by Joe Worthington
Recently a friend of mine or actually, a friend of the industry wrote something on a social platform that really struck a chord. It was about bullying, or more so bullying in this beautiful industry. But wait, is it beautiful? If what she says is correct (and after trawling through said social platform, I’m inclined to believe her) then how can something so apparently beautiful be so fraudulent and artificially benign?
I was once upon a time (two years almost to the day actually) a Brit looking for work and stumbled upon a hospo Facebook group by the name of “The Sydney Bartender Exchange” which was and still is for the most part, a fantastic forum for people to connect, source employment/employees and generally ask what type of sherry vinegar somebody is using in their Sunday Roast mocktail, or whatever.
What I’m going to say is no way detrimental to Ollie Stuart and Bobby Carey who run the now industry dominant Facebook page. What I want to expand on is how the fuck that thing that connected me to the job I have now, with great employers and sponsorship to boot has spiralled into a congregation of serious pervasive abuse, some of which, I’m quick to add, is genuinely funny, and some of which is downright rude.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty heinous questions dotted around that deserve some sort of ridicule, but not the verbal punishment that does get dished out. My mother once said to me “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all” – which I do believe is a crock of shit. I have friendships built on greetings like, “Here he is, the fat shit”, but that’s just what I mean, they are already my friends (at least I think they are) — that’s why it’s funny!
I’d honestly love to see what kind of job application success to failure ratio we have on this community page now. Robert De Niro had a circle of trust, sure, Ben Stiller had to work very hard break into that bad boy and even then wasn’t totally in it. As a community we are not Robert De fucking Niro, we’re barely even the shit on his shoe – although some of your ‘banter’ certainly smells like it. For arguments sake, let’s call it “shanter”.
I understand that, like any industry, you pay your dues before being invited to a private event here, a birthday there but I’m speaking as someone who had no foothold in this ever expanding industry but was thrown a bone via that fantastic page. I’m sat here now, no great reputation other than working hard and drinking harder, but with people I’d call friends from the industry in this burgeoning city of hospitality. It would just be nice if some people remembered their own roots and where they came from and how much pride putting yourself out there for a position can cost you, under current circumstances. Check yourself before you wreck yourself SBE.