It's not all fries and games at Dave & Buster’s.
In fact, it's a real "game over" for some employees!
Not many customers pop into Dave & Buster's just for a burger. If you're there,
you're probably looking for some fun among the games and, if you're 21 years old or over,
a drink or two. This all-around entertaining vibe is not just there for the visitors, however,
as it reportedly extends to the staff as well. One former employee from Austin, Texas raved that the
environment was "a party all the time" and claimed that every shift brought a smile to their face.
A former waiter from Louisville, Kentucky, also enjoyed the fun and laid-back atmosphere of
Dave & Buster's, recommending it to anyone who liked to have a good time during work.
"We love to hang out here, so why not work here too?"
Finally, a former bartender from Milford, Connecticut, not only found Dave & Buster's an
enjoyable place to work, but said the management actually want staff to have fun on the job.
Finding small bits of joy at work is one thing, but if bosses are actually
seeking to create environments specifically for staff to enjoy themselves at Dave & Buster's,
it's easy to understand how "fun" makes its way into so many employee reviews.
Surrounded by food and fun all day,
Dave & Buster's staff couldn't be blamed for wanting to chow down on a bite or two themselves,
especially during a long shift. That said, it appears they can do so for fairly cheap.
Depending on their position, staff reviews reveal that menu discounts will range from
a decent percentage off to completely free, proving there is such a thing as a free lunch.
A former server in Tempe, Arizona, left a 3-star review of her employer,
citing an even mix of positives and negatives. One of the pros she pointed out was that she
received a 50% discount on food. Meanwhile, a former line cook from Frisco, Texas,
also left a 3-star review. While he complained of the low pay for experienced cooks, he praised
the free food that came with the position. While a free meal may not pay the rent, it certainly seems
to have encouraged some employees to stick around longer than they otherwise may have.
While discounted or free food
is an awesome perk for almost any employee, not having a chance to enjoy any of that food
would be a legitimate problem. According to plenty of reviews left on Indeed by former employees,
getting breaks at Dave & Buster's isn't always the guarantee it should be. A former front desk worker
at the Boise, Idaho, location, who was lukewarm on the job and left a 3-star review, complained
that the restaurant "never really gave breaks," and the analysis only gets worse from there.
One very unhappy former hostess and front desk staffer at the Hollywood, Florida, location
left a 1-star review of Dave & Buster's with a host of grievances listed — but
one of the most eye-opening was her gripe against breaks.
Not only did she cite not receiving breaks unless she specifically asked for them,
even during 10-hour shifts, but she claimed that breaks weren't guaranteed even then.
It's possible a manager could forget to send someone on break during a particularly
busy shift once in a blue moon, but denying breaks even when reminded seems beyond harsh.
If we're being honest, the primary reason
many of us have jobs at all is because we need the money, and that tends to be the case even more so
with customer-facing service jobs. At Dave & Buster's, that appears to be especially true.
A former employee at an Ontario, Canada, location of Dave & Buster's
left noticeably few positive comments in an Indeed review,
giving the gaming restaurant a measly 2 stars. However, the former employee also confessed
that there was one thing that could possibly bring them back to the offending employer:
great tips. Meanwhile, a former bartender and server from Milpitas, California, who left a
4-star review of the overall experience, twice mentioned the great money available in tips.
"We take pride in our work. It's our team, it's our family."
While employees in some
positions raved about the potential for great tips at their locations,
others lamented their inability to earn much at all. A former front desk clerk in McDonough,
Georgia, seemed to enjoy the position overall, leaving a 4-star review on Indeed,
but was unhappy with the reportedly low pay that they felt was only worthwhile enough to
have served as secondary income. And they were far from the only ones who thought that way.
At Dave & Buster's, great tips can never be relied on. While it could be assumed that some former
employees complaining about the lack of money found at their job could just indicate they were
bad workers, as evidenced by the fact that some people claimed they got great tips working there,
a former bartender and server from Overland Park, Kansas, added a bit of nuance to the discussion.
The former bartender explained that solid income was never guaranteed, at least at
their particular Dave & Buster's, as the money would definitely fluctuate from week to week,
depending on the type of customers that came in. Proving it was possible to rake in great
tips when the clientele was available, the ebb and flow of cash availability at Dave & Buster's
seems to be an establishment issue, not the employee's fault.
Okay, yeah, almost every job
comes with a lot of responsibility, and usually more than most employees feel they're being
fairly compensated for, so this concern isn't exactly novel. At Dave & Buster's, however,
the amount of responsibility some employees described appears to go
beyond the already-too-much that the rest of us encounter, and warrants special mention.
A server and key manager from Gaithersburg, Maryland, described the environment as fast-paced,
with dining rooms full of large sections and parties. They also specifically noted that those
who can make it at Dave & Buster's can survive at any restaurant, which essentially means it's
the hardest gig around. While that certainly helps explain the potential for great tips,
being thrown to the wolves isn't most people's idea of an enjoyable working environment.
A former bartender in Northridge, California, went a step further, not only declaring that
the expectations were far greater than pay grades would suggest, but that it was sometimes
impossible to meet the expectations. This former bartender also went on to note that many tasks
came with such exacting corporate guidelines that they wound "up being unreasonable or inefficient."
At the end of a horrible shift, whether
you're hopping into your car for the drive home, slipping onto a bus or metro, or even walking,
there's one thing that's almost guaranteed to help you instantly melt away the stress of the day,
and that's your own personal music. Luckily, for cooks working at Dave & Buster's,
listening to their own music is a perk of the job. For instance, one former prep cook from
Manchester, New Hampshire, reported that they were able to listen to their own music in the kitchen
all day, thus escaping the horror of repetitive restaurant soundtracks. Despite the primarily
negative review complaining of poor management and mistreatment, the one bright spot for this
employee was the personal music selection that made the job bearable for as long as it lasted.
It's hard to watch others having fun all day
while being left out of the fun, but some Dave & Buster's staff reported the unique perk of being
able to play the arcade-restaurant's games for free. Reports on the regularity and universality
of this perk vary, but it's clear that it does happen, and it doesn't seem to be all that rare.
A former server in Hollywood, California, reported that staff at that location
were allowed to play the games whenever they wanted, and a former game technician
in Sevierville, Tennessee, listed free game bands in the pros column of a 3-star Indeed review.
While these two employees seem to have lucked out with total freebies, others appear to
have somewhat more restricted freedoms. A former maintenance technician in Little Rock, Arkansas,
was able to play games for free on Fridays only, but wasn't complaining. In fact, it was enough of
an enjoyable perk to help lead to a 5-star review of the labor-intensive Dave & Buster's position.
"Why Dave and Busters?"
"No two days are ever the same around here."
In the only developed nation
without universal healthcare, Americans are uniquely tolerant of poor benefits,
having been raised in a nation of fend-for-yourself medical treatment.
However right or wrong that may be, in a culture where it's increasingly rare to be
offered any health benefits, you might expect employees on the receiving end to be somewhat
grateful for the consideration. However, the benefits offered by Dave & Buster's have still
proven to be a sore spot among employee reviews, making one wonder just how bad they could be.
A former server in Cincinnati, Ohio, didn't list specifics about the benefits in a 2-star
Indeed review of Dave & Buster's, but did complain about their extreme cost.
In an industry that isn't exactly known for extraordinary salaries,
expensive benefits could become a real deterrent. Those who could afford the benefits
and opted in didn't seem much happier with the package, either. A former sales associate who
enjoyed the job was nonetheless irritated by the disappointing benefits, first bluntly claiming
they "absolutely suck," and later going as far as to imply that they were so poor they might as
well have been nonexistent. Not everyone thought the benefits were the absolute worst, though;
a former service support employee in Virginia Beach, Virginia, labeled them mediocre.
It's difficult to succeed at any job without
the proper tools, the most essential typically being solid support. At Dave & Buster's, employees
regularly reported a lack of support from day one training straight through to the end of their
stints at the popular chain. A former support technician reported in a 3-star Indeed review
that the training program needed more structure, noting a somewhat loosey-goosey program that
appeared to fall apart when other staff were too overworked to provide a proper lay of the land.
For those who manage to make it past training, or the lack thereof, there doesn't appear to be much
support at the other end of the tunnel, either. A former server from Hollywood,
California, claimed there were no hosts or bussers at the location, creating drama from
angry guests who found themselves seated at dirty tables. Even worse, a former employee
of the Winner's Circle in Thousand Oaks, California, claimed that poor scheduling
often meant there were no other employees to assist in that department for entire shifts,
leaving a single scrambler to juggle all of the day's demanding customers. Nothing screams
"total lack of support" more than being completely abandoned in a position, but perhaps this could
be expected from a company that receives so many complaints about its lack of training.
Whether it's better to remain busy all day long
and have the hours fly by or nicer to have some slow spurts where time crawls is a debate no one
will ever be able to settle — but employees of Dave & Buster's may never even get the chance to
decide for themselves. According to most staff reports, there is no downtime to be found. Some
rate this as a negative, but there are plenty of ex-employees who ranked this as a positive, too.
A former server in Little Rock, Arkansas, called the weekend shifts outright chaos,
with never-ending customer demand, and found the position to be relatively average
in a 3-star Indeed review. A former cook in Mission Valley, California, on the other hand,
rated the position a full 5-stars, even when admitting that the shifts were nonstop.
Additionally, a former hostess and server from Islandia, New York,
who also rated the position a perfect 5, nevertheless listed the non-stop chaos as a con,
noting that the fast pace of the restaurant was "difficult to cope with" at times.