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Work Post: Sexual Harassment
Jan. 20th, 2018 01:11 amIt was the holidays so we hired a lot of new people. One of those came in after her break slightly freaked out. She was just trying to be nice to the morning cleaner and he'd given her his number. We have a lot of problems with our cleaners. We have another one that we warn all new hires about. Yes, you'd think that we could get them fired by telling the managers but somehow, it's always the victims' fault.
Then, she asks us whether there's something she's doing unconsciously because some of the customers will also hit on her.
And the most depressing thing happened...
The room full of females had to tell her...a young woman barely out of her teens...that it's because she exists as a female...that we all have stories like that. All we could really tell her to help her was to make sure to always wear her walkie talkie or be near a phone and whenever she feels threatened, she needs to call one of us to come help her.
People dismiss the #MeToo movement as stupid but it's about every female in the customer service industry having to watch her back at all times. It's about not being able to walk at night unless it's in a large group whereas lone males are usually safe. It's about knowing that half those calls that don't say anything and hang up when you answer are trying to keep tabs on their Exes and whether they're at work. It's about companies tolerating harassment as long as it doesn't affect customers. It's about anyone other than the "norm" not feeling safe either.
It just needs to stop.
Then, she asks us whether there's something she's doing unconsciously because some of the customers will also hit on her.
And the most depressing thing happened...
The room full of females had to tell her...a young woman barely out of her teens...that it's because she exists as a female...that we all have stories like that. All we could really tell her to help her was to make sure to always wear her walkie talkie or be near a phone and whenever she feels threatened, she needs to call one of us to come help her.
People dismiss the #MeToo movement as stupid but it's about every female in the customer service industry having to watch her back at all times. It's about not being able to walk at night unless it's in a large group whereas lone males are usually safe. It's about knowing that half those calls that don't say anything and hang up when you answer are trying to keep tabs on their Exes and whether they're at work. It's about companies tolerating harassment as long as it doesn't affect customers. It's about anyone other than the "norm" not feeling safe either.
It just needs to stop.
