UPDATE: The Prime Minister and the Waitress Part 2 – Dirty Politics?

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Rachel Glucina and Government pollster and right wing political blogger, David Farrar

 

I think the young woman at the centre of the Prime Minister’s bewilderingly abusive and arrogant privilege is a hero. She has shown courage and fortitude that is pretty rare. To tell the Prime Minister to his face to stop touching her took enormous strength when you consider the power dynamics.

I did not believe her bravery should be denigrated by a mainstream media who look to get a victim blaming ratings kick. That was why I said I wouldn’t confirm her identity to any of the media who contacted me.

She thanked me for this but accepted that her name might be made public. This understood,  she was determined to direct that voice and allow it to be her narrative and her story told on her terms.

Out of her genuine concern for the reputation and economic ramifications her possible outing might have on her employers, she met with them Wednesday afternoon and was left in a position she had not agreed to.

She also challenges some of the comments the Prime Minister has made.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

These are her words. She raises hard questions about the NZ Herald.

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John-Key-not-sorry-for-being-a-man-300x224

 

Thank you for all of the support that has been shown by the people who have taken the time to read the full account of what took place in the past few months. This is a truly humbling experience that no doubt I will never forget.

When I made the decision to publish my experience my feeling was that what transpired was not ok, and the public had a right to be aware of how poorly their Prime Minister had behaved. They could make up their own minds after that and there would be no follow-up. I have said everything there was to say and no further comments would be necessary. I had absolutely no intention of entering into discussions with any other media.

I contemplated the lasting effects this was bound to have on my near and not-so-near future, surely not worth it, but I made the moral decision to put myself second and tell the truth. There is no shame in telling the truth, and it’s a lot easier to keep track of than a lie. A lie would be claiming that I accepted an apology or spoke the words “that’s all fine, no drama.” Neither of these two things have happened and so it had to be said; even my mother knew instantly that I simply don’t talk like that.

So why am I commenting further? Earlier today, in good faith, I agreed to meet with my employers to address a side of this I hadn’t previously considered in too much detail, besides the obvious nuisance of reporters – the speculation that they failed to take appropriate action to protect me in my place of work. They asked me to meet with them at their home and join a conversation, via speaker-phone, with a concerned friend of theirs who worked in Public Relations. Their friend, Rachel, was concerned with how seriously this would effect their business, and wanted a better understanding of the situation, so that, together, we could proof and agree upon a statement to be released to the media by my employers themselves. A statement clarifying that I took issue with John’s behaviour, and that only, and not with them as my employers; that I had no intention of claiming any negligence on their part. We agreed that it would also be good to have a photo together to show that we had a good relationship and harboured no ill feelings, and for this sole purpose only.

Out of respect for my employers, and what seemed like their genuine concern for my well-being along with the future of their business (a business doing good things which I fully support), they introduced me to Rachel, by name as the employee behind the story, and Rachel said she would put together a statement for us to proof. We then waited for the e-mail she had promised so that we could look over what she had penned and discuss it further. Eventually a final statement would be agreed upon and my employers would personally forward that to any media. We waited. And waited. And waited. Questions were asked of me by Rachel, under the guise of a Public Relations expert working confidentially for my employer, and all responses given were with the effect of trying to separate clearly that the issue was a personal issue (personal, not political) with the way I had been treated by John, and not at all an issue with my employers, or their management of the situation, which they had not even been made aware of prior to Wednesday. ALL ANSWERS WERE GIVEN TO THE EFFECT OF TRYING TO HIGHLIGHT THIS DIFFERENCE.

As we waited for Rachel to e-mail the draft proof one of my employers read aloud to the other Rachel’s e-mail address. It began… RACHEL.GLUCINA and alarm bells went off. Sounded familiar, and I felt sick to my stomach – more than you’d ever imagine, a feeling I simply could not ignore. I gave in to my instinct and googled the name on my phone and one of the leading headlines that came up read “Who is Rachel Glucina and why is John Key always phoning her up?”. I questioned my employers over her name and they admitted that, yes, she works for the New Zealand Herald, but she was doing this as a favour for them for their personal use and not in her capacity as a journalist. I asked how well they knew her, if they trusted her, and they claimed they were confident in their judgement of her character, yet everything about this felt so so wrong. Rachel contacted them again and we expressed that I felt extremely uncomfortable with the discussions that had taken place as any comments I had made were made in confidence and good faith under the understanding that I was discussing an employment issue with a public relations specialist and had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever that the person my employers had requested I speak with, who was so determinedly trying to put the word “political” in my mouth, was a “feared” and “loathed” journalist from the New Zealand Herald.

Rachel’s story changed. RAPIDLY. Now she couldn’t possibly supply us with a proof because she would lose her job. She was absolutely acting in her capacity as a journalist for the New Zealand Herald and claimed that my employers had known all along, which they denied. I made it absolutely clear that all and any comments I had made were given under false pretences, not to mention completely out of context, and questioned whether her supposed story would still be published if I withheld my permission. Rachel simply responded that she would come back to us and read to us what was to be published, although she had no control over editors and sub-editors, and that she had to get in touch with the Prime Ministers office, and then they quickly ended the conversation. I later contacted my employers reiterating that I revoked any permission to use my photo or comments for any press release, and my disappointment that I had been mislead to such a gross degree whilst having my identity knowingly confirmed with the New Zealand Herald at the same time.

This must have been the “fun and games” that John was referring to; and as for the credibility of the New Zealand Herald if this is how they obtain their ‘exclusive interviews’ – no comment.

 

***************

After the young woman contacted me aggrieved about the way she had been treated, I called the NZ Herald at 11.08pm and spoke to their editor Shayne Currie. I told Shane that there was a dispute by the woman and that she had been told Rachel was a PR advisor who was helping protect the reputation of her employers and that she withdrew her permission for the photos to be used or her comments.

If you are reading this and the NZ Herald has printed their exclusive interview, they did so knowing that the woman in question had removed her consent after feeling deceived.  

299 COMMENTS

  1. Shite! All of a sudden this has got a whole lot more serious. Where this goes from here will be interesting. So the #DirtyPolitics dogs have been let out yet again in the political interests of the Prime Minister. This poor girl has walked into the dirty tricks gauntlet, as if months of harassment weren’t enough. Hold your course and keep with the truth my dear, we’re in for an interesting day.

    • the employers sound very sus to me….they were in cahoots with John key all along?…or at least with his close PR person?…whose interests did they have at heart?

      ….have other waitresses been compromised by employment here?…was this more than continuous hair pulling harassment/bullying ?…was it an attempted entree appetiser to something else?…and why on earth did they not protect their employee?

      • It does appear that her employee’s played a part in this, if it is media attention they wished to pursue that have succeeded, but to who’s expense, their employee or ultimately theirs.

        • Of course they were complicit, they’re absolutely vile people. This young woman needs the protection of employment law and this whole fiasco belongs in the employment court. If a fund raiser is required I’ll be the first to contribute.

          • It’s been done to divert attention away from what Key did. And he will walk away from it all relatively unscathed, as per bloody usual. Regardless of what happens with Glucinagate, let’s make sure the heat stays on Key and his behaviour. Losing sight of that is what Key and his band of lying men are gunning for.

          • I would also contribute to this as well. If one gets set up the daily blog can even help get it to her so its still a completely confidential contribution

          • The cafe, Rosie’s, is owned, along with a number of other businesses, by The Hip Group, and The Hip Group is owned by,,, wait for it… none other than Rachel Glucina’s brother! And I wouldn’t mind betting that said brother is a mate of John Key’s.

    • After the young woman contacted me aggrieved about the way she had been treated, I called the NZ Herald at 11.08pm and spoke to their editor Shayne Currie. I told Shane that there was a dispute by the woman and that she had been told Rachel was a PR advisor who was helping protect the reputation of her employers and that she withdrew her permission for the photos to be used or her comments.

      If you are reading this and the NZ Herald has printed their exclusive interview, they did so knowing that the woman in question had removed her consent after feeling deceived.
      – See more at: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/23/update-the-prime-minister-and-the-waitress-part-2-dirty-politics/#sthash.KyeAWbHD.dpuf

    • I couldn’t believe it – John Key akchewally remembered something.

      He couldn’t blame someone in his office not telling him to pull her hair. He couldn’t blame the Labour Party or the Greens because GCSB couldn’t find any instructions on the Greens Labour sites on how to pull hair. Al-Jabeersie couldn’t be blamed because they don’t even bother with hair. He couldn’t get a sportsperson to say that hair-pulling was a legitimate part of a training regime.

      It couldn’t be blamed on a backroom hair-pull, because it was allegedly done in the main part of the restaurant.

      Look for a smear campaign against the complainant, or a diversion of some monumental-terroristy-war-flag-Royals-spying-1080-white-powder method.

    • I couldn’t believe it – John Key akchewally remembered something.

      He couldn’t blame someone in his office not telling him to pull her hair. He couldn’t blame the Labour Party or the Greens because GCSB couldn’t find any instructions on the Greens Labour sites on how to pull hair. Al-Jabeersie couldn’t be blamed because they don’t even bother with hair. He couldn’t get a sportsperson to say that hair-pulling was a legitimate part of a training regime.

      It couldn’t be blamed on a backroom hair-pull, because it was allegedly done in the main part of the restaurant.

      Look for a smear campaign against the complainant, or a diversion of some monumental-terroristy-war-flag-Royals-poverty-spying-1080-white-powder thingy.

    • Read this comment at the Guardian – CLASSIC

      “The guy is an embarrassment but what do you expect from an ex Merrill Lynch currency trader. We don’t like it but we’ve kind of got used to it and obviously plenty of voters like the way Key behaves, he keeps getting voted back despite being the most divisive PM in living memory – no ideas, policies for the rich and to hell with the rest kind of thing. Think David Cameron then subtract a few IQ points and you get the idea.”

    • I think for a person who is professional embassador for the country should have not pull her pony tail let alone any one else . He should have chosen respect, integrity and professionalism and not this childish behaviour as he is a person that the country voted for and looks up too. I also think the media also should show professionalism

    • …and what a surprise – Paul Henry on Radiolive has been banging on about ‘the pony tail fiasco’ and how it is politically motivated. More victim-blaming by mouthpieces of the right – more Snickerer utter gobshite.

  2. Irrespective if the media chooses to suffocate this episode by not reporting on it …..or if they do…as ‘ some ‘ tried to..

    We can rest assured that now this …..PM …..is the laughing stock not only in this country…but WORLDWIDE.

    It truly will be an indictment on our main media outlets if they choose to suffocate what has transpired as it will only lend credence that this media is politically biased.

    They are now caught in that conundrum.

    That with all the bald faced lies that have been told , with all the GSCB , SIS , NSA skulldugery that has been going on …entailing mass surveillance and spying on Pacific country’s INCLUDING China !!!

    The victimization of Kim Dotcom and others…

    That here we have a case of common assault …that has really shown this ‘ pm ‘ up for what he really is.

    A TRUE , unembellished , without mitigation , public apology to the waitress and ALSO to the public of this country is in order…followed by a prompt dismissal and resignation .

    Nothing less would suffice….as far more trivial …indeed totally trivial things were leveled at David Cunliffe for him to resign.

    And Cunliffe could never have been seen to have done the things this corrupt individual has done while in office.

    • If Helen Clark was a “Forger” for autographing a canvas then surely John Key is a “Groper” in the first instance and now a devious sadistic Liar and hit man as he and his henchmen proceed to demolish the victim and stuff up her future employment prospects, mostly under public gaze.

      Mafia Dons are usually brought down. His time has come.

      TDB may have to keep behind the victim and make her persecution public knowledge

  3. I am blown away by this, it’s 4.35am as I’m reading it and I exclaimed loudly “unbelievable” waking my poor partner up. Rachel Glucina is disgusting, this behaviour is disgusting and exactly how disgusting the Herald is will be known shortly when they update their website.

  4. Incredible. Just goes to show how slimy and insidious the right-leaning Herald journos can be.

  5. The story by Glucina is up on the Herald.
    Of course no mention by Key’s friend Glucina of how the story was extracted.
    I didn’t think I could think lower of the Herald.
    It is now in my mind like the worst parts of FOX News.

  6. Oh God. I JUST WOKE AND WENT ON TWITTER. AND THIS.
    5.26 a.m
    I am LIVID. All wrong. Glucina? Is not even a woman. Currie? News Of the World.

      • at the time I was thinking of how any woman would be able to empathise with this womans dilemmas. Every woman suffers from sexism. Overt or covert harassment. Even Rachel.
        So I was digging at that.

  7. So her employers set her up? They must have known Rachel was a Herald reporter.

    This could get ugly between Ms Bailey and her employers.

    The NZ Herald makes it clear Ms Bailey has “strong political views”.

    • More likely protecting her business,Silverbullet,this café has had a lot of business and free advertising from Key.now her café will have a bad name if she knew it was Glucina .

    • It does appear that her employee’s played a part in this, if it is media attention they wished to pursue that have succeeded, but to who’s expense, their employee or ultimately theirs.

      • If Amanda is dismissed or forced to leave because the situation becomes intolerable, then a boycott of the restaurant may well be a consideration by many.

        Apart from a few deluded supporters of Key, most of NZ are disgusted with the arrogant disregard of the victim’s position and her welfare.

        An international wave of disgust about Key and his assault will ensure a close watch on what happens to Amanda.

      • Unfortunately, I think you’re right. Amanda Bailey needs to speak to a lawyer and find out where she stands with the Herald posting her comments, which were given in confidence, under what Bailey thought were completely different circumstances.

        She did what she thought was right by not putting blame on her employers but they f**ked her over. If they had truly just wanted to cover themselves against an employment dispute being lodged by Bailey they would’ve used a lawyer instead of “PR”.

        Amanda, if you’re reading this, best of luck.

  8. I’m disgusted by John Key, The HIP Group, Rachel Glucina & The NZ Herald. AB, I’m proud of you for speaking up about what John Key did. Hang in there.

  9. And you were right Martyn… 5 am, the story appears under Rachel Glucinas byline… Exactly as predicted, it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the waitress… She is labelled as having “strong political points of view”… apparently by her bosses… So they set her up knowing who they were talking to, and why… To my mind, if this is the sort of filthy, underhanded, nasty behaviour the strange and hateful clowns supporters are willing to stoop to, then what does that say about clown boy himself, and his excuse for a government? I won’t be surprised if the girl is forced out of her job over the next few months as a result of her employers crapping all over her like they have…. This makes me ashamed, and angry that I Have to tell people that I’m a New Zealander…. Give it a week, and the strange and hateful clown will be known as “uncle pervey” here in oz….

    • Yes, I feel really uncomfortable with Amanda working for two faced creepy Key arse kissers. I think she should quit and do them for deceiving her in such a revolting way. Also the line about her having strong political views, they are setting her up for the right wingers to attack her as ‘politically left’, it’s such a pathetic fucken war they love to play. This is typical of FJK’s creepy right wing brigade. Amanda’s employers are very suspicious and are now part of this dirty business. Shame on them.
      Amanda get out of there with your head held high they will cut you down other wise, they lied to you they have no respect for you they are only looking out for themselves. It will end badly for you if you stay in my opinion.

  10. Luckily, people know where to come for the real story.

    Look, whoever this woman is, she is involved in things that are going to crush her. Unless she finds that irresistably exciting, I have some bad news: You know how her employers didn’t act? You know how the people around her thought everything was peachy? Well those people are liars and enemies of this woman right now. No delusion of loyalty, friendship, or anything else can change the truth.

    Whoever you are, get clear of them, now. It will only get worse. You are being systematically betrayed. By this time tomrrow you will be portrayed as anything they want you to be. Must I spell it out? John Key isn’t a man or a god,

    HE’s A BRAND

    You are bringing down a collective mindset, a culture, an era in NZ history. When you say no to John Key you say “not acceptable” to everyone who aspires to his perspective. Do you understand what that means? Speak to Bradbury all you want, control your own words, but for goddsake don’t trust anyone.

    • Lets hope this young lady will be the one to bring John Key down,although I don’t think that was her intention, she could be a very frightened woman now, she has all our support i’m sure.
      Glucina should be ashamed of herself and so should Key.

      • These people aren’t familiar with ‘shame’. They only know ‘privilege’. And so therefore this won’t be the thing that brings Key down. The Right are just saying “boys will be boys, it’s just a bit of fun, get over it” because their privilege fails to allow them perspective. And my reading is that the vast majority of New Zealand really don’t care much. The Right has made sure that ordinary Kiwis are so stressed out making ends meet they haven’t the energy or headspace to worry about “trivia” like this.

        It’s a very sad day for women, for young people and for New Zealand.

    • Hi all, I salute the young waitress for taking a stance again her bully even though he is the PM….this is such an embarrassment NZ.
      I was also a victim of work place bully to the point I was grabbed and pulled around a car-park by a person of some seniority whilst my direct manager stood by and did nothing…and yip I followed the process by informing both HR and Regional Manager yet nothing because of the “old boys culture”. Although he admitted to the assault the government department I work for said they will not investigate…
      So people do not accept bad behaviour.

  11. John Armstrong has written an uncharacteristically hard column on John Key’s behaviour asking why there is nobody that will tell King John when he is acting like a jerk. I think the answer is quite clear: the John Key myth, which the Herald has been instrumental in creating and maintaining, has grown out of control and no-one in National circles has the guts to take control back.

  12. The depth of deception ever increases. Disgraceful that Rachel Glucina didn’t make clear her position at the beginning so an informed decision to speak could be made. Dirty Politics becomes Dirty Journalism.

    • It’s entrapment. Shame on her employers who do not get the benefit of the doubt from me.

      If this employee felt she could trust the cafe owners she would have trusted them to protect her, and that goes for her manager as well who, it seems, knew full well how Slippery John’s unwanted attentions were so distressing for her. Plainly she did not have that faith.

      She has been abused by everyone involved and privy to this ugly behaviour.

  13. Thanks for posting this Martin. I read the Herald today before I came here , puts the piece in a new light.

  14. let’s make sure we go to the café and buy a coffee (but without drawing attention to this issue). That way we show her tangible support and give the bosses the benefit of the doubt. I’d hate for her to lose her job over this. THAT would just suck.

    • I think you need a “special” passport to get into anything in Parnell, they may not issue them to regular contributors here

    • Lets not as it appears that her employee’s played a part in this, if it is media attention they wished to pursue that have succeeded, but to who’s expense, their employee or ultimately theirs. They have hung her out to dry and support is the last thing they deserve.

      • Do it! Buy that coffee and show your tangible support by giving Amanda a $10 tip. She’s going to need some cash to get her through when her bosses inevitably “have to let her go” due to all the media scrutiny.
        Even better, how about helping her find another job right now so she doesn’t have to stay in what must surely be an almost IMPOSSIBLY stressful work environment?

        • I don’t see why she should give her Employers the benefit of the doubt by seeking other employment..Contact a Lawyer and a Medical Practitioner to act on her behalf..Take PAID Stress leave for as long as this ordeal goes on…Who knows…she may even be able to syphon enough out of her Employers if they knowingly knew who this so called (Rachel Glucina) was…Where are you Winston Peters….this lady needs your help…Exposure is what your good at….’

    • Better still, take a glass of complimentary water and tip the waitress the full cost of a cup of coffee.

      The employers have not acted with responsibility towards their employee.

  15. Take them all to court. The prime minister for harassment, your employers for knowing about it and doing nothing, the journalist for tricking you into giving up details under false pretenses, and the Herald for leaving the article up without your permission.

    • What about the cafe owners, they orchestrated it all and for what, a nice picture in the paper, exposure of their cafe through all media, come on, there is more to this than meets the eye.

    • What about her employees for orchestrating this for their own personal gain and for hanging her out to dry?

  16. I am speechless.

    “As we waited for Rachel to e-mail the draft proof one of my employers read aloud to the other Rachel’s e-mail address. It began… RACHEL.GLUCINA and alarm bells went off. Sounded familiar, and I felt sick to my stomach – more than you’d ever imagine, a feeling I simply could not ignore. I gave in to my instinct and googled the name on my phone and one of the leading headlines that came up read “Who is Rachel Glucina and why is John Key always phoning her up?”. I questioned my employers over her name and they admitted that, yes, she works for the New Zealand Herald, but she was doing this as a favour for them for their personal use and not in her capacity as a journalist. I asked how well they knew her, if they trusted her, and they claimed they were confident in their judgement of her character, yet everything about this felt so so wrong.”

    My reaction now is one of fury.

    Black opp’s is at work here, and this is so shocking that even the hardened National supporter can now see who they have voted for s vile and without any humanity & sensitivity for a decent honest and very principled young Lady who has shone through this sordid event that was perpetrated by the Prime Minister of New Zealand at his own pleasure and no body else.

    This is so disgusting I even now want to throw up.

    is there no end to this disgusting Governance?

  17. I feel physically ill knowing this is the way decisions for this country’s future are being made and by these people

    • It would have been a bit obvious to the complainant if the PR person was called Cameron, or Whale. Who would have suspected the name Rachel?

      But again, Key’s Dirty Politics influence shows no bounds. What a despicable betrayal and inventory of lies.

  18. If THIS one gets glossed over and it’s business as usual then I am damned if I know what to think of the general voting public in this country. You know the ones I talk about, the ones who regularly cry foul over Helen Clark absentmindedly autographing a painting someone put in front of her.
    If you haven’t seen it, track down the clip of the PM fondling, yes fondling, the girl in the street’s hair, watch the woman in the background who obviously sees the need to get him to desist and intervenes, subtly, but intervene, no doubt. That is no hair pull, that is fondling, and an absolute abuse of power. It may even be being done as absentmindedly as Clark autographed the painting, but absentmindedly autographing something and absentmindedly fondling a young girl you don’t know hair is quite, quite different and if you can’t see that you need a morality adjustment.
    The clip I mentioned showed on Campbell Live last night so you can go see it on demand it is near the beginning

  19. Can’t believe how much time and effort has gone into this nothing ponytail story. Surely, SURELY there must be better things you people can be doing with your time? Like actual important news stuff instead of trying to turn insignificant acts into make believe conspiracies and or making them out to be important when they’re not.

    Yes Key is a dork. Yes Glucina is a journalist who uses journo techniques to get stories. Big deal.

    Get on with your lives and stop wasting them on this frivolous ‘news’.

    • Ryan, sexual harassment is never “frivolous”. Perhaps it is your attitudes like yours that allows sexual harassment to flourish, instead of having been consigned to history.

    • @ Ryansimpson . ” Yes,Key is a dork . ”
      How old are you ? Has your mum changed your nappies becuase you seem a little grumpy . And stupid . Poopie undies must make a person stupid . Who knew ?

    • This is no longer just a “ponytail story”. Clearly the PM’s PR department has been at work, and set Glucina on the chase to make what was a “ponytail story” into a political attack on the PM so that he becomes the Victim and she the Persecutor. It’s a classic “Rescue triangle” with Glucina/the PM’s office as Rescuers.

    • “Glucina is a journalist who uses journo techniques to get stories. ”

      Behold, this is how low RyanLSimpson would have us believe journalistic ethics have now fallen.

      • Key’s sycophants are out in force. Their worldview has been shaken to it’s foundations and their Dear Leader has been found wanting. Expect more attempts at validation of Key’s bizarre behaviour.

        • Shaken to it’s foundations? By pulling someone’s ponytail? You’re getting desperate Frank, seriously.

    • NO! Please keep thrashing this. Every time TDB attacks Key like this the centre right benefits. Please, please don’t stop.

      • Yes ! Oh God YES ! Right wing trolls ! Keep thrashing this !
        The Guardian has referred to a ‘ Left Wing Blog’ in its expose of a dodgy little fucker who happens to be our prime mincer fiddling with children’s hair and bullying a woman hospitality worker in a similar vein.
        Call me old fashioned if you must but that’s marketing you just can’t buy. Now ? The entire world is reading The Daily Blog.
        The NZ Herald named The Daily Blog as the source for Gods sake.
        You right wing bastards are only good for one thing. Digging your own graves. The reason ? Because your weak and vile and so in a minority. Your days are numbered and they’re not big numbers either.

    • Suspect there is some sort of hidden agenda behind all this non story spiralling around the net. Taken quite some time for the story to make the news, she should or could have gone to her employer after the first time, not wait months for her 15 minutes of fame. The girl may be pleased she has a forgettable name rather than, for example, Monica and the blue dress. I certainly wouldn’t employ her for any work as she’s somewhat slow in sorting out her world as far as I can tell. only thinking………

        • What part of common assault do you not understand , Ascot? …do you endorse it?

          Would you be happy for your mother, sister, grandmother , daughter , fiance or wife to be belittled this way so much they cried tears of frustration and rage at feeling so dis-empowered?

          This is why we have LAWS , Ascot , LAWS …..

          And its to protect those often at a disadvantage from those who hold ALL the advantage.

          You do agree with LAWS, do you not Ascot?….

          You know….those laws that protect your business , …I’ll bet you really love the Employment Contracts Act law, don’t you Ascot….ahhhhh! ….but that’s different thought isn’t it , Ascot.

          This was just a worker….a low wage earner to be humiliated, wasn’t it , Ascot. A plaything of the rich and powerful , eh Ascot.
          Doesn’t matter that we don’t live in feudal society anymore….in your view she’s just another expendable peasant , eh Ascot.

          To be treated like cattle…and disposed of when suits.

          Eh Ascot.

      • So you’d rather employ someone who demonstrates an inability to deal with stress, who displays a lack of diplomacy when dealing with difficult customers, and who stirs the hornets nest at the first opportunity rather than as a last resort?

        Sounds like a pretty stupid set of values if you ask me.

    • An act (and apparently, according to Graeme McCready, a possible charge) of assault from a Prime Minister is NOT insignificant, is NOT nothing, and most certainly is NOT unimportant.

      It will wear on him worse than anything encountered thus far, including the teapot tapes, the GCSB, Dirty Politics et al.

      Amazingly, his career may fall if it happens, and if so, the irony of it all will be that he a) remembered it without blame-shifting, and b) apologised. But this is notwithstanding that he still did this numerous times, and not just a one off.

      Dismissing a potentially damaging story like this is not worthy of just sweeping under a rug and telling us all to “get on with our lives”. Expecting the populace at large to forget this (some deluded folk even think it’ll help his ratings!!) is just a pipe dream, and you’re just one of the minority of people choosing to ride it.

      • MJ says that Key “remembered it without blame-shifting, and b) apologised”

        That is partially true. Key’s tone was dismissive, as if to say that the whole incident was minor. He continues to say that his apology was accepted and she said “no drama”. The waitress denies that she either accepted the apology or said the things Key claims she said. Key’s lie adds insult to the original injury.

        If Key was truly remorseful, he would own up to being a trichophile, in a similar manner to alcoholics admit their alcoholism, and child molesters admit to being pedophiles. He would show that he understood what the interaction was from all of his victims’ point of view, and not the “fun and games” from his point of view. He would tell us that he realises that he needs psychological help, and that his behaviour is inconsistent with his position of Prime Minister, and the standards of behaviour that he has demanded of other MPs in his team.

      • @ MJ –

        Graham McCready is laying a sexual harassment/assault complaint with the police. The outcome of this will be interesting, considering the recent history NZ Police have re assault cases against women eg Louise Nichols, Roast Busters and the tragic Livingstone incident!

        Apart from everything else, this issue could see Key’s much anticipated knighthood disappear, while being investigated! So no doubt the police will be “instructed” to take this point on board when considering McCready’s complaint and any other complaint resulting from Key’s behaviour!

        And if a legal action against Key does evolve, it can’t be covered up like the “prominent NZer” case has been, because NZ knows about it!

        Seems the Natsy Party is a cosy little nest for the debauched and depraved!

  20. Shocking!

    Especially “Rachel” and her employers asking her to come to their house so they can reveal her identity via the herald.

    At only 26 and working as a waitress there is a clear power imbalance.

  21. ”A bit of fun”, hardly, imagine the outcome, i was tempted to say here go and try the behavior of the Prime Minister in your favorite watering hole but even suggesting anyone emulate such abhorrent behavior is gross to say the least,

    Imagine the outcome tho if any of us mere mortals did, i tried last night, imagining the effect of repeatedly pulling on the hair of various female aquaintances both close and not so close,

    What my imagination delivered up was a vision of myself with a severely bent nasal protuberance, or, the plods bashing down the door with the serious intent of dragging me off to the cells,

    That’s really my point here, Slippery the Prime Ministers actions in that cafe, no matter what He thought, no matter what were His intentions, simply comes down to a series of assaults on a female over a series of months,

    My advice to the young woman having been so assaulted and now subjected to what appears to be a series of lies and denigrations put forth from the Prime Minister, Her employer?, and, the NZHerald engaging in what can only be described as gutter journalism of the worst kind, would be to seriously consider going to the Police and laying charges of assault….

    • That is it. John Key and his wife and his police squad stalked and repeatedly assaulted a young woman.

      • @ CNRJOE .
        That’s exactly the way to describe what’s happened . Clear, concise and accurate.
        The woman in question went to work and got harassed ( Repeatedly ) by a man who could care less about her level of discomfort caused by his actions.
        The KEY point here is that he didn’t care.
        It’s the responsibility of our advanced society to ensure that, that doesn’t happen. Ever.
        If this situation is allowed to evolve into a slanging match where-by prime minister john key is allowed to walk away unscathed then WE are responsible for that should that happen.
        john key is sick with power. His mind has become so distanced by his money, his associates, and his position that he’s been lured by his, one could argue, madness into behaving grossly and inappropriately in pubic, in front of his wife, in front of members of the public and in front of his staff .
        The bottom line is this in my view. We must ensure he is removed from public office because God only knows what he’s doing to our over-all reputation as a country and its citizenry .
        And he won’t be the only one .

        The deeply concerning thing for me is that if we say Go and he says No .
        What then ? If we become ever more insistent, what sleeping giant are we going to wake ?
        I sometimes wonder if we’re not being goaded into a confrontation to give the Giant an excuse to react accordingly .
        Key knew what he was doing !
        He knew there’d be repercussions . What the fuck is he up to ? Something’s not quite right here .
        Should I stop drinking Absinthe at 6.00 am ?

  22. If I was the waitress I would complain to the press council (not sure if that’s the right body), resign and put in a claim for constructive dismissal…at the very least she should get some legal advice…

    • Allow me to give you the tip: The Press Council is a joke. Same as the police policing themselves under the thinly veiled ‘Independent’ Police Complaints Authority.

      A complaint about an opinion piece that was grossly inaccurate and plain dishonest resulted in their response that opinion pieces don’t need to be factual or fair.

      Glucina is a muck-raking gossip columnist without a shred of conscience or any sign of ethics. Right up the Press Council’s alley.

  23. I think she has a personal grievance now. They have made it very uncomfortable for her to stay in her job.

    • Agreed Lisa, especially given the involvement of the “Dirty Politics” and its new rabid right smear brigade – Rachel.

      At least Rachel is better looking than Whaleoil (only just). I can see it now – the next “Fight for Life” match-up –

      The Waitress and the Bulldog with lipstick.

      Bring it on – and Dirty Politics Rachel will take a dive after 53 seconds – Dirty Politics all forgotten. PM’s squeakey clean image restored. Problem sorted.

  24. This issue has just gone from bad to worse, in the fact it has taken a whole political twist, which I think was the intention! The involvement of Rachel Glucina is enough evidence of this!

    This is so bad.

    I hope the young woman involved takes legal action against NZH for publishing today’s report against her permission!

    Obviously she has now become a victim of deception!

    • Think this young lady needs a legal fund setup to accept donations so she can protect herself and seek some formal redress for all this stress created beyond her control.

  25. Yes Bed12. – I am levitating to the same conclusion also.

    This young decent principled lady has just highlighted the deep seated arrogance of our present PM and leader that is actually becoming the norm with many others in his administration also.

    If The decency & respect & restraint the young lady showed to PM key in front of his wife over six months comes to the fore is brought to light we will see a change of heart toward giving appropriate respect to all complaints of a sexual nature and/or bullying.

    MSM has so far not given this, and only given yet more fuel to the fire again as usual.

    John Key should resign as PM forthwith and leave his office.

    Remember he pledged in his first term that when things got negative he would resign? Go now John and do the right respectful thing for us all and give another more person with honesty and integrity take the PM’s job please for NZ’s sake.

  26. If this account of proceedings is true, it is somewhat impotent of mainstream journalists or the privileged (in law) profession supporting or harbouring them to erect like barricades against advancing heathens, hurdles such as the higher standards of integrity they adhere to.

  27. On Paul Henry (yuk) I only watched it because I was told Pam Corkery was on a discussion about the pony tail assault.
    Pam said it will be a death knell for John Key ,it was an assault and against the law and he should answer for it to police,or words to that effect. That’s a laugh really as John Key owns the police.
    The public need to keep up the pressure on this,this girl was harassed over a long period,Key said it was just horseing around in café , well he took it too far, and his friend on speed dial Glucina has made it a lot worse.

  28. Ha! I just tried to email Rachel Glucinaon the link below the article and I got the message “Rachel Glucina is currently not accepting emails”.

    I was going to be relatively polite but I dont’ imagine everyone has been.

    • Also noticed the Herald has a new article entitled; “Why does women’s hair fall out?”

      I’m too scared to look but I’m hoping it’s just something from their regular beauty column.

      While it’s kind of fun to mock the Herald for their foolishness I am also hoping that they are forced to apologise over this issue and I especially hope that the owners of the cafe are totally innocent in all this. They might need to make it 100% clear otherwise some of their customers might start to think about going somewhere else.

  29. Not on at all! vile and contemptuous behavior – predatory too.
    Many many are behind you who want to stand with you.
    Stand strong!!

  30. So unbelievable – and so utterly believable. That is sickening -they stitched her up and no doubt she’s expected to trot along to work tomorrow and act as if she’s been dealt with fairly. I’ve experienced something similar while living in Auckland – completely different scenario, but the “call in the network” and deceive the person as to our intentions, was exactly the same. The look on the guy’s face in the photos says a lot. No eye contact, smiling to himself, he knows they’ve laid a trap for her and he’s quite happy to watch her tumbling in. Two morally rotten business owners, a morally rotten gossip columnist – and a morally rotten Herald editorship. They probably squat in the same box at the tennis.
    Keep your head held high, Amanda. Keep being honest – that is your defence. Don’t try to play politics, speak the truth, as you have been doing, it will expose the rot because the people you’re dealing with are “players” – no ethics to speak of between them.

  31. This whole thing stinks of another media lead dismissal of the appalling behaviour of our brave leader (sic). Huge respect to this young lady. I’m sure that there would be plenty of employers that would employ her in a heart beat if she was to leave her current job. Her employers sound like deceitful scum anyway, only in this for themselves.

  32. I suggest Campbell Live provide the young woman a platform to repeat this narrative to its viewers, as there is no daily print alternative in the upper North Island to the NZ Herald’s disgraceful agenda .

    I kind of like the poetic justice of the idea in light of the attempts made to shut down Campbell.

  33. Rachel Glucina has taken Cameron’s place as the PMs special friend in the media who helps put positive spin on any muck that gets raked up. Cameron is getting his revenge, ooh when the rabid dog turns on his owners – it’s all on!
    (See Whale oil story on pony tail incident – it won’t let me paste in here)
    He’s basically saying while the ponytail thing is weird, the media should be going after the far more sinister illegal things out PM has been up to. He says when they come out it will end his career.

  34. Rachel Glucina is not taking any emails over this. I have made a complaint to the Herald. For all the good it will do. At least I got to vent tried repeatedly to congratulate you yesterday Bomber. A King hit indeed. Loving the international pillorying of our dick head PM. Now where is that odious turd Gosman?

  35. Sue your employer, Amanda – big time!

    And two pieces of advice for Bronagh:

    Either give John the flick or grow a pony-tail and he can tug away all night long….

  36. Glucina wasn’t acting as a reporter for the Herald as she was there in some other capacity. Like when John pulled the hair he wasn’t there as the Prime Minister or a husband or a father. He was there as an arsehole.

  37. so an event that happened months ago breaks as a scandal a few days before submissions close on the TPPA…. that’s the real dirty politics here, creating and holding on to side-line dramas for future political use, toying with the life of an individual citizen for the purposes of wholesale betrayal of the lives of the rest of us.

  38. these behaviors never happen as a one off, this will be a pattern of behavior, i hope this encourages more young women to come forward.
    key is a very dangerous man, he will do anything to stay in power, in this case cold facts are the best defense. so you are doing this right.
    Is there a way we can donate money if this goes to court?

  39. I am not at all surprised at the character traits exposed by this behaviour however am very surprised that Teflon John was so stupid.
    The only possible explanation is that Key’s hubris is getting the better of him.
    Keep it up John!

  40. This man, John, is not to be trusted. He invaded her personal space everytime. He was utterly unprofessional and exhibits an enormous sense of self entitlement and at the same time, partriarchal priviledge. He had NO RIGHT to touch her in any way at all. Many women in this industry put up with male advances and suggestions that sexually objectify, dominate, and demean human beings due to male power and priviledge. He had NO RIGHT to touch her.

  41. Holy hell! This just jumped up a level. I’ve always thought Rachel Glycemia was a piece of work but this just pushes out the boat even further! The Herald has sunk to the levels of The Sun.
    And what were the café owners thinking if at all. What utterly horrible and despicable people. Seriously!

    • Completely agree, it appears that the owners orchestrated this for their own gain at the expense of their employee. I believe it is an employment act case laid solely on Rosie Cafe.

  42. My first port of call for stories like these nowadays is the index of “Dirty Politics”, and sure enough “Glucina, Rachel” has a row of entries showing she is a conduit between the PM’s office and the media. The waitress was set up, perhaps by Glucina/PMO alone, or with her employers’ connivance. They have some questions to answer.

    The clear purpose of this is to turn her very legitimate personal grievance into HER (rather than our subsequent, also legitimate) political attack on FJK (Fetish John Key), and thereby defuse it.

  43. Poor Little girl bullied by PM John Key.
    who comes with his own BRAND KEY,
    DRUG of choice in Hand as a apology.
    Nicky Hagars Dirty Politics book bibliography of the elequont “Ratphucked” comes to mind toward the
    PM while he was pulling the Pony’s Tail
    his owns Rats Tail was being primed

  44. The waitress should be very wary if her employers suggest their friend comes in to protect her by setting up her phone lines properly.

    A chap called Ian Fletcher.

  45. So, serious question, is it illegal for a reporter in NZ to obtain a statement with someone’s name and a photograph of that person under false pretences? Without clearly stating they’re a reporter?

    If it is illegal then this young woman has grounds to take Rachel Glucina and The Herald to court. She needs to lawyer up. She may need money for this. A small campaign for her legal fees may be in order.

    Because now her name and face are very public her safety is under threat. When women speak up about harassment and they’re public about it, the backlash can be dangerous.

    If it’s not illegal to obtain a story as Rachel Glucina did, by a reporter misrepresenting themselves, then this young lady may have no legal redress. Her safety though is still just as much in danger.

    • She doesn’t need to worry about Glucina – just take Key to court. In the process Glucina and the Herald will get all the shame they deserve.

      • …. AND, at the same time, if her Rosie cafe employers deceived her, they will automatically get their comeuppance too. There are plenty of people out here happy to contribute to a legal fund. Give Campbell a ring!!

      • Proving a sexual harassment, or even just a harassment, case against the PM of NZ… pretty darn difficult I’d say.

        I’m wondering if the law would be clear on how a reporter obtains statements for their stories. If that law is clear and Glucina broke it I would expect then that would be easier to prove in court.

  46. The footage of the PM saying that she said, “No drama”, when she explicitly states that she did not say that, is a pretty stunning piece of spin doctoring.
    He just lies with such ease.

  47. This young lady is far from being naïve, she did approach Martyn to release her story, she could have gone to the MSM, so there is unquestionably a political angle to her complaint.
    Secondly it is disingenuous for her to claim deception over Rachel’s interview, she had already gone public with Martyn and must now let the story run it’s course.
    The one question not being asked is has this young lady accepted any gratuities or payments for her story.

      • Kev’s observation is going to be a major right wing fightback talking point. As vacuous and irrelevant as it is to the actions of Dishonest John.

        Expect it to be presented ad nauseum.

        • If it IS, expect a court case to prove the girl honest, and even MORE embarrassment for Key (and the Herald)

      • Yes Frank – Kev seems to imply that the waitress deliberately grew her hair long to entrap the PM into pulling her ponytail – what a despicable act!

    • This is a highly politically motivated individual who has contacted a left wing blog rather than the MSM. She is playing the victim, and I’m picking this will backfire badly, just like the ‘moment of truth’.

    • So let’s get this sorted, Kev. Your beloved leader admits to harassing this woman and technically assaulting her, on numerous occasssions, and SHE’S the one at fault???

      Well bugger me. We might as well let all the rapists out of prison now. It obviously wasn’t there fault where their dicks ended up.

      I wonder what you tell your daughter or other female family members, huh?

    • Your observations as to the ladies motivations etcetera are irrelevant! In addition the attempt to besmirch her character is also irrelevant!
      The issue is the disrespectful behaviour of a mature male who as the leader of the country is to be expected to lead by example.

    • I’m seriously embarrassed to be a NZer today.

      Our PM is behaving like a 5 year old school yard bully boy. Not at all fitting for the PM of a country.

  48. Actually I think Amanda always had the power over JK. She told JK to stop once she had had enough of the behavior, she got an apology from JK that would be more of an apology than 99% of media commentators, bloggers and politicos would bother to give (2 bottles of wine hand delivered I believe?) and she accepted the apology. What an undignified mess from all sides.

    • She never accepted an apology ,Key only apologised when the business came to light ,he had his grubby paws on her for quite some time. Your type will always blame the victim,not the disgusting behaviour of Key,the girl took the bottles to prove his guilt ,he wouldn’t have offered them if he was innocent.

    • Paul if you think a woman in a low-paying job has the upper hand in such a situation, you’ve clearly been drinking from the Kiwiblog Kool-Aid. Go over there and have a look. They are all banging on about how she shouldn’t have taken on the media/JK and she now deserves to be crushed by the ensuing torrent of hate and media violence. But there’s no imbalance of power here, no way…nothing to see here, as usual.

    • Paul, I actually agree. She never said anything for so many instances.. it was only when JK’s wife brought it up that he apologised. If she truly felt harassed, she should’ve addressed it much sooner, and with her employers. Why wait until now… surely if it was as bad as it’s being made out then someone else would have seen it and brought it up before now (to media attention), all over facebook… public people can’t even walk around with their flys down without that crap being all over the web. I’m not dismissing that what was done wasn’t wrong, but there were so many ways this could have been handled… even the statement above, would love to see her employment contract in regards to confidentiality… As much as it shouldn’t have happened in the first place I can only see media attention and money as the motive… will no doubt be front page of the magazines next… find some real news to publish…

      • Not so.

        She communicated clearly with body language it was unwelcome. He continued.

        She said to him “No! No! No” and he did it again once more.

        She’d eventually had enough, and after an insincere apology decided to make the whole thing public, because it DOES tell us what type of man John Key is.

        He doesn’t respect the clear “No” from a woman when he touches her. It’s illegal, it’s classified as assault, and he did it with his security detail in tow. He’s exerting power, dominance and control over a young woman who has less power. The power differential between the PM and a young waitress couldn’t be clearer.

        And if you don’t accept her version of telling him “No” before the final hair pulling incident, then you have to still accept her body language would have been clear.

        If John Key is so clueless as to the body language of people he interacts with he is completely unfit for the diplomatic work required for the PM of our country.

        Or…. John Key was entirely aware his hair pulling and “horsing around” was unwelcome, and chose to continue anyway. Which tells us he’s a muppet. Also not fit to run the country.

        Either or.

        It’s not for us to speculate on her motivation for making it public, that leaves us shooting the messenger and ignoring the message.

        And please don’t revert to the “woman endures assault, goes public, must be because of money” meme. It’s insulting to all women assaulted.

        • The young lady asked for her name not to be mentioned, so she obviously wasnt out to make money.She was not just dealing with an ordinary customer,she was dealing with leader of the country. Her employers entrapped her into meeting with Glucina ,they knew she was a Key attack dog,they hoped to keep Key and his entourage as customers,they tricked her,they lied to her saying Glucina was a pr person ,. This girl has been treated in a disgusting way.Lets hope the scum in the background don’t go searching her background to see if they cant find something to say she was teaser or similar, its how Keys people work.He should resign NOW

  49. If the employers are honest in their claim that they knew nothing of the ongoing harassment to one of their staff by Key, their immediate response should be stating publicly that they value and respect their staff and their moral (and legal) right not to be harassed in the workplace, and that they will take steps to ensure staff are protected from such behaviour. They would then clearly and publicly state that the harasser is barred from the premises, and perhaps seek a trespass order. If the ongoing harassment had been undertaken by any other patron, I expect this would be the approach they would take, so look forward to it being so in this instance.

    To the waitress- stay strong. Your stand has not only called out the PM for his behaviour, but has highlighted the awful behaviour many workers in hospitality are subjected to, and the need for it to be stopped.

  50. Doe this person who person who does Prime Minister Impernations think that he is above and beyond the law and can act as bully I think its time that ‘Planet Key’ and its sole occupant got a stron does o reality

  51. Why all of a sudden are we subject to this capcha nonsense, whats it for ,anyone can comment on this site, how is it anti spam .?

    • Its function is to stop the site being overrun by bots. We prove we are human by understanding the question, not by our arithmetic skills (at which computers knock us for dead). But yesterday I tried and failed four times to send a message because the time ran out or my answer was “wrong” when it was not.

    • Hi ELLE.

      I think Martyn was trying to limit crap bloggers who mass spay blog sites so first we got antispam @capcha and now only the one antispam site.
      These strings are full of new blogs that Bomber is managing well.

      He is the best and it will settle down later.

  52. This was entrapment on behalf of Glucina and the girls employers,how dispicable to invite her to a place where she is conned into believing she is going to be helped.Glucina was obviously helping Key to down play the story whilst the employer was keen to keep onside with Key and benefit from his business, Keys prints are all over this.
    The girl should contact Pam Corkery she will get genuine help there.

  53. After 6 months why did she not say at the start when it first happened, or talked to her employees about it at the start to tell the PM. This lady has left it so fricken long just to make headlines.
    You have set a precedence for other employees to do the same thing if your getting sexually harassed just wait abit longer don’t deal with the issue straight away…
    NZ Herald hope you guys get in serious trouble for entrapment. That was such a low thing to do to someone.!!!

    • Read her original account again. Her supervisor knew. Her supervisor saw it happen. Her supervisor did nothing.

      It’s up to the supervisor not the young woman to deal with it and approach the owners. For the young woman to go over the head of her supervisor is a risky move for her.

  54. It’s like the only reason the govt and Key don’t get held to account is because their actions are always overshadowed by their next dirty deeds before you can address the previous one it’s quite effective eg gcsb spying wto > campbell live > waitress there’s not enough time.

    • True, the actions are unquestionably common assault and indeed male assaults female. (Perp being a male and the victim a female).

      Could be multiple assault charges in this case because there were multiple assaults over a period of months.

      Also the statutory definition of assault includes any threatened assault, ie the perp making ‘da dum da dum” jaws sound effects while reaching out to threaten to tug female victim’s hair is also an assault.

    • If the charge was brought at least Amanda would get an “out of court” consideration to withdraw her allegations.

      There is no way the deep state would let it proceed as a public spectacle.

  55. Well done Amanda and Bomber!

    Amanda deserves so much credit for standing up for herself and for the integrity of all women. John Key should know that not every girl out there isn’t going to stand up to him. He must be so used to having his way with escorts and prostitutes etc. from his days at Lehmann Bro’s or whatever firm he was at, and is so busy selling off anything he can get his hands on, he forgot that no woman is second to any man (or maybe he’s always thought men are inferior to woman?). Sad that a leader of a country thinks like that……

    Bomber, great work protecting Amanda’s integrity. Not nice seeing the spin machine trying to overwhelm and exploit an innocent and helpless person but you’ve done yourself really proud my man, standing beside her and protecting Amanda’s integrity! Great to know there are truly great people like you two I can call my fellow Kiwi’s 🙂

  56. I am so sorry you have been put through this. Obviously your intent wasn’t political, it was personal and you stated that. I think you have a future in politics should you wish to as you are clear minded, write well and are intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprised that somehow you might be edged out of that job. You’re bosses need to take responsibility for their part and publicly. Thank you for standing up for the truth and good luck for the future.

    • In the article mention it says an expert says Key will get away with it ,well we all know what expert is, X is an unknown quantity and spurt is a drip under pressure.

  57. If he wants a “bit of fun” then Bronagh should buy him a “my little pony” from K mart or wherever. Then he can stroke and groom that pony’s tail until…

  58. Rachael might want to revise the New Zealand Journalist code of ethics particularly sections d and h.

    c) In all circumstances they shall respect all confidences received in the course of their occupation.

    (d) They shall not allow personal interests to influence them in their professional duties.

    g) They shall use fair and honest means to obtain news, pictures, films, tapes and documents.

    h) They shall identify themselves and their employers before obtaining any interview for publication or broadcast.

    (j) They shall do their utmost to correct any published or broadcast information found to be harmfully inaccurate.

    • Complaint sent:

      From: Frank Macskasy
      Date: Fri, Apr 24, 2015
      To: newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz

      Kia ora,

      I wish to lodge a complaint at the actions of one of your staffers, Rachel Glucina, who has allegedly misrepresented herself to gain an unauthorised interviewed with cafe waitress,
      Amanda Bailey.

      Specifically, I refer to this part of the NZ Journalist Code of Ethics which I suggest has been contravened by Ms Glucina;

      “…(h) They shall identify themselves and their employers before obtaining any interview for publication or broadcast…”

      This is a shocking allegation, and I call upon the Herald’s management to conduct a full investigation of this matter.

      Please advise what process you plan to undertake to investigation my complaint and what remedies you will apply to this situation.

      Regards,
      -Frank Macskasy

  59. Interesting that the Herald and Stuff rarely offer the ability to comment on journalists articles. Interesting that the Herald and Stuff grow more like the controlled main stream media every day with covering only what they choose and not giving us the complete story. Most of their journalists are biased and most everyone I know does not even check either of them out anymore. There are so many other internet outlets that offer much better journalism.

    This victim waitress of John Keys denied abuse should press forward to make John Key accountable for his ongoing lies. There are so many impeachable offenses from this to his lying and on and on and we need to let go of our jelly spine here in NZ and not allow this type of insanity to prevail. We are the laughing stock to so many because of this PM. The Herald and Stuff can put their heads in the sand all they want. The truth will prevail.

  60. I have dealt with Glucina for years and saying she is an independent PR contractor is her standard MO. She has at least two private emails she uses to look like she isn’t working for the Herald.
    Currie knows the BS she spins and the fudging she does. That’s why he’s said irrespective of the initial approach….

    • If it’s okay for the PM to appear in multiple roles why not Glucina?

      Sometimes she’s a Herald columnist, sometimes a PR consultant, sometimes just a simple girl interested in the affairs of people, sometimes delves into people having affairs, sometimes a gossip, sometimes a dirt digger, sometimes a political trojan horse, sometimes a political muck-raker and sometimes a sleaze writer. And according to a source close to the scene, generally a hag. (Couldn’t resist a Glucina style last sentence.)

      • Well….all very good….but not at the cost of perversion of justice…if indeed this is all about political damage control rather than what it really is about :

        Common assault ..man against woman.

        Doesn’t seem quite so playful now, does it….

        And if its good enough for other men to be charged and convicted of this…..then……..

  61. PM John Key
    you have been found wanting of moral fiber & unfit to hold office of PM
    you have admitted your crimes against young girls
    by your Apology & bribes of your Drug of choice.
    please Sir Gerry Mateparae
    Remove PM Key with your powers as Governor General before
    he speaks at Anzac Ceremony at Gallipolli & embarrasses the nation further.

    • Probably the same way you voted for yours. By default. All PM are put in power by banking cartels. Please go away and do your research and google bankers deaths in last 24 months, its quite a stash.

  62. An abuse of power by a leader not seen since Bill Clinton and Berlusconi to name a few. I hope the poor wee thing recovers from her terrible ordeal soon. Which hospital did the waambulance take her to?

    • Amy (or is it Judith?), you obviously have had an empathyectomy.

      Where is it? In a pickle jar at the end of your coffin? Underneath your newts and toads collection? In a jar with your wings pulled off blowflies?

      Get a life and realise that what John Key did was WRONG, no matter how much you RW Trolls and Trollettes spin, divert attention and blame the victim.

      If ever your heartless carcass needs a waambulance, let’s hope it gets lost in transit.

    • I can’t believe you dare compare this to Clinton. I lived in the States when that happened (a true scandal, unlike this storm in a teacup) and it was deadly serious. This absolutely pales by comparison. Why do so many of you wish to immitate the UK and US with your own scandals? When seriously, this is so minor in the greater scheme of things.

  63. Martyn, by 11:08pm the paper has already been printed. I think it’s her employer, who clearly doesn’t want to lose their famous customer, is the one who stuffed up here. But typically of any controversy arond Teflon Key, any damage to him’s been diverted.

    • Martyn, if you are willing to accept my musings then please be kind enough to print what I wrote, not something completely different. What is your game here?

    • I don’t think the damage to John key has been diverted at all, the powers that be are trying, and they are failing.

  64. Devils advocate here, if we’re comparing to Dirty Politics then surely the means in which information is obtained is irrelevant if the information is in the public interest?

  65. Firstly this girl needs 24 hour security. Now.

    Secondly, can you honestly believe sheeple that ultra careful JK has not planned this? Lets think back to a year ago there was some muttering about him wanting to resign? That was immediately hushed-up. There is more to this story then you and I will ever know. JK is told what to do, period. He has just thought of a clever way out of being PM- which he obviously cannot exit willingly. As he is an ex banker I think he should go out the same way 78 recent bankers have gone, under mysterious circumstances. Wake up sheeple please google.

    Thirdly, yes this is sexual harassment, go for out of court settlement Amanda, get as much as you can. From govt office AND those snivelling café owners. Im secretly hoping this ruins them. Payback is a b***h.

    • If the TPP goes through with Keys involvement,he will be out of in a flash ,he wouldn’t be able to stand the heat.He might offer to resign first implying how sorry he was for his behaviour to Amanda.Hes a conniving creep with the backing of corporations and banks.

  66. What a witch that Rachel Glucina is. John Key what a creep. Always had been proud to have him as PM. My thoughts of him have suddenly changed. Idiot & embarrass NZ to the rest of the world with hair pulling juvenile behaviour. Employers set her up, horrible people they are. Poor girl.

  67. This is abhorrent! Rachael Glucina a journalist? She is a gossip writer who has done a terrible job of gaining gossip, she should be fired and so should her editor for publishing the story when it was gathered under a lie. This is trash journalism! The way the story read in the NZ Herald this morning, how it was spun that the woman in question had political motivations screamed of spin doctoring. Low and behold I read from the girls words just now that she was deceived by her employers who must have been contacted by John Key’s office to speak to Rachael Glucina (who was doing her friend and source, John Key a favour). Those employers do not know Rachael Glucina, they know John Key. What they have done is a PR disaster for themselves and PM John “I like to horse around and pull women’s ponytails” Key. WTF!

  68. Amanda – you have been used and dragged down by the media who only have their own agenda. They don’t have your interest at heart, not one jot.

    From one woman to another, run for the hills and don’t let them use you any further. Speak to your employer, come to some agreement, take a refreshing break somewhere far from here and get your life back.

    This is honestly not worth it. If you allow this to carry on, it will only get more unpleasant and complicated for you while others pursue their own agendas at your expense. You have a future, grab it with everything you’ve got.

    • If she hadn’t blogged in the first place… dealing with it in-house with her employer as most sensible people would… she wouldn’t be subjected to all this unwanted publicity now. I have no sympathy for Amanda as she opened a can of worms and has brought it all on herself.

      • “Isabella” – and women who wear mini-skirts and lipstick are “asking for it”, right?

        Really, you National supporters need to do a reality-check on your moral compass.

      • And John Key is innocent I suppose ,Issabella,go and join Glucina you and she are out of the same rat hole.

      • From my darkened crypt in Parnell East,
        To the top Beehive rooms where the Vampires feast,
        The ghouls all came from their ostentatious abodes,
        To pull workers hair and watch the drama unfold….

        They did the mash , they did the monster mash
        The monster mash , it was a graveyard smash,
        They did the mash , they pulled hair in a flash,
        They did the mash , they did the monster mash.

  69. A horsing round joker named John Key
    Tended to tell tall tales quite shonky
    But pony tail pulling
    Of the unwilling
    Caused a kickback that went wildly wonky

    • Cozy little crew all looking after their own best interests.
      More dirty politics inside and outside govt.

      Does anyone know about or can help this woman with finding a solicitor
      ( who may work pro – bono ) who can assist her in getting some form of justice over this case ? Sounds like she needs some legal support on many levels.

  70. FILE A HARASSMENT CHARGE ASAP AND FIND A GOOD SOLICITOR THAT IS NOT IN BED WITH ANY OF THESE CROOKS. SHAME ON THE HERALD AND THEIR SLEEZY JOURNALIST. BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER.

  71. Her ’employers’ have completely and utterly failed this woman, and hung her out to dry. There are so many untold stories out there about this couple that would make your skin crawl. My advice would be to boycott all their cafés,. Surely a page to raise legal funds should be created? Very unfair indeed.

  72. For goodness sake, this girl needs to grow up. I was a waitress and used to have far worse happen to me than someone simply pulling my ponytail. You simply speak up and tell them point blank to stop; and if they don’t, you report them to your manager. You don’t go public and write a blog about it unless it’s politically motivated. I suspect the NZ media (and Key’s political opponents) are that desperate for a scandal, they’ll grasp at whatever straws they are. For gawd’s sake, get a life. I have no sympathy whatsoever for this immature young thing.

      • I’m a liberal as it happens. But being an ex waitress, I’ve dealt with far more famous & obnoxious patrons than Mr Key. And I was younger than her at the time. It just irks me a woman of her age has made such a big deal out of something she should have dealt with privately. Attention seeker!

        • “Attention seeker”?!

          Is that what you call someone who speaks out about harassment? Maybe, if everyone kept quiet about workplace harasssment, there would be no public fuss. And it would just continue and continue…

          Have you thought, “Isabella”, that is no one speaks out, then nothing ever changes?

        • “I’ve dealt with far more famous & obnoxious patrons than Mr Key ”

          Really? Someone more obnoxious than John Key?

          More famous? Please do tell.

    • Would YOU like YOUR hair yanked on in your place of work repeatedly ?

      Do YOU AGREE with COMMON ASSAULT and WORKPLACE HARASSMENT?

      If not , shut the hell up !!!

    • What’s far worse than getting your pony tail yanked? Having your tit pulled? You front of house staff always have to one upsmen a story. Bet you wouldn’t last one minute being my service bîtch

  73. Graeham Mac,(the notable Wellington ‘bush lawyer’ who first dragged John Banks into the court), is said to have laid charges this afternoon with the Human Rights Commission alleging sexual harassment against the Prime Minister,

    Apparently for such an action befor the Commission to proceed it is not necessary for the person allegedly offended against to lay such charges,

    Also according to RadioNZ National Graeham Mac has approached the police with a criminal complaint of indecent assault against the Prime Minister,

    While pointing out that such a complaint to the Police, ie sexual assault rather than that of common assault would be extremely difficult to prove in the Court i have a problem here with someone other than the
    victim Herself deciding ‘if’ and ‘what’ legal action She wishes to take against the Prime Minister,

    Make no mistake about this, my belief is that this young woman has been the victim of an ongoing series of criminal assaults, the assailant well known to us all, however, my belief is that it must be the choice of the woman involved to seek the redress that She wants without in effect having such redress effectively rammed down Her throat no matter how well intentioned other’s may feel in rushing to the various legal forum to propose wrongdoing,

    Amanda Bailly should be given the space to seek legal redress or not as She sees fit, anything else done without Her express permission and consent is to simply use Her as a pawn, an act of re-victimization that She should not be subjected to….

  74. We can take it as read that the cafe owners are supporters of John Key at the very least, as this is a place he chooses to let his hair down (pardon the pun). The employee has been set up and done by the “smiling bully”. Once again our PM has chosen to hit and run and then say it was only a joke. Not funny and totally unacceptable Mr Key. I’m having trouble believing that he thought he could get away with it.

    • The café owners wouldn’t have told Key to stop ,he would have taken offence and left and probably would have made things difficult for them ,Key dosnt like being thwarted.They were using the girl for their own purposes ,like an enticement.
      When I was 16 I was in a job with mostly older men, a few women. One man was always coming on to me,touching my bottom etc ,I slapped his hand the first time,he kept it up ,some of the other men thought it was funny ,I reported him to management. I was told a pretty girl like me shouldn’t be working with men I was a temptation,i was asked to leave ,when I protested. management said ,well his job is more important and he has a family to support, so smirks all round . that was along time ago, Nowadays attitudes havnt changed that much but we do have redress ,but being made to feel so alone and screaming inside at the unfairness stayed with me for a long time. Amanda take all the help offered ,you must feel relieved to have such good support ,all thanks to TDB and Frank .

  75. is there any crowd funding up and running to get the girl some leagel help we all did it for nicky hager i want to donate to help the girls case against the pervekey and herald or sue her employers

  76. Assault? Perhaps at a stretch. Sexual assault? I disagree.

    This would likely have happened to a male with long hair as well as according to JK, he believed he was just playing around.

    Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely childish behaviour unbecoming of a Prime Minister and should never have happened but some people are always so trick to pull the trigger on the sexual harrassment card.

    Have you ever had someone stand on one side of you, reach around and tap you on the other shoulder to make you look the other way and perhaps think that someone else did the tapping?

    I believe the situation is akin to the above, though because long hair happened to be there, he gave that a little tug instead. Nothing to do with gender. Definitely not desired contact so yes, it was bullying but this has all been blown so out of proportion it’s ridiculous.

    The PM was being a muppet and i’m sure he realises that now. This will keep being mentioned for years to come and he’ll never live it down. Aren’t there more important things going on in the world that we should be worrying about?

    *Grabs popcorn*

    • Except, TF, that this happened over a period of months. It wasn’t just a one-off. Which means he was getting some degree of satisfaction from this bullying.

      By the way, assault can be simply laying a hand on someone’s shoulder. It might be seen as “minor” assault by some, but nevertheless, assault it is.

      Anyway, where do you draw the line? Hair? Shoulders? Maybe slip a hand down some cleavage? Where’s the line? I’ll answer that seemingly ponderous question; the line is drawn between yourself and another human being. It’s simple and even kids are taught this from an early age: “Don’t touch!”.

    • It is abuse of power, on the face of it the actual incident may not seem that bad, but when you add one person in a position of power and another not, the situation changes. People react to and deal differently with people in positions of power, which it is why those in power have to be extra vigilant that they are not crossing lines. Maybe the old idea of a court jester to remind the king from time to time he was being a jerk wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
      As if that abuse of power is not bad enough, if the PM uses his position of power to manipulate this situation by using people who think like you do TF then that will be the ultimate abuse of the position of power.
      Take that young girl on the street whose hair Key touches, what would have happened if that was just some random (maybe a scruffy one) who did that?
      What about Aaron Gilmore, no, no wait, hear me out. Aaron Gilmore was very quickly shown the door for what he did, it did not involve touching and it did not involve repeating on a number of occasions.
      Yes, Key may be a bit OTT and that in itself is ok, but again when you are in a position of power you need to be really, really careful about what you do and that is not because someone might do something about it, it is because they might not because of it.

    • And so if me being a male…with very long hair…often tied back in a ponytail were to have this John Key tug on that…and I wheeled on him and gave him a push for his presumptuous arrogance….would you consider that assault?….

      Because legally I have that right to defend my person-hood from assault….by not using excessive force in that circumstance.

      Tell me something….if this was a woman walking through a park and had her ponytail pulled from behind…..would you condone that?

      Now you start to see why this so- called ‘ trivial horsing around ‘ starts to take on more serious reasons for including it in the common assault category.

      You cannot make exceptions to the law when it is non consensual.

      This is why we have these laws.

      And these laws apply to all people. If that same person were to push or shove without valid reason that too , can be deemed assault. Yet it is no more than a ‘ push ‘ .

      That ‘ push ‘ can be a prelude to severe violence. As it is daily in this country.

      You can use reasonable force to eject a person if you are the legal occupier or agent of the occupier of a property.

      You can use reasonable force in the defense of yourself or another.

      The law states ‘ REASONABLE’ …for a purpose. To ensure minimum harm to both party’s.

      But unwarranted non consensual ‘touching’ ..no matter how small still comes under assault because of the potential for harm.

      And harm comes in many forms…one of which here is emotional harm. She cried tears of frustration because of feelings of being dis empowered.

  77. Next Tuesday, red hair ribbon day #RedHairRibbonDay wear a red ribbon in your ponytail (guys you can as well if you want) the slogan is “Don’t touch the tail, this pony kicks” and if you can a donation to Women’s Refuge.
    I think we have to look at what this incident has highlighted and that is abuse of power and it does not stop at a ponytail and it does not stop with the PM.

  78. Key Finds Locks Irresistible

    A kiwi prime minister called Key
    Tugged a waitress’s ponytail repeatedly
    He claimed it was just horseplay
    Not tricophilia or foreplay
    But it seems quite kinky to me.

    PS I’m the author of “The Fetish Collection”, an anthology of short stories featuring a range of paraphilias.

  79. So to sum up for me

    People in positions of power should not abuse that position. Not because someone might call them out on it but because they might not.

  80. I am sick to my stomach.
    What a crap that gossip-writer is and what a creep the PM is.
    Well done, me, for having cancelled the herald sub.

  81. John Key should have just said sorry and left it at that. His rat pack should have just left it alone. Now, they have magnified the problem for the Government exponentially….Idiots!!
    I don’t support JK or his party but this is really stupid from supposedly intelligent people…who run our country!!

  82. I do think that most of these very concerning members of the public have it just so wrong. I come from a life-time of abuse, and can not understand what you sick people are working towards??

    What I suffered was never like this, and hey, he apologised for his actions. I wonder how you all what consider when it maybe different, as with regard to myself, with prolonged verbal, emotional, financial and at the end physical abuse!!!

    He was probably having some fun, and most of you need to realise that this is all what he was doing. If he never held the high profile position that he holds, this would have never hit the deadlines, and that is what it is, from one who knows so well.

    What about the young teenage girls I have seem over the years with girls of my own. They have put some men and I have witnessed others who have done indecent assaults on men, laugh and walk away from what they have done. Get real, as this issue is just a waste of time, and someone who wants to be the hero on Facebook for the next week!!!

    • Diana, how does minimising what this young woman went through assist anyone who has been harassed or abused? If you’re simply another in a long line of National sycophants who’ve rolled up to support their dear leader, then shame on you for claiming abuse, whilst denying how others might feel.

    • If you didn’t deal with some form of authority while that was going on, doesn’t excuse you for not doing so, nor does it excuse the perpetrators. It also doesn’t mean you should tell other victims to “suck it up”.

      You failed to act. No wonder you’re so bitter.

  83. As a left wing supporter I am a little embarrassed reading these comments. This is not a story and has been blown out of proportion and context.

    Shouldn’t we be discussing ways we can make this country a better place. Rather than constant personal attacks on the pm. Look where that got us last election.

  84. Shocking story, and a worrying development, this is. I have come across such employers, always “friendly” and “open”, but they all have their interests at heart, and if a worker may step out of line, they will try the “friendly”, but in reality CUNNING way, to shut the problematic staff member up.

    This is business, and much business is “dirty”, no matter how “good” it all looks at the surface. Losing reputation, perhaps facing some legal challenges, and worst of all loss of turnover and profit, that motivates EVERY employer, to deal to people that cause the grief.

    Yes, Amanda was tricked, and I dare to say, not only by Glucina, the cunning celebrity and gossip reporter, but also her own employers, who feared they would face negative consequences.

    I heard on the TV news that Amanda has got lots of other job offers now, so she can breathe a bit more easily re that, and take her pick.

    But for Rachel Glucina and the Herald, yes, this is DIRTY JOURNALISM, and it is damned time it gets uncovered, what shit goes on within much of the private, corporate and commercial media out there, we need a return to solid, well funded, publicly managed media, and also allowance for alternative media by community groups and others with limited resources.

    What we have now is more or less American conditions, it is all up for grabs, for ratings, profit, advertising interests, and real “news” are hard to come by.

    It is partly good this misconduct by Key has been exposed, but it is worrying and not good, that the media focus on little else now, while we face very serious challenges and problems, like the housing crisis in Auckland and Christchurch, neglected regions, relative poverty, underfunding of health and welfare, people being disowned and dis-empowered, where it is even near impossible to get legal aid for most.

    Shame on this government, shame on John Key, shame on the vested interest parties that support the status quo, we damned well need change.

    Read this, to get a grip of what is happening re your “rights to justice”, which may also interest Amanda:
    http://eveningreport.nz/2015/03/24/frances-joychild-qc-on-the-fading-star-of-the-rule-of-law/

  85. Firstly Amanda I would like to congratulate you on your bravery, integrity and honesty under what is a truly horrendous situation in your young life. You WILL be very proud of yourself for the rest of your life that you did speak out and take action when you did, for very many reasons that will continue to transpire I feel as time goes on now.
    I am 54 now and I won a battle against the ASB when I was 18 with the help of my union (Everyone in the ASB knew about it, and there were mixed attitudes, but I didn’t care) and I have never regretted any of that battle. That battle has also helped me teach my girls (and others) how to stand up for themselves (and others), so it is a great basis and lesson for a genuine and honest future for you and for others.

    I am flabbergasted at some of the negative “It’ll be all right, no big deal” type comments I have seen in some social media comments, but we have to allow for those who think it is ok what John “Sociopath” Key has done to you and in fact taken from you. “YOU” need to ignore those negative comments and trust that a lot of “US” who understand your plight are doing the rebuffs as has been happening, coz the ones supporting you and anyone else in your situation are doing so with great passion and are trying to make the “Dick heads” understand just how wrong JK is.

    The other thing right about what you are doing is the fact that you have bought to the attention of many, that JK has been doing this for a very long time to “Little Girls” who he does NOT know. More and more pics and vids are coming out and are proof on camera, so JK can NOT say, “Oh that did not happen” or “I don’t remember”. The fact that he thinks it is ok to touch anyone in a “Familiar” way, is totally unacceptable, let alone Little Girls. I note that JK shakes hands with little boys, but plays with the hair of little girls and gets very close to them when speaking. I find his behaviour very disturbing indeed.
    I have pretty well read every single article about your plight and will continue to follow this closely.
    WE must keep in mind “Dirty Politics”, as to how this plays out.
    There are very many people that would stand by you and support you with what ever action you chose to take, so do NOT hesitate to ask for that support and help.
    I wish you all the strength and goodwill that WILL come your way in seeking justice and closure to this issue. xxx Sal

  86. any media or national pr person that tries to make this ‘appear’ to be a left wing political beat up risks going down in history as a pervert apologists- this is not about national, its about john key, he is doing a lot of damage to national btw, they are appearing like the pervert party for not calling for keys resignation.
    key will have done this before, its a sexual fetish, the others he has done it to appear to be underage, so it will be family friends ect, girls who really have no say or power, Im sure thier parents are oblivious to his behaviours, hes the uncle thats not really an uncle, that all the adults love, the guy that you can trust with your children, he takes them off your hands every week for over night stays etc – does this sound familiar to anyone close to key? – google trichophilia

  87. So – Key repeatedly touched someone in a way they did not invite or enjoy; was told flatly that she didn’t like it (although Amanda had made it clear to the manager she found it distressing long before that – at which point the manager should have taken action); then continued to threaten to repeat the behaviour and did repeat it almost two weeks after he was flatly and unequivocally told she did not like it. Take away him being PM (Oh, I wish!) – your average joe customer would have been politely (or not so politely) asked to take his business elsewhere long before.

    JK says that “as soon as” he became aware that “she was taking offence” he apologised. This is untrue. He was ‘made aware’ specifically by the young woman and her manager almost two weeks before he repeated the behaviour and ‘apologised’ – this is hardly ‘immediate’ as he alleged (and as pro-JK commentators keep repeating – seeming to think if you say it enough times, it becomes true?) And in fact it should have been clear to him well before that this young woman did not enjoy his attentions, as she attempted wherever possible to avoid him!

    And his alleged ‘public apology’? “It was all in the context of a bit of banter”. No. It was ‘in the context’ of a young woman who you had been told found your attentions unwelcome trying to avoid you entirely; who had put her hand up to ward you off and said NO as you came at her (this occurring on the day the manager also told you she didn’t like it) – and you waiting until she was forced to turn her back and DOING IT AGAIN! ‘Banter’ requires both parties to be actually taking part in a ‘give and take’, which not only was not the case here, but was never going to be the case with such a gross imbalance of power – what would have happened if she pulled JK’s hair as a ‘joke’? Further, “as soon as I realised she had actually taken offence” is a telling turn of phrase- ‘SHE had ACTUALLY taken offence’. A neat bit of non-apologetic ‘apologising’ – she took it ‘out of context’; she was unreasonably offended by his ‘fun’ actions. So his so called apology amounts to blaming the victim for not joining in the “fun and games”; and lying about being made aware it was unwanted before that day and about what she said in response to this ‘apology’.

    Key repeatedly behaved in an inappropriate, offensive and bullying way to a young woman just attempting to do her job, who had no power in the situation (he admits the cafe owners are ‘friends’ for pete’s sake!) She attempted to avoid him and told him NO; he was told by his wife at least twice to stop it; the manager told him the young woman disliked it – and he continued to get his jollies by repeating the behaviour. The nature of his apology clearly shows he does not believe he has anything to apologise for.
    A prominent Wellington employment lawyer is quoted in one article: “if the manager made those feelings clear (re: unwanted conduct) and the conduct still continued, then that definitely escalates the seriousness”. That describes exactly what Key did.

    This is a gross abuse of the enormous power differential between the parties; with Key clearly believing there is one rule of law and code of conduct for him; and another for the rest of the country. Again, supporters (such as the Herald) say his behaviour was just in “fun”; that it was “well-intentioned” – how, exactly, is repeatedly tugging someone’s hair ‘well-intentioned’; or ‘fun’ for anyone but the tugger? I’m really quite curious to know how these people can assert that behaviour unacceptable in a five year old is acceptable in our PM!

    This young woman has a case in employment court against her employers for failing to provide a safe workplace (who also quite clearly set her up – JK calls them ‘friends; the reporter alleging she was a PR expert is the twin of another owner of the Hip Group, so to try and say they didn’t know exactly who she was and what she did is absurd); a case against the Herald and Ms Glucina for obtaining information under false pretences, and publishing that information after she had expressly stated she did not give consent to publication; and a case against the PM for common assault and male assaults female. That Key thinks he can blatantly breach the law repeatedly in public and get away with it demonstrates just how little respect he has for those laws and the NZ people. Because neither Key nor his sycophants have denied the behaviour, which continued over a period of months and which he was clearly told was unwanted. Instead he has minimised it and turned all blame on the victim for apparently not having enough of a sense of humour to laugh off the repeated unwanted touching by the Prime Minister.

    This is about a lot more than pulling hair. This paints a clear and disturbing picture of a narcissistic, Machiavellian, sociopathic man-child, in the position of ultimate governing power in NZ, who is so arrogant and entitled that he believes the rules of acceptable behaviour and the laws of that country do not apply to him, and he can do as he pleases with impunity.

  88. Key has also tried to shift the responsibility for setting the tone of the engagement onto the waitress in his statement at the International Peace Summit in Istanbul. He said he was “playing along” – what does that imply? That other people had generated an atmosphere, and he decided to go along with it. At the same time, he says he “takes full responsibility.” His statement is loaded with this kind of garbage shifting the motivation for his behaviour outside himself.
    How can so many NZers actually admire his ability to consistently shift the blame, while at the same time claiming to be a real grown up and take “full responsibility.” It just sickens me how many people voted for this shit.

  89. Why should the waitress suspect that a “PR person hired by her employers”, called “Rachel” was actually gossip columnist (and National Party stooge) Rachel Glucina? She was set up and betrayed and can not go back to work there, so she has been costructively dismissed.

  90. […] Anyway, yesterday, it became clear that NZ Herald ‘reigning gossip queen’ Rachel Glucina had seemingly acted in an ethucally questionable way (see below) to get a statement/interview from the woman at the centre of a scandal about the NZ Prime Minister repeatedly harassing a waitress by pulling her hair. See The Daily Blog for the original story and a follow-up with the waitress’s account of Ms Glucina’s actions. […]

  91. [Fake email address. Anonymous. Obvious trolling. So why should we publish your childish comments? – ScarletMod]

  92. Rachel Glucina is a conniving gutter snipe not to be trusted with anything and never to be spoken to and I speak from experience.
    It is all about sensationalism and innuendo and has nothing to do with journalism whatsoever!!
    BE WARNED!!!

    • I am sure had Amanda been aware of who was on the end of the phone, she would not have said anything, so why did Glucina feel the need to hide at the end of the phone, why not a face to face if it was all above board?

  93. This is the real story, not the creepiness of our PM’s behaviour, which many of us already felt uncomfortable about.
    This young woman has been publicly bullied by the fourth estate, and I am sure she is struggling big time right now due Glucina’s appalling actions.

  94. As an ex member of the hipgroup I can say I am not surprised at the way this poor girl has been treated, she has been thrown to the dogs to keep the clean and green image of the company, a false image that they hide behind.

    The truth is they have lost many fantastic employees over the past couple of years. Mainly down to one of the Owners attitude and lack of care for his staff. As they have grown so fast they have not been able to cope with the increased staff numbers well. Google some of the great chefs and managers that have been taken on board in the past few years and look at where these chefs are now, they are a talented bunch, great workers, great cvs, longevity in previous positions but all forced out by Brown. During my time at the Hipgroup he employed many lapdogs that run and do his dirty work for him as he has no balls himself to deal on one to one with issues, hence the Glucina involvement.
    He has one agenda and its his bank balance, but he tries to portray otherwise, Disgusting!! And I can honestly say I am not surprised but at the same time I am glad that people now realise the what he is really like.

    • Bit like one of the major aged care companies aswell, veneer of care and luviness, behind is a corporate machine at the cost of the entirely expendable workers

  95. If the waitress thought Glucina was acting as a PR person, what the hell did she think the NZ Herald photographer was there taking pictures of her for?

  96. Seems that Mr Key has been pulling girls ponytails longer than we thought. http://article.wn.com/view/2015/04/23/aposa_thing_apos_john_key_does/
    It’s a thing that John Key does, apparently. The man obviously can’t keep his hands to himself. There are some unpleasant slang names for people like that. More importantly, is this the sort of person we should have as our PM? He makes jokes about paedophiles and cannibals as well as playing with girls’ hair without invitation. He has no place as Prime Minister of NZ. He should resign.

  97. I hope it ends up in the employment court – and that the many other photographs and videos of John Key pulling girls’ and young women’s plaits and pony-tails also see him in the criminal court for assault. The guy obviously has a hair fetish, which on its own is not a problem – but when he abuses his position as prime minister to get his jollies every public chance he gets, it is a BIG problem. We do NOT need this guy as prime minister – he is more than a national embarrassment – he is a liability with an unbelievable sense of entitlement and a total lack of respect for either women and girls, or the law.

  98. Thanks for that. Two things that spring to mind. The mindless mouthing off by opposition parties certainly made it look like it was their send up. I still cant get over them ranting and then saying they were concerned about the international consequences.
    There must be an official inquiry into this. If what has been said is true then the cafe owners deservedly will go broke and John boy Key will get his come uppers.
    Amanda it looks like I have initially misread you. Please accept my apology

  99. I worked with Amanda at Rosie and other Hipgroup establishments. Though she did not disclose to me what was going on with John Key, she was always very keen to avoid interacting with him. She also told me quite emphatically on more than one occasion that she hated being around him. Those who say it was nothing should really pipe down. Hope you’re all good Amanda, ignore everyone trying to minimize your experience or question your integrity.

    It’s a difficult position to be in and highlights the quandary women are put in when they work in hospo. Inappropriate advances are very commonplace, and waitresses across the industry are often expected to endure such things (and much worse) without complaint.

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