Highland bistro call for change after "relentless" abuse towards staff
Stacks Deli, Bakery and Coffee House in John O'Groats said they even had to have a bouncer on the door this summer
Last updated 21st Sep 2021
A Caithness deli say they've seen a sharp increase in abuse towards staff this year due to several customers not following covid guidelines.
Stacks Deli, Bakery & Coffee House in John O'Groats launched a survey on Saturday after one of their staff was verbally abused.
They say this is one of many incidents they've experienced this year.
They're asking for signatures and any experiences of abuse the sector has faced in 2021.
They say some are not following the rules due to the policy on wearing face masks being different north and south of the border.
It is also not mandatory in Scotland for those who are exempt to prove their exemption, which they say is proving challenging to deal with.
Knock on effect for hospitality recruitment
Co-owner of Stacks Deli, Bakery & Coffee House, Rebecca Wymer, says during the summer they had to have a bouncer at the door of their establishment.
She said: "It’s not that we’re asking people to always wear masks or that we think people with exemption should be wearing masks, it’s because we’ve been put in this strange position where we have to police our customers, we don’t have any backing.
"A lot of people are just taking advantage.
"What we’re getting is the same level of abuse and the same level of backlash that I’ve seen outside of nightclubs that bouncers have to deal with.
"We had a bouncer on our café for three hours a day in the summer.
"That is ridiculous."
According to the Deli's own research, 98.5% of respondents so far said they have experienced increased customer abuse this year.
They're planning on sending the survey results along with a letter to Holyrood's Covid Recovery Minister John Swinney later this week.
Rebecca's also concerned about the knock on effect for recruitment.
She added: "We’re trying to encourage young people into hospitality to stop a hospitality staffing crisis.
"Why is anybody going to come into an industry they’re going to be abused in and then not have anything to back them up?
"Hospitality has a general saying that you do it for the love and not the money.
"The money is famously not fantastic in hospitality, it’s a bit like a vocation.
"You do it because you love food and you love customer service, that’s certainly why we do it.
"That’s very difficult to override when your team are being abused or you know you’re going to get abuse every single day.
"It is relentless, it’s every single day.
"We keep a tally now in the kitchen, we were up to 14 people who didn’t have masks and were abusive on one day at the weekend."
Hospitality employees and employers can take part in the form here