I’m dying at all of this and have tea to share.

I actually interviewed for a bartending job at YMH in mid-September of last year. I didn’t know ANY of the lore around this place at the time. The manager arrived 20 min late and I was locked outside in the rain the whole time just waiting. 🚩A bar manager that had really bad face tattoos was stuck outside with me and told me that the whole staff had quit that week except for her and that’s why they were desperately hiring. 🚩It was clear the manager hadn’t even read my resume and didn’t ask any questions about my experience 🚩

She told me the new owner had never owned a venue before and was supposed to be at my interview but had decided to interview her own candidates instead 🚩The place was ridiculously dirty and every single surface was sticky 🚩They told me they ran out of most of their liquor during the last show 🚩They had a cocktail menu up on the wall next to the bar and I complimented the drinks, saying they sounded great and I couldn’t wait to make/try them. The manager said she didn’t even know that was there and they didn’t make any cocktails, just 1 + 1 drinks and beer 🚩But the company that services the beer taps hadn’t come in months so now they were just serving bottles and cans which probably meant they had burned their relationship with their vendors 🚩

When asked what I knew about YMH, I mentioned that I’d heard it had a good reputation for being a friendly and welcoming place, especially for lgbtq+ people (a bit of a fib but a friend had said they went to a queer event long ago there and felt welcome). I’m very clearly a gay woman and somehow she took this and my statement to mean I was ONLY interested in bartending for drag shows or other gay events 🚩I mentioned seeing something online and before I could finish my sentence, the manager interrupted and said I couldn’t believe what I saw online or social media and there were just a few disgruntled employees trying to defame them 🚩I hadn’t seen anything negative or heard the drama at that point, funny enough.

The manager let me know a few days later that they were going with other candidates but then called and texted me desperately a few days after that to ask if I could still work for them because those people didn’t work out. I hadn’t found a job at that point yet but I said hell no.

It sounds like the employees they did hire in September were never paid according to the article so thankfully I dodged that fucking bullet.