John Besh? Can't be................

Culture, Media, General Food Media and News
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Wow, you just never know do you. This stuff is coming out everywhere.

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Wow.

Kitchens are notoriously unpleasant environments and the industry has long put up a front of “that is just how kitchens are”. I won’t be surprised if more issues don’t come up in the kitchen/restaurant arena.

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For sure, kitchens are not for the faint of heart!

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I read about this two days ago, and here is the culmination. The piss-off is that he really sold himself as the family man, marrying his high school sweetheart, and raising his 4 boys like he was raised. Why can’t men with power just keep it in their pants? Nauseating.

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Exactly. That’s why I am surprised - but I guess I shouldn’t be at this point!

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Fixed that for you. 'Cuz it’s not just about pants or their contents.

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What else is new? Every time some suit resigns from his job or board in the face of criminal charges or other immorality revelations, he cites the desire to spend more time with his family. The public is shocked, and I don’t mean Inspector Reynaud shocked. Yawn…

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I too heard about it on Sunday night’s ABC News. Was so very disappointed, and then Monday morning, he resigns to “be with his family”. The asshole should have been with his family instead of he and his partner using their power to hurt others who had no repercussion but to resign.

I still am in shock that he ONLY hired an HR Director as of October 11th. And I feel very sorry for her.

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I"m not personally familiar with John Besh however I don’t think anyone should be shocked by this regardless who the individual involved is. The restaurant business is a hot-bed of sexual harassment and lascivious behavior. As a person who has worn both hats throughout his life ( corporate and restaurant) I can say unequivocally the sexual tensions are far higher in a restaurant environment than corporate.

The biggest difference in my opinion is that in the corporate world you probably find all unsolicited sexual harassment / advances 90% of the time the perpetrator is male. In the restaurant business I would say that number is closer to 70-75%. In the restaurant business I would say that you will find a higher instance of woman being involved in unsolicited sexual advances in the vs. corporate, which is the nature of the beast.

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I’m with you right until the last line. Abuse shouldn’t (and hopefully won’t be going forward), considered the inevitable standard.

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Yeah, the only surprising thing is that someone under 50 and with 12 restaurants hasn’t evolved to realizing that screwing your employees, even if you’re sure its consensual, is a bad idea.

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Your ‘sexual tension’ is another person’s fear of coercion or assault. Just saying.

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With all due respect I take exception to you personalizing it by addressing that to me by; “Your sexual tension”. I’m speaking on behalf of my observations of industry I have been associated with for 40+ years, NOT my personal dealings. I would kindly ask you to rephrase that to, “The sexual tension”.

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Agreed, but unfortunately as of the time of this post, it is the industry norm.

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I’m sorry I hurt your feelings with the phrasing. I could have chosen ‘one man’s’ instead, Insuppose. However, this is not an impersonal ‘sexual tension’ but a very grounded way in which you characterised what you called, in the previous sentence, ‘sexual harassment’. There are those of us who would not even have chosen that term (‘sexual tension’ to start with.

I’d also suggest you not make is about you. Too often women have to be so careful about men’s feelings whilst addressing a context that normalises are constant assault and harassment.

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Yeah, it’s all fun and games except when it’s not. What anyone in business should know and convey to all their staff is that the times when it’s not aren’t worth the times when it is.

For me, sometimes it has been fun and games, sometimes it has been not. And I’ve surely committed sins of my own, getting caught up in it all. Trying to prove I’m not uptight by being just as perverted and crude as everyone else. The ‘bro culture’ cited in the article is one reason I started my own company and got out of pastry chef-ing. Line cooks all tend to be younger guys and I kept getting older and less amused by dicks on everything.

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That is exactly my point, I’m not making it about me, you did.

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