Kenyan waitresses list the worst things that happened to them at work
On December 8, 2022, the World Bank reported that Kenya’s economy was steadily ‘rebounding from the pandemic in 2022 with the real gross domestic product (GDP) increasing by 6% in the first half of 2022, driven by broad-based increases in services and industry’.
As the country recovered from pandemic restrictions such as lockdowns and revelers returned to social amenities, it would appear that those employed in the service industry have not been having it easy.
A Kenyan waitress by the name Kare Waweru took to her TikTok account to reveal some of the worst things she had to endure from patrons as others camped in her comment section to reveal more problems they endured in the hands of clients.
“We used to wear our name tags on our chests and this one time, a male client leaned in pretending he was going to read my name on the tag and then he bit my boob. I tried telling my boss that this guy had just bit my boob and my boss was like ‘leave him alone, he works for the government’,” began Ms Waweru.
She added that in other instances, she worked in a place where there was micro-aggression and her Italian boss was racist as to who could be given the facility’s Wi-Fi password- denying Africans the services and leaving her to deal with the clients.
She also bemoaned how she hated it when both male and female clients often put their hands around her waist or shoulders or touched her to talk to her especially when they were comfortably getting drunk.
She also hit out at clients who hounded waitresses about their delayed kitchen or bar orders when they were not assigned to those stations in the first place.
In the comment section, many more in the service industry listed things they had gone through as sampled below by Nairobi News:
“Working as a waitress literally gave me PTSD. The harassment, the pressure…” said Cyndi 21.
“One day a client lies to me about wanting a room. I go to open the door and give him the key (but) he tossed me to the bed. He was drunk. I pushed him off and never talked,” added Shay.
“I’ve worked as a cashier in a restaurant before and let me tell you Maina, servers have it roughhh,” said Thee211.
“There should be therapy for all waitresses. I had a dinosaur man 80+ cause a ruckus because I said I wasn’t attracted to old men,” laughed Wangare.
“The things we would let clients get away with is a reason I switched careers. Being a waiter taught me that some people are the f*****g worst,” added Kevin Kinyua.
“I’ve worked as a waitress for the longest time..and jeez, customers see you as if you never went to school…madharau…asking for things one by one,” said Call Me Natalie.
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