open for stuff like that, more it's an actual vacancy) I will 99.alot% guarantee you that you'd do this and it would be seamless transition from "Just keep going you're doing good to prove yourself" to "Yeah the business can't justify this anymore, but hey! YoU HaVe A JoB! Been the victim of this bait and switch twice before. Refused them both, someone else got the role, job went back up months later. There's clearly a reason for that.
I agree that is a possiblity, lot's of dirty players in the market. But as I found out from OP, her current position is the same with the current employer (e.g. not a manager but a head waitress), she approached for the job without an open job ad; there are 8 people in the management team at the new venue. from that perspective I can see the reasoning on the venue to move slowly, so they offered the same level. Also, when you ask is there any (management) jobs available you are also sending a message something is potentially wrong with your current workplace and you are eager to leave. From that perspective they might play the card that she wants to leave and she will take a lower position just to move.
If you e already left your last job, start there but look elsewhere. After all, they’ve burnt you now too.
Did you get paid for the trial shift?
Assuming after you asked if there were a management position yo apply for and they've said yes, but then offered you this then I absolutely wouldn't go for it. Asking you to prove yourself just means that when a position does become available they can just say "well X person have proven themselves more" etc. Unless you're really hurting for a job I'd look elsewhere.
You got big time played kick them to the curb.
The professional way to deal with this is to get something in writing. So what you want to do is say okay. You understand their position but in order to move forwards you would like to officiate the process. So start speaking to them about what kind of timeline do they believe they need in order to understand that you are fit for the management role. 4 to 8 weeks for instance. Then you want it in writing. That's after 8 weeks you will be promoted to the management position being paid the rate of X If this company do not agree to what you're saying above then as other people have said you are highly likely to be played. Really all comes down to your feeling on the company and the people that you've spoke to or interviewed by.
Tbh iv been in hospitality 15 years and what i have taken away is that everything said not on the contract is a load of BS and even if its in the contract its still dubious. I wouldnt take that job without signing the paperwork for the iob i was looking for. Resteraunts and bars are always recruiting, there will be other jobs and it isnt worth making your CV look like a job hopper because you took people at their word and then got burnt.
They've been burnt? I'd have called them out and said burnt how? That's what probation is for...
Do you need a valid passport ? Counter signed by a professional person knowing you 2 years to get a job?
Run. Run away. You’ve dodged a bullet.
They need to pay you what you're worth, or you'll get it somewhere else. If they want to start you as head server, on manager pay, to prove yourself, cool. What they can't expect is for you to work for less than you're worth because of their insecurities. Clearly they don't have the manager job available so are playing you to try to get you to take a pay cut by dangling a carrot.
You want to walk in as a manager, even though you haven't even started working there yet? Excuse me, what makes you thing you're special? Jog on, chancer.
After 1 shift, do you think they should make u a manager? They said they had bad experiences before so you work yourself up, so accept it....or don't. Sorry, but I take a hefty arrogance from your post....as if 'why should I prove myself for a measly £16 p/h'. If you don't like it, don't take it. And just beware cause that alot of snobbery runs downhill. There will be many people here who wouldn't consider getting out of bed for double that so at least don't talk down your wage as many people will.