Culinary workers call for culture shift as #MeToo puts spotlight on harassment
When Tari Shear got her start in the restaurant industry as a hostess, she says enduring sexual harassment was one of the “expectations” of her job.
Forced to put up with unwanted advances by customers and coworkers alike, Shear said she could be sent home if she didn’t dress to the provocative tastes of her supervisors.
She’s since moved to an office job, but said she still hears horror stories from frontline restaurant workers subjected to sexual remarks, inappropriate touching and harsh scrutiny of their physical appearance.
“It silences people. It makes you tolerate things that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to,” said Shear, who still has many friends in the service industry. “There has to be a real change in culture.”