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Former Amelie’s employees from several locations have described to us the harrowing working conditions they were forced to endure while working there. 

Over the past year, we’ve investigated and reported on the conditions at the Amelie’s NoDa location and have heard concerning testimony involving the Uptown, Park Road, and Carmel Commons locations as well.

Former employees at the NoDa location reported that panic attacks and crying while on shift were normal. One employee said their worst memory of working at the store was experiencing multiple panic attacks and being forced to work on shift with a co-worker that sexually harassed them.

“I’ve had multiple panic attacks over customers yelling at me and my boss telling me to just stick it out,” they said. A coworker made sexual comments toward them and asked them intrusive sexual questions. “Of course the managers talked to him, but that doesn’t really do anything,” they said. “I didn’t want him to get fired, I just wanted him to be taught right from wrong and I personally felt like that didn’t happen. There should be no sexualizing in that environment.”

Others reported similar stories of harassment and racist comments from customers, only to be told to “come get a manager next time,” knowing that managers are forced to multitask and be everywhere in the store at one time. Chasing down the one manager on duty while often being understaffed is something Amelie’s higher-ups know is difficult and will likely result in employees deciding to not report the abuse from customers. 

This is a common occurrence for food service and other minimum-wage workers across the country.  Who are expected to put up with racist, sexist, and verbally abusive remarks so as not to turn away any potential customers. The ruling class, including Amelie’s leadership, attempts to mask this by promoting the idea that this is just a natural part of the industry rather than something that can be addressed. 

“Amelie’s treats its employees with zero respect or humanity,” another former NoDa employee said. “The only employees who were treated fairly were upper management and HR. All of the employees that actually kept the store running were underpaid, overworked, left alone, forced to work with COVID, and treated less than human.”

This employee’s testimony echoed what the previous employee said.

“A regular showed up at my house and made my family feel unsafe. When a manager was informed of the situation, my story was twisted to other employees, and I was labeled as something I am not. The environment at work became very hostile and toxic, and my outside life was very negatively impacted,” she said. “I was almost hospitalized for my mental health. The situation got so bad that I was unable to eat or even sleep without having panic attacks. My image was tainted and I was labeled as a hateful person.”

The stories coming out of Amelie’s continue to highlight the poor working conditions that service workers and the entire working class face. While the methods and appearance that exploitation takes at every workplace is unique, the root cause is the same: capitalism. The end of the centuries-long squeezing of the working class can only come with the end of capitalism, which requires an organized working class capable of seizing power for itself.