PERSONAL TESTIMONIES

This page will be filled with personal testimonies of both service industry employees and patrons as we receive them. If you would like to submit, you can email us at fedupyeg@gmail.com, or through direct messaging us on Twitter @FEDUPYEG. All responses will be kept completely confidential and will only ever be posted as anonymous, with your permission.

SUBMIT YOUR PERSONAL TESTIMONY HERE:

Note: All testimonies will be published anonymously and none of your personal information will be released. We are asking for your email in case we need to get in touch or require more details before posting your story. Thank you for your understanding.

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CONTENT WARNING: some offensive language does appear throughout this section

DISCLAIMER: We acknowledge that there is no true way of ensuring the legitimacy of anonymously submitted testimonies, as they are just that – anonymous. Though we are asking for and expect only legitimate experiences/complaints/praise to be submitted and do not expect abuse of the submission forms, we regardless encourage you to assess all submitted content with a critical eye. Thank you.

“I work for [a casual dining restaurant] and a girl I work with was told by a manager that “We hired you as a blonde so you have to dye your hair back to blonde” after a recent dye job she got done. Their words were, “The business men that come here don’t want to be served by girls that look like you.” (Referring to her beautiful pastel locks). Since I only heard this from her and not for myself I haven’t said anything, but I’ve been silently protesting by wearing my hair up in a basic ponytail for each of my shifts now. (ponytails are a no no).”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by current employee

“I was working at a [a Canadian coffee shop] I had worked there for several years, but was still earning barely over minimum wage. I found out that a less reliable and less hard working colleague was getting paid significantly more than I was. When I asked the owner/manager about it, he told me that it was because she was better looking and put more effort into her appearance (e.g., wore full make-up, shorter skirts) and so she was attracting more customers than I was.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee

“A few years ago I applied to serve at [a sports bar and grill] in St. Albert. The interviewer looked at me and one of the first thing he said was “Every server here is required to work our yearly golf tournament and the required uniform for it is a bikini. Would you wear that?” I wouldn’t and since it was a requirement of the server job the interview was ended. I wasn’t considered for the job.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site – interview (experience at a sports bar and grill in St. Albert)

“Well, nice to see we finally have a place to vent and let everyone know what we deal with on a regular basis. I am a former employee from [an upscale steakhouse and bar] restaurant in the west end of edmonton. I knew of the dress codethat was required to work in the lounge side of the restaurant.(Most establishment like chop, joys etc. have in common. Black short skirt, hair and makeup always done and high heels.) I always have accepted this and conformed to the dress code that they dictated, as this is the way the company wants their image to be. Cute girls in short dresses… I get it sex appeal sells. But what got right under my skin was one day I was working as the bar tender, short black dress, heels etc. The manager comes over to me at the start of my shift and tells me to” hike up my skirt, pull my v neck top down a little and maybe apply a bit more make up… this will help you get more tips.” I looked at him in disbelief! Did he really just say that to me! I am a 5’4 blonde 120 pound girl and my skirt on that day was maybe 4 inches below my bum. I never returned to work the next day….”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee (experience at an upscale steakhouse and bar, Edmonton West End)

“I had an evening off of working at a popular local eatery and while the male staff working that night were enjoying a drink at the bar after their shift, they started debating the color of my pubic hair. Unbeknownst to them, some friends of mine were customers there that evening and were sitting at the bar. They overheard my co-workers talking about me like that and let me know. I think it speaks to the environment that existed there at the time that employees were comfortable enough to discuss me in that way in front of customers, whether the customers knew me or not. It wasn’t the first or last time I was humiliated by some of my male co-workers there, even though I made a complaint about that incident specifically and had issued formal complaints in the past.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by unknown employee status

“I worked at [an upscale chain restaurant] for seven years, as a lounge server and bartender. In my time I was always treated with respect. Yes, I followed the dresscode, which included skirts (which I was fully aware of when I was hired). In a couple of instances in my tenor there customers got unruly/made inappropriate comments, when reported to my manager they were asked to leave immediately. They look out for the girls there. Yes, the women are attractive and try to look good at work – guess what? They are there to make money, get over it.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee (experience at south location)

“The owner was illegally audio recording his employees without their knowledge or permission, would use those recordings to get information to fire people who complained about him while at work, and also took recordings of employees to other restaurant owners to try and get them fired from their other jobs (which happened to me). He admitted the recordings to a few of the employees he trusted, who informed the rest of us to watch what we say at work.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee (experience at a locally founded coffeeshop)

“I was 15 working at a resturant on the west end. My manager was a huge bitch and would always say I was lucky I was pretty and whatnot. I worked with a group of boys around my age and a year older, and they would always bug me. But by that I mean they would continuously slap my ass, call me numerous names, grab my boobs, and say extremely vulgar things like “I’m going to take you to the managers office and gang bang the shit out of you.” “I’m going to fuck your pussy and he can fuck you in the ass.” I remember one time it got so bad that I got slapped so hard on my ass I got a hand print bruise that was purple. I also remember when I had relations with a coworker these boys happened to spread it around to literally everyone at work. Id go home crying almost every shift I worked. I can say that they were partly the reason I became so depressed in highschool.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee (experience at a prime rib and steakhouse)

“I’ve worked in several restaurants in the past. The worst two being [a popular kitchen + bar] and [a fresh food + beer market]. At [a popular kitchen + bar] my manager would tell me that if I wanted to keep working in the lounge I would have to ‘Glam it up’ aka wear more make up and higher heels. I was working at [a fresh food + beer market] during Oktoberfest this past year, and they make it mandatory for everyone working to dress up in beer maid costumes. Which we had to buy ourselves. They were so revealing and demeaning. I had also been told by a manager on a seperate occasion, that while I was naturally very pretty I should wear more makeup. To be clear, I was wearing makeup at the time; however it was just bronzer and mascara.”

– received 18/03/2015 through site by former employee

“The service industry taught me a lot about how to manipulate gross old dues for their cash, and how to manipulate other gross old dudes in power to do what you want while still be in control (like when I was in management)… which is SO fucked up that I felt like I needed to do that to survive in that industry. Like why does a young woman feel like she has to manipulate the system to be seen as an equal human being, worthy of taking up space in a position of leadership? Ugh. So gross.”

– received 16/03/2015 through site by former employee

“When I was training for a management position at [a popular kitchen + bar], these were the words of wisdom from the male GM doing my training, regarding hiring front of house staff: ‘If you wouldn’t fuck them, don’t hire them'”

– received 16/03/2015 through site by former employee

“When I got hired at a casino as one of the managers, I was told by the beverage manager at the time “I don’t usually hire women, but your references check out really well so I am giving you a chance.” I had just left a three year long abusive relationship, had a small kid and was living in my mother’s basement. The money was really good, and as a high school drop out at the time, I couldn’t afford to not take it. I later found out that the dudes doing the exact same job as I was, we’re making a couple grand more per year than I was.”

– received 16/03/2015 through site by former employee

“Hey, saw your [casual dinning restaurant] tweet. It’s not required to wear short skirts, that’s more waitresses knowing they’ll get better tips for being pretty. The form fitting black shirts are required though. And I’m not sure if it’s an unspoken rule, but I was not allowed to work in the bar without makeup.”

– received 10/03/2015 on Twitter by former employee