Young hospitality workers face daily abuse after imposing WA COVID-19 mandates

Still recovering from the disruption caused by COVID-19 on their industry, young hospitality workers now face their biggest challenge of the pandemic. Some as young as 15 and working in their first real job — these baristas, wait staff and kitchen hands are now taking on roles as quasi-bouncers and security guards. These are the faces of the State’s new vax police. These high school students are now manning cafe doors, requesting customers put on their masks, and asking patrons to show them their vaccination certificates. Being forced to re-make a coffee that used full cream milk instead of almond milk — once the height of confrontation they fronted at work — is now a distant memory. Instead, the teens trying to save for their first car, and parents earning a living for their families, cop daily abuse from customers enraged over the simple question: have you been vaccinated? They didn’t ask for this responsibility, and they certainly don’t have the training to take on the conflict these proof of vaccination requirements always seem to attract. But it doesn’t matter. Because the customer is always right, right? “The biggest stuff my young staff freak out about is the legal threatening,” Chubby Boy owner Brittany Garbutt told The West Australian. “My kids don’t know what to do in that situation, and they go home feeling absolutely awful because they think we’re going to get sued.” Ms Garbutt, who also owns Priestess, by Voodoo at Karrinyup Shopping Centre, recalled one serious incident where an elderly woman refused to wear a face mask. “She was screaming at this like 14-year-old kid working the till, shouting ‘they’re discriminating against me’,” she said. “She was really aggro, and the older staff there had to step in to help this young employee ... (who) was very gun shy returning to work.” Ms Garbutt said no one wanted to feel like they were upsetting customers, “least of all really young workers with very limited life experience”. “They’re not trained in a way that gives them the confidence to make assertive requests, especially when the person on the other side of the counter is so much older than them,” she said. “It’s incredibly intimidating and stressful.” At her most famous business venture — her pretty-in-pink Pretzel stores where the vast majority of staff are teenage girls, Ms Garbutt said enforcing mask compliance, sign ins via the SafeWA app and proof of vaccination “tended to go one of two ways”. “Being young little girls, people either scream at them or they’re kind and more respectful because of their young age,” she said. She is just one of a massive list of employers in the hospitality industry unsure of their legal and ethical obligations in light of the new roles her young staff are being asked to fulfil. “What they’re doing is very different to the job they applied for,” she said. “I often think how to go forward, just legally, with job descriptions for example. “Should we specify that you’ll be required to do compliance? Are they liable? Am I liable? What is the minimum age bracket required or at least recommended for the position? “I have a 14-year-old having to face off with 50-year-old men, so a clear guide on what is required of employers in these times would be welcome.” Co-owner of Mount Lawley’s Local & Aesthetic, Dominique Rae, said while her cafe had yet to experience hostile customers in relation to COVID-19 vaccination and mask requirements, she and other managing staff “always have our workers’ backs if there’s an awkward encounter “We have such an awesome, loyal customer base. They know it’s not our fault,” she said. “We haven’t had any issues so far ... (but) we anticipate it could become challenging.” Ms Rae admitted her and her partner Liam Young’s business, which opened in January 2021 just days before a snap lockdown, were aware they might lose customers. “We might have to roster an extra person on, we might have to reduce our capacity, we might have to do a split roster on the off chance someone gets sick,” she said. “I’m confident our staff can adapt ... but it’s a scary prospect for us”. Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said there was no doubt that additional pressures had been placed on young hospitality staff. “WA’s hospitality staff go to work to provide hospitality and shouldn’t be subjected to abuse from people who have an axe to grind with the Government over COVID-19 restrictions,” he said. “If someone has strong feelings about measures put in place by Government, they should write to their local member of parliament, rather than ranting to the person serving them a beer.” Mr Woods conceded while it was only a “small minority” of patrons causing problems, “this minority are often vocal and vehement when expressing their views”. He urged licensed venues, which have powers under the Liquor Control Act to remove disorderly patrons and trouble makers, to “not hesitate to use these powers”.

Young hospitality workers face daily abuse after imposing WA COVID-19 mandates

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