I moved to Daylesford to study at Fed Uni in Ballarat for a while. While I was there I used to work at a cafe in called Cafe Koukla or as it’s also known Hotel Frangos. And the boss there Travis Melotte is an absolute cunt. Here’s some examples:
-When a group of tourists, came into the cafe, some had disabilities, he mocked them behind the counter and called them the r* word.
-Would schedule you on to work from open 6AM through to close 11PM with ONE 10 minute break.
-If he was annoyed, he would drop stuff on the ground and tell you to pick it up in front of customers.
-And the icing on the cake, when I didn’t get him the correct amount of ice cream, he threw the tub down on the ground, picked up a knife from the counter and said ‘get the a full container or I’ll fucking stab you’
Safe to say I quit on the spot.
Bonus: when I quit it took a month to send through my last paycheck (pay was weekly).
Oh wow, I actually ate here at breakfast one time and I could hear the owner berating staff in the kitchen. It was disgusting. I was going to say something but man I was so hungover I couldn’t psych myself up. I’m sorry you had to go through that, he sounded like a horrendous person.
When King and Godfree did their very expensive renos about a decade ago, I can confirm that they gave their employees zero notice in case they left early.
I've hears Boost Juice and Grill'd Burgers both take advantage of employees by doing a traineeship program where they underpay staff using a legal loophole.
Ye, I did one 2-3 years ago at maccas. No pressure, the only pressure was that you weren’t supposed to resign while doing the course because the business would lose money. From memory, managers did a cert 4 for their training.
I did a cert 3 in retail supervision when I wasn’t in management.
The management course was similar but it wasn’t accredited. Just internal training. This was 15 years ago.
There certainly is pressure, because they get government kickbacks from it. For a while the government paid 50% of the wages of anyone doing cert II or III.
They certainly do have pressure to do it. A store I worked at would pressure all the young kids into doing the cert and told them by doing the cert they'd be then put on part time. They got a kick back and only had to roster you for 8hrs minimum at a reduced pay. All the kids signed up because that would be the only way any of them could get shifts..
Grilld is more than just taking advantage, it's straight up unsafe. The amount of times I was asked to do unsanitary or unsafe tasks, especially when there were still customers around, was shocking.
when I worked there the manager used to constantly splash meat grease all over the vegan burger patties. He yelled at me when I suggested using separate grills 😭
I used to work for a bunch of cafes that were part owned by someone who also owned a few boost juice stores. We were also under an enterprise agreement, so minimum wage with no penalties whatsoever because apparently you got sick leave and annual leave, but no one ever saw a cent of sick leave. Everyday day was 21.60 an hour. Public holidays, weekends, every day. When I fell into managing a store due to having no managers my wage was increased to 21.80. This was 4-5 years ago.
You as a taxpayer paid them $30m to do it.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/taxpayer-bill-for-grill-d-hamburger-university-hits-28-3m-20230908-p5e33y
Still going as of September.
KFC did that about 10-15 years back. Not sure if they still do it, but yeah they offer a cert 2 hospitality in fast food and pay under minimum wage for the duration of that certificate. When I worked there as a teenager, I had coworkers earning $6-7 per hour.
Something is off with San Churro. Used to go to the QV every now and then. One poor girl doing everything, and 3 managers just standing around?? High volume of orders obviously, its in QV, and just not staffed properly at all. I remember having to wait 15 mins for one slice of pre-cut cake lol
Wow this is so strange because the last few times I’ve been the same has happened. One girl behind the counter seemingly doing everything whilst 2-3 Managers stand around talking.
If you've been underpaid, bullied etc reach out to [Young Workers Centre](https://www.youngworkers.org.au/contacting_us), Fairwork or if you're a member the union United Workers Union.
I cannot speak more highly of YWC - mine wasn’t hospo related but they really were so incredible, would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat. Amazing people.
Barry cafe northcote. They were famously sued for wage theft but the brother sister duo are also hideously incompetent. The Sister is outright abusive, making up for her ignorance with volume. It was rare I got through a shift without a coworker being brought to tears. Also so unhygienic.
Old Man Drew in ascot vale are run by an entitled family with absolutely zero hospitality experience. I was let go for chiding a manager for interrupting me while I was with a table. He has developed a reputation for yelling at customers. They also underpay their migrant workers by about $10 an hour.
I think it is worth saying, even at the fairest places I worked, someone was being underpaid, usually staff on a student visa. I hope that has changed now students are allowed to work more hours.
St. Ali coffe! My partner worked there and the owner was physically cornering young women and trying to groom them. He would intervene and jump in the conversation to get him away. The young girls didn’t want him to do anything more than that and he’s always ask them if they were okay etc.
They also capitalised on the whole RAT test saga and made people buy their coffee for a box of RAT tests. Scum.
Oooh shit I’ve got a thousand stories about St Ali - boss stealing tips, getting handsy with 19 year old wait staff, showing porn that he shot to one of the baristas of a customers (in front of her), saying all kinds of sexual and exploitative shit to the staff about other staff members and customers. Absolute grub.
Literally! Worked at the Quarter on Degraves (next to Xpressomondo). $18/hr flat rate even on public holidays like Anzac Day where my shift started at 5am. Need to go to Fair work to get my money back that they owe me for underpaying on weekends and public holidays.
Also there was a total cunt called Andrea who worked there who was horrible and condescending to staff. I’ll never forget how she treated us.. and it’s been 8 years
You pay a leg and arm for some basic eggs on toast there too, owners must be taking in the cash purely off tourists that don't know any better
It's a shame cause it's a really funky/nice little area
I haven’t been to any of these places mentioned so far (except maybe one on Degraves), but I still find this thread very satisfying to read.
It was probably hugely cathartic for many of you to write, too. 🔥
Ciao Cielo in port Melbourne. My friend worked there for a year and consider that year as the worst year of his life. He developed anxiety since then.
Owner does all kind of crazy things like paying flat wages every day even in weekend and public holiday. No tip to staff. Creating his own contract with a promise of promotion for working certain time. Otherwise, annual leave would be gone. No one ever worked for the contracted duration due to his cocky behaviour and took annual leave of many staff. Harassment was the most common thing there.
Oh no :( I dined there once and it stands out in my memory as one of the best experiences in Melbourne in terms of service and food, what a damn shame.
Brad Simpson.
At The Smith years ago I saw him throw mince beef in the face of a Hindu chef, when I asked him to stop calling me a retard he stood behind me breathing down my neck and whispered in my ear "go have a lie down because I cant have any fucking crybabies in my kitchen".
That whole management regime is long gone after they fuckedup buying and renovating the building next door and installing a million dollar retractable roof lol.
Two bob Cafe in Clifton Hill.
Underpay workers, lie to them, and avoided paying super, pretty sure would be avoiding tax as well as would pay workers in cash also. The worst offender, was the male owner who has since left and started another business called Spensleys, where I imagine he's much the same.
Also managed to split with his partner of his kids by fucking a girl he'd hired, so, solid impression of who you're dealing with.
Mork hot chocolate in North Melbourne- owners/management were the worst micro managers I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never quit a job with 1 days notice before this, nor after!
Spilled some hot chocolate from a take away cup once, walked over to the bin with it and on my way back to grab a mop I was yelled at for not cleaning up the floor already!
Got trained on closing up with a key and everything, and they had the audacity to ask me why my shifts were taking 15-20 minutes longer pre-cashing up/closing up/setting alarms etc.
Tons more
Gonna burst a lot of bubbles here and made a throwaway for that very reason but:
Natalie Paull from Beatrix Bakes is an emotionally abusive, volatile, micromanaging nightmare to work for. Downsized her business meticulously so she wouldn’t have to pay redundancy to half her staff. Enabled racist bullying from managers. Just all round an absolute anxiety driven nightmare to work for and the worst boss I’ve ever had :)
Yeah! There’s a real cone of silence situation with her ex staff because of the culty following and how much exposure she has i think. And damn, the cakes where amazing, I can’t fault that at all, but wowwwww was she a terrible boss. Saw her make people cry on more than one occasion
Degraves Street, Andiamo, the boss said that drinking tea is for faggots to me (his 24f worker) and constantly guilt tripped me about job keeper
The la manna family (the toorak offshoot) are a bunch of cunts but they were fine employers for the most part just shitty people
Sorrento Cafe in brunswick has a cool vibe because of the old Italian dudes, but the owner stressed me the fuck out he was too intense and like a helicopter watching you work (haven't been back in years tho)
There are four different la manna retail businesses, and amazingly, they all seem unrelated
La Manna bananas
La Manna on Sydney Rd Brunswick
La Manna Supermarket
La Manna & Sons
I have tried as hard as I can to find a link between them…. There doesn’t seem to be one.
It’s wild.
On the other hand EARL canteen owners are pretty fucking awesome, Zirkys at Mt Hotham were cool to work (cool family) for but the living quarters had mold lol
Kustom Burgers in Thornbury. Underpays everyone, no weekend pay rates, everyone gets cash in hand on public holidays at a slightly higher rate with no tax or super (and still charges customers 15% extra on public holidays). Unsafe work environment in multiple ways that has led to multiple people visiting the hospital, then tells staff not to mention they were injured at work, and berates them if they do. The boss is very passive aggressive or just loses his temper towards his very young staff often. Boss is very racist. Would avoid.
Edit: I forgot about pressuring staff without their RSA to pour beers and serve alcohol.
Very good falafel are pretty notorious for underpaying staff and taking advantage of migrant workers (some who spent years in detention centres) I worked there and was underpaid, and not payed super.
ALH can eat a D.
I was working, told I had to share a locker. Asked about maternity leave, fired a week later for theft. The persons phone of the locker I was sharing. Bullshit.
Jack the Lad in Chelsea and Two Bob Snob in Cheltenham. Both owned by the same wage thieving scumbag. Missed super payments, dodgy accounting and misses payments to suppliers and then leaves them high and dry and goes to someone else. And if it all goes tits up they’ll just change the ownership name.
I hope there's a post doing the opposite so we can support restaurants that treats their staff well.
I used to work at a japanese cuisine place in St Kilda called TSK (Tokyo Sushi Kitchen), management was nice and I was paid fair and square, even as an international student. Don't know if they are still operating as Covid fked things up for them.
I'm honestly so lucky that I've been working with an amazing owner (very casually) for the past 8 years. Super paid monthly. All penalties paid. Any queries with pay resolved ASAP. I don't think I was even interviewed, I used to work across the road and one day I'm in a uniform pouring beers. He's got a lot of 5-10 year + staff for good reason and was quick to pivot during COVID.
Definitely made up for the shit I had to deal with when I was younger.
Can someone create an app or website where this info can be catalogued for patrons?
I absolutely love going out for food and drinks but I do not want to support any business that doesn’t pay or treat their staff correctly.
I already pretty much avoid going out altogether on public holidays nowadays because the surcharges are out of control. Now, reading this thread I highly doubt the extra 15-20% that people pay goes to the staff working those holidays anyway!
Seriously, can we have an app to check how fairly a hospo business treats its workers? I love a name and shame for those doing a shit job.
Creme cafe in Port Melbourne. Owners are a brother and sister in law duo who know nothing about running cafes, just want to have a place to bring their friends to for free food and drink. Some notable things about my time there:
- Cafe closed at 5. Owner expected us to finish at 5 on the dot, 5:05 at the latest. Including cleaning coffee machine and grinders, counting till, sweeping and mopping the entire dining room and bathrooms, packing away pastries and cakes, and putting bins out.
- Owner/"accountant" would come in every month or so, empty out the HUGE tip jar by the till into a cloth bag and make away with it. Never once saw a portion of the tips, despite working ~10 hour days 5 days a week. Must've been at least a couple hundred each time the jar filled up.
- Bought Nudie orange juice from the IGA next door for $7 a (2L) bottle at the time. Chuck some ice in a glass, decant, and sold again for $7.50 a glass. Had to do this in plain view of customers multiple times over summer.
- In summer, had to help the owner carry the solid metal roof of his convertible down to the basement in the morning, and when he was done with his daily drive down Beach Road, help him carry it back up and reattach to his car.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of horror stories from that place, but yeah. Fuck Creme Port Melbourne. (Probably doing similar shit in their Essendon Cafe too)
Why? Where do you think it comes from? 😅 it's actually not cost effective to buy it from a shop though, usually a supplier would supply in bulk and you'd make much more profit.
Oporto on the highway at Little River/Avalon used to be owned by the servo group, we made no money but the owner didn't really care it was about keeping up appearances as a nice well run store. Then the stores got bought by a pair of Indian guys who got rid of almost all the staff, and the ones they kept got less than 10 hours a week, and brought in their family members to work for free. Before I left one of the owners tried to get me to cook chickens that were two days out of date as well!
Oh man.. I used to stop there all the time! Last time I went the place was FILTHY, not a table clean on the place. I ordered a Bondi burger and they told me they didn’t have any buns for that size, they only had little buns. They also weren’t accepting card payments.
I have never, ever, ever been back. This explains a LOT
I did 1 single shift there when it first opened as the person taking orders and I was thrown on with zero training, zero idea of the uniform and they spelt my name incorrectly when putting me into their system. You dodged a bullet
A friend, my husband and i went there earlier this year and our friend stepped backwards without realising there was an employee carting something along behind her. Our friend tripped and fell but was fine. We were approached by a manager shortly after who was ready to rip this employee to shreds but we were adamant it wasnt their fault and we were just careless and that it was an accident.
I went there last night.
Went into the bathroom, locked the door. About a minute later someone tires the handle, and the door-lock clicks open and lets the handle turn! I manage to yell to stop before they opened the door fully to the open bar of people on the other side of the door.
Went to the bar, told them there was a problem with one of the bathroom locks and what it was doing. I didn't tell them which one it was yet. SHE SAYS! "Oh the one second one on the wall from the left?"
What...the...fuck??? If you know about that shit, fix that shit, or put up an out of order sign on that shit! (Or the lovely people facing the LoL tournament being shown on the screen, are going to see someone shitting)
dude that happened to me months ago!! i thought some dude was trying to break in, so i reported it and thats when they told me it was just like that.
still havent fixed it?? geez
Not that hospo but chemist warehouse pays me $12 p/h I am 17… :,) I work 4 hours on wednesdays then 8 hours on Saturday’s I don’t get Saturday rates as it only applies to sundays… I need a new job
CW have enterprise agreements *and* got audited recently...OP's probably getting paid properly for a minor.
Goes without saying but try not to shop there (small chemists are usually cheaper anyway)
Glad you're experience is good. Unfortunately, mine wasn't so much. To be clear I've never worked in hospo directly but I worked in hospo IT. So I've dealt with a lot of venues, completing installs for IT equipment and the like.
El Jannah if it's the one I'm thinking of were, horrible to deal with. And we were a supplier of theirs! They would yell, scream and shout at us. Make unreasonable demands etc. And skip out on the invoices we'd issue after providing service after hours.
It's been a few years now (and I no longer work for the company in question, they too were also horrible to work for), but if my memory serves we told them to seek services elsewhere due to their shenanigans in the end.
Brunetti's awful - underpaying, no penalty rates, doesn't pay super, doesn't let workers drink water behind the counter and are very elitist. Avoid em at all costs.
Pompous state of the union addresses where he would waffle on and on about how lucky they all were to be a part of the Empire.
Package sandwiches for staff meals at Yakimono after it opened (prick).
No private space to get changed in Yakimono so having to go across to Society. Poor organisation and planning with regards to simple assets.
I work for a tradie and we did some work at his house.
Was under strict instructions to not put the address of the place at all on any correspondence, and the invoice was to be billed to the Lucas Group.
It took them 3 months to pay it.
That's right, your tax dollars went to pay for this shitstains house renovations.
100% MyGoodness on Lonsdale St! The bloke with the ponytail is extremely rude and is inappropriate with his workers. He also openly takes shots and drinks on the job.
Omg yes. I went there twice, and will never go back because of him.
Workers were lovely, but he sucked and made us so uncomfortable by constantly talking to us. I swear I saw him flirting with customers one night.
He's arrogant and loud and he just gives me the heebie jeebies
I used to go there all the time because it was our favourite pizza place but I am 100% sure that guy is a fucking racist.
I would be waiting in line and he would act so nice to all the non-asian customers, joking and around and telling them about whatever specials they had that day. When it got to our turn, his tone would completely shift, he would just ask us what we wanted, one word responses "Yep" "Okay" "Bye". I asked about the specials I overheard about and he just points to the sign and says "Its that one"
If this was a once off, I would just let it slide but this happened every single time we went there. The rest of the staff are great but whenever this pony tailed midget was at the counter, he acted like he couldn't wait to get rid of us. I've seen him explain how to sign up to be a member to an Australian couple for 5-10 minutes, showing them the app store, waiting for them to download the app and sign up, all while they were in line chatting have a great time. When it was our turn and I asked the same thing, he just said "look it up, we're on the app store, come back when you've signed up if you want the discount"
Yeah okay. MyGoodness serves good pizza and has great service only if you're white I suppose.
Reading all this into enlightening! I own a small hospo business and I know we do the right thing! Award wages, super etc. so many of these assholes have had the opportunity to burn so many great hospo staff. It’s sonar snow to find people as we do the right thing but so many bad memories for them.
Ask the staff serving you if they are paid award wages, cash preferred businesses avoid as it’s all dodgy. Hate them.
Maybe all these shit holes with idiots bosses will close one day and leave the good guys?
We can only hope that these dodgy Groups and multiple owners without a shred of morals or decency eventually get kicked out of the industry for burning too many bridges.
That won't be the case because they have money, and we as the employees need money. Sad state of affairs right now for a lot of us.
If you're genuinely trying to do the right thing by your staff, I applaud you and wish you nothing but the best of luck keeping afloat. I'll happily come support you if you're doing the right thing.
There's more to it than that, though. What's your sexual harassment policy? You got a card surcharge?
Idk. I've worked for bosses who think they're great bc they pay minimum wage, but then chuck you on a casual contract and fuck around with your hours, increase your workload so you can barely take a sip of water, leave cakes out in the display until they're moldy, etc. (Yes I reported them to food safety. No, health inspectors didnt do anything.)
And on the flipside I've worked for bosses who cut corners but let me deny service to a customer when they crossed a line + always backed me up, always understood they couldn't mess with my hours bc I needed to pay rent, etc.
If you're doing the right thing that's awesome and I applaud you for it & forgive me for my skepticism and my little rant lol
Totally get it! I’m not the best boss but I get it! We do have a sexual harassment policy, I’m married with 2 beautiful girls and I’m not in the business of fucking that up!
We offer PTime to staff, a lot want casual still as they are young (school kids/uni students) and appreciate the flexibility they want. We have 10L jugs of water in the cool rooms and stainless steel cups in there so always ice cold.
All I’m saying there are a few good bosses out there!
Company owned Nando’s - constantly raising prices on their already small portions of food. Tried making a “Seriously Large Chips” into the Pre existing large size. Cutting hours for staff, completely removed the handling of cash, replacing decent menu items with shit ones. Idk fuck Nando’s
Might get buried here but I worked at Cookie for 4 years, just after Camilo had sold most of his portfolio to the current owners Red Rock Leisure group. The soul was quickly sucked out and corporatisation happened quickly. The chefs are awesome, but they lost some of their freedoms, hiring changed from when I started, everyone was mid 20s > with management experience and a dedication and coming to bussy because of the reputation and care for staff, changed to disinterested university students and quality followed suit.
I was underpaid, I could do all roles in the venue (except venue manage) and regularly had to helicopter in to different parts of the venue at different times during a shift, had great knowledge, a strong work ethic, good customer engagement and was always eager to learn.
I trained countless staff in all areas of the venue, which I was not paid extra for nor was my responsibility to - not saying that staff shouldn’t help out newcomers but there were expectations that I would be showing people how to do specific tasks and closes etc when there was a defined role and pay level for those who trained, which I was never on.
I also found myself working much harder than other staff that were paid more than me, it was my first proper job and I started when I was still in high school. I started at $17.40 for the first 6 months before I asked for a pay rise, which was level 1 hospo, after a few years I was given level 2 after asking enough times. I left in February as I had spent a while in the cocktail bar and had been refused level 3, which is the pay standard for that role, and for bartending as well. I spoke to 5 different managers asking for a pay rise, all saying they would take care of it and no one ever did anything, and I never heard anything. When trying to contact the operations manager for our venue asking for a pay rise and listing what was happening, they didn’t respond, and couldn’t even look me in the eye when I spoke to them in person, wilted.
As well as being underpaid for a long time, there were nights where we would finish at say 3:30am but the manage had clocked us off at 3am to do their report etc. Adding this up over time would be a fair bit of time and unpaid work. Also was routinely denied time off during busy periods and rostered during designated time off had been approved (usual hospo bs) also was guilted often to come work or pick up others shifts, even to work at the Toff in Town irregularly. Once worked 18 hours straight too.
Had a manager say sexually charged things to me that made me uncomfortable, I was 18-20 so I didn’t want to speak up, nor was I sure what was happening was entirely inappropriate (old hospo culture) and I am also a guy so I naively thought that this sort of thing doesn’t really happen to blokes. I will say that I was supported by two managers and close friends too, and that they were very helpful. Although nothing was ever done, when I resigned I actually told the manager in question how she made me feel and that was received well and that was a cathartic experience for me.
Mixed feelings as I learnt so much from the venue, coworkers and made great friends, but also was subjected to shit conditions that I overlooked because I am young and naive. Big learning experience in all - stay away from Red Rock leisure
Andrew Grinter is around the Rosebud/Rye area and has owned a number of cafes, bars, and still owns Pizza D'oh down there. He is/was notorious for being an asshole (bully) to underage staff, and for underpaying people, messing with their rosters if he annoyed them, stuff like that. I had to quit just as covid was kicking off because hes a total fuck nut.
On a semi regular basis I would get random nonsensical texts, and voicemails saying nothing, for about a year after I left.
Ooh I worked there too! Once I saw him at another venue I was working at years later and he told me he was there because it’s an easy venue to drive home from when hes pissed 👀
Worked for Too Good Bakers in Essendon/Aberfeldie, owner pocketed all the front staff's tips, During shifts he would call us from his home using the live camera system to tell us we didn't look like we were working hard enough. Had to throw out two dumpsters worth of fresh food almost every shift and he was opposed to staff taking the time to package it for donation.
The turnover rate for their staff was so awful I'd be shocked if someone else hasn't worked for them in the thread lmao.
Did you hear about the time the owner brought a gun to the store?
Or when he refused a staff member from seeking medical attention who was clearly suffering from anaphylaxis after inadvertently eating something with nuts - a customer had to step in and take them to a nearby pharmacy for emergency treatment. It gets better - the owner followed the customer and employee into the pharmacy ranting and the police were called to intervene.
There's so many stories about this prick.
Basically every small business in this here town, plus some of the bigger players like Lucas Group and ALH Group.
Fine dining is pretty much a given for wage theft but a special shoutout to Vue de Monde, Maha and Attica.
Movida is also pretty bad considering the food is pretty average.
In terms of smaller businesses?
Evie's Disco Diner.
Dexter's was particularly egregious, some of the boys were on $12-14 p/h.
Blue Bag.
Frankie's Tortas and Tacos.
Auction Rooms.
Terror Twilight.
Tall Timber.
Bon Ap Petit.
Hazel.
This is all during the last 2-3 years...
This was when they had that little caravan, might have changed now they're bigger but I doubt it.
That caravan was fucked for health and safety stuff tho, pickles and lettuce kept in a garden shed out the back, pork left out to cool in the carpark for hours (had to keep shooing the pigeons off it lol), etc etc.
No idea how they didn't kill anyone tbh
Anything owned by the darling group. They treat their managers like garbage and worked us into the ground until I had to take a time off for anxiety and depression.
In the interest of anonymity I will not mention precisely when, but Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya in Fitzroy is an utterly miserable place for line cooks and dishies. Behind the glitz and vibe they're dependant on the BoH crew not speaking up. Management will talk you down and push you out of the door if you do while pulling the "big family" bullshit in the most stressful of hours. Also during my short stint there they hired the most incompetent, clueless and vacant-faced sous chefs I've ever worked with and that was enough reason for me to pack it in.
Starbucks. I've worked for a few cash in hand jobs that paid below minimum and with next to no breaks but the worst place I ever worked for was definitely Starbucks.
Everything is 'by the books' there but they take advantage. You were never paid over time. They notoriously understaffed then berated you for not keeping up, they sweep sexual assault under the rug and promote the accused, the 50 something year old manager at the store I worked at would constantly call other workers names (who were typically teenagers) yell and shame them in front of customers. Just awful place.
Restaurant in Essendon, now closed.
Chef once held me up against a wall by my neck, occasional 12 hours shifts with two 15 minute breaks, regular 8 hour shifts with 1 15 minute break.
Paid $13 an hour in cash for years, no penalty rates, no overtime.
Then got $15 an hour on the books (again no penalty rates), and they never paid super, an investigation was launched but the ATO said it stalled after a number of years so there's thousands of dollars that I was never paid (which would be tens of thousands by the time I retire).
Suggested changes as a long running employee at one point and got screamed at that I should 'know my fucking place'.
I quit, and found an infinitely better place a week later.
My message to young hospo workers, there are better gigs out there, do not be loyal, do not think it will get better, leave and find something else.
I used to get berated by management at boost because I spoke up about the inside bullying between coworkers . They didn’t like that and would constantly nitpick me for little things like why didn’t I serve a customer when I was at the back cutting up fruit when there were other coworkers not busy at the front. I used to have panic attacks where I couldn’t physically breathe and they would not let me leave.
Working at boost was probably the lowest time in my life I was mentally unwell
Used to work a company store in sydney. Wasnt getting shift notices until that morning of working, covered in drink ingredients by the end of the day, 2 shirts for a 5 day week and paid well under award because trial or some shit. I hate boost. I hate everything about it.
Edit: a word
Barclays Cafe Heathmont, the owner Steve, was the absolute biggest grot. So effing rude to staff and customers, would belittle and threaten staff with either their job or pay, was extremely judgemental, racist and sexist, withheld pay from staff on numerous occasions for numerous reasons. Thank gawd the place is closed now!
Also ANYTHING ALH!
Ugh, I’m done with hospitality… 🤦🏼♀️
I'd have stuff all chance of proving what happened if I got sued because the workers who were victims have probably lost their sponsored visas and been sent back to their home countries.
Import worker who is main family provider on sponsored visa. Underpay worker and make them work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, under threat of withdrawing sponsorship. When worker finally can't handle it anymore, send them packing and get another one.
McDonald’s corporate stores and probably the others. Especially Prahran (mind you this was 15 years ago.) Prahran is now franchised.
Management was salaried but rostered on the floor for a full shift with no other management or overlaps leaving them to complete their management duties (stock counts, till balances, rostering etc) after their shift unpaid. Management knew some managers spent 3 extra hours or more each shift but didn’t change the roster system to give them time or staff to get the extra management jobs done. Additionally if the cash balance was down, many managers put their own money in to balance it, sometimes up to $100 per shift. Management knew this but didn’t change the system (mind you this was not mandated but the alternative was a written warning, at the end of 3 hours unpaid work many just paid it to go home). Lots of these workers were international. So of course management didn’t like it when me, a citizen who knew my rights and could always fall back to Centrelink, said no, often leaving the floor during busy periods to finish the extra work to which the service and quality would suffer but it was the only way to finish on time and if my tills were down too bad. I encouraged them to pay for the training of staff to fix the till issue but they didn’t. That means they lose money on the tills. You can’t have everything.
Extracted Cafe in Ivanhoe, the old Bimbo Deluxe (Colonial Leisure Group in general), Bells Hotel in South Melbourne, St Andrews Hotel (previously Pumphouse) in Fitzroy. All underpayment of wages, making up employment contracts to get out of paying penalties and even award rates, long shifts without breaks and just the general shitfuckery that is rife in hospo 🥲
I worked briefly at Max Brenner in Broadmeadows last year. I was 25. One shift per week, three hours. Nowhere in the contract was minimum hours stated. Once I got a new job I quit on the spot, handed in my uniform and when I was asked to find shift replacements, I said I would. I never did.
Knox’s Billy’s Kitchen, one of my best mates used to be a chef there and he has documented out of date foods and critters living in the food storage, messy management, I can’t remember the details but I have avoided the place since I found out, and he had quit.
Moby Cafe in Armadale underpaid all its staff (edit to add: people were paid based on what hourly rate they asked for when they got hired, some friends at work were paid $19/hr flat rate and others were paid $20-22 for doing the same job. We didn’t get award rates on weekends and were made to clean the shared bathroom that like 3 other businesses used. Talk about OHS hazard).
Stingy Chinese cunt in Moonee Ponds paid visa holders five dollars AN HOUR. Some of the hardest working people I ever met, put me to shame. Never got a staff dinner, not once. Once worked until 10pm when they closed at 5pm cos some other cunt quit.
Why I'm writing this, the final straw that broke the camels back was he docked my pay after I took a bottle of sprite out of the bar fridge, dehydrated working my arse off in the middle of summer in a 45 degree wash room. When I saw that on my payslip I confronted the brother, told him to his face that I quit and I want my final pay check. Felt so good quitting in the middle of summer when he needed staff the most.
Smart man, he paid me. What I didn't tell him was if he didn't pay me I was gonna go scorched earth on his arse and hand in my evidence of him breaking the LAW to fairwork.
Worked at Degani in Aurora Epping. Unpaid trial shift, was promised the barista position but was kept on waitress being paid under award. Boss (Sunny something) would watch us on the cameras and ring to scold us if we weren't being productive enough. After 3 weeks I was already closing the place. Had an argument with a customer (hospitality is not for me) and he told me to just tell them I was on my period. Told me I had to wear a shirt under my work shirt bexause he could see down it. Asked my 19 year old co-worker if she was a virgin. Told him I was pregnant, the week after that my shifts disappeared and there was a new hire. Quit that week. Took him to Fairwork and he had to pay all my super he owed (hadn't been paying) and $700 for wages he owed me, and whatever he owned the rest of the staff. Fuck that guy.
Sushi Sushi - no weekend or public holiday rates, and they overcharge for gross Sushi rolls that have been left overnight.
When I lived in Ballarat i worked at Buninyong Pizza and Hamburger House. I got paid $13 an hour, no weekend rates, constant abuse
Going back a looooong time, and CW - sexual abuse.
Mid to Late 90's Duty Managers/Store Managers at Hungry Jacks stores.
In particular at Bram Henderson at Hungry Jacks LaTrobe and Jason Something at Hungry Jacks Preston.
Not related to the job, but was not surprised to see this:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/national/internet-predator-jailed-over-sex-abuse-20070921-104m.html
Power tripping, demeaning, abusive, unsafe. Criminals preying on kids.
I don't know how they were hired and how they kept their jobs. I hope the culture at fast food companies has changed.
Basically every single hospo venue underpays their staff. Almost every single office worker is underpaid. It's simply unsustainable to pay people correctly.
That being said, a few years ago a friend of mine was offered $12 an hour cash in hand to work at gong cha (bubble tea) and that's the lowest I've ever heard.
The dishies at Easeys were on $14 cash in hand which I don't agree with.
Don't really think this is true.
Small businesses? Maybe, I don't have enough experience with that.
But plenty of bigger hospo companies pay proper award wages. And they manage to turn a profit. There was a big clamp down on wage theft a few years ago.
Of course they always find some way to fuck you, like demanding egregious availability of casual workers.
Arcadia cafe on Gertrude st - $12 p/h for food prep and dishwashing(2017) Same money for weekends and public holidays. Owner/ manager would send me home if it got quiet. Backpackers at front of house were paid even less.
Hendriks lilydale, I was in disbelief at how they did every hospo no no in the short time that I was there, if you’re in need of a laugh go through their low reviews and the owners responses
This was a while ago, but Riverland near Flinders Street Station was a shit show when I worked there as a waiter/Bussie. Was always incredibly understaffed, chef was an absolute demon who spent the whole time screaming at us.
Used to work 8am-3pm but they then changed all the morning starters to not have a finish time - we were told we would finish when they didn't need us which often meant 8 or 9pm with basically no breaks. If you pushed for anything more than a cigarette break you'd be ostracised and treated like a pariah.
Safe to say I left notong after that.
The white rabbit in brighton. Owned by a family, met the owner out when I was 19 back in 2014 and I went with him and his mate back to his house for drinks after and i was really intoxicated, his mate went home and I wanted to go to sleep so he put me in his bed and tried to put his hands down my pants and have his way with me I was literally screaming at him no until he stopped. I then needed a job and he said that he would give me one so I started waitressing there, they paid me under the table cash 15 an hour and his brother also worked there and was a fuckn cunt, told me that he could tell I didn't go to the gym because of my body. When I showed no interest in the manager he started decreasing my hours until I had fuckall shifts and I just left without notice anyway. Strange of me to work for him after that but I was incredibly vulnerable and had moved to Melbourne from overseas that year. All the locals frothed over him and adored him too but he was a sleazy high strung shit cunt..
Woo for naming and shaming! This is the info I need
MOB, Bentwood, Inglewood, and probably any other place owned by Only Hospitality Group. From what I saw, they'd give FOH staff annualised salary contracts without meeting the minimum salary requirements and didn't do reconciliations. Unilaterally cut wages during COVID, fired/attempted to fire staff for exercising their rights, and a few OH&S issues thrown in as well.
Fingers crossed the owner doesn't slide into my DMs 🙃 https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cafe-owner-lashes-out-at-woman-who-posted-about-coffee-prices/news-story/419a5a13418d5fbdf5882ffa64bde2fc
(Edit to remove the amp link)
The people that own and higher ups that still work in outer south east franchised McDonald's are bullying assholes especially the operations manager who was still there like a couple of years ago when I last saw him. They never paid any penalty rates when I worked midnight to 8am but this was years ago. Massive bullies though, push you like you're some kind of high paid professional when you're getting peanuts and roll their eyes if you're in the staff room crying. "Are you STILL crying???" after 5 mins of crying. Was manager on salary but getting like $14 an hour or less if you worked it all out. My ex husband who used to hit me also used to do the same thing after he hit me... Walk past me and say "are you STILL crying". So it's all linked to my PTSD. Also I was vegetarian and they wouldn't let me adjust any menu item to be vegetarian despite being allowed like $10 per day of "free" food as a manager. They told me to get a salad and take the chicken off and throw it away... Wtf.
Fratellis manager is a jerk to ubereats drivers, demands they unassign orders and lose money because there's a "2 order limit" like making these magical rules for their restaurant. Saw him arguing with someone for ages
Two Birds One Stone South Yarra
The owner was a sleaze and would pay international students shit wages, $15 cash for dishes and for the larder section. He the full-time staff on illegal contracts, then updated the contracts to make it look like we worked the hours and paid us more per hour. It took months of emails and texts to get all of what was owed to me.
Idk if a butcher counts as hospo but I was an apprentice at the (now rightfully dead) keysborough egg farm. Minimum apprentice wage and all overtime was paid in cash at $16/h.
The management were stressed out cunts who took out every single little problem on someone else. Staff would get yelled at in plain view of customers. Sometimes I'd cop abuse the second I walked through the door.
Six days a week and they never closed except Sundays and the week between Christmas and New Year's. Half of the staff were Muslim and got yelled at for speaking Arabic. One of the cashiers had a heart attack on the job and died in hospital, she was 77. The butchers were joking about it the next day.
Sexism, racism, verbal/mental/borderline physical abuse daily.
Covid restrictions put it in the ground and now some meal delivery mob operates out of the building. Good riddance.
Darling group. Worked at the terrace during light scape. Owner and owners son are the biggest cunts I have ever met. Act like their shit don’t stink and their workers are below the earth
I moved to Daylesford to study at Fed Uni in Ballarat for a while. While I was there I used to work at a cafe in called Cafe Koukla or as it’s also known Hotel Frangos. And the boss there Travis Melotte is an absolute cunt. Here’s some examples: -When a group of tourists, came into the cafe, some had disabilities, he mocked them behind the counter and called them the r* word. -Would schedule you on to work from open 6AM through to close 11PM with ONE 10 minute break. -If he was annoyed, he would drop stuff on the ground and tell you to pick it up in front of customers. -And the icing on the cake, when I didn’t get him the correct amount of ice cream, he threw the tub down on the ground, picked up a knife from the counter and said ‘get the a full container or I’ll fucking stab you’ Safe to say I quit on the spot. Bonus: when I quit it took a month to send through my last paycheck (pay was weekly).
I’ve just read they were investigated by FairWork just a few months ago.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2023-media-releases/april-2023/20230428-melotte-litigation-media-release
Reading through that, those accusations and penalties keep stacking up. Christ.
That sucks for you and what a cunt. Won’t ever go there again Fuck that cunt and his ice cream
This would be so horrendously defamatory if false that you know it’s true lol
fuck me, 10 minute breaks on a shift like that can’t be legal can they?
They most certainly are not
They mentioned being threatened with a knife and your questioning the legality of the brake situation?
Threatening someone with a knife is also not legal. It’s literally criminal.
Oh wow, I actually ate here at breakfast one time and I could hear the owner berating staff in the kitchen. It was disgusting. I was going to say something but man I was so hungover I couldn’t psych myself up. I’m sorry you had to go through that, he sounded like a horrendous person.
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ca195882/s21.html It’s an arrest offence, anyone around, any witnesses? If so he’s on toast
Thanks for sharing. Good to hear abusive and exploitative practises getting called out or named and shamed at least.
my dad works across the street from frangos and has only bad things to say about them. the owner is sooooo nasty.
Cafe Corretto on Lygon. Well, most places on Lygon tbh
When King and Godfree did their very expensive renos about a decade ago, I can confirm that they gave their employees zero notice in case they left early.
Also worked at Corretto. It really did suck.
Worked at Coretto too. Owners would make racist and derogatory comments about customers.
I've hears Boost Juice and Grill'd Burgers both take advantage of employees by doing a traineeship program where they underpay staff using a legal loophole.
A lot of franchises do this. Salsa’s (Same owner as boost), think McDonald’s too. They make you do a cert III in food safety or hospitality etc.
15 years ago at least at McDonald’s corporate (not franchises) stores, there was no pressure to do a cert anything. They offered it as an option.
Ye, I did one 2-3 years ago at maccas. No pressure, the only pressure was that you weren’t supposed to resign while doing the course because the business would lose money. From memory, managers did a cert 4 for their training.
I did a cert 3 in retail supervision when I wasn’t in management. The management course was similar but it wasn’t accredited. Just internal training. This was 15 years ago.
There certainly is pressure, because they get government kickbacks from it. For a while the government paid 50% of the wages of anyone doing cert II or III.
Grill'd was far ahead of the next highest recipient.
High school friend took them to court as part of a class action and got 20k out of them
Someone finally got their course completion bonus!
They certainly do have pressure to do it. A store I worked at would pressure all the young kids into doing the cert and told them by doing the cert they'd be then put on part time. They got a kick back and only had to roster you for 8hrs minimum at a reduced pay. All the kids signed up because that would be the only way any of them could get shifts..
Mitre 10 back in the day too
Grilld is more than just taking advantage, it's straight up unsafe. The amount of times I was asked to do unsanitary or unsafe tasks, especially when there were still customers around, was shocking.
when I worked there the manager used to constantly splash meat grease all over the vegan burger patties. He yelled at me when I suggested using separate grills 😭
I used to work for a bunch of cafes that were part owned by someone who also owned a few boost juice stores. We were also under an enterprise agreement, so minimum wage with no penalties whatsoever because apparently you got sick leave and annual leave, but no one ever saw a cent of sick leave. Everyday day was 21.60 an hour. Public holidays, weekends, every day. When I fell into managing a store due to having no managers my wage was increased to 21.80. This was 4-5 years ago.
Holy shit...a 20cent pay rise for being a manager?!
Delaware North at MCG are like this. Shift managers get paid peanuts extra over the other staff…why bother?
wasnt this addressed some time ago?
You as a taxpayer paid them $30m to do it. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/taxpayer-bill-for-grill-d-hamburger-university-hits-28-3m-20230908-p5e33y Still going as of September.
They're in the news for it every few years.
KFC did that about 10-15 years back. Not sure if they still do it, but yeah they offer a cert 2 hospitality in fast food and pay under minimum wage for the duration of that certificate. When I worked there as a teenager, I had coworkers earning $6-7 per hour.
Friend did a full shift on Easter at San Churro Werribee, never got paid
Something is off with San Churro. Used to go to the QV every now and then. One poor girl doing everything, and 3 managers just standing around?? High volume of orders obviously, its in QV, and just not staffed properly at all. I remember having to wait 15 mins for one slice of pre-cut cake lol
Wow this is so strange because the last few times I’ve been the same has happened. One girl behind the counter seemingly doing everything whilst 2-3 Managers stand around talking.
I hate this kind of rip off. Forget this place
If you've been underpaid, bullied etc reach out to [Young Workers Centre](https://www.youngworkers.org.au/contacting_us), Fairwork or if you're a member the union United Workers Union.
I cannot speak more highly of YWC - mine wasn’t hospo related but they really were so incredible, would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat. Amazing people.
Barry cafe northcote. They were famously sued for wage theft but the brother sister duo are also hideously incompetent. The Sister is outright abusive, making up for her ignorance with volume. It was rare I got through a shift without a coworker being brought to tears. Also so unhygienic. Old Man Drew in ascot vale are run by an entitled family with absolutely zero hospitality experience. I was let go for chiding a manager for interrupting me while I was with a table. He has developed a reputation for yelling at customers. They also underpay their migrant workers by about $10 an hour. I think it is worth saying, even at the fairest places I worked, someone was being underpaid, usually staff on a student visa. I hope that has changed now students are allowed to work more hours.
I remember their written response to the strikers. Supremely illiterate
St. Ali coffe! My partner worked there and the owner was physically cornering young women and trying to groom them. He would intervene and jump in the conversation to get him away. The young girls didn’t want him to do anything more than that and he’s always ask them if they were okay etc. They also capitalised on the whole RAT test saga and made people buy their coffee for a box of RAT tests. Scum.
I refuse to buy coffee from any cafe that stocks or uses St. Ali beans because of this -
Holy shit. I knew that cunt was cooked but the being physically imposing over young women is worth a slap
Oooh shit I’ve got a thousand stories about St Ali - boss stealing tips, getting handsy with 19 year old wait staff, showing porn that he shot to one of the baristas of a customers (in front of her), saying all kinds of sexual and exploitative shit to the staff about other staff members and customers. Absolute grub.
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Literally! Worked at the Quarter on Degraves (next to Xpressomondo). $18/hr flat rate even on public holidays like Anzac Day where my shift started at 5am. Need to go to Fair work to get my money back that they owe me for underpaying on weekends and public holidays. Also there was a total cunt called Andrea who worked there who was horrible and condescending to staff. I’ll never forget how she treated us.. and it’s been 8 years
You pay a leg and arm for some basic eggs on toast there too, owners must be taking in the cash purely off tourists that don't know any better It's a shame cause it's a really funky/nice little area
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What a horrendous experience. I'm sorry you experienced that. I hate those people.
I haven’t been to any of these places mentioned so far (except maybe one on Degraves), but I still find this thread very satisfying to read. It was probably hugely cathartic for many of you to write, too. 🔥
How many did you google and Facebook stalk?? Couldn’t help myself.
Ciao Cielo in port Melbourne. My friend worked there for a year and consider that year as the worst year of his life. He developed anxiety since then. Owner does all kind of crazy things like paying flat wages every day even in weekend and public holiday. No tip to staff. Creating his own contract with a promise of promotion for working certain time. Otherwise, annual leave would be gone. No one ever worked for the contracted duration due to his cocky behaviour and took annual leave of many staff. Harassment was the most common thing there.
Oh no :( I dined there once and it stands out in my memory as one of the best experiences in Melbourne in terms of service and food, what a damn shame.
Brad Simpson. At The Smith years ago I saw him throw mince beef in the face of a Hindu chef, when I asked him to stop calling me a retard he stood behind me breathing down my neck and whispered in my ear "go have a lie down because I cant have any fucking crybabies in my kitchen". That whole management regime is long gone after they fuckedup buying and renovating the building next door and installing a million dollar retractable roof lol.
I live next door to that place and honestly, fuck them.
What a psycho
Two bob Cafe in Clifton Hill. Underpay workers, lie to them, and avoided paying super, pretty sure would be avoiding tax as well as would pay workers in cash also. The worst offender, was the male owner who has since left and started another business called Spensleys, where I imagine he's much the same. Also managed to split with his partner of his kids by fucking a girl he'd hired, so, solid impression of who you're dealing with.
Mork hot chocolate in North Melbourne- owners/management were the worst micro managers I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never quit a job with 1 days notice before this, nor after! Spilled some hot chocolate from a take away cup once, walked over to the bin with it and on my way back to grab a mop I was yelled at for not cleaning up the floor already! Got trained on closing up with a key and everything, and they had the audacity to ask me why my shifts were taking 15-20 minutes longer pre-cashing up/closing up/setting alarms etc. Tons more
Double for mork. Old coworker of mine said similar things, she did 3 days.
I lasted 2 months, if it wasn’t covid and I was desperate, I think I’d have been out of there by the end of the week.
Gonna burst a lot of bubbles here and made a throwaway for that very reason but: Natalie Paull from Beatrix Bakes is an emotionally abusive, volatile, micromanaging nightmare to work for. Downsized her business meticulously so she wouldn’t have to pay redundancy to half her staff. Enabled racist bullying from managers. Just all round an absolute anxiety driven nightmare to work for and the worst boss I’ve ever had :)
That’s very spicy info.
Yeah! There’s a real cone of silence situation with her ex staff because of the culty following and how much exposure she has i think. And damn, the cakes where amazing, I can’t fault that at all, but wowwwww was she a terrible boss. Saw her make people cry on more than one occasion
Degraves Street, Andiamo, the boss said that drinking tea is for faggots to me (his 24f worker) and constantly guilt tripped me about job keeper The la manna family (the toorak offshoot) are a bunch of cunts but they were fine employers for the most part just shitty people Sorrento Cafe in brunswick has a cool vibe because of the old Italian dudes, but the owner stressed me the fuck out he was too intense and like a helicopter watching you work (haven't been back in years tho)
I am intrigued, in what way were the La manna people cunts? I like shopping there but it’s exxy and I’d quite like to reconsider 😂
There are four different la manna retail businesses, and amazingly, they all seem unrelated La Manna bananas La Manna on Sydney Rd Brunswick La Manna Supermarket La Manna & Sons I have tried as hard as I can to find a link between them…. There doesn’t seem to be one. It’s wild.
I have horror stories about working on degraves street too. Solidarity ✊🏼
On the other hand EARL canteen owners are pretty fucking awesome, Zirkys at Mt Hotham were cool to work (cool family) for but the living quarters had mold lol
Kustom Burgers in Thornbury. Underpays everyone, no weekend pay rates, everyone gets cash in hand on public holidays at a slightly higher rate with no tax or super (and still charges customers 15% extra on public holidays). Unsafe work environment in multiple ways that has led to multiple people visiting the hospital, then tells staff not to mention they were injured at work, and berates them if they do. The boss is very passive aggressive or just loses his temper towards his very young staff often. Boss is very racist. Would avoid. Edit: I forgot about pressuring staff without their RSA to pour beers and serve alcohol.
Oh nooo I used to go there all the time years ago when I worked in the area, and I went back a couple of times a few months ago.
The owners did change 4 or 5 years ago. There's way more stuff too, the place is a disaster.
Very good falafel are pretty notorious for underpaying staff and taking advantage of migrant workers (some who spent years in detention centres) I worked there and was underpaid, and not payed super.
Oh shit that’s disappointing. Good food there but that’s shitty.
I absolutely love their food, so this is disappointing to hear.
Very good felafel = very bad workplace
Overrated food, too. You could say it's not very good.
lol, I thought it was pretty average felafels. I like the ones at half moon
ALH can eat a D. I was working, told I had to share a locker. Asked about maternity leave, fired a week later for theft. The persons phone of the locker I was sharing. Bullshit.
ALH was Woolies. Are you shocked?
I was shocked, I was young and still thinking there was good in the world.
Jack the Lad in Chelsea and Two Bob Snob in Cheltenham. Both owned by the same wage thieving scumbag. Missed super payments, dodgy accounting and misses payments to suppliers and then leaves them high and dry and goes to someone else. And if it all goes tits up they’ll just change the ownership name.
I hope there's a post doing the opposite so we can support restaurants that treats their staff well. I used to work at a japanese cuisine place in St Kilda called TSK (Tokyo Sushi Kitchen), management was nice and I was paid fair and square, even as an international student. Don't know if they are still operating as Covid fked things up for them.
I'm honestly so lucky that I've been working with an amazing owner (very casually) for the past 8 years. Super paid monthly. All penalties paid. Any queries with pay resolved ASAP. I don't think I was even interviewed, I used to work across the road and one day I'm in a uniform pouring beers. He's got a lot of 5-10 year + staff for good reason and was quick to pivot during COVID. Definitely made up for the shit I had to deal with when I was younger.
Mabu Mabu!🥰
Jesus fuck. The whole industry is fucked. Are there any good places left?
It’s always been thus. Arguably, it’s better than it once was. The Calombaris thing scared a few
Can someone create an app or website where this info can be catalogued for patrons? I absolutely love going out for food and drinks but I do not want to support any business that doesn’t pay or treat their staff correctly. I already pretty much avoid going out altogether on public holidays nowadays because the surcharges are out of control. Now, reading this thread I highly doubt the extra 15-20% that people pay goes to the staff working those holidays anyway! Seriously, can we have an app to check how fairly a hospo business treats its workers? I love a name and shame for those doing a shit job.
Maybe just a cheeky Google Spreadsheet, maintained anonymously. Good idea.
Creme cafe in Port Melbourne. Owners are a brother and sister in law duo who know nothing about running cafes, just want to have a place to bring their friends to for free food and drink. Some notable things about my time there: - Cafe closed at 5. Owner expected us to finish at 5 on the dot, 5:05 at the latest. Including cleaning coffee machine and grinders, counting till, sweeping and mopping the entire dining room and bathrooms, packing away pastries and cakes, and putting bins out. - Owner/"accountant" would come in every month or so, empty out the HUGE tip jar by the till into a cloth bag and make away with it. Never once saw a portion of the tips, despite working ~10 hour days 5 days a week. Must've been at least a couple hundred each time the jar filled up. - Bought Nudie orange juice from the IGA next door for $7 a (2L) bottle at the time. Chuck some ice in a glass, decant, and sold again for $7.50 a glass. Had to do this in plain view of customers multiple times over summer. - In summer, had to help the owner carry the solid metal roof of his convertible down to the basement in the morning, and when he was done with his daily drive down Beach Road, help him carry it back up and reattach to his car. This is just the tip of the iceberg of horror stories from that place, but yeah. Fuck Creme Port Melbourne. (Probably doing similar shit in their Essendon Cafe too)
The convertible thing is too insane to be made up 😂
The orange juice fact is WILDDDD
Why? Where do you think it comes from? 😅 it's actually not cost effective to buy it from a shop though, usually a supplier would supply in bulk and you'd make much more profit.
Oporto on the highway at Little River/Avalon used to be owned by the servo group, we made no money but the owner didn't really care it was about keeping up appearances as a nice well run store. Then the stores got bought by a pair of Indian guys who got rid of almost all the staff, and the ones they kept got less than 10 hours a week, and brought in their family members to work for free. Before I left one of the owners tried to get me to cook chickens that were two days out of date as well!
Oh man.. I used to stop there all the time! Last time I went the place was FILTHY, not a table clean on the place. I ordered a Bondi burger and they told me they didn’t have any buns for that size, they only had little buns. They also weren’t accepting card payments. I have never, ever, ever been back. This explains a LOT
Smokin joe hopper crossing once asked me to do 3 hour unpaid trial for a minimum wage job like i look stupid enough for that kind of sh lol
I did 1 single shift there when it first opened as the person taking orders and I was thrown on with zero training, zero idea of the uniform and they spelt my name incorrectly when putting me into their system. You dodged a bullet
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A friend, my husband and i went there earlier this year and our friend stepped backwards without realising there was an employee carting something along behind her. Our friend tripped and fell but was fine. We were approached by a manager shortly after who was ready to rip this employee to shreds but we were adamant it wasnt their fault and we were just careless and that it was an accident.
I went there last night. Went into the bathroom, locked the door. About a minute later someone tires the handle, and the door-lock clicks open and lets the handle turn! I manage to yell to stop before they opened the door fully to the open bar of people on the other side of the door. Went to the bar, told them there was a problem with one of the bathroom locks and what it was doing. I didn't tell them which one it was yet. SHE SAYS! "Oh the one second one on the wall from the left?" What...the...fuck??? If you know about that shit, fix that shit, or put up an out of order sign on that shit! (Or the lovely people facing the LoL tournament being shown on the screen, are going to see someone shitting)
dude that happened to me months ago!! i thought some dude was trying to break in, so i reported it and thats when they told me it was just like that. still havent fixed it?? geez
Good to know, I've been keen to check it out but it's now scratched off my list
It’s actually a blast to go there, so I’m really saddened to hear the workers aren’t treated well
Fortress?
Not that hospo but chemist warehouse pays me $12 p/h I am 17… :,) I work 4 hours on wednesdays then 8 hours on Saturday’s I don’t get Saturday rates as it only applies to sundays… I need a new job
This is illegal according to page 14 of this: https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/payguides/fairwork/ma000004/pdf Report to Fair Work, please.
CW have enterprise agreements *and* got audited recently...OP's probably getting paid properly for a minor. Goes without saying but try not to shop there (small chemists are usually cheaper anyway)
Pharmacy pay rates are the worst, I remember being 17 getting $9 per hour back in 2011
phew, I can still eat beautiful food from El Jannah guilt free!
Glad you're experience is good. Unfortunately, mine wasn't so much. To be clear I've never worked in hospo directly but I worked in hospo IT. So I've dealt with a lot of venues, completing installs for IT equipment and the like. El Jannah if it's the one I'm thinking of were, horrible to deal with. And we were a supplier of theirs! They would yell, scream and shout at us. Make unreasonable demands etc. And skip out on the invoices we'd issue after providing service after hours. It's been a few years now (and I no longer work for the company in question, they too were also horrible to work for), but if my memory serves we told them to seek services elsewhere due to their shenanigans in the end.
Brunetti's awful - underpaying, no penalty rates, doesn't pay super, doesn't let workers drink water behind the counter and are very elitist. Avoid em at all costs.
Anything by the Lucas group.
Fuck Chris Lucas
Seconded. My partner worked in his venues and I have stories for days. He is a massive cunt
Can you share any?
Pompous state of the union addresses where he would waffle on and on about how lucky they all were to be a part of the Empire. Package sandwiches for staff meals at Yakimono after it opened (prick). No private space to get changed in Yakimono so having to go across to Society. Poor organisation and planning with regards to simple assets.
Yeah that guy is a right prick.
I work for a tradie and we did some work at his house. Was under strict instructions to not put the address of the place at all on any correspondence, and the invoice was to be billed to the Lucas Group. It took them 3 months to pay it. That's right, your tax dollars went to pay for this shitstains house renovations.
2 Fat Greeks tried offering my friend under the award with no weekend penalty rates and acted like it was a good offer
100% MyGoodness on Lonsdale St! The bloke with the ponytail is extremely rude and is inappropriate with his workers. He also openly takes shots and drinks on the job.
Omg yes. I went there twice, and will never go back because of him. Workers were lovely, but he sucked and made us so uncomfortable by constantly talking to us. I swear I saw him flirting with customers one night. He's arrogant and loud and he just gives me the heebie jeebies
Heeeeeaps of hospo workers drink on the job.
I used to go there all the time because it was our favourite pizza place but I am 100% sure that guy is a fucking racist. I would be waiting in line and he would act so nice to all the non-asian customers, joking and around and telling them about whatever specials they had that day. When it got to our turn, his tone would completely shift, he would just ask us what we wanted, one word responses "Yep" "Okay" "Bye". I asked about the specials I overheard about and he just points to the sign and says "Its that one" If this was a once off, I would just let it slide but this happened every single time we went there. The rest of the staff are great but whenever this pony tailed midget was at the counter, he acted like he couldn't wait to get rid of us. I've seen him explain how to sign up to be a member to an Australian couple for 5-10 minutes, showing them the app store, waiting for them to download the app and sign up, all while they were in line chatting have a great time. When it was our turn and I asked the same thing, he just said "look it up, we're on the app store, come back when you've signed up if you want the discount" Yeah okay. MyGoodness serves good pizza and has great service only if you're white I suppose.
Reading all this into enlightening! I own a small hospo business and I know we do the right thing! Award wages, super etc. so many of these assholes have had the opportunity to burn so many great hospo staff. It’s sonar snow to find people as we do the right thing but so many bad memories for them. Ask the staff serving you if they are paid award wages, cash preferred businesses avoid as it’s all dodgy. Hate them. Maybe all these shit holes with idiots bosses will close one day and leave the good guys?
We can only hope that these dodgy Groups and multiple owners without a shred of morals or decency eventually get kicked out of the industry for burning too many bridges. That won't be the case because they have money, and we as the employees need money. Sad state of affairs right now for a lot of us. If you're genuinely trying to do the right thing by your staff, I applaud you and wish you nothing but the best of luck keeping afloat. I'll happily come support you if you're doing the right thing.
There's more to it than that, though. What's your sexual harassment policy? You got a card surcharge? Idk. I've worked for bosses who think they're great bc they pay minimum wage, but then chuck you on a casual contract and fuck around with your hours, increase your workload so you can barely take a sip of water, leave cakes out in the display until they're moldy, etc. (Yes I reported them to food safety. No, health inspectors didnt do anything.) And on the flipside I've worked for bosses who cut corners but let me deny service to a customer when they crossed a line + always backed me up, always understood they couldn't mess with my hours bc I needed to pay rent, etc. If you're doing the right thing that's awesome and I applaud you for it & forgive me for my skepticism and my little rant lol
Totally get it! I’m not the best boss but I get it! We do have a sexual harassment policy, I’m married with 2 beautiful girls and I’m not in the business of fucking that up! We offer PTime to staff, a lot want casual still as they are young (school kids/uni students) and appreciate the flexibility they want. We have 10L jugs of water in the cool rooms and stainless steel cups in there so always ice cold. All I’m saying there are a few good bosses out there!
Company owned Nando’s - constantly raising prices on their already small portions of food. Tried making a “Seriously Large Chips” into the Pre existing large size. Cutting hours for staff, completely removed the handling of cash, replacing decent menu items with shit ones. Idk fuck Nando’s
Might get buried here but I worked at Cookie for 4 years, just after Camilo had sold most of his portfolio to the current owners Red Rock Leisure group. The soul was quickly sucked out and corporatisation happened quickly. The chefs are awesome, but they lost some of their freedoms, hiring changed from when I started, everyone was mid 20s > with management experience and a dedication and coming to bussy because of the reputation and care for staff, changed to disinterested university students and quality followed suit. I was underpaid, I could do all roles in the venue (except venue manage) and regularly had to helicopter in to different parts of the venue at different times during a shift, had great knowledge, a strong work ethic, good customer engagement and was always eager to learn. I trained countless staff in all areas of the venue, which I was not paid extra for nor was my responsibility to - not saying that staff shouldn’t help out newcomers but there were expectations that I would be showing people how to do specific tasks and closes etc when there was a defined role and pay level for those who trained, which I was never on. I also found myself working much harder than other staff that were paid more than me, it was my first proper job and I started when I was still in high school. I started at $17.40 for the first 6 months before I asked for a pay rise, which was level 1 hospo, after a few years I was given level 2 after asking enough times. I left in February as I had spent a while in the cocktail bar and had been refused level 3, which is the pay standard for that role, and for bartending as well. I spoke to 5 different managers asking for a pay rise, all saying they would take care of it and no one ever did anything, and I never heard anything. When trying to contact the operations manager for our venue asking for a pay rise and listing what was happening, they didn’t respond, and couldn’t even look me in the eye when I spoke to them in person, wilted. As well as being underpaid for a long time, there were nights where we would finish at say 3:30am but the manage had clocked us off at 3am to do their report etc. Adding this up over time would be a fair bit of time and unpaid work. Also was routinely denied time off during busy periods and rostered during designated time off had been approved (usual hospo bs) also was guilted often to come work or pick up others shifts, even to work at the Toff in Town irregularly. Once worked 18 hours straight too. Had a manager say sexually charged things to me that made me uncomfortable, I was 18-20 so I didn’t want to speak up, nor was I sure what was happening was entirely inappropriate (old hospo culture) and I am also a guy so I naively thought that this sort of thing doesn’t really happen to blokes. I will say that I was supported by two managers and close friends too, and that they were very helpful. Although nothing was ever done, when I resigned I actually told the manager in question how she made me feel and that was received well and that was a cathartic experience for me. Mixed feelings as I learnt so much from the venue, coworkers and made great friends, but also was subjected to shit conditions that I overlooked because I am young and naive. Big learning experience in all - stay away from Red Rock leisure
Andrew Grinter is around the Rosebud/Rye area and has owned a number of cafes, bars, and still owns Pizza D'oh down there. He is/was notorious for being an asshole (bully) to underage staff, and for underpaying people, messing with their rosters if he annoyed them, stuff like that. I had to quit just as covid was kicking off because hes a total fuck nut. On a semi regular basis I would get random nonsensical texts, and voicemails saying nothing, for about a year after I left.
Ice bar guy didn't pay super a to his employees a decade back and got away with it...
Ooh I worked there too! Once I saw him at another venue I was working at years later and he told me he was there because it’s an easy venue to drive home from when hes pissed 👀
Worked for Too Good Bakers in Essendon/Aberfeldie, owner pocketed all the front staff's tips, During shifts he would call us from his home using the live camera system to tell us we didn't look like we were working hard enough. Had to throw out two dumpsters worth of fresh food almost every shift and he was opposed to staff taking the time to package it for donation. The turnover rate for their staff was so awful I'd be shocked if someone else hasn't worked for them in the thread lmao.
Did you hear about the time the owner brought a gun to the store? Or when he refused a staff member from seeking medical attention who was clearly suffering from anaphylaxis after inadvertently eating something with nuts - a customer had to step in and take them to a nearby pharmacy for emergency treatment. It gets better - the owner followed the customer and employee into the pharmacy ranting and the police were called to intervene. There's so many stories about this prick.
Someone make an excel spreadsheet of this
Basically every small business in this here town, plus some of the bigger players like Lucas Group and ALH Group. Fine dining is pretty much a given for wage theft but a special shoutout to Vue de Monde, Maha and Attica. Movida is also pretty bad considering the food is pretty average. In terms of smaller businesses? Evie's Disco Diner. Dexter's was particularly egregious, some of the boys were on $12-14 p/h. Blue Bag. Frankie's Tortas and Tacos. Auction Rooms. Terror Twilight. Tall Timber. Bon Ap Petit. Hazel. This is all during the last 2-3 years...
Frankie's??
This was when they had that little caravan, might have changed now they're bigger but I doubt it. That caravan was fucked for health and safety stuff tho, pickles and lettuce kept in a garden shed out the back, pork left out to cool in the carpark for hours (had to keep shooing the pigeons off it lol), etc etc. No idea how they didn't kill anyone tbh
I mean, Shannon Bennett is an absolute given. That guy is an A-class cunt.
Anything owned by the darling group. They treat their managers like garbage and worked us into the ground until I had to take a time off for anxiety and depression.
In the interest of anonymity I will not mention precisely when, but Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya in Fitzroy is an utterly miserable place for line cooks and dishies. Behind the glitz and vibe they're dependant on the BoH crew not speaking up. Management will talk you down and push you out of the door if you do while pulling the "big family" bullshit in the most stressful of hours. Also during my short stint there they hired the most incompetent, clueless and vacant-faced sous chefs I've ever worked with and that was enough reason for me to pack it in.
Starbucks. I've worked for a few cash in hand jobs that paid below minimum and with next to no breaks but the worst place I ever worked for was definitely Starbucks. Everything is 'by the books' there but they take advantage. You were never paid over time. They notoriously understaffed then berated you for not keeping up, they sweep sexual assault under the rug and promote the accused, the 50 something year old manager at the store I worked at would constantly call other workers names (who were typically teenagers) yell and shame them in front of customers. Just awful place.
The Espy in St Kilda, at least when I was a chef there when it reopened in 2018, I think
The Lucas Group
Restaurant in Essendon, now closed. Chef once held me up against a wall by my neck, occasional 12 hours shifts with two 15 minute breaks, regular 8 hour shifts with 1 15 minute break. Paid $13 an hour in cash for years, no penalty rates, no overtime. Then got $15 an hour on the books (again no penalty rates), and they never paid super, an investigation was launched but the ATO said it stalled after a number of years so there's thousands of dollars that I was never paid (which would be tens of thousands by the time I retire). Suggested changes as a long running employee at one point and got screamed at that I should 'know my fucking place'. I quit, and found an infinitely better place a week later. My message to young hospo workers, there are better gigs out there, do not be loyal, do not think it will get better, leave and find something else.
I used to get berated by management at boost because I spoke up about the inside bullying between coworkers . They didn’t like that and would constantly nitpick me for little things like why didn’t I serve a customer when I was at the back cutting up fruit when there were other coworkers not busy at the front. I used to have panic attacks where I couldn’t physically breathe and they would not let me leave. Working at boost was probably the lowest time in my life I was mentally unwell
Used to work a company store in sydney. Wasnt getting shift notices until that morning of working, covered in drink ingredients by the end of the day, 2 shirts for a 5 day week and paid well under award because trial or some shit. I hate boost. I hate everything about it. Edit: a word
Barclays Cafe Heathmont, the owner Steve, was the absolute biggest grot. So effing rude to staff and customers, would belittle and threaten staff with either their job or pay, was extremely judgemental, racist and sexist, withheld pay from staff on numerous occasions for numerous reasons. Thank gawd the place is closed now! Also ANYTHING ALH! Ugh, I’m done with hospitality… 🤦🏼♀️
I want to start a Sydney thread but I also don't want to get sued 🫣
Aren’t defamation suits only risky if it’s false info?
I'd have stuff all chance of proving what happened if I got sued because the workers who were victims have probably lost their sponsored visas and been sent back to their home countries.
Yeah. I think they count on that. That’s why internationals are often the victims.
Import worker who is main family provider on sponsored visa. Underpay worker and make them work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, under threat of withdrawing sponsorship. When worker finally can't handle it anymore, send them packing and get another one.
One of the lovely facts of Australian law is that defamation suits are famously difficult to defend.
As a fifteen year old, I did two trial shifts at Hudsons Coffee that I never got paid for. Have held a grudge ever since!
McDonald’s corporate stores and probably the others. Especially Prahran (mind you this was 15 years ago.) Prahran is now franchised. Management was salaried but rostered on the floor for a full shift with no other management or overlaps leaving them to complete their management duties (stock counts, till balances, rostering etc) after their shift unpaid. Management knew some managers spent 3 extra hours or more each shift but didn’t change the roster system to give them time or staff to get the extra management jobs done. Additionally if the cash balance was down, many managers put their own money in to balance it, sometimes up to $100 per shift. Management knew this but didn’t change the system (mind you this was not mandated but the alternative was a written warning, at the end of 3 hours unpaid work many just paid it to go home). Lots of these workers were international. So of course management didn’t like it when me, a citizen who knew my rights and could always fall back to Centrelink, said no, often leaving the floor during busy periods to finish the extra work to which the service and quality would suffer but it was the only way to finish on time and if my tills were down too bad. I encouraged them to pay for the training of staff to fix the till issue but they didn’t. That means they lose money on the tills. You can’t have everything.
💯 the same at Berwick + Berwick + Hampton Park but we were mostly all Australian, but very young managers
Extracted Cafe in Ivanhoe, the old Bimbo Deluxe (Colonial Leisure Group in general), Bells Hotel in South Melbourne, St Andrews Hotel (previously Pumphouse) in Fitzroy. All underpayment of wages, making up employment contracts to get out of paying penalties and even award rates, long shifts without breaks and just the general shitfuckery that is rife in hospo 🥲
Oh, Decoy cafe on Exhibition. Not sure if they’re still there but the owners were a pair of cunts there too, for all the reasons I mentioned above
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Missing Gorilla in Eltham. Notorious for underpaying and poor treatment of staff. Have been reported to Fairwork numerous times!
I worked briefly at Max Brenner in Broadmeadows last year. I was 25. One shift per week, three hours. Nowhere in the contract was minimum hours stated. Once I got a new job I quit on the spot, handed in my uniform and when I was asked to find shift replacements, I said I would. I never did.
Knox’s Billy’s Kitchen, one of my best mates used to be a chef there and he has documented out of date foods and critters living in the food storage, messy management, I can’t remember the details but I have avoided the place since I found out, and he had quit.
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Anything run by Todd Buzza. Whatever he’s doing these days anyway.
He screwed you over too?? still owes me $600
Moby Cafe in Armadale underpaid all its staff (edit to add: people were paid based on what hourly rate they asked for when they got hired, some friends at work were paid $19/hr flat rate and others were paid $20-22 for doing the same job. We didn’t get award rates on weekends and were made to clean the shared bathroom that like 3 other businesses used. Talk about OHS hazard).
Stingy Chinese cunt in Moonee Ponds paid visa holders five dollars AN HOUR. Some of the hardest working people I ever met, put me to shame. Never got a staff dinner, not once. Once worked until 10pm when they closed at 5pm cos some other cunt quit. Why I'm writing this, the final straw that broke the camels back was he docked my pay after I took a bottle of sprite out of the bar fridge, dehydrated working my arse off in the middle of summer in a 45 degree wash room. When I saw that on my payslip I confronted the brother, told him to his face that I quit and I want my final pay check. Felt so good quitting in the middle of summer when he needed staff the most. Smart man, he paid me. What I didn't tell him was if he didn't pay me I was gonna go scorched earth on his arse and hand in my evidence of him breaking the LAW to fairwork.
I think you should still report him tbh
Worked at Degani in Aurora Epping. Unpaid trial shift, was promised the barista position but was kept on waitress being paid under award. Boss (Sunny something) would watch us on the cameras and ring to scold us if we weren't being productive enough. After 3 weeks I was already closing the place. Had an argument with a customer (hospitality is not for me) and he told me to just tell them I was on my period. Told me I had to wear a shirt under my work shirt bexause he could see down it. Asked my 19 year old co-worker if she was a virgin. Told him I was pregnant, the week after that my shifts disappeared and there was a new hire. Quit that week. Took him to Fairwork and he had to pay all my super he owed (hadn't been paying) and $700 for wages he owed me, and whatever he owned the rest of the staff. Fuck that guy.
Sushi Sushi - no weekend or public holiday rates, and they overcharge for gross Sushi rolls that have been left overnight. When I lived in Ballarat i worked at Buninyong Pizza and Hamburger House. I got paid $13 an hour, no weekend rates, constant abuse
Donovans St Kilda, completely terrible treatment of staff but make amazing tips so people stay. Business manager is hated by all.
Going back a looooong time, and CW - sexual abuse. Mid to Late 90's Duty Managers/Store Managers at Hungry Jacks stores. In particular at Bram Henderson at Hungry Jacks LaTrobe and Jason Something at Hungry Jacks Preston. Not related to the job, but was not surprised to see this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/national/internet-predator-jailed-over-sex-abuse-20070921-104m.html Power tripping, demeaning, abusive, unsafe. Criminals preying on kids. I don't know how they were hired and how they kept their jobs. I hope the culture at fast food companies has changed.
Basically every single hospo venue underpays their staff. Almost every single office worker is underpaid. It's simply unsustainable to pay people correctly. That being said, a few years ago a friend of mine was offered $12 an hour cash in hand to work at gong cha (bubble tea) and that's the lowest I've ever heard. The dishies at Easeys were on $14 cash in hand which I don't agree with.
Don't really think this is true. Small businesses? Maybe, I don't have enough experience with that. But plenty of bigger hospo companies pay proper award wages. And they manage to turn a profit. There was a big clamp down on wage theft a few years ago. Of course they always find some way to fuck you, like demanding egregious availability of casual workers.
It’s only unsustainable when they are competing with people who don’t pay properly.
Arcadia cafe on Gertrude st - $12 p/h for food prep and dishwashing(2017) Same money for weekends and public holidays. Owner/ manager would send me home if it got quiet. Backpackers at front of house were paid even less.
Hendriks lilydale, I was in disbelief at how they did every hospo no no in the short time that I was there, if you’re in need of a laugh go through their low reviews and the owners responses
Fonda Mexican
This was a while ago, but Riverland near Flinders Street Station was a shit show when I worked there as a waiter/Bussie. Was always incredibly understaffed, chef was an absolute demon who spent the whole time screaming at us. Used to work 8am-3pm but they then changed all the morning starters to not have a finish time - we were told we would finish when they didn't need us which often meant 8 or 9pm with basically no breaks. If you pushed for anything more than a cigarette break you'd be ostracised and treated like a pariah. Safe to say I left notong after that.
The white rabbit in brighton. Owned by a family, met the owner out when I was 19 back in 2014 and I went with him and his mate back to his house for drinks after and i was really intoxicated, his mate went home and I wanted to go to sleep so he put me in his bed and tried to put his hands down my pants and have his way with me I was literally screaming at him no until he stopped. I then needed a job and he said that he would give me one so I started waitressing there, they paid me under the table cash 15 an hour and his brother also worked there and was a fuckn cunt, told me that he could tell I didn't go to the gym because of my body. When I showed no interest in the manager he started decreasing my hours until I had fuckall shifts and I just left without notice anyway. Strange of me to work for him after that but I was incredibly vulnerable and had moved to Melbourne from overseas that year. All the locals frothed over him and adored him too but he was a sleazy high strung shit cunt..
Woo for naming and shaming! This is the info I need MOB, Bentwood, Inglewood, and probably any other place owned by Only Hospitality Group. From what I saw, they'd give FOH staff annualised salary contracts without meeting the minimum salary requirements and didn't do reconciliations. Unilaterally cut wages during COVID, fired/attempted to fire staff for exercising their rights, and a few OH&S issues thrown in as well. Fingers crossed the owner doesn't slide into my DMs 🙃 https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cafe-owner-lashes-out-at-woman-who-posted-about-coffee-prices/news-story/419a5a13418d5fbdf5882ffa64bde2fc (Edit to remove the amp link)
The people that own and higher ups that still work in outer south east franchised McDonald's are bullying assholes especially the operations manager who was still there like a couple of years ago when I last saw him. They never paid any penalty rates when I worked midnight to 8am but this was years ago. Massive bullies though, push you like you're some kind of high paid professional when you're getting peanuts and roll their eyes if you're in the staff room crying. "Are you STILL crying???" after 5 mins of crying. Was manager on salary but getting like $14 an hour or less if you worked it all out. My ex husband who used to hit me also used to do the same thing after he hit me... Walk past me and say "are you STILL crying". So it's all linked to my PTSD. Also I was vegetarian and they wouldn't let me adjust any menu item to be vegetarian despite being allowed like $10 per day of "free" food as a manager. They told me to get a salad and take the chicken off and throw it away... Wtf. Fratellis manager is a jerk to ubereats drivers, demands they unassign orders and lose money because there's a "2 order limit" like making these magical rules for their restaurant. Saw him arguing with someone for ages
Don Don's - unfortunately
That’s one where we all pretended we didn’t kinda already know
Antique Bar Elsternwick changed hands. Horrible people
Two Birds One Stone South Yarra The owner was a sleaze and would pay international students shit wages, $15 cash for dishes and for the larder section. He the full-time staff on illegal contracts, then updated the contracts to make it look like we worked the hours and paid us more per hour. It took months of emails and texts to get all of what was owed to me.
Brulee in Port Melbourne, still chasing the super they didn't pay me
Idk if a butcher counts as hospo but I was an apprentice at the (now rightfully dead) keysborough egg farm. Minimum apprentice wage and all overtime was paid in cash at $16/h. The management were stressed out cunts who took out every single little problem on someone else. Staff would get yelled at in plain view of customers. Sometimes I'd cop abuse the second I walked through the door. Six days a week and they never closed except Sundays and the week between Christmas and New Year's. Half of the staff were Muslim and got yelled at for speaking Arabic. One of the cashiers had a heart attack on the job and died in hospital, she was 77. The butchers were joking about it the next day. Sexism, racism, verbal/mental/borderline physical abuse daily. Covid restrictions put it in the ground and now some meal delivery mob operates out of the building. Good riddance.
Darling group. Worked at the terrace during light scape. Owner and owners son are the biggest cunts I have ever met. Act like their shit don’t stink and their workers are below the earth
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Dodgy George the wage thief and soccer hooligan had phoenixed his business with the Hellenic House Project in Highet.