I worked at a crepe restaurant for 4 months about 2 years ago. I was new to the work force. The one shift leader harassed me every day I worked to the point I would have panic attacks. I still have trauma from it that I am working on with a therapist. Like I have actual triggers that cause a flooding of memories and I start shaking. It didn’t matter if I was 5 minutes early, on time, or 5 minutes late. He’d mock me for being late every day. Everything I did was wrong. I was too slow, too fast, the crepe was too crispy, not crispy enough. I didn’t apply the Nutella right, the angle of my spatula was off.
If I went for lunch, that was bad because I would be full and slower. But if I didn’t eat, I would still be slower because I was starving.
It didn’t matter what I did. Every single move I made was critiqued and criticized. Every day he would harass me and hover over me. If the team was behind, it was always my fault. He’d also sexually harass the minors that worked there. Touching them inappropriately and asking them to stay late. He called me a cry baby behind my back to the other coworkers because of my panic and anxiety attacks.
It came to a point where I was crying before every shift and started to have panic attacks. I’d never had a panic attack before this job. He’d harass and gaslight me every single day!
I told my boss that working with this guy gave me anxiety and that I would like to be scheduled with someone else. My boss told me “well I have anxiety too, you just need to face it.” She scheduled me with him for two weeks! Every shift I had for the next two weeks were just with him and another worker. It was torture. I asked to be moved to a different location, and luckily that worked for a while before my boss moved me back. Her logic was “we just need to spend time together to learn how to work together!” Like we’re children and not adults and like he’s not abusing me!
I told all the other shift leads about his behaviour and the sexual harassment of the younger girls. They took it up with my boss but nothing was done. I soon noticed I was mysteriously being scheduled less. And less. I finally quit but that was nearly 2 years ago now. I don’t know if anything can be done. I live in Canada by the way.