Sexual Harassment Stories and Experiences

Keri,  Chicago

    Well, I’ve been working at this factory for three years now.  There’s one guy who is very quiet, keeps to himself, may be pretty smart, and for a guy that seems so introverted he can sure look someone (at least me) square in the eyes. A year or two ago he stopped me while I was on my way back from my lunch break, and he said, “I’m sorry if I was ever mean to you.” I replied, “I didn’t even know you had the ability to speak until this point, but I guess it’s OK.” He then asked if I had a boyfriend, and when I said yes he asked how he treated me. I said, “OK, I suppose,” and it was left at that.

     Now, just yesterday, he stopped me yet again while I was on my way to take my smoke break and asked again if I had a boyfriend, and I got a little nervous and said yes and he sounded frustrated and maybe a little angry when he said, “Why didn’t you tell me?! I’ve wasted all my time!” I then told him, “I told you months ago!” I think it’s the loudest I’ve ever heard his voice. The look in his eyes and that I didn’t expect him to get so mad like that is what got me nervous and shaky. I then veered a different direction so I could sit and calm myself down.

     I’m a tiny person, 5 feet, 100 lbs and this guy could be a football player. I’m glad we weren’t alone and I had a couple witnesses who watch out for me all the time. If he was to try anything physical I definitely could not defend myself. He reminded me of a character from the Lifetime channel the way he acted.

     So, instead of keeping silent like I did the first time this happened, I told my managers and luckily they said I did the right thing. They gave him a written warning, and next is termination. 

     I just wanted to tell anyone reading this to not take things lightly. I am 21 years old, and I have almost no trust in anyone because of people like him. Crap happens, and if you suspect something is fishy, use your gut instinct and let someone know before something bad happens. You never know. Nothing too bad happened to me yet, but I think I’m better off since I told someone. Never forget your worth and don’t take that kind of crap (or any kind) from anybody….You deserve better!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.