Jess Phillips accused of “absurdly cruel” behaviour towards waiting staff

The Labour MP is under fire for several passages in her new book, which was released on Thursday, in which she gloatingly describes instances where she treats waiting and retail staff “like the ugly, snivelling animals they are”. Several reviewers have expressed their alarm at the severity of the “bullying, snide harrassment” she subjects staff to, with several calling for her to be sacked.

“Had so much respect for @jessphillips until I read her new book, now I genuinely want her to lose her job. Quite reprehensible.”

“Can’t quite believe what I’m reading tbh, did she really think people would be on her side?”

In one particularly brutal passage, she describes how she skilled she is at choosing the staff member most likely to cry:

“You can spot a squealer a mile off. It’s in their eyes, mostly, but their general demeanour is a tell. Sluggish, slovenly movement, looking miserable, no smile. Maybe they’ve had a bad day, maybe they’ve got stuff going on at home, whatever. If I don’t feel like paying full price for something, of if there is one single thing wrong with my meal, or if the waiter doesn’t smile at me, or if I just plain bloody well feel like it, someone is getting put through the ringer.”

“I was at a particularly busy restaurant, waiting for a table. There was a bit of a queue, and we were at entirely the wrong end of it. I tried to catch the Maitre D’s eye but he was ignoring me, Ten minutes passed by and eventually he walked by, so I grabbed his arm. Hard. He pulled away and asked what I thought I was doing. I told him that if he had any idea at all who I was he wouldn’t dare make me wait in a queue, and that he should be grateful for my patronage. He told me, with quite the attitude, that I must wait like everybody else and that they were very busy. I told him he was pathetic, and that he would be doing this crappy job until the day he died. This is speaking truth to power.”