In Batumi the owner of the popular khachapuri restaurant “Retro” was arrested for assaulting an employee who was outraged by the “toxic situation” and inequality in pay for Russians hired by the restaurant.
Information about the arrest was disseminated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The investigation against Teimuraz Varshanidze was launched after the now former manager of “Retro” Maria Zoidze posted a video on Facebook in which, according to her, owner Varshanidze assaults a waiter.
The former manager writes that she quit her job some time ago after Varshanidze started insulting Georgian staff in a crowded restaurant.
“The owner hired several Russians who deliberately created a toxic work environment for local employees. I have been the manager of the Retro restaurant for the past few months. Justice and humane treatment were not the rule here before. But the real problems began after the hiring of Russian employees.
They were accepted into the positions of waiters, designers and (pseudo) PR people. None of them knows either Georgian or English. And these people immediately began to present themselves to us as supposedly more highly placed and constantly belittle us. The pro-Russian attitude of the owner allows them to do this.
And then one day at rush hour Teimuraz Varshanidze called me insulting words right in the hall. I left work immediately.
And something much worse happened yesterday. Varshanidze not only insulted a Georgian waiter, but attacked him and started beating him.
I feel terrible indignation and fear. We live in a country where a restaurant owner can beat up employees. The whole of Georgia becomes a Russian pocket restaurant. They consider us their servants. Even from this one incident, one can draw a conclusion about the realities in the country.
Varshanidze is an influential and privileged person, and he thinks he will get off easy thanks to this,” Zoidze writes.
