Mexican

Sexism and harassment is rampant in the restaurants industry and in my years as a hostess and waitress at a Mexican restaurant it was frequent. (The culture of patriarchy perhaps has a lot to do with it.) Not a couple of weeks into my job as a still in high school hostess, my assistant manager asked me to be his mistress. I was shocked and said “no”. I went home crying, and told my dad what had happened, saying I was going to quit. He surprised me with his answer. “Unfortunately this will not be the first time this happens to you. If you like this job, don’t you dare let this guy ruin it for you. You do something about it.” And I did. I talked to the other women at work. We all (who were American) had been experiencing his “accidental” boob grazes, or leering looks, or outright vulgar comments, or propositions. We confronted him about it, then told our boss. He had no idea this was happening, but he listened and cared. The assistant manager was removed, but probably not fired. But we had done something to advocate for ourselves. This was not the last time I’d have to deal with it at that job. Many more instances came up, just as my dad said, but at least I had learned how to deal with it and stop it.