Hey, former Hooter Girl here.
Hands down, it was the worst work experience that I've ever had. I have a hell of a story here, so bear with me.
My general manager was a middle-aged man that we will call 'Ron' for the sake of this story. Ron was in an unhappy marriage (I know this, as I was constantly berated by his wife over the phone). He was the biggest, misogynistic piece of shit that you'll ever meet. When he wasn't hitting on the girls, he was putting them down. Calling them stupid. On one occasion, calling one of the more petite women "fat" when she decided to order chicken wings for herself. Stay with me, this becomes important later.
(Just so you know, Hooter Girls do not get discounts on unhealthy food. You want a salad? Your discount covers it. Chicken wings? Pay full price.)
Under Ron, we had a female manager. This female manager had only been working at Hooters for 3 weeks before she was promoted. This threw her into a huge power trip, and she berated the girls for less than Ron did. She was extremely unprofessional. She constantly left work with male customers and would drink with them in the restaurant. On one occasion, a male customer she left with the night before came into Hooters the next day to bring her back her high heels.
Now, with these two in charge, I was an easy target. I tend to be shy and a tad submissive in nature. I wasn't working there long, so I didn't want to upset anyone.
On my last day of work, I came onto the floor completely dressed and ready to go 10 minutes early, as per usual. Ron is on the floor talking with some customers.
"LokiStoki, c'mere a sec! Girls, over here!"
At that, I began thinking: What did I do, what did I do, what did I do...
A few of the girls gather around, a few were still helping customers. Ron wraps his arm around my shoulder and proceeds to yell,
"How about LokiStoki, eh? You guys think she was dropped on her fucking head?"
I watch customers begin to feel uncomfortable, as with the girls. I start tearing up. He did this... in front of everybody.
"Um... no?" One of the girls whisper.
"Really? You think someone could be this fucking daft without even being dropped once?" Ron retorts.
I break away from him and sort-of... do this brisk walk to the smoking area. I needed a smoke. I couldn't afford to lose this job. Some of the cooks even came outside to see if I was okay. They calmed me down, I stopped crying, and was ready to go back inside. I was brave enough to handle today.
"LOKISTOKI!" I hear the female manager shriek inside the staff room. I went to see what the problem was.
My purse was in the staff room. I was greeted to all of my personal belongings dumped on the staff room floor and stomped on. This bitch dumped my purse on the staff room floor and stomped on it.
"I called your name but you didn't hear me the first time, so I just threw your stuff on the floor!"
I broke down at this point. A couple of the cooks saw this happen. I started bawling, picked up my things, and told them that I quit. I walked out.
A week later, I come by to pick up my final paycheck. The female manager wasn't planning on giving it to me. She claimed that I had to pay for my orange and white uniform, of which the first one is issued (that was my first one). A female cook came out from the kitchen and convinced her to give me my paycheck, so yes, I did end up getting it.
I tried to hire a lawyer to sue. It was too expensive, sadly, and they got away with this. They're still working there to this day.
BTW, I was a Kilt Girl too! Tilted Kilt rocks!