Prime minister apologizes for pulling waitress’ hair

New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has apologized to a cafe worker who accused him of a form of torment usually associated with playground bullies: hair- pulling.

The waitress made her complaint public in an anonymous blog post Wednesday, saying that Key, a frequent visitor to the Auckland cafe where she works, had tugged on her ponytail repeatedly over a period of months, starting during the general election campaign last year. Key, who has been prime minister since 2008, won a third term with his center- right National Party’s victory in September.

The waitress said that at first she thought Key was “just trying to be playful and jolly,” cultivating a nice- guy image to earn votes. But her agitation grew as the behavior continued, and although she tried to avoid him, he did not stop, she wrote in the post on a leftleaning New Zealand website, the Daily Blog.

In an interview with a New Zealand television station after the waitress’ account was published, Key said the hairpulling had taken place in the context of frequent “horsing around” and “practical jokes” at the cafe.

“It’s a very warm, friendly relationship. In that context you’d say yes,” he said when asked if pulling a waitress’ hair was appropriate behavior for a prime minister. “But if you look at it now, no.”

In her blog post, the waitress said that at first she did not complain directly to the prime minister, but when he tried to pull her hair on March 13, she backed away, wagged her finger and repeatedly said no. Two weeks later, she said, after he tugged on her hair once more as he left the cafe, she told him, “Please STOP or I will actually hit you soon!”

According to the waitress, Key returned shortly thereafter with two bottles of wine and said: “This is for you, sorry. I didn’t realize.” She wrote that his assertion that he had not been aware his behavior was unwelcome “was almost more offensive than the harassment itself.”

The waitress said the prime minister’s wife, Bronagh Key, had witnessed some of the hair- pulling and asked him to stop.

A spokeswoman for Key confirmed that he had apologized to the waitress, according to the New Zealand Herald.