How to Burn Down the House: The Infamous Waiter and Bartender's Scam Bible

by Peter Francis

Book Overview

"How to Burn Down the House" is first insider?s guide to restaurant and barroom con games. It contains humorous step by step descriptions of every scam in the business with detailed instructions on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974867705
• ISBN13: 9780974867700
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Promethean Books
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!!!

This book is revolutionary. Eye opening insight to the world of restaurants and the staff that "run" them. It truly is one of the best books that I have ever read, and hysterical. If you have ever worked in the industry, it is a MUST READ!!!

Shocking but very revealing

A must read for every restaurant manager/owner and even for restaurant customers. After reading the various ways that servers can line their pockets above and beyond tips, it makes you a much more aware and less likey to get taken. The lengths they would go to pull a scam and their outright audacity were almost amusing, as long as you're not the one getting ripped off.

FANTASTIC

This book provided the information I needed to run an efficient food establishment. It also gave me the secrets on what to look out for in the latest restaurant and bar scams. Great authors. A must read.

So much more than a Scam Bible

Wow! Having worked as a waiter and bartender all over the country, through college and even supplementing my income as a struggling entrepreneur, I am so happy to find a book, at last, that truly does this rich environment and unique subculture justice. There have been a few somewhat amusing books, like "Kitchen Confidential", written by a tongue and cheek chef, that have made our stomachs turn and hair stand up, but the truth is, to really cut the meat right to the funny bone, the stories and the tricks needs to be told by the workers themselves. And further by workers that have truly mingled in the trenches and gotten their feet wet so to speak. Anything less is a euphamism and can only be considered goose-knecking and second hand info. The previous review and others seem to condemn these guys as promoting theft, but I think they miss the point entirely. It is only from this predatory and unscrupulous perspective, that one gets the clearest picture of really the most interesting, the funniest, and a truly ingenius aspect of the restaurant and bar experience that no one outside knows about and no one inside has ever had the backbone to write about. I say hats off to DeGlinkta and Francis for sticking their necks out and delivering a great, gut-busting, and extremely useful read. Surely they must have known how the moralizing majority would react. If they never write another book (and I hope that's not the case)they have written a classic.

The Scam Bible is a hoot!

I read this straight thru and laughed time and time again. This is one of the funniest most irreverent books i have ever read. Not only is it hilarious, but it is a real education. I never guessed that the waiters and bartenders had such a vast and ingenius repertoire of crime. I haved showed it to people in the business and just avid diners and they have all raised an eyebrow but also cracked a smile. There is a lot of unexpected depth here. If the waiters are this developed, what about everyone else?! Five stars easy.