Background: I quit a very well liked FOH restaurant job I had friday morning after the owner refused to address a safety issue I repeatedly brought to her attention over the course of a month, which came to a head that morning in part due to her lack of response.
We brought in a line cook beginning of October. Her last name looked familiar to me and I asked if she was related to someone I grew up with, someone who I knew to be a very violent individual with a long history of assaults, including myself over 20 years ago. She confirmed that she is now married to this woman.
I brought this to the attention of the restaurant owner, including a detailed history of this woman's violence toward her partners, her own violence toward me, arrest records, and how this was a potential liability for the restaurant. She seemed disinterested at the time. The kitchen was extremely short-staffed. That seemed more important to her. I let it go.
Fast forward about two weeks later, the line cook calls out of work, comes in the next day with three broken ribs and her face beaten to a pulp. She explains her wife beat her up and then tried to commit suicide by hanging herself out of second story window in their home. She didn't press charges, but had her wife involuntarily committed to the local behavioral hospital.
I again spoke with the owner and told her she needs to address this situation, because at some point, this individual was getting out of the hospital, this time with a chip on her shoulder, and this wasn't her first rodeo in a behavioral hospital. She goes off her meds immediately each time and her family has access to firearms. Again, no action from the owner.
On friday, the line cook informs me as soon as I arrive for my shift that her wife had been released the night before and she doesn't know her current location. Alarm bells are going off in my head at this point. I try to contact the owner to find out what time she is coming into the restaurant and inform her no one is safe. I tell everyone there currently that I don't think they are safe and explain why. They all think I'm loony tunes at this point and am overreacting. Owner tells me that if I feel unsafe, I am welcome to quit and leave. So I do.
I left my keys, once again told everyone to be safe, and I left. I emailed the owner later in the day to give her yet another heads up about the safety concerns I have, how she has the potential for liability issues, etc.
I feel like nothing was done for the sole reason she didn't want to lose income having to shut down for a few days while searching for a new line cook.