A striking text has recently been on the door of the Pintelier women’s toilet. Due to all the attention for female safety in the night, manager Alec came into action.
“Many people like to come here, but this would make a visit even better according to some ladies,” says Alec van Kampen (29) manager of the Pintelier. Last week he wrote with a white marker: ‘unsafe feeling? Ask if Floris is working here/still works here’ on the door of the lady’s room in the pub.
It is reminiscent of the campaign that was created in 2016 in England and was then taken over worldwide: Ask for Angela. By asking for Angela, someone who does not feel comfortable or unsafe can sign up bar staff.
Common name
With the same goal, only with a different name, a similar sentence is now on the door of the café in Grunn. “We have a very diverse team, so a female colleague would prefer to talk,” Alec explains. Personnel can intervene on it by, for example, calling a taxi, giving someone a ban or calling the police, if necessary. “There are also many cameras in the case to keep an eye on things.”
The reason is, just like the many protests in the country to claim the night, the death of 17-year-old Lisa. “We are now working a lot on the subject, we take sexual harassment very seriously. But actually it is strange that we are only doing something like that now,” says Alec. “I am disappointed.”
Alec chose to use the name Floris. “We get a lot of Vindicaters and Albertians at De Pintelier, so that seemed logical to me. It is a common name.”
Inspiring
On the one hand, the manager is afraid that when the action becomes too familiar, women will no longer openly ask for Floris. On the other hand, he hopes that women will become familiar with the sentence. And that other catering establishments in Stad take over the initiative.
Over neighbor The timer has in any case been inspired by the initiative. “We will get started right away,” says manager Franke.
In Oceans, for example, posters from a similar campaign with the question: “Are you okay?” This question can ask staff to visitors if they suspect that someone is being harassed.
More initiatives such as this spotted? Let us know via [email protected]