Hi everyone!
I work in the hospitality industry in Scotland and I have had several issues whilst working for a restaurant. A chef previously sexually harassed a colleague of mine; he was reported and I gave a written statement to support the affected coworker.
Despite this, he has not been fired. And today, I came out as a lesbian to my colleagues, him included. I didn’t think that I would have received nothing but support, but this was not the case.
The chef started saying that gay people are disgusting, particularly gay men. He said that regardless of the gender, homosexuality is a vice of the flesh that he did not agree with.
Other comments and very private questions about my sexual life were raised and I felt so uncomfortable that I had a panic attack.
My question is: who should I be speaking to in order to take serious action about this man’s behaviour? The company is severely understaffed, so the HR department basically would rather keep a chef over a server, and I don’t think that it is okay. I don’t think that an openly homophobic and mysoginistic man should keep working and making people uncomfortable.
I had already given my two weeks notice before this unfortunate event, as the manager was intensely bullying me… But I just can’t accept the fact that he’ll keep having a job, potentially harassing other people even whilst I’ll be gone.