Harassment in the Work Place - Part One

So Harvey Weinstein has generated a lot of talk in Hollywood and social media.  My friends and are talking about it and the surprising thing in my circle of friends is that every woman I know has in some way or another been harassed wither sexually, emotionally or as a form of bullying (which is also harassment).   Most of the events seem to have happened when we were younger and sometimes we didn’t even know that it was harassment or bullying because back in 1972 it wasn’t a term that was openly spoken of.  So this will be a two part piece as I tell my story.

In 1972 when I was 18 years old I decided to go into the workforce rather than go straight to university.  I was a shy but attractive girl (no bragging meant) and very nervous in my few interviews.  I had been on a few which were always conducted in an office and with people dressed appropriately.  Then one time I got sent to a place where the guy took me into a back warehouse and sat me down on a ratty old sofa while he sat in a chair (thank the Lord he did not sit on the sofa with me).  He glanced at my resume (I had had 2 summer jobs so did have a resume) and asked me a few questions before he suddenly switched the topic to him having a sore neck and back.  He said that he sometimes had the receptionist massage his neck and back and was I embarrassed by nudity?  Wow, was I ever getting uncomfortable but I had no idea how to answer him or how to get out of the building as fast as possible.  All I wanted to do was run as fast as I could out the door.  To this day I cannot recall exactly how it all ended except he must have seen my eyes grow as big as saucers and realized he had crossed a line.  All I knew was that was seriously scared of him.

I never mentioned it to my parents but it sure made me very scared to go out on interviews for quite a few weeks.  Eventually I registered with Drake Personnel who only sent me to office environments that were very high end and it was very soon after that when I landed a job at Canadian Indemnity on Main Street in Winnipeg. It was a great job and I had no issues with them.

When my father got transferred to Kitchener in 1973 I landed a job with Prudential Insurance in Waterloo.  I was bullied in a weird sort of way; essentially I worked with 7 other women aged 25 to 60 (I was 19) and they were catty with everyone.  We were split in 2 coffee/lunch groups but 2 of us would be switched every week to the other group so after the second week I realized that they bitched about each other behind each other’s backs.  I knew I had to keep my mouth shut and not say anything about any of the others.  Nevertheless I felt that they were talking about me when I wasn’t in the room.  It was a poisonous environment and I lasted there about 6 months.  This is where karma comes in.  Shortly before I left, say 4 weeks before, I had to call one of the younger ladies to help me with a gentleman (Vern Hacking) who was transferring his policy from Toronto to Kitchener.  I had never done that procedure so need some help.  The woman made a big fuss (openly so he could see she was annoyed with me).  I was embarrassed and humiliated and looked up at him (he was quite a tall man, over 6 feet) and mouthed “I am so sorry”.  He smiled and made some soothing comment.  All was dealt with and that should have been the end of it.  But as my great good fortune would have it when the agency sent me to an interview, who should be the owner and interview?  You guessed it, Vern.  He was so nice, he remembered me as I remembered him and I was hired almost on the spot.  It was a very luck job for me as I basically learned almost all my office procedures at this workplace.   Billie Farmer was my mentor and I learned the 1Right Accounting system (accounts payable, receivable and payroll for staff, hourly and union, how to take accounts to Bank Reconciliation, doing the bank reconciliation.  Everything accounting).  AS well, Vern and the Italian partner whose name I forget taught me how to polish my reception skills, my executive assistant skills (I was Vern’s personal assistant).  My resume after my year there was impeccable and opened many future doors for me.

All this said, I did happen to have a somewhat slight case of, not exactly harassment, but a semi – suggestive come-on.  I was startled but was able to handle it.

Tomorrow continued.