According to the Harvard Business Review article reports that 90% of women have reported some form of sexual harassment once in their lives. The article continues to say that the majority of employees are both young and female, making up 71% of servers nationwide.
When it comes to working in the service industry, about 35% of young people gain their first work experience in the service industry.
“My first job was when I was 14. I was a hostess which is crazy. It was really crazy. Obviously I was really young. So I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. And it was strange. First jobs are often strange, but I don’t think I would like to do it again.” Cassandra Duman said when talking about her working experience at her hometown restaurant. Now a Black Sheep Cafe employee
The FLSA set 14 years old as the minimum age for employment, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor states that the majority of people get their first job between the ages of 16-14. Pew Research saw that there were over 6 million U.S. teens, or 36.6%, who had a paying job in the summer alone. With younger people working it can cause a power dynamic between child and adult.
Rachel Cohen,who is now a server at the Local Chop and Grill House has had experience with people flirting with her since she has a younger looking face. “I’m 22. I look really young, so people always think I’m younger than I am. And it’s kind of gross, because a lot of times that’s attractive to people and it’s really gross.”
Harassment comes in different forms, such as physical, verbal, psychological. According to the Journal of Vocational Behavior, sexual harassment is categorized as: “told suggestive, sexual stories, made offensive remarks, made crude sexual remarks, made sexist comments and attempted to discuss sex.”
Cohen describes an experience she had working at a previous restaurant, simply sweeping the floor cleaning for closing, when a customer harassed her.
“And he was like, thank you so much for everything you did for me tonight. you were just a lovely woman; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, literally holding onto my arm. It made me extremely uncomfortable. He’s physically touching me and that felt very strange.” said Cohen.
In an NPR article, professor at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business Timothy Kundro, found that “service employees were likely to face sexual harassment from organizational outsiders, like customers.” Even more so, he found that the forced jollity of female employees can increase the risk of being sexually harassed.
While waiting tables can come with many difficulties, the non stop working can have a toll on one’s mental and physical health. According to a National Institute of Health survey, depression, anxiety and stress amongst waiters is prevalent with 59.6% of the participants having a mental health problem and 24.7% having all three of the listed mental health illnesses.
“It’s a lot more fast paced, and it’s more just about getting everything done as fast as possible. It’s not so much about connecting with customers and relating to them with something that truly means something to them. It’s just like getting them food, taking their order, cleaning up the tables.”” Madeline Bullock , a barista at Black Sheep Cafe said.
While many waitresses are working in stress-inducing environments, the Local chop and grill house general manager is a female and she tries to create an open and safe environment for all employees, especially females.
Stephanie ( Steph) Gund tells of a time she tried to comfort one of her clients. “I had a staff member who was kind of newer, and she was carrying a tray of glasses up the stairs, and one toppled over. And it was like a domino effect and a bunch knocked over. Gund said.And I could see she got really flustered. And I can tell she looks like she’s about to start crying. And she thought I was gonna be mad at her. all I had her do was go sit down, take, take a break, drink some water. mistakes happen,”
Places to seek help for anxiety, depression, and sexual harassment issues in Harrisonburg:
Harrisonburg-Rockingham Community Services Board