This was about a year and a half ago, but I thought I'd post it up to see if anyone has had similar experiences.
I worked at a Japanese Steakhouse (rhymes with Hennybana) as a bartender. One of the chefs was kind at first and then began making me uncomfortable by asking me out on a date (haha, no thanks, he was old enough to be my dad – I was 22 at the time). Okay, so fast forward a few weeks later. He sometimes would make me food for when I was leaving work – definitely not allowed, but he wasn't exactly a rule follower (and I do not reject free food – even the mama of the kitchen would cook for me ️ love her). One day, I'm leaving work and did not request any food. I'm in my car and I realize he has FOLLOWED me to my car. For what? I roll down my window. Oh, he wants to know if I want food. No dude, I'm literally leaving. He goes in for a hug… through my window. Not cool. I give him a quick hug and then I've trapped myself into him kissing me on my cheek (wtf) and trailing kisses towards my mouth. I told him to stop and he is not letting me pull away (and I'm fucking trying, dude – this tiny man is annoyingly and uncomfortably strong). Oh wow, the other side of my cheek, too! No way, two for one! Gross.
So, that night I get to my (then) boyfriend's house and tell him what happened and he tells me I need to tell my manager. So I texted my favorite one at like 2am. (I got off around 11pm). My manager lets me know that he is going to tell the GM with my permission. Permission granted AF.
Two weeks go by, crickets. My manager made sure to tell me that he has informed the GM and he is not too sure what is taking so long. Well I'm pissed so I send a group message to all of the managers including GM. I explained the situation in detail. Of course, the next day, my GM sits me down and ASKS ME WHAT HAPPENED. I tell him verbatim what I said in the email. He asks me if there are any witnesses, etc. Yeah, me and that nasty ass chef. He does not seem happy with me making him having to investigate the situation. GM sends the chef on vacation to investigate – he's getting PTO. Find out the chef denied the situation, and since there are no cameras in the parking lot and no witnesses, there's “nothing [they] can do about it”.
I end up changing my schedule, since I am even more uncomfortable now. My schedule was actually pretty perfect and I was grateful my bar manager accommodated me right away.
Well he started coming in early (without me being informed) and this upset me. I would leave early because of this, and I brought it up to my managers as well. I changed my schedule around, my hours are being cut short, I am not being informed that he is coming in hours early. Nothing changes. My coworkers would let me know as soon as they saw him come in, as a courtesy, because, well only the GM knew when he was coming in early.
I told my bar manager I might have to transfer, and she sat me down and we had a discussion. She was pissed. She said for the 10+ years she worked there, the chef has always given her a difficult time, has had issues with management in general, and has made her uncomfortable. She said she was pissed at GM for not doing anything, and that he didn't want to do anything about it in the first place because it happened IN THE PARKING LOT. She reminded him that the chef was ON THE CLOCK, and the parking lot is OUR property. She said if that was her husband (because the chef is married, with kids) she would be so pissed she would beat his ass and divorce him. That made me feel great. We all hated the GM now.
Investigation ended and nothing happened. “He said, she said.”
Here's the cherry on top, though. About a month early, the chef started a pattern. Order a kid's meal at 2pm, come in at 3pm, ask for a manager, kneel and beg for forgiveness until 6pm. Every Friday like clockwork. For a month. What was he asking forgiveness for if he didn't do anything wrong? GM didn't see it that way, I guess. Come to find out, he had spent an entire day one time, kneeling in front of every chef in the restaurant (while they were working – aka cooking in front of people) and asking for forgiveness. Embarrassing AF for himself and the establishment. He had asked the managers if he could apologize to me and they all said no (he was not allowed to talk to me, because it made me uncomfortable).
I ended up quitting and finding a much better bartending job.
A few weeks after I quit, one of my former coworkers sent me images:
- a bottle of piss he left in the bathroom with his name on it
- cops taking him into the back of a cop car with people filming and watching
She said he got put on 12 weeks leave. GM still didn't believe me, I guess. I love telling this story, but I'm apprehensive of GMs, now, and in every interview I've had after that, I make sure to ask about sexual harassment policies. Haven't had an issue since.
Oh, and he once got a letter from Florida sent to the restaurant that was in Vietnamese, from his current affair. He is small and ugly.
I want to hear other similar stories anyone has to share.