Restaurant owner calls part-time worker 'fatty' in misdirected text, says it was a 'nickname'

A part-time worker who said a restaurant owner made unsolicited comments about her appearance — including telling her she would be pretty if she lost weight — has gone public with her experience through a review posted on a portal site.

A review left on the portal page of a Japanese restaurant in Seoul has been spreading across social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and multiple online communities Tuesday, stirring controversy.

The reviewer, identified only as A, said she was a college student who had worked a one-day shift at an omakase restaurant. "I'm writing this review because something so upsetting and unfair happened to me," she wrote.

"While I was working, the owner looked at my body and said I would be pretty if I lost 7 to 8 kilograms. That alone was unpleasant enough — but then I received a text message in which he had referred to me behind my back as 'fatty.'"

In the text message A shared publicly, the male owner had written: "Thursday shift — fatty — 78,000 won ($58) transferred. Please sort out your ID number."

According to A, the owner had apparently meant to send the message to a woman believed to be a family member but sent it to A by mistake. When A replied, "Excuse me, I think you sent this to the wrong person. 'Fatty'?", the owner responded with a laughing emoji and wrote: "Lol, sorry — it's a nickname."

"I was already hurt when my appearance and body were being judged at a service job that had nothing to do with how I look," A wrote. "Getting it in a text message on top of that was genuinely shocking."

She added that she would never return to the restaurant — as a worker or a customer — and said she was sharing the experience in hopes that no one else would go through something similar.

Online commenters directed sharp criticism at the owner. "He should at least apologize properly," one wrote. Others said: "He probably talks about customers the same way behind their backs"; "If you don't want to hire heavier people, just don't hire them in the first place — why use someone when you're desperate and then put them down?"; "With that kind of character, the food can't possibly be good"; and "He's a grown adult, not a kindergartner — what is this behavior?"

One commenter shared a similar experience: "Is this just what omakase owners are like? When I worked at one, I was told to wear makeup, to lose weight, and asked if I had a boyfriend."

Meanwhile, comments in the workplace that demean a person's appearance constitute workplace harassment under Ministry of Employment and Labor guidelines. However, the workplace harassment provisions of the Labor Standards Act do not apply to businesses with fewer than five full-time employees. If someone is severely humiliated in front of others, a complaint may be filed on grounds of insult or defamation.