I worked at Mannino’s in Virginia Beach as a prep cook.

It was such an unnecessary amount of stress for just $9 an hour. At the time I was 21 and had low self esteem so I felt this desire to prove myself as a cook. I enjoyed being pushed to work hard but the level of harassment and personal bullying had a huge negative impact on my personal and professional development

I worked under a sous chef who got in my face and screamed at me over some really petty issue while I was plating a dessert he bought for a server he liked.

Their were threats of violence, a lot of deep shaming for trivial mistakes that are a part of the learning process. Territorial issues, and gross treatment of the servers. Male servers were called f****t’s and female servers got unsolicited texts and calls from kitchen staff that would get their phone number from the list of contact info for employees

I have so much regret for the year I wasted working there, and finding any kind of charm in such a negative work environment. Many of the staff tried to justify their behavior saying things like, “hey man it’s not personal”, or “hey in the end we’re one big family. A dysfunctional one but we’re a family” and that’s all a lie. It manipulates naive workers into putting up with treatment that should honestly be illegal