Why can't a restaurant offer me my preferred hours and be happy that I am offering them any time at all?

They certainly should be grateful that you're willing to work at all, but some people just have no sense.

The restaurants are a business. They are not there for your needs. They are offering jobs based on their needs, not yours. They are paying you for your time. And they dictate the time they need you. Not you them.

Because that would not be fair to other workers

You work the hours the business needs you or you don't work, simple as that

Because you have to send them a cover letter telling them what the hours you want to work are!

Unless you send a detailed letter to the main office of the restaurant chain, then the people at the local level will not know what to do.

So, if you do not get the hours you want when you are hired, write a detailed letter to the main office and tell them about all of the problems at that location and why the manager is causing those problems by not allowing you to work the hours you want. Add in that you need a pay raise, too. Not a lot...just to what you think the manager is making.

Then mail it to the main office.

Make certain that the manager KNOWS that you are the one who told the main office. Give the manager a copy of the letter and then let them know that ..in no uncertain terms..that YOU are only working the hours in the letter.

Then you only come in on those days and times.

Because you're not doing them a favor by working there. Especially in a restaurant, you work the hours they need you. Employees that have been there longer get the preferred shifts and an occasional holiday off. They need flexible people, and you're obviously not.

Your attitude that you are doing the company a favor is backassward. Time to understand the company has needs to fill and your preferred hours don’t mean anything. Lesson #1 The company sets the rules. Lesson #2 The employee accepts or continues searching elsewhere for a job.

Because you made demands about your hours and now no one there wants to work with you because you are so very needy.

Because, in addition to you, there are a HUNDRED other people who REALLY WANT the job so much that they are willing to COMPROMISE and accept ANY HOURS that the restaurant is willing to give them.

Because you don't own the business. That means you don't run the business. The business establishes its hours and looks for people to work the hours needed. You don't get to chose the hours that you work and if you insist on doing so, you are going to have a difficult time finding a job.