A day in the restaurant business

A couple of days ago, I went out in search of a new place of employment. One with a little more traffic than the one with which I am presently employed. i.e more money. At the first place I stopped, a high end italian restaurant, I offered myself up for employment as a waiter. I waited several minutes, then was escorted to a table at the far end of the dining room, where the owner presided. I was asked a few questions about recent employment(via interpreter), then was told, I was to return the following day for 3 days of training. I returned the following day 15 minutes ahead of time. I shadowed the waitress for 5 and 1/2 hours, asking the appropriate questions concerning the menu and wine list. Let me say that I have been in the business for almost 30 years............At the end of the shift, I asked the waitress I was working with, what time I should return the following day. She sent me to the owners daughter, the manager on duty. She replied, " well, I have a lot of people training, and I haven't yet decided who will be on the schedule". I knew immediately, what I suspected what might be happenning, as I had been through this on a couple of different occasions in the past. Free labor, no time clock, no w2 form filled out, no way of proving I was ever even there. "Leave me your number and we will contact you". I did just that knowing full well that the call was not coming. I am a relatively intelligent person, a smattering of college credits under my belt, and not a person who is prone to attack or disparage a ethnic group. I must say though, in the almost 30 years I have been in this business, this scenario has only occurred in italian run restaurants. Free labor! Nothing to verify my existence at the time in question. I am scraping for money, much like many people in this country, I feel used, and angry and at the point of lashing out. I don't understand how people can deliberately use people for labor and blatantly get away with it. I know, "go to the labor board, lodge a complaint", it sounds good but unless you have proof of you being there, it is their word against yours. I throw this out as a warning to all in the service industry, this practice is happening more and more, all the time! Please take measures in advance to fill out the proper paper work and request time-clock verification. It's a tough job to begin with, unpaid hours only make it that much worse.