Rhodes
Riot in Greece: waiter runs through chest-deep sea to serve customers
An incident in a beach bar on Greece’s holiday island of Rhodes causes horror (symbol image)
© NurPhoto / Imago Images
A video from the holiday island of Rhodes is currently causing an uproar in Greece. A waiter walked through chest-deep water to serve bathers on loungers in the sea. The incident is now in politics.
A waiter walks through the water, almost up to his chest. He holds up a tray to keep it dry. He is surrounded by sun loungers that protrude from the water. Several bathers can be seen in the background, apparently relaxed on the loungers. The short video, released on Saturday morning, is said to pick up a waiter at a beach bar Show Greece’s holiday island of Rhodes.
The recording quickly spread across the internet and caused horror. Criticism of labor rights in the country is becoming louder. Now politicians are also dealing with the incident. Labor Minister Adonis Georgiadis and Minister for Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said on Twitter that an investigation into the legality of the sun loungers in the sea had been initiated.
Meanwhile, the Rhodes port authority issued a fine for illegal use of the sea area (by the sunbeds), Greek news agency APE-MPE reported on Sunday. According to the coast guard, such violations by the affected company had already been registered twice in the past month.
Greece: Business owner speaks of “individual case”
The regional newspaper Rodiaki published a statement from the workers at the beach bar defending their employer: “We don’t work under ‘medieval conditions’ as the media claims, nor are we ‘blackmailed’ or ‘forced’ to do things do things that we don’t want to do in the performance of our duties, on the contrary: […] We have fun and we want to work.” The wages are also good. The waiter told the supervisory authority that he had no problem with his work and would get a tip of up to 200 euros, writes the TV station ERT.
This is how the owner of the beach bar explained the unusual practice. He spoke to the TV station Open of an “individual case” and said the waiter “did it to get his tip”. He earns 3,000 euros a month “and if the customer promised him a hefty tip, he went in to get it,” the owner continued. Labor Minister Georgiadis confirmed that nothing illegal had been found during an inspection. Police investigations should clarify the incident. The responsible public prosecutor’s office on Rhodes ordered this on Monday.