Outside seating sits empty at Towers Pub after hours. Amanda Erickson/The Griff.

After 13 years behind the bar, Jill Brekke says mismanagement and missing gratuities mark a shift in culture at MacEwan’s campus pub.

For over a decade, Jill Brekke has tended the bar at  MacEwan’s campus pub Towers. Since 2012, she’s been the person behind the counter, greeting students by name, and building a home away from home for thousands of MacEwan students. 

The bar hosted karaoke, trivia nights, and MacEwan student club social events. Students came to celebrate, decompress, or socialize with other students also trying to survive the chaos of university life. For many at MacEwan, Towers was the only space on campus that still felt alive after those 5 p.m. classes.

“I was always trying to create such a safe and welcoming place,” says Brekke. “Like making sure I said hi to everyone, everybody’s, you know, taken care of and feels important.”

But according to Brekke, that sense of community began to erode when Aramark, the multinational corporation contracted to run all campus food and beverage operations, tightened its control over the pub. 

This past September, Brekke resigned from Towers as bar manager after being demoted back to bartender.

“So for the last three years, it’s been me from open to close, Monday to Friday,” says Brekke. “I’ve never called in sick, I’ve never been late, like never anything, which I feel like should be very valuable.” 

Brekke explains that throughout her time at Towers, she wasn’t included in any discussions about how the bar was run. Major decisions about the bar, such as changes in event booking, were made without her. 

“I knew that bar the best, like, utilize my knowledge, let’s work together to make it better,” says Brekke. For her entire time at the bar, she was never privy to meetings about the future of Towers. She was also removed from the event booking process in favour of an online booking portal. Brekke explains that the people making these decisions – specifically her manager Naveen – had never worked in a bar. 

“He spent maybe combined all the little times he came, maybe 40 minutes in there last semester,” says Brekke, noting that her attempts at encouraging management to spend time in the bar were fraught.

Brekke says that the disconnect was clearest earlier in the year when she discovered $1,600 of gratuity missing from her January pay stubs. The “gratuity” line, where her tips usually appeared, had been removed entirely. When she pressed for answers, Brekke says management told her the money had been redirected to a new tip-out system meant to include kitchen and shipping staff — a change she claims she was never informed of. 

“I’ve tipped out the kitchen on kitchen sales every single day for the last 13 years,” says Brekke. “I’m like, my kitchen’s my partner. I’m not going to screw them.”

When she brought this issue to the assistant general manager of the bar, Brekke was distraught. She says she swore and cried, venting about the missing money. The assistant general manager  was apologetic, but said she wasn’t sure where the money went. A couple of days after this interaction, Brekke was written up for harassment after the district manager overheard their conversation.

The money was eventually returned to Brekke after escalating the issue to HR, but the damage was already done. While closing down the bar for the 2024/25 season, Jill received a contract from her general manager that she described as a demotion from bar manager to bartender. The language used in the contract is vague, simply outlining whether she wishes to work at Aramark. 

That sentiment is shared by Giancarlo Zenari, a sociology and political science student who ran Towers’ karaoke night for two years. Every week, the pub was packed for karaoke, and the entire system ran through Zenari’s setup. Now, karaoke is run through an automated system.

“I was always trying to create such a safe and welcoming place.”

— Jill Brekke, ex-bar manager of Towers.

“I don’t really care about it anymore, because it doesn’t feel like the management or like anyone really cares about it, right?” says Zenari.

Zenari also had issues with Aramark and payment, sometimes waiting upwards of two months to receive his pay for running karaoke. 

For Brekke, leaving wasn’t just about pay or policy — it was about watching the culture she had spent over a decade building disappear.

“University is hard, and so many people have wandered in alone and sat at the bar, sat at a table,” says Brekke. “And then they make friends, and then those are their friends for the next year, and then they come in together, and it’s awesome.”

One of the ways Towers wove itself into the fabric of the MacEwan community was by becoming a go-to venue for student groups and clubs to host their events. Some of the most successful events were the card game and beer pong tournaments hosted by the UNO Club, one of the most popular clubs on campus. Khrystyna Kornylo is the president of the UNO Club, and she says that up until this year, there was no online system involved in the booking of Towers for events — the system was Jill.

“I don’t really care about it anymore, because it doesn’t feel like the management or like anyone really cares about it, right?”

— Giancarlo Zenari, MacEwan student and Towers regular.

“We’d always host our events there. It was always super great. She was always, like, more than welcoming to have us,” said Kornylo of the UNO Club’s relationship with Towers and with Jill. “She always wanted us to host our events there, and like, made sure that everything was set up for the event to be successful.”

Towers is obviously a convenient venue for student group functions because of its on-campus location. Besides that, however, it was also desirable due to the culture that Jill cultivated in the pub. 

“That’s always the goal of the UNO Club, just to be, like, welcoming and inviting to everyone, and I kind of felt that that’s what Towers had, and that’s even what Jill had, like she was always super welcoming to every different student and everything,” says Kornylo. “The vibe of the place just like, kind of aligned really well with us. And it was just, I don’t know, the perfect space.”

Towers is more than just a venue. The culture was felt by every student who ever found a seat at Towers, not just for club events, but for any and every reason. 

“It was just kind of always one of those places where you’d meet up with your friends quickly, and then go to your class, and then, like, see them later at Towers again, you know,” says Kornylo.

The Griff reached out to Aramark and MacEwan for comment. Aramark says they won’t comment on individual employee matters. MacEwan deferred to Aramark, and also said it does not comment on individual personnel matters.

In her resignation letter, Brekke writes:

“This job was never “just a job” to me. It was my home, my pride, and my passion for over a decade. I gave it everything I had, and to walk away now breaks my heart. But I cannot continue to give myself to a place where I am dismissed, disrespected, and left unsupported by those in charge. I really hope that Towers stays the supportive, collaborative, welcoming and safe place I created.”