’He had his hand down his pants’: Gen Z share their horror work stories

Young Australians have shared their horror work stories, including one man who was kicked out of a bar for a gross act.

We all have terrible work stories.

If you’ve ever had to support yourself during uni, then you’ve probably worked in retail or hospitality — and that’s a good part of the reason that the wellbeing of 15 to 24 in the workforce is 18 per cent lower than everyone else.

Memories of a narcissistic small-time fashion designer boss still haunt me, from her badmouthing all employees to each other, to false promises, to being bullied out of the job when I stood up for myself.

It almost makes the cafe owner who kept out tips for “the Christmas party” then never throwing us a party at all, seem like a jolly chap.

newsChat discusses their worst work stories. Picture: Supplied.

If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, so we asked the Gen Z Aussies on our newsChat panel — news.com.au’s project with the Judith Nielson Institute — to spill the tea on their worst work-related stories.

“Definitely one of the worst ones was having to kick a guy out of the cocktail bar I was working at because he was touching himself right across from a table of young women.

“It was four or five in the afternoon. An older man came into the bar and told us there was a guy in the courtyard watching this table of women with his hand down his pants.

“My co-worker and I went to have a look and there he was. He wasn’t being subtle about it either. We quietly asked him to leave, which he did as soon as he realised we were onto him. I’m not even certain the women noticed what he was up to.”

– Angus

newsChat panellists Angus, Rachael, Jahin, Nich, Amaani and Eelemarni. Picture: Supplied

"We weren’t even allowed to have drinks of water sometimes". Picture: supplied.

“I was working as a volunteer at a convention … they expect you to stand in one spot for several hours with little movement. They would not let me sit down, despite being in chronic pain.

“So I was standing with chronic pain for about three hours that day, not given a chair or anything, and I was being berated by my boss … I remember feeling so useless because I was in severe pain and just couldn’t move.

“Eventually, it led to me being unable to walk for about two weeks which wasn’t fun at all. Ever since then I’ve sworn never to go back to working in conventions.”

– Nich

“My worst work experience would be a little different. I work in health consulting and also do advisory roles for different organisations [and often find] older people don’t take you seriously because of your age.

“One example would be for meetings with a client, I remember somebody uttering ‘he’s so young though, someone should be there’ during a team meeting – even though our jobs and roles are the exact same.”

– Jahin

"He was touching himself right across from a table of young women". Picture: supplied.

“I spent a few years in one job where I experienced severe workplace bullying, and the perpetrator was promoted to my supervisor.

“Staff were regularly non-consensually surveillanced. I did some research through the Fair Work Ombudsman and found out it was illegal.

“I got a call from a high-up Supervisor who was having a go at me, and I asked if it was legal for them to watch. The conversation quickly ended after that. I also mentioned to my boss at the time that I had done the research.

”I started to get in a lot more trouble for small things — we weren’t even allowed to have drinks of water sometimes — which made me think I was getting pressured to quit. I know they had a track record of that behaviour, bullying people out.

“After Covid, I had some time to think and in the end I didn’t go back.”

– Han

And people wonder why Gen Z have started the Great Resignation?

Aged 18 to 24 and want to join the conversation?

Want to share your opinions on being a Gen Z person in the modern world? If you’re between 18 and 24, get in touch with me at [e-mail].

Originally published as ’He had his hand down his pants’: Gen Z share their horror work stories