Still Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Yep, some folks haven't gotten the word yet. It's a big no-no. But the count has just gone down by one.

My granddaughter needed to blow off some steam last week. She had several issues, the rest of which shall remain private, but the one which bothered me the most was a new boss/supervisor at work. I won't name the location, but know that it is a national chain of a fast food joint, and their need to ultimately protect their wholesome reputation was likely a factor in its resolution.

The new guy was an instant slimeball, sidling up to her under the pretense of supervision, close enough to touch her. She immediately backed off, saying, "Hey, personal space!" A bit later he nicknamed her "Miss Personal Space" and followed that up with a whispered invitation to provide him with a blow job.

Obviously a slow learner.

My granddaughter complained to the store manager, who happens to be a female. She displayed anger at what was happening, but my granddaughter perceived no action taken. She also witnessed the creep's advances toward the rest of the female employees, all young, and perhaps not as assertive as needed to deal with the issue. I suggested to her that she try to get her fellow employees together, have them all document on paper the incidents of harassment, and present them to someone higher in the chain with the threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit. If nothing else, the franchise owner is using his chain to finance his retirement, and a major lawsuit threat should get his attention.

I, of course, spent some time after the phone call really steamed. I came up with things to tell the creep if further incidents occurred, on the order of "If you try to get that thing anywhere near my mouth, I'll bite it off!" I thought about adding, "... and throw it in the fryer."

Recently I had a follow-up call, seeing how things were going. It was better, on this front at least. Her store manager had given the creep his first performance review, and it was terrible. It was very clearly a time for him to shape up or ship out. Halleluia!! So for the moment at least he's behaving himself.

I can't help wondering, however, what happens when he leaves to go manage his own place, unsupervised.