PHUKET - A head chef was seen slapping a 20-year-old intern's head, striking her arm with a spatula and forcing her to eat undercooked rice in front of other workers in security camera footage from inside a hotel kitchen in Patong.
Recorded around noon on July 18, the video shows the chef, a woman, approaching the intern before slapping her head with her hand, striking her arm with a spatula and then slapping her head a second time.
The intern, 20, is a student from Nakhon Si Thammarat province who began an internship at the hotel on July 1.
The intern said it was not the first time. She had been scolded and assaulted by the same chef on several previous occasions. She had not been seriously hurt but had endured the abuse in order to complete her internship.
She said that on Saturday she was told to cook rice, as usual. The rice came out unevenly cooked. The chef ordered her to remove it because she was busy finishing another task.
When she failed to act quickly enough, the chef scolded her, using harsh language, before approaching and slapping her head, then striking her arm with a spatula, as seen in the video.
The chef then forced her to sit and eat some of the undercooked rice, watching her until she had finished it. This caused her both pain and severe humiliation.
Coworkers took her to Patong Hospital, where she is still receiving treatment. The hotel's human resources department has been informed of the incident.
The intern said she planned to submit a medical certificate and other evidence to Patong police on July 20 and will press charges against the head chef.
