Im a little scared to post this because I think I may have a potential lawsuit in my hands, but Im only 24 and I dont know how to handle this but its NOT sitting right with me.
I was an assistant manager at this place that makes wine and does wine tasting/light food. Ive only been there for 2 months and I thought I was doing super well. I got along with everyone, we all laughed and joked all day and generally just had a good time. I learned everything super quick even though it was my first time ever being a type of manager. 90% of the staff we have there are young girls, 18-22. A little odd to me at first because wine can be a difficult thing to grasp, and I noticed a lot of them didnt have very strong knowledge, they all kinda sounded like they were going off a script. Probably just got down how to generally present each pour and never change up how they say it, because they're young and inexperienced. But they all seemed comfortable with me and relaxed and saw that I was always right there beside them when we were at our busiest and our ship was about to sink.
There's probably so much to this situation its hard to type it all out and post to you all who have no idea whose who and whats what. There are my two young coworkers I'll mention, Zelda (f20) & Heather (f18), my GM Kathy (61f), my other manager Abby (30?F) & my kitchen manager, Gerald (55m) & myself.
Zelda & Heather over the past few weeks have been expressing to me how creepy and uncomfortable Gerald consistently makes them feel, as well as some physical sexual harassment they've experienced. This doesnt sit well with me at all & he already makes me feel uncomfortable and gives me a bad vibe to begin with. But, I thought to myself, I'm new, I'm a manager, I gotta stay professional. I was nice to the guy and communicated well with him. One day he and I are in the kitchen and he passes behind me, SLOWLY. I feel him push his hips into my ass and I just kind of froze. I didn't know how to interpret it, we were in a small area, but I dont know, I cant deny the pressure I felt from his hips. I went out and I told Zelda & Abby about it. The next day I'm pulled into the office and questioned about it with Abby & the winemaker (idk I guess hes kind of in charge of us too). I was anxious because I didnt want to make it into a thing, and now Gerald and I have obvious tension. I wasnt even that upset when I explained the situation to begin with & I was afraid that all the things I've been hearing from the girls was swaying what I thought I maybe felt.
Since then I've been hearing from MULTIPLE girls about him. I dont know, I guess theyre comfortable with me. There was a girl who was 17 who worked directly with him that quit a few weeks after I started because he kept asking her to drink with him and if she was a virgin. She came to me too before she left but I couldnt do anything about it because I'm still new & hes obviously being protected. Abby & Kathy both defend him like crazy and nobody can understand why. Hes gone thru 6 employees within the 2 months I've been there. I cannot wrap my head around it.
Three nights ago, my employee Zelda was put in a situation where she couldnt stay at her house and I live with my mom at the moment. I offered we go halfsies on a hotel and to get away & have some girl time. That night she showed me Geralds tiktok which has 600 followers, 3 sketched out videos where one is just a black screen that says “When your walking down the street and see some little girl scouts too” w/ drool & heart emojis, his liked tiktoks are of young girls dancing. She then told me to look up his records.
Hes a fucking pedophile. He has charges of sexual assault against a minor to which he was found guilty. I did NOT know what to do with this information, I just had to put the phone down and sit on it. Theres nothing I CAN do. He open carrys a gun in his UNDERWEAR WAISTBAND, not in a HOLSTER on property where literally all the staff are young girls and one normal older man. Thats illegal in my state if you're a registered sex offender.
The next morning we went to work like normal and I didnt say anything to anyone. Zelda told our other girls that we got a hotel and talked, but that info got to Abby and she did not like hearing that. Yesterday I only worked with one other person that isnt involved in this and everything went smooth and like normal.
This morning I come in and I get REAMED for leaving an empty bottle of wine on a table. Like unnecessarily talked to. I accepted it and moved on and started doing inventory like normal. 20 minutes later I get called into the office with an HR lady who I only met one other time when I got written up for getting sick and missing work for a week without a doctors note. I was very visibly sick because I went into work with my voice all fucked up and they watched me puke before sending me home. Anyway, I sit with them and she starts telling me
“This isnt going to work out, were letting you go.”
I was shocked, jaw dropped. I asked why?? She said
“I dont want to go into detail, you can go online and read the reviews.”
I asked, You dont want to go into detail about WHY youre FIRING me without any previous behavioral talks or write ups?!
She simply told me to sign the paper saying Im returning my keys and to look at the reviews online. I look at the reviews like a HAWK. NONE of them mention my name, not a single one. MOST of them however, mention my GM Kathy, describe her, say how horrible and rude she is. The most recent yelp was of one LITERALLY CALLING HER A BITCH. It doesnt make sense. Im GREAT with the customers. I was jaw dropped. All I said was “Wow, I'm not even going to try to fight this because this is BULLSHIT” I looked RIGHT at Kathy and that bitch couldn't even make eye contact with me. They KNOW.
I truly, from the bottom of my heart, think that its because I was getting to close to Zelda & Heather as well as the other girls talking to me about Gerald. They're protecting him and nobody understands why. He's been written up countless, countless times. I am FUMING. I am ANGRY. I did EVERYTHING for that job that I could, I LOVED that job. I have been DREAMING of running my own floor in a restaurant since I was a little girl. I wanted to grow with this company. They were talking about letting me manage the full restaurant and bar once they opened it up after construction next year. And now suddenly this? I'm confused and I'm scared, its so slow in my town for my industry, NOTHING is hiring, nothing GOOD at least. I am devastated.
I'm not sure what to expect from this thread but I needed to get this out to others that understand. I'm so beyond emotions right now, I dont even know what to do. I dont even know how to approach this from a legal standpoint, I dont know what I REALLY have against this. There are at least 5 of us that are willing to speak in a courtroom but none of us know how to even start going at that. I feel hopeless and helpless and young girls are going to keep getting hired and assaulted at that place.
This country is going down in flames.