My 'sexual harassment awareness' experience

I worked at a place in Arizona where the whole staff had to go to a “sexual harassment awareness” seminar as part of a settlement in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit involved one staffer alleging sexual harassment by a department head.

In the end the matter was settled out of court. The accused staffer lost his job, the plaintiff was awarded a couple of thousand dollars (a chunk of which I understand went to pay her attorney) and the staff had to go to the seminar.

It was a good thing. I learned stuff.

For instance I learned it was OK to pay occasional compliments to co-workers, but to do so every day to the same person could be considered harassment.

Afterward, if I ever paid a compliment to a female co-worker I would throw in, “And if you were a guy who just got a great new haircut, I’d pay you a compliment also.”

Which was often met with, “Gee, thanks, I think.”

For the seminar we sat around a giant table presided over by the session leader, a woman from Phoenix.

There were hand-outs, a Power Point presentation (after all this was 1995) and discussions.

I had a question I thought was important.

“Is passing gas in front of another staff member a form of harassment?” I asked.

The seminar lady stared at me.

“No. It’s rude but not a form of sexual harassment,” seminar lady said.

There was more discussion.

A bit later I remembered an incident I witnessed months earlier. The two staffers involved no longer worked at the place.

“Something happened a few months ago,” I said.

This got me a kind of “What now?” look from seminar lady.

I told how one morning Audrey, a commercial writer, was at her word processor when Jake, the station engineer, came in the office.

“I see you have a LOR,” Jake said.

Audrey turned to look at Jake.

“What’s a LOR?” she asked.

“A little ol’ radio,” Jake said, pointing at her desk radio.

“Whatever,” Audrey said.

“And you’re sitting on your BFA,” Jake said.

“What’s a BFA,” Audrey asked without looking up.

“Your big fat…”

Jake had barely gotten the second word out of his mouth when, in one swift motion, Audrey spun around, grabbed Jake by his shoulders, lifted him and slammed him up against the wall. His two feet were dangling about a foot off the ground.

Jake was a short, bony guy and Audrey was about 6 feet tall.

Audrey lowered Jake to the ground and he ran out of the office. She went back to writing commercials.

“So is this sexual harassment?” I asked.

Seminar lady was staring at me with mouth agape as was the general manager.

“Oh my, yes, both of these people needed to be written up,” seminar lady said.

“How come you never told me about this?” general manager asked, thumping a finger on the table.

“Jake insulted Audrey, Audrey slammed Jake against the wall, I figured they were even,” I said.

“No, no, no, no,” seminar lady said. “We’re not in elementary school. That’s not how things work.”

“OK, so if I ever see that happen again I’ll know better,” I said.

“I want to see you in my office when we’re finished here,” general manager said.

I smiled.

And I sighed.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

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