Assaulted on the Job, Fired After: The Hazie’s Bartender Speaks Out

We spoke with Miguel Marchese, the former bartender at Hazie’s who went viral for a patron’s violent assault and the subsequent trip that could be heard from Fell St. The reason the video went viral is a sense of divine justice the moment the aggressor gets tripped and splats on the ground in front of the restaurant. And if you care about justice, the story gets much deeper. 

Grab a drink. You’re gonna need one.

Miguel has been a bartender with Hazie’s in Hayes Valley on and off for about two years. He started in August of 2023 and worked there until June 2025. After a disastrous and equally salacious move to New York City, Miguel returned to San Francisco in what he calls, “literally a last minute decision.” 

Miguel dealt with health issues, housing fraud, and everything in between. If you think housing is tough here, imagine New York. He said it was impossible to find a place to live, so he came back at the last moment. 

“A lot of the bartenders had left,” he explains, so he was easily able to get rehired at Hazie’s. “My favorite cocktail to make is Hazies on the Beet because it visually is so pretty,” Miguel reminisces. It’s got a tequila base.

Hazie’s is undeniably vibey. When it opened in 2022, Eater described it as “Instagrammable.” But just under the surface, things weren’t so pretty.

How were things at the restaurant? Miguel has one word to describe it: “Chaotic.” The restaurant had just gotten new management and “things were all over the place at that restaurant.” 

Still, Miguel has stayed close friends with his coworkers. He actually lives with one of the servers, who recently quit. “In fact I just played volleyball with Mikayla the other day!” 

In December, a drunken patron was caught on video yanking on Miguel’s hair. Eventually, she tripped. “One of the fragments was recorded by the busser,” Miguel explains. “Then a patron airdropped it to me that night.” The video went viral. Like, super viral. You’ve definitely seen it.

In the aftermath, Miguel’s been dealing with a lot. When asked if he’s gone to therapy over it, he explains, “I’ve told the story a billion times… I don’t really ponder myself [though].” He says this kind of behavior feels normalized in the service industry. There’s always something going on. 

Still, the night had lingering consequences. “When I look back on it, pardon my French, I’m like, ‘Damn! How could that have happened to me?’”

Miguel doesn’t want to be a bartender. He went to USF and studied finance there. Bartending just happened. “We’re all agents of the economy, but it isn’t my passion,” he says. He dealt with everything from insults to sexual harassment and homophobic slurs in his career. No, Miguel wants to be in fashion.

“One Christmas I was in New York and I was scouted,” he says breathlessly. So he moved to New York in the summer of 2025. But he was practical: “As soon as I got there, I walked through every borough” looking for work. Miguel got a job at a bar in the West Village. 

Was it the same kind of people as Hazie’s? “It was worse, a hellhole,” Miguel laughs. “Same kind of people. West Village has a lot of pretentious people. [But] it was worse working in New York.” 

Author’s Note: TOLD YOU. Suck it, New York! We’re nicer here!

That’s not to say everyone’s been terrible to him. Miguel says, “I have some amazing regulars who come to me. And the Bay is home.” 

On the evening of the Occurrence, San Francisco was cold, a bit windy, but dry. Waves of jolly Santacon drunkards flooded the streets. At Hazie’s, a certain patron, identified as Shireen Afkari, was heated, says Miguel. First, she was verbally abrasive with the server. Then the manager came around. “He didn’t know how to manage the situation.” Miguel explained that the manager wasn’t necessarily… “the best to diffuse situations.” 

Then all hell broke loose. As Miguel puts it, “everything went to shit. I’m not sure verbally what he said but he retracted the cocktails I’d just made for them.” The patron began chasing the manager, who opened the bar gates and got behind Miguel. Then she followed, her phone out, making statements during the incident alleging that she had been assaulted, pointing to her elbow and saying the manager grabbed it.

“I’m letting her know, ‘Hon, you can’t be behind the bar,’” Miguel says. “Then she tries to lunge at Mikayla, who then bodyslams the girl in self defense.” He was worried someone would seriously get hurt, and that his coworkers might be escalating things. “I’m like, ‘Let’s not bodyslam people in the restaurant, maybe.’” 

After the patron and her boyfriend were taken outside, but before the cops arrived, the woman is seen running and tripping over Miguel’s extended foot. Since then, TMZ reports, she’s been left off the hook. 

“She hasn’t reached out,” Miguel says of Shireen, the patron who pulled his hair so hard we were worried his scalp would come off. [Author’s Note: Seriously, she did NOT let go. I would have tickled her.] “She’s had three weeks to show remorse and apologize.” He’s not expecting to hear from her. 

Miguel continued working at Hazie’s, but planned a week off at the end of the month. “I’m not going to sit down and cry. I have an immigrant mentality. You just gotta keep moving forward,” he explains. But it did make him realize something: “I’m so OVER bartending. That night was… Yes. I’m OVER it. I’m not supposed to be in bartending. I only came back for a reset. I can’t even get my health in order because there’s always something going on.”

Allegedly, working at Hazie’s was no picnic. Prior to the incident, Miguel shares, “There were a few dubious things at work that I brought attention to. Things not adding up. Computations not adding up when it came to tips and something called the San Francisco Health Mandate Fee.” 

Every business in San Francisco has to comply with the SF Health Care Security Ordinance. Some restaurants choose to pass that cost onto customers, adding a 5% fee to the receipt that then goes toward healthcare. Well, it’s supposed to go into your account quarterly. 

This money is supposed to go into a fund that employees can access for reimbursable medical expenses. Usually, there’s a third party administrator, like an online portal where people can see their balances. But Miguel alleges Hazie’s was not using a third-party administrator. Instead, and this will boggle your mind, Hazie’s has been asking employees to submit reimbursements directly to management. 

When restaurants manage the funds, any additional or “delta” are supposed to go back to the city. But some restaurants have been found to be pocketing the delta.

“My health issues started around April,” Miguel says. “It’s private information. I don’t want my employer knowing my private medical history.” It’s a completely reasonable thing. Imagine if a waitress were pregnant and had to ask her boss to reimburse her for going to the doctor. Again, absolutely mind boggling. 

Another thing Miguel had a problem with? “The tip issue has always been an issue at Hazie’s. It’s an all day tip pool house. No matter whether you’re a server or bartender.” He explains that in his opinion, bartenders deserve more tips than servers because of the type and quality of labor. All employees throughout the day, from opening to close, get an hourly share of the total tips. 

Miguel says over the years, there were multiple conversations about it. “They were just lazy at the end of the day,” he says. When he spoke about it with a former manager who is no longer there, he says, “She could have just gone into Excel. I even offered to help her.” After all, he has a degree in finance. “I’m good with numbers.” 

Miguel speculates Hazie’s did it because they’re worried servers won’t stay without the extra money. Still, he thinks it’s unfair: “These servers are pocketing more money than me. I’m here until the last glass.” 

Shortly after his conversation, Miguel says, the manager left. “A month later she just quit after we kept addressing tip issues.” He says the manager and Hugo, his boss, are “quite knitted.” And Miguel and the manager have also stayed in touch. In fact, when Miguel was subsequently fired, the former manager messaged Miguel. “She asked me if Hugo offered a severance letter. Because he cares about me, she told me to sign it.” 

How did Miguel end up fired?

“I came in on a Saturday and one of the owners was there,” Miguel says. They had a chat. “It was a two hour conversation and I had a migraine.” Miguel was allegedly told he had three options. “Either I could take a two week unpaid suspension and then likely get fired, get fired immediately, or resign and sign my rights away talking about the issue.” Miguel says he felt pressured by the options presented.

But something felt wrong. “I asked him for everything in writing and he refused to say anything in writing. Then I was fired over email on the 3rd, effective the 4th.” Miguel says the termination followed his internal complaints.  

The timing was odd, but that may be in part because of Miguel’s planned week off. “I just needed a moment to breathe. I took that week off. Drama at work. Getting assaulted. I took the week to let the waters settle.” He didn’t know that he’d be returning to this. 

Miguel is not the only employee experiencing these issues. He just happened to be the one asking questions about it. Miguel says he believes that raised concerns put him at risk.

Miguel is working with Galisatus Public Affairs. Jason Galisatus characterizes the owners as having a history of legal disputes. Hazie’s is owned by the same folks who did The Brixton. They were in the news a few years ago because at their SoMa location, they didn’t pay 4 years of rent. When that hit the press, they claimed it was retaliation from FajitaGate, a decades-old SFPD scandal. 

But Galisatus explains, “They’ve had other cases with the city. Property taxes. Unpaid rent. They’re not afraid to get involved with litigation.” 

According to Miguel, as Hugo offered his three choices, he said something worrisome. Miguel alleges that, “Hugo mentioned that [they have] one of the best litigators in the city... They have money. They have resources.”

But Miguel is hopeful. “I hope the wheels of justice prevail… The labor board is very meticulous when it comes to anything dubious occurring. They reassured me that no one’s above the law.” 

The allegations described here have not been adjudicated. When reached for comment, Hazie’s management said they refute Marchese’s assertions.

In the meantime, Miguel sounds a bit tired. “I was just in the grocery store and someone asked, ‘Did you find a job yet?’” Miguel sighs. “No. I didn’t. It’s exhausting.” 

Miguel has retained legal counsel.