Top story on the BBC News website's UK page -8th February 2022.
Not the thousands who've died in the Turkey/Syria earthquake, not the frowned-upon
sentence of 30 years imprisonment for a serial-rapist Police Officer who habitually took
advantage of his position for over two decades. Not even a home-grown public-interest
story about a woman going missing near a river... no, none of these.
(And please let's not get bogged-down with the obvious statements that this article has
merit, of course it does.)
The British Broadcasting Corporation's top story...?
Standards have fallen everywhere.
Not the thousands who've died in the Turkey/Syria earthquake, not the frowned-upon
sentence of 30 years imprisonment for a serial-rapist Police Officer who habitually took
advantage of his position for over two decades. Not even a home-grown public-interest
story about a woman going missing near a river... no, none of these.
(And please let's not get bogged-down with the obvious statements that this article has
merit, of course it does.)
The British Broadcasting Corporation's top story...?
Quote:McDonald's manager 'exposed himself in front of me'BBC:
'Christine was working at a South London branch of McDonald's in 2018 when, she says,
she was sexually harassed by a manager. "He pulled his pants down in the stockroom,"
she said, adding the experience left her "terrified".
Christine, because it's worse than having a building drop on your head.
Her story comes after McDonald's signed an agreement with the UK equality watchdog following
concerns over how it handled sexual harassment complaints. McDonald's said Christine's experiences
were "completely unacceptable".
"We are extremely concerned to hear these allegations," a spokesperson said. "We would encourage
them to contact us directly so we can investigate immediately."
Currently, the number of complaints of sexual harassment made by McDonald's workers in the UK is
unclear, but four years ago the union representing the company's employees, the Bakers, Food and
Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), said it had received 1,000 of them.
Concerns were raised by employees via the union about inadequate processes to deal with the allegations,
which led the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to get involved. And on Wednesday, it was
announced that the fast food giant had signed a legal agreement with the EHRC to protect staff from sexual
harassment. The EHRC told the BBC that it did "not enter into agreements lightly".
Christine, who has waived her right to anonymity, started working at McDonald's in 2011, having just moved
to London. She told the BBC she "thought it would be really great", but added "I had no idea what I was
walking into". She described a toxic workplace culture, with managers flirting with more junior staff, and
another manager going around "touching everyone's bum".
"I saw a lot of things that were not okay," she said. She described how one manager regularly came up to
her and said "inappropriate things". Christine tried to manage the situation by asking colleagues to intervene.
She then said she started suffering anxiety and panic attacks, and started taking anti-depressants "just to
cope with going into work".
"How do you expect to work when you're having a panic attack? You can't breathe, your heart's racing and
you're terrified," she said. "You don't want this person to come up to you doing or saying anything. You would
assume that they get the message when you say no, but they just think it's okay. They don't see what they're
doing to you."
'Inappropriate sexual suggestions'
Things took a turn for the worse one day in 2018, when she was feeling unwell and went into the stockroom
to ask the manager's permission to go home. "He started making really inappropriate sexual suggestions that
I wasn't comfortable with," she said. "He pulled his pants down in the stockroom and wanted me to do
inappropriate things."
Christine said she walked out and went to her business manager to raise a complaint, but after the business
manager spoke to the man in question, she was told to "get back in the kitchen and work with him".
When she objected, the business manager told her to call the police if she had such a problem.
"So I was like, fine. I packed up my stuff and went home," she said.
Christine never worked at McDonald's again, although she claims the man is still employed there.
She described her time working at the fast food chain as "one of the worst experiences of my life".
"I want McDonald's to realise what they're doing is not okay," she said. "It feels like you're being bullied, it feels
like you don't have a voice," she said. "You should not have to go into work feeling anxious or scared...you need
that job to pay your bills and to keep a house going but at what price."...'
Standards have fallen everywhere.
Read The TV Guide, yer' don't need a TV.