Chester the Molester

You know when you go out to a bar, and there is that creepy guy that is sitting by himself, nursing a beer and just staring at chicks? And not discretely either. They stare directly at their boobies and pretty much drool on themselves. Sometimes they "accidentaly" brush up against your ass on their way to the bathroom. You know the type. Well, when these guys get either bored of their regular spots, or get kicked out of them for molesting the staff, they sometimes end up at family restaurants like the Italian Restaurant. Given the fact that it's not generally a crowded area, they have to be a lot more creative in how they are going to cop a feel. Common tactics are sitting right on the edge of the bar rail where bartenders enter and exit the cafe, where they just might "accidentaly" brush up against them, requesting hugs from female servers which they feel obliged to indulge since they need the tip, and the old handshake fake-out that turns into one of those creepy mideval hand kisses (or sometimes licks).

Now, the Italian Restaurant really values it's customers (excuse me, guests), and will do anything, like seriously ANYTHING, to make sure they come back again and again. This includes giving people who fabricate problems with their meal giftcards so they can keep coming back, treating servers like shit, complaining about nothing, and getting more giftcards. This also means that they almost never 86 someone, or tell them they are no longer welcome. They will threaten to, saying "if you do this one more time, you wont be welcome" but they never follow through. Even when it comes to the safety of their employees.

One paticular guy, we'll call him Chester, has been coming in regularly for quite some time. There is suspicion that he has been 86ed from other establishments for being a fucking creep, so he ended up at the Italian Restaurant. Chester has employed tactics such as sitting at the end of the rail so he can brush up against ladies, he sits at the bar top and stares blantanly at the bartender, requests particular servers he finds appealing and then acts like they have some kind of relationship "we should do this again sometime." He has also feigned a handshake that was really a hand kiss/lick. Even though this server and others have told management that he makes them uncomfortable and they don't want to serve him, they just say since he hasn't actually done anything out of line besides being "creepy" they can't really do anything. And yes, you still have to serve him when he requests you because we don't want to offend him.

By far the creepiest thing Chester has done was to a girl doing takeout. He came in all the time to get orders from her, and would always ask for a hug, like they were old pals. This is a common practice for the molesters; since most people in service are so used to kissing the ass of the patrons in hope of a good tip, they are worried about offending them and getting in trouble with the management. So one particular time, Chester asked her for a hug and she obliged. While they were hugging, he starting licking/sucking on her ear. She quickly pulled away and just carried on. Of course management was made aware, and of course they did nothing. Chester has been told "do not touch the ladies, if you do this again, you will no longer be welcome." Seriously? Can you imagine if some pervert came into your workplace and LICKED YOUR EAR and your boss just told him not to do it again? He now sits in the bar weekday mornings when there is always the same (female) bartender and stares at her/other female employees. Thankfully this bartender is a tough chick and isn't afraid of him and wont take his bullshit either. If he laid a hand on her she would probably punch him in the face, and I'm pretty sure he is aware of that.

It's really disheartening to work in a place where they say your safety is top priority, but knowing it is second priority after guest satisfaction. The same girl that got her ear licked had someone growl "do you want to die?!" when she tried to take his (empty) soup bowl. She was understandably upset and when she told the mangager (the general manager no less) she was told to get over it. God forbid they offend some asshole and he doesn't come back. The server who had her hand kissed by Chester, and who he asks for when he comes in, doesn't feel safe around him, but they do nothing. And if one day he is waiting for her outside when she finishes her shift, no one will take responsibility for it. They will say another manager should have done something, or no one told them, or they didn't know how serious it was.

And that is what we call "passing the buck."