Old, old news. Some forty plus years ago, as a teen working as a waitress, I can recall the sheer terror required to enter the kitchen being confronted with a crazed knife-wheeling chief. The stories are legion. But for a really hidden story, I would suggest our writer here contact her colleague working in healthcare. If you want to know about true terror and all types of intimidation (and worse), you cannot do any better (sic..) than male surgeons and their actions upon the female nurses in the operating room. I assume some of this has been tempered in more recent times, but I would be willing to bet the abusive behavior continues widespread.
16
If one wonders why its so hard to get injustices like this taken seriously just read the comments, mostly from men, questioning everything from the legitimacy of the issue to the integrity of the victims. Abuse, discrimination & harassment don’t exist in a vacuum and the enablers / apologists are out in force in this comment section. Just like they are in the world where these things are tolerated and dismissed by the same people. Sad
20
For an inside look at the culture of Babbo and Mario Batali's backstory, read, "Heat" (2007). Batali comes across as a highly sociable, hard-working, hard-drinking, coke-snorting, out-of-control perfectionist screamer, who at one point yells humiliating abuse at the author, Bill Buford, an unpaid intern/writer (who had also heard it all before from various other explosive kitchen masters).
Reading between the lines of this excellent book, the life is pretty tough. Low wages (for the staff), hours that make it difficult to sustain a relationship, and obviously hot, high pressure work working in extremely tight quarters. Not surprisingly, drug abuse, alcoholism, obesity and other self-destructive behaviors are rampant.
When I compare that life to the coddled and privileged life I live (often from the other side of restaurants), I realize that I'm not in a position to assess specific sanctions for bad behavior in the kitchen. Still, I hope that justice is served with respect to the specific criminal complaint mentioned in this article, that much broader soul searching is inspired, and that our ultimate goal is to support folks in reforming their lives and not merely to reinforce entrenched patterns of social domination via extended harangues.
8
I guess the sixties were different. I worked as a waitress during college and after at Stouffer's, Brass Rail (that'll date me), village straight coffee shop, then the Feenjon, Fat Black Pussy Cat and only at Brass Rail I didn't understand you had to tip the meat chef to get a decent cut for your customer. My only harassment story. Oh, at Brass Rail as a new hire I had to do the coffee cart in the office building. I was ultimately fired and when I went to Unemployment they said a full time student even w a full time job couldn't collect. A nice Supervisor advised me to challenge the ruling but show up every week and keep looking.. After many weeks I received a check w back money owed! From Mid eighties to 2004 I was a landlady of restaurants. Only incident was a food and beverage guy who was "let go" for various reasons including seducing employees. My experience. Not all restaurant environments are bad.
2
Another thought on how restaurant workers are treated. My daughter worked for a national chain and was not given any meal or bathroom breaks while working 12-14 hour shifts. She finally quit when she got her period on the line and was not able to leave to go to the restroom for 3 hours after requesting a break off the line. How is that not discrimination?
25
It is a violation of labor laws not to provide breaks to employees of either gender. Did they let the male employees take breaks but not the women? If they were both denied breaks it was a labor law violation, not discrimination.
15
Was the pun intended?
These people profit by selling dead animal flesh. That their wanton behaviors extend to other predatory pursuits should surprise no one.
Predators they were and remain.
5
My daughter worked at two different food establishments. One was a national chain. She was sexually harassed at both locations multiple times. She now works with dogs and cats and says she will never work food service again because of the disgusting way she was treated.
17
What begs to be said and done is to stop elevating any human to superstar status. Along with elevated status comes
the sense of entitlement i.e, say anything because it is OK, do anything because it is OK. In truth, before anyone opens their mouth or invades the personal space of another, have the intelligence to think if that comment or act is welcome. All human beings deserve to work and live in an atmosphere of mutual respect as we are all equal. If we are all equal and treat all with respect, these kinds of incidents will not happen. Get rid of the superstar/celebrity status please! Get rid of the sense of entitlement that often accompanies elevated status, please!
49
I am male. From age 15 through college graduation I worked at various food service jobs and was subject to all sorts of emotional abuse, some of it sexual, some of it physical, some from kitchen staff (mostly men),some from waitstaff (mostly women), some from customers. The day I was admitted to medical school I realized that I’d probably never have to do that again and was mostly relieved. But do I hope my kids get restaurant jobs at the same age? Absolutely. No better way to learn about resilience and compassion. Bad behavior cannot be changed through legislation or public shaming. There is no more powerful vote than the one we can all make with our feet.
9
Thank you for opening up the kitchen to the complexity of harassment and how men think about women in the workplace. Although I worked mightily to escape sexual harassment wearing proper clothes and shoes in my work place, and often avoiding make-up that made me look pretty (hey, we were 70s women), I got the reverse bang of being kicked out of jobs for a better man (really?) and pushed out of jobs because of being "pushy" (seriously?).
document document document
9
Can we please stop parroting that euphemistic (and revolting) bit of lawyerspeak "nonconsensual sexual activity," or at the very least set it off in quotation marks?
None of the women who have come forward against Ken Friedman and Mario Babali have accused them of "nonconsensual sex"; they have accused them of assault. And while these men are legally innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the charges being investigated are what they are.
Seriously, would you refer to someone under investigation for murder as being charged with "nonconsensual deprivation of life"?
41
Well said! Young men need to realize that any non-consensual touching is assault and battery. Any non-consensual touching with a sexual intent is a sexual assault. A “stolen kiss” is a criminal act. Copping a feel from a co-worker without consent is a crime. Any harm given to a unconscious person is a criminal act.
9
You have to get violent with these losers. That's the only language they understand.
8
Ok, let's go over it again for the umpteenth time.
1-Sexual harassment and discrimination against women has been illegal since app. the 1970-1980 period.
2-Since then countless women have complained, started grievances, sued and won. I know I saw many in the company I worked for.
3-If you feel you are being harassed or discriminated against and the law was broken, sue.
4-If not re #3, don't co depend or enable the predator/discriminator by waiting 20 yrs. to say something, complain only when the raises or promotions stop, protect the offended because they are contributing to liberal causes or worse start the sexual activity that some women do.
5- Last but not least don't cherry pick, finger point, ax grind, rationalize, intellectualize, blame all men for the " problem" and hope it disappears.
PS: I give the exact same advice to men that have been harassed in this industry.
13
Another reason never to eat in a restaurant.
Unhealthy food, high prices...and now this.
If there were no restaurants, this would never happen. Perhaps the bullies would be unemployed. No one needs their expensive junk food anyway.
2
if Batali and his ilk believe that they can make a comeback, they would be wrong. Women will simply just not patronize their restaurants.
8
The customers in the dining rooms of almost all restaurants are oblivious to the Animal House antics going on in the kitchen or back of the house. The waitperson must remain calm, cool and collected while serving you. It's a tough balancing act to do during an entire shift. The stuff that goes on is insane, literally.
Sometimes kitchen staff sabotages a waitperson's meal service which affects their wages/tips. There are swears and tears and non-stop humiliation. The restaurant industry is disgusting in this country. Sexual harassment is and has been way out of control for way too long in most of the hotel and restaurant businesses. Worse than we'll ever know.
17
This article demonstrates how currently there is no business-related circumstance where at least one class of people must be classified as “victims.”
We’ve transitioned from claiming management as always victimized by “lazy union workers” to now “innocent fragile women” are always being victimized by “powerful bad male managers.”
I refused to always buy the previous right wing wacko party line - and I refuse to buy the current liberal snowflake party line.
Over 7 decades on this earth have taught me that some people are intelligent, kind and compassionate - while others are ignorant, cruel, boors. These traits are distributed among all people of all races and genders, and only those searching to justify their own prejudices claim one race or gender has cornered the market on the good or bad traits.
At various points in your life you’ll be treated kindly, unkindly, generously, ungenerously, decently and cruelty. Accept that “fair” is a place where eat cotton candy and lose money winning a stuffed panda for your girlfriend - it’s not where you earn money. “Man Up” and stop whining.
5
What surprises me is that people are surprised.
The restaurant business abuses everyone. That is not an excuse for bad behavior. It is an observation of a person who worked in many restaurants earning his way through college and grad school.
It is hard, hot, exhausting manual labor.
By the way, I also worked in construction, so I have an intimate knowledge of manual labor.
Tip well.
17
why don't more women take judo and other self defense courses? one kick in the groin or a flip on the back will garner respect.
since when has poor salesmanship become a crime?
please don't retort it should not be. it is what it is.
instead of whining come up with realistic personal solutions.
2
While an effective kick in the groin is a possible good response for non-workplace "poor salesmanship," (Ew!) you've missed the whole bit about the power dynamic in the workplace and how people get fired and black-balled for future employment. This is not dismissable as whining -- sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the workplace is illegal.
24
Yes, women are harassed in the food industry, very much so...but the reality is the abuse handed out in the "kitchen" is rampant thru-out the industry. No one is spared. Line-cooks, servers, bus people, etc are all subjected to abuse from the "chef' - the lead cook, and management in general. Restaurants are horrific places to work.
I never worked with a celebrity chef, but it didn't matter, as all chefs, high level cooks in a profitable, popular restaurant, cafe, diner, etc - all think they are demi-gods - and deserve absolute respect at all times, and have the right, the divine right to abuse and demean and hurt those around them. Add the rampant drug and alcohol abuse in the kitchens...and it gets out of hand. Then add sharp implements...and it can, and I witnessed, seriously crazy things...
That we have so romanticized the industry - thru the food-porn on the Food Network and elsewhere, only does the actual food-industry workers a disservice.
25
Am I out of line for noticing that a lot of these predators are so unattractive, in all ways, that they must believe that this is the only way they can get satisfaction? Reminds me of the incels who believe they are entitled, but hate women completely. They never seem to alight on the idea that they need to make themselves more appealing to other people.
14
Kitchen worker’s are not alone in experiencing abuse, but restaurants are the perfect storm that allows this behaviors to flourish. These restaurants are staffed with people, many who don’t make much money and have no recourse when they are harassed, abused or mistreated.
This is what separates The US from most other western countries. That is not to say that harassment or abuse does not exist in European restaurants for example, but those workers have a recourse. They cannot get fired simply because the boss found them unresponsive to his advances or refused to silently take verbal or physical abuse. There are government agencies that would show up the day after a report of abuse was made and the workers have union representation that would not let a Mario Batali for years get away with the type of behavior he has owned up to.
This is happening all over the country though, in places where workers have no advocacy and it has been created through gutted labor laws and decimated Unions. The so called right to work laws have essentially stripped workers of any power to stand up for them selves unless they are ready to forgo a job that may mean the difference between having a home or living in your car.
This is not entirely about men behaving badly. This is also about a system that allows men to behave badly with few if any repercussions.
24
Hello? Anybody home?
Name for me, please, ANY work arena, any "industry" - where women are NOT subject to exactly these kinds of treatment.
Breathless discoveries that women can be treated badly - in THIS place, or THAT - are in NO way helpful.
Can we start with universal observations? Some male primates will always behave like predators, no matter where they are, or who is watching. And they always have, as far back in history as we can see.
A serious question - how did we wind up with a large contingent of educated young women - who didn't know that?
17
Sounds like you're blaming the women and letting the predators off the hook because well, it's just 'nature' that'some male primates' behave like criminal slime balls.
14
Ms Greenwald perpetuates a myth: that success is dependent on 'passion'. No, no it's not. It's dependent on capital funding, technical skills, promotion & marketing strategies, experience in the industry, plus managing facilities and people. To be sure, an element of drive or determination is key to serving start ups and low periods.
But to move ahead, we must abandon such fallacies that success is based on 'qualities' such as passion. The excuse of passion is often a disguise or excuse for the ego driven power playing that men (not all, and not only) engage in at workplaces.
20
In my experience, harassment flows down hill. If the owner/cdc/manager is on board, the employees will follow suit.
That being said I have found that zero tolerance policies are becoming more and more common (thanks #metoo!). I still deal with sexism in the kitchen, but I would rather overhear someone saying “I’ve never met a woman who can cook better than me,” than be groped in the walk-in.
Next up: let’s humanize all cooking staff with fair wages, sane hours, and vacation!
37
Men behaving badly is an old story. Standing up to them is difficult but it should be done. I would be much more comfortable if these people complained contemporaneously with the alleged abuse,rather than waiting many years to jump the bandwagon. If it was so horrible why wasn't reported at the time ?
5
This question is asked over and over, ad nauseum, frequently by people who have not experienced harassment. THEY NEED THE JOB. Reporting it can result in termination, or making the victim's life hellish. It's especially difficult if the perpetrator is your boss or the owner of the business. Termination follows you everywhere, and if you try to explain it in an interview, you are seen as being difficult to get along with, a poor worker, or litigious if you filed a formal complaint.
14
What’s the point of reporting this if your manager/boss condones it—or looks the other way? And many women depend on these jobs financially—have you ever has to choose between horrible treatment and eating that week?
13
I don't doubt the overall picture of an abusive work environment that has to change. That much is evident even from the outside.
What I do think is that the public should be wary of accepting specific claims against people without first exploring the possibility that these accusations are the result of professional rivalry.
In a cutthroat, abusive environment, the inclination to torpedo one's rivals through public accusations is always there.
I think that if the claims against these men can be supported by an investigation of the available evidence, then they should be convicted and go to prison. But if the investigation gives little support to the accusations, and instead suggests that the accusations were driven by professional brinksmanship, then the legal outcome should be very different, and the accuser could be liable for slander.
I'm glad that the public is taking a serious interest in workplace abuses, but the problem with just shaming all these men out of their jobs without an investigation is that it lets the actual rapists walk the street, punishes presumably innocent people for no reason, and plays too easily into the hands of rival competitors.
7
I had a knife pulled on me and was picked up and dropped into a trash bin. This started as an argument over a cleanliness issue. I may have been correct in preferring clean bar mops for my cutting table, but the perp was bigger, stronger and had more seniority. Guess who's side the management took.
25
NYTimes, if you want to look into another industry that isn’t getting much attention outside, Healthcare is riiiiiiifffffeee with sexual harassment, particularly by MDs who are routinely not reprimanded until they really, really cross the line with the wrong person. Even then, they are hired across town at another hospital. The internal mechanisms can’t control them because money making physicians make or break hospitals just like money making producers make or break studios. It’s just as bad as Hollywood. Employees also routinely tolerate verbal abuse and tantrums from problem MDs without any assistance from management.
27
"One woman, speaking publicly for the first time, told Anderson Cooper that in 2005 after kissing Mr. Batali at The Spotted Pig, the downtown restaurant co-owned by Mr. Friedman, she vomited and blacked out; at dawn, she said, she awoke with scratches on her leg and semen on her skirt."
I think this description must be missing some details? I'm a bit confused how kissing somebody can cause vomiting and blackouts. I guess the implication is that Batali somehow drugged her via kissing? Is that a thing? Wouldn't Batali also have been affected if something was on his lips?
What you left out in that quote (I checked the official articles) is that she had already started drinking wine at a party- I don't see how this could be pinned on Batali in any way based on what I've read.
5
"Poison kisses? Strait out of G.O.T."
acronyms should be outlawed in Comments
call me culturally challenged but what is G.O.T.?
6
Game of Thrones
1
Game of Thrones! Anybody who watches would recognize the poison kiss reference:)
1
Years ago I had to quit the restaurant I worked at because of the sexual harassment from the female manager and the waitresses. It was brutal, and not a single woman in that place did the right thing by me. It started when the manager, mid-thirties, invited me over to play while airline pilot boyfriend was away. I declined and so did the work environment thereafter. The pilining on, the catty remarks, and the sabotage was relentless. ...nor hell a fury...
11
Hopefully the industry will address this without becoming another sterile corporate environment. The restaurant industry has traditionally been a welcome place for people who don't fit into and don't want to work in a stiff, square corporate environment where BS trumps hard work and service delivery.
Also, I hope changes in treatment of women are coupled with changes in the *placement* of women. In most restaurants women dominate the lucrative front-of-house positions and underrepresented in positions like dishwashing and grunt-work food prep jobs.
9
Excellent article and excellent work. Keep it up. Next article should be on the Hispanic workers in the back of the house.
17
Why? What have they done (other than work hard to bring you food at low prices - because of incredible competition and low wages - with no real benefits or job security? So what will that investigation look like?
2
I think that is exactly the point.
1
In sincere reply to Marc from Miami:
Because a completely unexamined problem is the cabal-like hostile work environment they pointedly create to ensure that only their friends can tolerate working there.
It is purposefully hidden by the language "barrier" -- abuse and plans are flung about in Spanish, and then the innocent looks, denials of bad behavior and "who, me? I don't even know/understand what she's talking about" conversations occur in poor English if/when confronted.
This is a case of people using our naive desire to appear "fair-and-balance" like good, open, friendly american envisions him/herself against us. They calculate that our fear of being label as intolerant will protect them from being called out for their behavior.
And please, before everyone piles on with their accusations, go talk --really talk -- with your favorite waitress, and ask her what she has to listen to all day long.
You will be disgusted.
1
I was a 18 year-old girl in Army basic training in 1982. Then I went to school and became a professional person. I have 4 kids and was divorced for a 7 year period when they were small.
Women have many obvious problems that men do not. To be a good mom, you have to make money, keep up your house, volunteer at school, stay home with sick kids, do dentist apptmts and soccer, etc. A dad is good if he shows up once a week and takes the kids somewhere fun.
I do unserstand the problem.
My (partial) solution? Give men paternity leave equal to maternity. Until that happens, they will never stop whining about the unfairness of the world.
11
It used to require a certain type of personality for a woman to flourish in male dominated occupations- not all women are actually traumatized by sexual harassment in the form of boorish behavior- although gender discrimination in career promotions may be a tougher nut to crack.
It will be a great evolution of our laws and culture if you don't have to be a tough, wisecracking tomboy to survive in the kitchens of restaurants and other male hierarchies in business.
One of America's main economic assets is its relatively meritocratic use of human capital and these awful men are damaging all of us by not allowing most women in the environments they dominate to reach their potential.
The main issue may be the damage done to the women, but it should be known that it also hurts all of us economically when women aren't allowed to flourish professionally.
74
Sexual harrassment--a guy raising his apron to show you his erection, a guy reaching under your skirt to stick his fingers in your vagina , being groped by drunk, entitled Wall Street guys, all while being AT WORK--has NOTHING to do with being a wise-cracking tomboy.
43
Nothing anyone says about important issues can be made without offending someone- especially, it seems, when men are making statements on this particular issue- and that's completely understandable.
Boorish sexist behavior is not trivial either- on a daily basis it takes a huge toll and can break the spirit of the victim. But the crimes you are talking about are not the norm, and are criminal- one is defined as rape in the state of CA- even if our president has boasted about doing it.
Nevertheless, some women are naturally more capable of defending themselves against clueless and sexually aggressive men than others, and those are the ones that could survive a steady diet of the less criminal behaviors of male sexual bullies in the past.
I am grateful that we may be entering a new era where you don't have to be Zena the warrior to survive in male dominated work places.
2
Another aspect that this story didn't cover is the constant sexual harassment of servers by CUSTOMERS which is condoned, even encouraged by management. When I was a waitress, male customers would routinely grab me, flip my skirt, make sexual jokes and innuendos. No one cared, I was told that "it comes with the job". It's another story that needs to be told.
49
Ah yes, why don't women speak up? When blatant harassment is witnessed by the person's supervisor and they chortle, it doesn't give one high hopes. In one case, a cook who harassed the wait staff was married to the manager, who seemed to find his comments hilarious.
23
There are serious problems with men in USA. Caucasian men. The psychological need to be aggressive - to display power over women. Sexually, violently - now being exposed in major industries where tradition has been a guy is the boss. Could this be a retaliation against their mothers who enforced stricter behavior than their fathers - or deep set need to be more powerful than their fathers? Is this also the psycho-need for guns?? What is wrong with a culture that produces this insanity??
23
Caucasian men? Glad people like Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman are innocent just because they're not white.
Honestly, please stop with the racist claptrap!
13
Caucasien men? Aren’t you biased?
11
While I agree with some of your assessment regarding the male psyche, are you for real, assuming it's only American men? Look around the world at the horrendous abuses against women. At least we aren't stoning them to death or hiding them away.
14
More liberal cognitive dissonance.
Women dress and act as sex objects and use their sex appeal to their benefit, and that’s good; but men who respond to these women as anticipated are bad; and
Women are as tough, smart and capable as men, but they’re also so fragile and sweet their unable to stand up for themselves.
Note to moderator:
Perhaps readers can handle being confronted with the hypocrisy and irrationality of these articles.
13
James, I hate to tell you this, but a woman working the line at a busy restaurant is usually sweating and splattered with food. What part of that look says "please come grab my vagina"?
42
My daughter didn’t dress provocatively when she was mistreated by restaurant managment in NYC chain operations. Keep your sneering wisecracks to yourself.
32
I'm sorry you have such frustration, James, and I wish you luck with that. But actually, it is bad to sexually assault women. It's even bad when you think it's women's fault, because you have noticed they have bodies.
Desire lives in the eye, James, not it's object. Governing desire is part of adulthood.
20
The younger generation of women seems to have forgotten the all encompassing term that their mothers and aunts used to describe the men who behaved this way. Batali, Weinstein, and company are male, chauvinist pigs, and one of leading their prototypes lives in the White House. Make America Wise Up Again!
18
I've worked in the Industry for years. I've had my butt grabbed, pinched and slapped. I had my genitals grabbed. I've been asked to describe my genitals. I've been asked to talk about my sex life. I was pressed against a wall by a manager who tried to kiss me. The people who did all this were women.
94
And you can ask male industry workers how many got harassed by gay supervisors too. The answer isn't trivial.
33
OK. Sorry to read this. But pointing out a rare exception does not in any way change the basic facts. Male abuse of females is rampant and must be addressed. All abuse should be.
35
Rare exception? I doubt it. I’ve worked in the industry for nearly 20 years, and have experienced similar treatment at the hands of women.
1
I worked as a waitress on and off for about ten years. While I was occasionally harassed by a customer, the harassment from some cooks and, in one case, a manager was a constant. I left the restaurant where I made the best money after a few months because I couldn't take the lewd remarks and speculation about my body and sexual proclivities every time I picked up food.
94
One of the solutions is for all of us to support female owners, female chefs, and put females in more positions of power. The benefits to society go well beyond less sexual harassment, although that's a worthwhile goal in itself.
18
I've had female bosses and managers in food service who were every bit as nasty as some of the men. I'm female myself and didn't come pre-bundled with a halo, as far as i can figure. It's just not a nice business culture across the board.
22
Now, just who would have thought that the restaurant industry was such a mess?..
After all, we know that close quarters, stressful and close working conditions, and the general education/socialization levels of those who find the industry as an employer of last resort would rarely, if ever, allow abuse and sexual assault to occur in the kitchens and the restaurant floors.
6
You have a pretty poor grasp of who goes to work in this industry, and why.
7
The only thing I quibble with is the demeaning crack about the “general education ...” regarding the restaurant industry. If there’s anything we’ve learned as the Me Too movement has peeled back the ugly and criminal behavior in society it’s that this is not limited to one industry or one social/educational level. Is Wall Street populated by busboys? No. Is Hollywood? No. Is the government? No. So don’t blame this on hot kitchens and poor workers without formal education.
13
Endemic enduring malicious male sexual predator misogyny
is not limited to any industry, nation nor profession.
48
In rightly condemning harassment in the food service industry, Ms. Greenwald fails to emphasize positive factors. Ms Lieberman was hired to serve food and is quickly able to progress to the position of restaurant beverage director. Within four years of starting as a waitress she is in charge of four restaurants! No mention of outside food management training so presumably the company taught Ms. Lieberman the skills needed to order and price liquor and wine and how to promote and sell them.
13
And to show her "gratitude"she is supposed to let men treat her as a sexual object that exists for their amusement?
15
As bad as the back of the house is the patrons are worse. During my high school job in a family restaurant it was a daily thing. When the patrons would molest the women managment's answer would be to not make a big deal about it. Standing up against bad patrons can get you fired or the worst possible shifts.
34
Abuse in the kitchen is an old story just coming to light. Being verbally mentally abused by the best chefs was/is a right of passage in the industry.
Any kind of abuse can change as it is practiced and the abuser becomes empowered.
9
Sometimes the only way to deal with People behaving badly is to remove them from the equation. In a different industry, a female supervisor sympathized with the bullies who constantly cut my colleagues and me down.
11
Gee. Here I thought it was their inability to lift heavy stock pots that was holdimg women back in the restaurant industry. (Yes, This is sarcasm.)
18
Well, look at the verbal abuse Gordon Ramsay hands out on TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen”!
After witnessing that I never watched the show again. And it’s been on how many seasons?
What’s the excuse for allowing that? Would the excuse be “That’s the way it is in kitchens?” If so, why is that acceptable?
Does a kitchen stand for the place where the little woman puts on her apron and learns to shut up, no matter what? Hopefully
abuse on any level, verbal, physical, sexual is done. Personally, I would love to see Ramsay’s show cancelled, and he could just go to where his kitchen suggests.
83
I enjoy this show very much, and yes it’s a show! His verbal outbursts are directed to both men and women!
1
A lot has been written recently about sexual harassment by customers
5
After 30+ years in this industry, I can assure you massive sexual harassment and humiliation is alive and well in the dining room, too.
32
As a woman who worked in restaurants for years, I'd like to know when the media will recognize that the greater violence in kitchens isn't against women - but against Latino workers who will never dare to complain.
I'm not saying the industry is fair to us women, but we suffer next to nothing compared to Latino workers who are ROUTINELY cheated of wages, worked 16 hours without breaks, dismissed without cause when they are injured, and can't apply for workers' compensation.
I'm not even Latina, but hello? Can we at least acknowledge how much more pervasive the abuse of Latino kitchen workers is???
#MeToo? #MeDisproportionateMediaAttention!
122
When will the day come that white racism gets the same constant excoriating coverage and we promptly see white racists, men and women, hustled off to jail in handcuffs? I’m not holding my breath. Which makes the hypocrisy here breathtaking
5
How about both? Why either / or? Sexism,racism, homophobia. Get rid of all of it.
4
Not sure I'm believing this. Seems like she's just piling on the #metoo train.
10
Just because you're not sure you believe this doesn't mean it didn't happen. The rest of us will move forward in the spirit of reality.
12
It is prevalent. It is real. There are thousands of us women who entered the restaurant industry and left. When I was in culinary school, I was treated with respect and dignity. The chef instructors were tough on us but only to teach us cooking techniques. They were the elite pros. Not all restaurants are run on harassment, but most are. I had to walk away.
18
So much of this rests on the cowards who observe this in the workplace and do nothing about it. C'mon fellow men step up. It's your daughter, wife, girlfriend, mother, aunt, friend that will be next.
141
My husband was a college professor and dean who "stepped up" for women all his life, not because he had a sense of ownership of us but because he knew we were fellow human beings. But any help is welcome, no matter the reason. Thank you.
50
You have the answer. Good men will fix this. I have faith.
5
This title is obnoxious! I happen to know several chefs who are the antithesis of the chefs mentioned in this article.
Way to besmirch an entire industry NYT!
Most of the chefs that I know are devoted family men who spendany free time they might get outside of the ridiculous hours they
Spend in the kitchen with their families or donating their time and
talents to fundraising for innumerable charities.Ms. Greenwald, please stop labeling every chef with the defamatory term
“Predator.”
12
Is it time yet to call out food franchises such as Hooters and The Tilted Kilt, where women being sexually objectified is literally build into the brand?
88
The conflation of 3 very different issues dilute the greater issue, which is that women in the hospitality face extreme harassment that may only be worse in the entertainment industry. Wage theft and the gross mishandling of maternity leaves are more general issues. One is gender neutral (wage theft) the other (maternity leave) many industries have similar issues. But the extreme harassment that women face (both front of the house and back) is part of the party industry hangover that is more then a minor blemish on the industry. The hours are late the liquor is generously poured to all. Female cooks are schooled by their seniors that they'll have to "man" up or switch to a day pastry shift. Waitresses are advised not to go in the walk in when the predators are there. It's time for the industry to grow up.
15
I am f, grew up working in hotels/ restaurants from the age of 13 at a shore resort, fortunately was in the era in which summer jobs could put a dent into college expenses - my first real server job was at a place owned-managed by the very strident mom of a friend. My first non-friend-owned place all that stuff happened.
Later as a contemporary dancer/choreographer in NYC I made very good money cocktailing 3-4 days a week. My skin grew disgustingly thick. This harms a person.
I have many years since been in the media industry in tech and production roles where before forming my own enterprises and partnerships it was par for the course to be placed under males with much less education, experience/ability than I had, less money. Lousy statements by seemingly well-meaning yet thoroughly clueless bosses - one 2 hour van trip with a producer he said in conversation - "I called you cuz all the guys were busy" these were guys I was about equal with in ability /experience. I mean how are you supposed to deal with that & stay sane - work for self was my only option, yes have less money, learn to disguise publicity as a male/partner, employ male front persons - this is insanity.
Now I see this as one more albeit huge disfunction in the USA world of work and survival. Too long has money and uber capitalism worship gone on. The USA is sinking visibly under its sins and stupidity. Go #metoo. Black lives matter. The people in charge are rotten to their feral cores.
23
"The restaurant industry relies on female labor but for far too long it has done too little to protect that work force."
What is undeniable and is coming forward is a need to return to notions of chivalry and "correct" behavior from men. What is not quite so clear is whether Feminists will allow for that societal debate to take place, because it does reverse some of the bizarre notions of how men and women can and should relate to each other, post-"enlightenment".
Ladies, you cannot have it all; and the notion that "having it all" was the goal was false. Please don't walk around half-clothed and say you don't want to be objectified or stared at. Please don't engage in flirtatious encounters with strangers and stumble back to dorm rooms with them while drunk. Take back agency. Grow up. Once you return to that responsible behavior, all men will have your back on boorish workplace abuse. And it will be clear why and from whom the behavior emanates.
Abuse in the workplace MUST stop. The sexual games also must stop. And maybe we will revisit some of the tenets of what it means to be a gentleman or chivalry without being called "medieval". And we will have updated language for women who now call themselves "sexy" when there were less flattering terms a generation ago.
Or we can bring more Conservatives into the country to right the balance. They are out there and going under different names.
7
You can call it "chivalry" and "correct" behavior. I call it non-criminal, professional behavior. Whatever. I'm not going to debate semantics. Can't we just set a standard where people don't threaten, grab, and physically and verbally abuse their coworkers? How they are dressed is irrelevant, unless perhaps they have been issued a uniform of some kind or possibly been told to wear certain items front of house for the clientele. In that case, to me, the burden there is on the folks who set a risky environment for the employees.
You have a lot of other arguments floating around in the above that I won't address because, frankly, they are murky and confused and involve dorm rooms and weird notions from the 70s. The article is on workplace sexual harrassment and discrimination in the restaurant industry, so you might consider sticking to that topic.
6
@Greta
Criminal is criminal. Nobody is debating it.
The “rough treatment” of women is as murky as your glib dismissal of chivalry as semantics.
Verbal abuse is criminal? Not on a bond trading desk. Or a construction site.
Physical abuse is criminal? Tell a stevedore or iron worker.
Kitchens are rough? I would assume so, given the stakes and pressure. Chefs of either sex are beastly people. So are investment banking deal teams. They win at any cost.
As I suspected I would, a person who denies the protection of many years of a Judeo Christian sense of justice jumped from their chair at my verbal provocation.
Women want legitimate protection and deserve it. In the West, it is generally accepted. Anywhere else, it’s every HUMAN for themselves. Prove me wrong. Islam? China? Japan? India? I have all day.
Perhaps you now have more compassion for men who literally have broken their backs and sometimes given their lives for their families and countrymen.
The West is imperfect, but not every behavior is criminal just because it’s harsh and directed at a woman.
Feminists would be wise to say so. Or admit their error.
Agreed. I worked my way through college and graduate school as a waiter. "The Predators in the Kitchen" prey on women and every other group in the restaurant. It is a locker-room culture in a high-stress intense world. I found top chefs and restaurant owners to be misogynist, racist and uncaring. I once heard a chef yell our "get that monkey out of here," in reference to a person of color who was having trouble on the line. No of us said anything to support this fellow for fear of not working. Though just an anecdote I feel it represented my experience in this business.
16
Not to excuse any of this behavior, but this person probably bullies men, too. I am so tired of hearing Americans complain about bullying and yet they think Simon Cowell and the "iron chef" are hilarious. We worship jocks and cheerleaders. Many Americans love bullies and they have no capability for self-reflection. Hence our president.
62
Sexual abuse of a child is a crime, cut and dry. Sexual abuse of women is debated and analyzed, classified by industry, and characterized as an abuse of power. It seldom gets to court. Somebody is thinking too much.
12
The endless drumbeat from the NYT is getting to the point where I may end up canceling my subscription. The anti-male bias reeks with each and every op-ed and article written. There is absolutely no evidence that women in positions of power do not abuse that power.
The difference in these articles and op-eds is the use of a sexual component to an abuse of power to vilify men. Women have and do use sexual conduct to manipulate other behavior and abuse those relationships with it. The abuse of authority seems to be the real issue here but that's not what we hear from another article on the front page of this website regarding a CNN reporter. There we have a general sense of being made to feel "uncomfortable" as a new standard of vilification of men.
We all need jobs and money to live but being a waitstaff employee doesn't carry with it lifelong career damage when you walk out and quit an employer you might believe has overstepped their authority. Nor is it required of a reporter to continue an interview when they feel "uncomfortable" when the subject of that interview makes sexual suggestions.
These expose' have turned into a vehicle for male hatred and a crafting a narrative of sexual power which cast women as victims and men, in general, as perpetrators. This is necessary when a choice is made between a female and a male candidate running for political office. Don't think this drumbeat of an anti-male narrative is an accident.
Poison kisses? Strait out of G.O.T.
12
Wow. These articles are probably anathema to you because before #Metoo, women feared reporting this sickening, criminal behavior, so you just didn't experience this reality explained in print. Again, the culture is shifting to the point where women, despite their lack of positions of power, are calling out the powerful bad actors. These are acts of tremendous courage. And these articles are not going away. Best to become accustomed to women speaking their truth. Blaming women for the same behavior is not reality-based and the statistics do not uphold your argument. Come back with facts and maybe more people will read your comments.
14
I checked, and there is no indication whatsoever of a poisoned kiss. The person who made the statement had already started drinking wine. The article makes an implication that is not supported by the data.
Here's the article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mario-batali-and-the-spotted-pig-nyc/
She blacked out at a party, woke up with semen on her clothes, but then declined to file a report, so the rape kit evidence was dropped.
The quote is given in this article in a way that implies it's certain Batali did anything. But the data does not support that- it's based on allegation with an absence of physical evidence.
1
feminism: the belief that women are people, with rights
32
Very poignant essay on female abuse in the food industry. And now let's address the issue of the Hooters restaurants.
7
The way these articles are trending, there's few, if any industries that don't treat women lousy! Sad.
5
Maybe this will contribute to eating away at our dreadful celebrity culture in America, where people act shocked that a famous chef or actor or news reader (not necessarily the same as as journalist) or sports figure, seem so affable and talented and admirable, only to find that beneath the carefully managed veneer lurks an utter wretch.
Why do we continue to assume that because one has a particular skill or talent that they also, as if they are linked, has a good soul, wisdom and intelligence Not everyone of these people, indeed not even the majority perhaps, are on the low level of the Battallis, Lauers, Cosbys, etc. in terms of vileness, of course, but enough seem to that perhaps we need to revise our immediate tendency to ooh and ahh over them, and attach significance to them beyond their particular field. Mr. Battalli was a talented chef, no more, no less - it does not make him admirable or expert in anything else in life yet we enriched and empowered him. The same for actors and others who think we should listen to their pontifications on politics, the environment, or whatever, just because they can perform a line someone else wrote in a move.
In short, enjoy these individuals for what they bring but stop imbuing them with anything whatsoever beyond that unless it is actually shown that they merit it. TV smiles, phony articles, etc. do not tell us the real story so be wiser and more skeptical of the lot.
8
I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, and worked for thirty years in the industry. As a black Chef these stories resonate but they are not new, the industry has been historically racist, and misogynist.When I was called the N word in many kitchens, owners and co-workers women included thought it was funny,and laughed,while I churned inside. The irony for me is that these behaviors were widely accepted industry wide by the same owners and Chefs who are now attempting to distance themselves from Batali and others
J.C.
178
I'm astonished that any of these many articles presume that such behavior is limited to one industry or another. What is being described is rampant in the music industry and none of the perpetrators I've witnessed have been outed in the news. While we're being presumptuous-probably more than 80% of chef perps will never be reported either. As we see in the movie industry-typically only those who no longer rely on these power players feel that they can come out. The repercussions continue to exist. And for those who haven't been complicit-well, we now get bumped lower to the list because in a gig economy- it's better to hire the ones you know might sing even if the are inferior performers-to the ones who have nothing on you. It's leverage behind the scenes. Harvey Weinstein getting busted has made my scene actually even LESS merit based than ever.
3
There's no need to eat out at these high end restaurants. Eat in, eat elsewhere, donate the money.
5
What would be very interesting would be to have the Times track these guys after their behavior is exposed and they face "consequences". Do they really pay a price? Or as I would suspect, they eventually come out ahead. The women involved pay a price. Every single day. But what happens to the men only convicted in the court of public opinion and not facing halftime? Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Cosby etc. Are they ruined financially? Will they resurface somewhere else? By the time they are exposed, they have amassed enough wealth to live off the interest on their investments. But the women are all trying to get started in their careers and can't just hunker down somewhere. It would be nice to know that what goes around comes around. They certainly need to feel they cannot and should not be allowed to feel no consequence for what they have done. But then again, there are many who would elect them president.
3
What more consequences should they face? There are more serious perpetrators of financial crimes that have devastated the world economy (the people behind the 2007 recession) who will never serve a day in jail for what they've done (admittedly due to the laws being changed by Clinton in 1999 and there being no crime to charge them with) and nobody has ever bothered to be seeking THEM out to suffer any more consequences at all. If these men didn't suffer any more then the slaps on the wrist they got, why should Cosby, Rose, Lauer, Batali, Weinstein, etc. suffer more than what they are going to get in court when the juries hand out their verdicts in their cases? In the cases of Cosby, (Jian) Ghomeshi, Rose, Lauer, they'll not have any chance to get jobs in media again; I think that's a good enough punishment for them to suffer.
1
It is infuriating that this abuse of women is still happening in 2018. But even now that it has been exposed, I doubt that much will change. I wait for the day when women can say, I’ll report you if you don’t stop, follow it up with a kick where it hurts, and still get to keep her job.
5
It's a nasty business however you want to slice it. Nasty from the back of the house and nasty from the front. It's not just female employees who are mistreated, it's everyone. Wage theft is a a huge problem, buried cash, exploitation of cheap labor, scheduling, you name it. Karma is coming back a bit as it's very difficult to get help these days. The business model as it stands - labor intensive dependent on cheap labor, escalating rents, food costs, etc - is going to ultimately be unsustainable. Probably not too far in the future.
123
So right. Dining out is one of the last things I'd do for fun, but sometimes it is necessary.
6
I'd like to see women banding together and starting their own restaurants with entirely female employees. Wouldn't it be freeing to work together in an environment where collaboration was celebrated and harassment didn't exist. Sometimes the only way to deal with men behaving badly is to remove them from the equation.
6
How long would that last before men decide that they can do the same and set up small businesses that have no women employees (which, BTW, is already happening, according to this video blogger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOs7ToHF-9M&lc=z22esh1ypozbxt2az04t1...?
1
Apparently the line between being accused of something and having it proven is now completely irrelevant.
10
What’s with this toxic combination of sexual immaturity, aggression and business acumen, is it that men are taught that women and sex are supposed to be part of the rewards of success? Societies like ours are defined by a domination ethos i.e. to the victor goes the spoils. The current president epitomizes the ethic of a hard charging business man and the sense of entitlement generated by both success and the appearance of success. The roots of this pathology go beyond sexuality to social power and how its expressed. The overdue justice for these women just scratches the surface of a deeper maladjustment of human phycology. This drives much of the worlds troubles, our species needs to mature, especially the men. Soon!
7
This piece highlights the need for class action suits for wage theft claims - which the Supreme Court just struck down. The current legal and political environment does not support women in so many big & small ways.
5
I understand your sentiment, but the sad reality is that in many if not most cases, class action suits enrich lawyers to the tune of millions upon millions of dollars while the actual plaintiffs are lucky to get a paltry pay off.
2
Thank you. After 10 years in the restaurant industry, I finally left after realizing that there was a different set of rules ( or no rules ) for the hospitality industry. I saw a young female intern doused with water then flower at Bluestem Restaurant in Kansas City. The kitchen staff seemed to have glee about this, which was assault. Aaaah, the old dust an cover they exclaimed. I was physically assaulted, then fired, from the (now closed) American Restaurant, owned by Hallmark!, after reporting a conversation I overheard by the bus staff about their desire to have sex with a pregnant waitress. The management seemed more concerned that I had gone to HR than the casual banter about would-be sexual assault. After I was fired by the American restaurant, the manager tried to deny me unemployment benefits, disputing my unemployment claim (which they lost). This is a nasty, nasty industry. I suspect the surface has only been scratched.
27
I've eaten in one of Mr. Batali's restaurants but I never will again.
I am so fed up with men behaving badly, in any arena. I have no sympathy for any who are truly guilty and if they lose their business or reputation it is their own fault. We need to restore the image of what it means to be a gentleman and include success in the definition. You don't have to be a bully or a predator to be successful or powerful or respected and, in truth, you are more likely to have it all if you treat people right.
98
"I am so fed up with men behaving badly": Yes, obviously those who are said to have behaved badly are men. But--and I think we don't even notice it--this way of describing the behavior characterizes it essentially as a problem with men. The type of event that CJ is fed up with is "Man Behaving Badly." And isn't that sexist? Doesn't it stereotype or negatively characterize men as a category or class? After O. J. Simpson, did anyone write that they were fed up with blacks behaving badly?
"We need to restore the image of what it means to be a gentleman": same point. The problem does not lie simply in individuals who happen to be men, but is associated with, or identified in terms of, the universal Man.
To have this attitude, but to criticize employers who make hiring or firing decisions on the basis of stereotypical assumptions, involves a certain inconsistency.
I spent my years in high school waitressing in male dominated restaurants and, after attending cooking schools, cooking in two restaurants where I was the only women. I remember back then (25 plus years ago) feeling brave for being the only women, which was short lived after feeling entirely uncomfortable every time I went to work. I had had enough of the harrasment. I started my own private chef business instead - no more working in a male dominated industry that treats women as second class.
25
We have recently seen an article about the restaurant industry and another about the meat industry - and a third combining the two discussing a steakhouse. These industries seem especially difficult to regulate, have incentives to sell unhealthy products and are completely unnecessary.
The easiest remedy to the many ills of these industries is to vote with our wallets and do without their products. We will be healthier, wealthier and happier for the decision, and so will many of the employees forced to find a better work environment.
2
Reminds me of my waitressing job at Players Tavern in Westport, CT when I was 18 in the late 70s.
Not only did the bartender make inquiries about my bedtime activities possibly having kept me up the night before as a way to berate my forgetfulness about which lemon twists go where, but the owners were stealing waitresses’ wages by deducting the tab when their tables walked out (the place was overcrowded and patrons would regularly slip out a side door without paying). One evening I remember I made minus $9.
Fortunately, they kept good records of their “walk-outs” and after I reported them to the Labor Department, Players Tavern had to pay waitresses for the previous couple of years every cent for every walk-out.
To respond to one of the commenters here who asked why women don’t speak up, in fact a lot of us do. Very little gets done, and even when it does, very little changes.
127
When I worked in male dominated restuarants I always felt that there was no one in the world to speak up to. Who? They were all male. I was the only women...
19
So glad this is all coming to light, as painful (but necessary) as it is. What is so creepy is how so many of those people associated with (and who profited from) perpetrators are falling all over themselves to distance themselves now that the abuse has come to light. Did they suddenly get a moral compass? Why weren't they doing more to change the system from within?
42
Thanks for your questions, ND.
As someone who was harassed/humiliated on a level few can comprehend, I'm also someone who helped to cover up VERY bad behavior.
That's a nuance the #MeToo discussion is missing: how the enabler is often also the victim. That’s what Uma Thurman was getting at when she told Maureen Dowd, "I stand as both a person who was subjected to it and a person who was then also part of the cloud cover, so that’s a super weird split to have." https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/opinion/sunday/this-is-why-uma-thurma...
Years after I ran from My Monster, a restaurateur with a celebrity clientele, I feel like I escaped a cult – because when I left I didn’t understand how off kilter my life was, and what chaos I was willing to tolerate & hide.
One reason is I was ashamed to tell others what was happening at work. Truth is I couldn’t even admit that to myself.
Another reason is I was financially dependent on my abuser. And like any abuser, he convinced me I couldn’t make a living elsewhere.
A third reason is I grew to have more empathy for My Monster than I had for myself. That’s why Thurman’s words resonated: she knows the excuses a young woman can make to protect her predator.
“I didn’t feel threatened...I thought he (Weinstein) was being super idiosyncratic, like this was your kooky, eccentric uncle.”
Someday I will sing like a canary, but until I am positive My Monster and his heavy hitter customers cannot destroy me, I will stay silent
10
It is very perplexing to me as a woman that women don’t care to band together in an industry with such a preponderance of women. Men have jolly old boys only clubs and look out for each other, why don’t women subscribe to the same ideas? Do we not care what happens to all women? Kudos to those who complained bravely. But, they seem to be alone in a vast group of women.
It’s about us recognizing that we too need to take a stance. That excuse of I need to earn money and become famous, is not enough. It’s this short term thinking, that empowers terrible behavior in men. Where are the powerful women in the food industry? Why are they keeping silent? Bank statements sure have a lot of power in keeping women as a race suppressed. Come on girls, we have been suppressed and insidiously made to feel inadequate to handle this world without men. High time we relied on our smarts, and more importantly developed a web of support for all women to forge ahead.
21
Some women do. The New York Times just published a business entrepreneurship story by Valeriya Safronova about Melly Barajas Cárdenas, a woman who runs a Tequila distillery in Mexico and predominately hires women to work for her. It isn't a restaurant, but the industry is related.(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/tequila-mexico-women.html)
4
You have to love the New American logic - a company discriminated against men, and that’s applauded.
That just proves in New America, liberals don’t want equality, they’re anti-male and want to discriminate against men.
They want men to stop harassing women.
9
The ultimate irony, is that so many of the well known chefs who have been accused of discrimination and sexual harassment in their kitchens and businesses have given interviews in the past crediting their mothers for being an inspiration and instilling in them love and respect for good food and cooking. The fact that the women they then go on to demean and harass in their own kitchens, are mothers, sisters and daughters seems not to have crossed their minds.
150
It’s the old madonna-whore syndrome—with a major dose of “nobody better mess with my women.” “Their” women are pure, perfect, and worthy of protection. Other women are simply meat.
14
It's always been an irony that this country for so long believed women's place was in the kitchen but never as professional chef. Women have always shown the fine motor skills required of a seamstress but were deemed unfit to be surgeons. My grandmother once explained to me (in the '50s) why teachers were paid low wages: That way schools could ensure that only the most dedicated people (read 'women') entered the profession. Then came the '80s and men were becoming teachers. Now the wages increased because clearly only high salaries would attract the best and most qualified.
In the end, we might have to thank Trump for the #MeToo movement. Calling all these transgressors to task at this time is displacement behavior for sure but at least some of them are being held accountable.
74
Lidia Bastianich, Alice Waters, Cat Cora, Elena Arzah, and not to be forgotten, the mother of it all: Julia Child.
7
That is not true about teachers. Women went into it (initially) because the pay was ALWAYS low -- even when in the 18th century, all teachers were MEN -- but by the 20th century, men had more higher paying opportunities. And only women would take the lower pay. Also: in the 1950s, there were plenty of male teachers in HIGH SCHOOL. Certainly attending junior high and high school from the late 60s to early 70s, I had many male teachers! What changed was not male teachers entering the field (and definitely NOT in the 80s) but unions -- which ensured that teachers got very high pay and very short hours -- entrenched the miserably failing idea of "all summers off with pay" -- and instituted strict union rules that make it impossible to fire even bad teachers ("rubber rooms"). It is abundantly clear from our failing American public schools system -- ranked #37th in the world -- that we do NOT have "the best and most qualified teachers" AT ALL.
3
I find these stories so chilling. My family loves to go out to eat once a month. We just assume the staff is being treated well by the owners because we have no way to know otherwise. It is painful to hear that we may have been complicity condoning mistreatment of women. Eataly is one of my favorite places to visit in Chicago and NYC when we travel. But I will truly never be able to go there again. If this is so rampant in the restaurant industry, then I look forward to an industry-wide response, including from the Food Network. We have a problem if the food is being better treated than the people.
65
For what it's worth, Eataly is an independent Italian company. Batali was, and no longer is, only one of their American business partners, and I have it on good authority from a colleague who works in the Flatiron location that the day after the allegations broke, they immediately pulled everything he was associated with off the shelves and made it clear that he was no longer welcome on the premises. He's persona non grata all over NYC including at Eataly.
14
What a good idea-- a response from the Food Network!! They certainly have played and continue to play a significant role in creating the "Celebrity Chef".
10
Newflash: Many industries in the U.S. don't support working mothers, especially during pregnancy and soon after birth, when parenting demands are high. That's one of the reasons the birth rate is falling--because many women in America face a stark choice: motherhood and resulting poverty or a career.
Until we pass parental leave laws, improve day care options both in quality and affordability, and support women and their families as mothers and parents as well as employees, our birth rate will continue to fall, and women who do have children will try to pretend that they don't have parenting responsibilities while cramming that hard work into their off hours, with bad results for them and their children.
And, with a Republican-dominated federal government, I can't see that happening soon. The GOP doesn't support working women with anything but lip service.
174
Translation: I'm a working mother and everyone in society benefits when I can play that role effectively. Since everyone benefits, and since both having children and working still seem to be things that society needs and values, it seems sensible that there is some socialization of the cost.
And note: I'm saying that as someone who believes that in an ideal world, couples shouldn't have children unless they can come up with the equivalent of a stay-at-home parent between them. I quit working to do just that after my daughter was born. But we don't live in an ideal world, we live in a world where it is hard for many people (as couples or singles) to make ends meet.
So ... either support a massive increase in the proportion of GDP that flows to labor, or support socialization of childcare costs, or admit that you don't care about or want children to be properly cared for (and are willing to deal with the costs of that down the road).
11
My children are now 25 and 30, born in 1988 and 1992, when 6 weeks of maternity leave was the norm, based only on physical recovery from pregnancy (which doesn't really occur within 6 weeks, especially if you are breastfeeding). Had my parents not chosen to retire to my city and help care for my daughters when my older daughter was 4, my experience would have been much more miserable and difficult than it was. Even with their help (and I paid my mother the going rate for monthly child care, $450, as she had never worked outside the home and had "her own" money), I worked for myself while my children were young so I could choose my hours and work a more flexible schedule. That was only possible because I'm a professional with a master's degree who had already launched my career and had an existing base of clients who would pay by the hour for my work. Most women aren't that fortunate. And my husband, who runs his own business, and I struggled even with the greater flexibility we both have. At some point, we have to realize it takes a village to raise children, and that everyone needs to help the people who are raising the next generation. My parents and my clients helped me. I'm prepared to pay higher taxes. higher prices for consumer goods, whatever it takes to make sure that choosing to have children doesn't mean choosing poverty and privation. And, finally, the GOP wants to take that choice away from women while provided as little support as possible.
4
The GOP healthcare plan is to have women care for the kids, mentally ill, disabled and the elderly at home. The GOP plan for education is to have women home school or at least volunteer regularly.
The GOP is 50 years' distant from any sort of reality.
8
This sort of thing has always gone on in the highly toxic jungle restaurant kitchen environment throughout food history. It is an accepted practice within limits. But it should never be tolerated or condoned by owners to the rank and file staff. And they have a duty to supervise. Most food establishments know who the worst offenders are. They should be fired immediately if any inappropriate touching occurs. Words less so. Perhaps a warning first. Problem is if they fire an offender they create a paper trail that proves a toxic environment, something any owner wary of lawsuits would like to avoid.
7
I appreciate Ms. Greenwald for exposing this seamy underbelly. Predators need to be forced out of the kitchen and into the fire of public scrutiny and lawsuits.
50
Make a list of America's 10,000 most powerful men, of any age. What do you suppose the odds are that, sooner or later, half of them will be either under indictment for sexually abusive escapades or involuntarily retired because of them (and looking for their "next act")?
What a great historical opportunity to be female AND second-in-command of something!
Chefs do it better because they use garnish.
16
Alas, I think the odds are very high. Very high. I’m not completely naive; I knew this sort of thing happened. But I was shocked to learn Bill Cosby drugged women and I am shocked at how many famous men are being exposed as real predators on the job. And I now realize this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As to your second prediction, I’m not so sanguine, but I hope you’re right.
3
I hope you never have to experience the immense suffering that underlies this ounce of justice.
8
Victims of assault, harassment and rape will be delighted to know it was all a career opportunity.
11
If the economy really worked there would be more scientists accountants and teachers and fewer chefs.
85
Do you think cooking is anywhere near as intellectually challenging as science or accounting? Nearly anybody can be a cook which is why the pay for such positions isn't stellar. Relatively few have the intellectual capacity to understand science and higher math.
11
That's not really true. Cooking is all about chemistry, The only difference is that a chef or cook may have learned much of the chemistry by trial and error as it relates to the end result. But I live near the Culinary Institute of America-- chemistry is very much part of the students' program.
29
Nearly anybody can be a cook, hardly anybody can be a good one. It's an art form.
I have little doubt that Mr. Batali enjoyed the good life as he saw it, and that leveraging his celebrity into sexual coercion and fulfillment was part of the package. But as a physician, I have a hard time believing that he somehow drugged his victims by delivering a "poison kiss" as this article implies . If he was using flunitrazaepam (or "rufys") to incapacitate his victims, I would expect others to come forward with similar accounts of "blacking out" in their encounters with him, and waking up with a bad feeling, or worse.
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Other victims aren't coming forward? Probably more than a kiss was involved.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/dining/mario-batali-sexual-assault.html
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I don’t think a “poisoned kiss” was insinuated. It’s an important detail because it demonstrates his interest. She had obviously been drinking. She doesn’t need to have been drugged for any of this to have occurred, although there are reasons to suspect she had.
Suggesting that the alleged victim’s account isn’t credible because other women would’ve come forward, because there should be a pattern, is exactly what keeps people from coming forward in the first place. I am guessing you have never needed to be the first to speak up about something unpopular.
Signed, someone who trains MD/PhDs to think analytically and recognize institutionalized injustice
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Come on Dr. Winky, they are hanging in a restaurant with a bar post work. They are sipping beverages. Its easy to drug somebody´s drink.
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I agree with much of what Ms. Greenwald discusses here, and I worked for one of the restaurant groups that features prominently in this piece for almost a decade; however, I take issue with the acompanying illustration. In fact, I almost didn’t read this when I saw it. I’m glad I did, but I think this paper does a disservice to hospitality employees by featuring a female server with a cook in this context. It feels stereotypical and frankly classist.
Anyone with a set of preconceived notions about restaurants would be titilated by this image because it relies on those exact misconceptions to be effective. Never mind the massive wage disparity between front of house and back of house, never mind the aforementioned class issues, or the model/actress/artist vs. bum/burn-out/misanthrope tropes that come to mind — servers get to leave the kitchen. They can change their schedules. They can go work admin. Female cooks are trapped there. They are expected to be game, to put up with constant causal harrassment, to drink hard and work harder, and unlike a great many servers, female cooks are now, more often than not, culinary school graduates who aren’t just there for a lark between gigs or because they’re “considering a career in restaurants.” In fact, more than 50% of culinary school graduates in the past five years have been women. Ms. Greenwald mentions one female chef who struggled; what about all of those other women in white? They’re not talking, because they know they can’t.
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Thank you for pointing out the difference between those working in the kitchen and those working in the front of the house. I had not thought of that when I looked at the illustration.
On the other hand, servers also must deal with harassment from customers. There was an article in the Times a few weeks ago about that.
Finally, if the harasser is the owner of the restaurant, no one can escape him. When I was in high school, one of my good friends was a bus girl at a local family owned restaurant. I don’t think the owner ever touched her, but he said things of a sexual nature to her that I can’t type here, as I’m sure they violate the standards of the moderator. She was 16 and he was in his 40s or 50s.
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Thank you for pointing out the wage disparity between front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house workers. I know firsthand the long hours and low wages of a cook. And as long as we're discussing gender discrimination in the industry, may I point out that jobs in the front end, with shorter hours for much greater income, tend to be given to women. Men are more likely to be relegated to hot, stressful environment of the kitchen and to the dish washing station. And men also face harassment from management and co-workers. This is not an industry which treats men well....in case anyone cares.
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