I was hired at the Canoe and Paddle when they first opened. I was 19 at the time.
I was hired on as a chef/kitchen duty even though I had applied/interviewed for a waitress position. On the first day to work Jake told the kitchen staff that our uniform was to be a wet white t-shirt. Me being the only young woman working in the kitchen, along with mainly men, I was very uncomfortable.
I believe it was either the first or second day on the job, we were all testing out possible menu items. During the taste testing of sausages (there was big ones and small breakfast ones) he went around the room asking which one we each preferred. When I said I preferred the taste of the bigger one, he looked to his friend and said, loud enough for me to hear, “I bet she does”.
During the days he would often have me set up my prep station out of the kitchen and in a back storage room alone. Which was odd to me because the kitchen had room and I didn’t understand why I needed to be in a completely separate room. During these times he would often come in and stand there and pretend he was looking for something or try and spark conversation. I found it unusual I was isolated in a back room and uncomfortable considering the comments he had already said to me.
He would often come into the freezer, which was very small and narrow, and he would brush up closely and with force against my behind. Usually working in a kitchen we follow the butt to butt rule, but he did not. He also did this a lot in the kitchen as I was cooking.
While at work I often times had a lot of comments made about my bum, pictures taken, it being touched, etc. Jake did not take any photos or touch it with his hands but I do recall a couple comments he made about it. I was so uncomfortable with the amount of sexual attention being placed on my body that I came into work one day with a sweater tied around my waist to cover my bum. I was told right away, by Jake, that it was a fire hazard and I couldn’t wear it. I also wasn’t allowed to wear jeans or loose pants. I was permitted to wear leggings.
A few times at the end of my shift (anywhere from 11pm -12pm at night) I would go to grab my belongings to go home and I would notice my car keys were missing. Jake and other employees would take them and hide them from me in order to keep me from leaving. I was told my keys would be returned to me if I stayed and did Cocaine at the bar. It would sometimes take up to half an hour of begging for him to give me my keys back. I also was friends with another kitchen staff at the time who saw Jake doing the Cocaine at the bar a few times.
In October Jake was talking about having a Christmas party. I remember him being very adamant on me not bringing a date or a friend, to come alone or single. Why did he want me to be alone? What was he planning on doing while I had no one with me I trusted?
When any of the other men spoke to me at work, they told me that Jake would pull them aside and tell them to stop talking to me as I was only 17, when he knew I was 19 as I showed him my Smart Serve and i originally applied to be a waitress. I found it strange he was lying to people about my age to stop them from talking to me.
Once night after work I received a text message from him that said “Hey ;)”. I did not reply to this.
I received many small, quick comments from Jake while working there regarding my appearance, body and other inappropriate things. I do not remember all these comments as it was 7 years ago and I don’t want to quote anything I don’t remember perfectly. But these comments were made to me often.
Jake was usually very happy with me and was never “rude”. When he found out I was hanging out with another male employee he immediately started to treat me much differently. He would be rude to me, ignore me, reduced my hours and treated me poorly. A few days after this, he fired the employee I was hanging out with for no apparent reason. Because I was making friends at work Jake decided I deserved to be treated poorly by my manager and lose hours.
My last day at work I was physically touched and told an inappropriate comment by another employee, not Jake. So I left work at the start of my shift due to being extremely uncomfortable and fed up with the abuse I was experiencing. Jake then had my kitchen manager call me and fire me even after me telling Jake why I had to leave work. I was fired with no sympathy because I had to leave as I felt my safety was jeopardized. Keep in mind I am 4ft 11” and 100lbs and I felt if anything was to escalate I would not be able to protect myself. This safety decision resulted in me being fired by Jake. It could be possible he would have had to consult with his dad (owner) regarding this decision too. If so, I find it completely wrong for them both to decide to fire me given the circumstances.
After this I decided to tell my parents about what had happened to me at work and they called the owner to meet so we could discuss what I went through and how they would solve it. I asked for Nick (Jakes dad) and Jake not to be present at this meeting which was agreed upon. When we met, Nick walked in as if I didn’t already ask him not to come. I found this inconsiderate as I was there to speak about his son and having him there I felt I would hold back on telling my experiences. After telling him I didn’t want him there he seemed angry and left. After telling the other owner my incidences surrounding Jake, and the other staff who he allowed to mistreat and sexually harass me, he told me that Jake would be removed from his position and I would be safe to come back to work. I declined this offer to return to work as there was a few other employees who treated me this way also. I later found out that Jake never lost his job or was not removed from his management position, but another employee was fired for doing the same things Jake did to me. I found this to be very unfair and not what we agreed upon. I feel me courageously speaking up against him with no action taken afterwards was a slap in the face to me. I didn’t want any other woman to be treated how I was and was shocked that he never received repercussions for his actions. The owners and Jakes parents knew what Jake had done to me and continued to let him stay in his position of power to continue treating other woman poorly which is exactly what he has done. This happened to me 7 years ago and I was ignored which allowed him to continue and hurt more woman.