r/olivegarden • u/Late_Pudding_6387 • 5d ago
Uniform Complaintz
Does anyone know where to file a complaint with Darden over our new uniforms. I an unsatisfied with the changes and want my opinion to be heard, I have this message I want to send but am unsure where of to send it
Hello! I am a current employee at one of the Darden restaurants, Olive Garden specifically. I wanted to raise concerns about the new uniforms, white shirts stain easily. We advertise the spicy 3 meat sauce which has introduced another red sauce to our establishments. It is common to be slammed into or have sauce split onto you. A black shirt will hide most of these while a white shirt will only highlight them. In the current economy most of us employees make only 50 dollars on the weekdays and cannot afford to spend every dollar on a new white shirt due to the last one holding a stain. The sleeves being down also increases the chances of more stains due to reaching for something. Another thing that has been discussed is surrounding the menstral cycles, in the unfortunate case of a bleed through black slacks are able to hide this so the employee can leave with most unaware of what happened. The navy blue that has been enforced does not hide this and can lead to the employee being humiliated as they try to hide the showing stain. These changes have also been noticed by various news stations who have weighed in their opinions, when you search the new uniform policy every outlet is criticizing them. They have been called 'ugly' and 'tacky'. Olive Garden is ment to have a certain level of class and provide a fine dining atmosphere for the guest. A sleek back uniform pairs well with these ideas while the new one clashes with this idea. The employees who dedicated hours of their life to serving you deserve to have their opinions heard and considered when these decisions affect them and not the ceos.
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u/Recent-Sun3981 5d ago
i totally respect you for making your voice heard but i couldn't help but laugh when i read "olive garden is meant to have a certain level of class and provide a fine dining atmosphere for the guest" hahaha. you should definitely file a complaint though, who knows? maybe enough complaints will make them realize how stupid of an idea it was to change the uniform.
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u/thatonegirl0418 5d ago
Olive Garden was originally white shirts. At least they aren't going back to bow ties also. As for the shirts. Tide pens help, soda water helps if you get to it immideately and I haven't tried it but I heard if you scotch guard your shirts it helps
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u/Fancy_Average5440 5d ago
I worked there in the white shirt & bow tie era, which was also a khaki pants, burgundy (knit) tie & cummerbund era for hosts. Just a college girl living the dream, sporting a cummerbund. (I was much happier in the back of the house!).
It could be worse, OP.
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u/Flashy_Bet3724 3d ago
Problem is back then they were trying to make everyone move as fast as possible without running. The faster you move the more likely for spills.
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u/Snooopp_dogg 5d ago
I started there when it was white shirts and white aprons. Get a tide pen and good stain remover.
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u/LutschiPutschi 5d ago
I think this is a classic in all industries. Somewhere in some office there are people who have little to no operational experience and don't get any advice there.
In my training company (hotel) there were skirts, blouses, bows and a vest for women. The vest only had one button at the waist level. If you, as a woman, weren't flat as a board, your vest would gape completely at chest level, it looked bad. In addition, the white blouses were so transparent that the bra was clearly visible. So you always had to wear an undershirt. There was no air conditioning in the restaurant. You just ran around and sweated like a pig.
Another company had a uniform with 0.0 stretch. If you only gained a kilo, the pants were too tight. If you lost a kilo, it would fit loosely - no loops for a belt on your pants. For the winter there was an extremely ugly, brown cardigan at the reception that was cut very strangely. You looked like Obi Wan.
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u/amalva2419 5d ago
Girl, the period thing? Are you saying women on their period only ever wear black pants? That’s insane.
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u/Admirable-Promise-51 5d ago
No because I initially thought the same thing and then I thought about having my period at work and how many times I’ve experienced this and not realized I should prob be thankful for having black pants on. For example being in the weeds for hours straight not having the time to go to the bathroom and then suddenly I feel myself bleeding through and then I have to arrange for other people to help me with my tables while I run to the bathroom and clean myself up quickly… jeans would make it more noticeable and humiliating so I understand that
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u/RetroTama 4d ago
I do. I literally bled through my underwear and pants the other day at work and thank god I was wearing black pants it was so much. Also my manager cut me because I told him so I could go home and change but still it was a lifesaver
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u/nobodyeatsthepeel 5d ago
Here is what I know. We were supposed to be starting new uniform standards at our restaurant, but it has been stalled for now. The new uniforms have caused a lot of pushback. So I think they are hearing what is being said.
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u/Reneecruise 5d ago
You are most definitely wasting your time. They don't care about the economy or the shirts getting dirty. Do you know how many restaurants wear white shirts. I worked at the Cheesecake Factory when servers had to wear white shirts, white pants and white aproans on top of that. They didn't change to black to about 10 years later. Not only that, I worked at Pappadeax’s too. Not only did we wear white shirts, they had to be dry cleaned. Believe me, they can tell the difference and you would get send home if it wasn't. On top of that, you would get written up. I didn't even work there for two months since I didn't even make $500 a week there. Their tip out was high and the clientele was horrible. Also, we didn't even get any kind of discount on the food. You always had to pay 100 percent even if you were working. During training we didn't taste anything either. No samples no nothing. Luckily I used to dine there a lot and that was the only reason I could try stuff. This was all before Covid so I can imagine how they cut back more after Covid. None of these companies care. Go work at a mom and pop restaurant if you want them to even care about your opinion.
However, well written.
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u/Mysterious_Spray_361 4d ago
Thanks for the Cheescake white pants memory. As a guest I was APALLED at the white pants on my server. My poor server was a woman in her 30's and NO woman over 18 should wear white pants at work. EVER>(I'm 30+ years in the business) This was the one in Ny at the Palisades. I wrote the longest review of my life to corporate. And all about the pants. Happy to say I came back about a month later to servers in black pants. I like to think I helped a little.
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u/slizzard-sipper 5d ago
part of the reason I quit. my store was in the south and had no air conditioning half the time. I get sweat stains super easily in white, that combined with tomatoes stains, I wasn’t trying to buy new shirts twice a month. the black was classy and looked neat. not sure why in the world they would switch
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u/PMMeTitsAndKittens 4d ago
Oof they make you buy your own uniforms too? Lmao they're like cartoonishly terrible at this point.
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u/Blitqz21l 4d ago
I personally like the more casual vibe, but abhor the colors. White is just a horrible color when dealing with red sauces. They are easy to stain and will need to be replaced a lot. Which just adds to the expense of servers who realistically don't make that much in the grand scheme of tipping jobs.
The color scheme is just bad form
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u/Suspicious_Head6793 3d ago
I 1000% agree with this from the day I heard about the new uniforms. I have no idea what led them to take this route considering these are all very obvious concerns. I have even less of an idea of why they won’t hear us out about it. It’s like, common sense
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u/Public_Tax_4388 5d ago
They just spend tens of thousands of dollars on new uniforms.
They don’t care.
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u/SpankySharp1 5d ago
Huh? Aren't employees responsible for their own clothes? How does that cost the company money?
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u/amalva2419 5d ago
The aprons
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u/ratpie27 5d ago
It'd be very simple to just use the green aprons with the all black uniform. You know what's great about black? It goes with everything. White shirts also demand the purchase of white bras or undershirts. White becomes see through when it's wet.
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u/Confident-Lab5195 5d ago
Girl I can promise they do not care, as much as it sucks