• Maxime de Vries and Jasper Piersma

Getting a slap on the butt from your colleague, the guy who makes sexually explicit jokes, or your boss who calls you a “bitch” all the time. These are examples of inappropriate behavior that young catering employees have to deal with.

About 1,200 young people aged 18 or younger are opposed Nous stories They sometimes encounter unwanted situations with guests, colleagues, or managers in their catering work. The number of reports of sexually suggestive comments and unwanted physical contact is particularly striking.

It’s usually the guests who are guilty of this, according to the answers. 18-year-old bar worker: “Often when I stand behind the bar and ask what a guest wants, they say: ‘You’. Or: ‘Your phone number’. Someone once even offered me 50 euros to go there.” “Toilet.”

And it doesn’t stop at the comments. “When the place is busy and I walk among the guests, they slap my buttocks or pinch my buttocks,” she says. “I don’t know what to do at that moment and I laugh a little.” Sometimes, guests also take photos of her bending over and write online that she is “the most beautiful bartender in town.”

In the video below, NOS Stories talks to several catering staff about their (negative) experiences.

The employee tries to talk to people about it. “But if you say something about it, nothing really changes and people laugh about it a little bit. And they do it again the next time, sometimes even five minutes later.”

Often her boss doesn’t get involved either. “Sometimes, when things get too intense, I ask my boss if he wants to send guests. But he doesn’t, because he thinks it’s not so bad. That’s why I report it less and less, because it’s actually no use. I feel helpless. “

Jacqueline Tuerda, director of CNV Vakmensen, acknowledges the stories. “You see that there is an informal atmosphere in most catering establishments. You are with a small team and together you ensure that the guests have a nice evening. But this atmosphere means that boundaries are not always respected.”

According to her, addressing unwanted behavior can be difficult, especially for young employees. “Catering staff are often expected to say something about this. This is very complicated. You can’t have a discussion with a guest on the balcony.”

About four in ten catering staff are pupils or students, and more than half are under 25 years old. Tuerda: “For many young people, this is their first job and they don’t always know what is appropriate and what is not. If others around them seem to think this is very normal, they think: This is my fault. But it’s also not their fault.”

It becomes even more difficult when your direct manager is the problem. Like a 16 year old boy working in a café and restaurant. “My boss sat with her hands on my butt several times when she had to walk beside me,” he says. Nous stories.

“She also makes sexually suggestive comments to me when we’re having a drink after closing time. Like: ‘If you weren’t so young and I wasn’t married, I would have really done something to you.’ I’m 16 and my boss is in his 40s.”

He doesn’t dare say anything about it. “I’m afraid if I do that she’ll get angry and take my job. That’s why I try to avoid her as much as possible.”

To make it easier for employees to report inappropriate behavior, Koninklijke Horeca Nederland points out the importance of confidential advisors. Currently, it is not mandatory for all catering establishments to have this. There is now a bill before the Senate that would mandate that employers with more than ten employees be required to hire a confidential advisor.