Waitress linked bottle size with body part says diner

A regular diner at a leading Auckland restaurant told the Employment Tribunal yesterday that a waitress jokingly likened bottles of mineral water and a pepper grinder to male genitals.

He said it was a standing joke at the table when the waitress asked which of three sizes of bottles of mineral water they wanted.

"She said, 'Do you want a white man, a brown man or a black man?"'

The witness said he understood the waitress was talking about penis size, with the black man having the biggest.

The waitress also made lewd comments about a pepper grinder, saying she thought it was the ultimate black man.

This jest - like the mineral water joke - was always made and received in good humour, said the diner.

The tribunal was in the third day of hearing the waitress' claim of constructive unjustifiable dismissal.

She says she was forced to resign from the restaurant after a shouting match with the owner on March 16 last year, and also alleges verbal sexual harassment and racial abuse.

Names of the restaurant, applicant and witnesses have been suppressed by tribunal adjudicator Jim Newman.

The waitress, recalled to the stand by her lawyer Vivienne Crawshaw, denied making the comment about the pepper grinder or mentioning male genitalia.

What she recalled saying about mineral water was, did they want a European, Polynesian or Afro-America size?

She would not have said anything about a black man because this would be racist.

In earlier evidence, the waitress said she was offended when the restaurateur introduced her to customers by saying they had large penises, and when he had asked a male staff member in her presence about her sexual performance.

The restaurateur has denied this in evidence.

Yesterday, a senior employee of the restaurant said he had never heard the owner introduce the waitress by talking about penis size.

He said he would have expected the waitress to bring to him any concerns about sexual or racial comments by the owner.

He had neither heard the owner make inappropriate sexual comments to her nor single her out for her race.

An employee of the restaurant said the waitress took "speed" (amphetamines) at work two or three times a week about November-December 1999.

A few of the other waiting staff also took drugs, he said.

The witness had been called by the restaurant several times after the waitress admitted being under the influence of drugs. The restaurant's lawyer, Phillip Rice, told the tribunal that drug-taking at the rate of two or three times a week had affected the woman's ability to do her job properly and was relevant to her perception about what went on and what was said to her.

Vivienne Crawshaw said the drug-taking claim was irrelevant because her client said the drug had not affected her work performance.

It was also not related to the quarrel between the waitress and restaurateur that led to her client's resignation.

The senior of the restaurant employees said he witnessed the incident where the owner was trying to get a piece of paper from the waitress' hand.

He said he intervened because the argument was upsetting customers.

He snatched the piece of paper and sent both antagonists to separate parts of the dining room.

Asked by Vivienne Crawshaw which person was the problem, the witness said the waitress was part of it.

He agreed it was a problem if the owner did not behave in a professional manner.