https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:24:15 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433730 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:27:34 +0000 DigAPony 433730@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was sexually harassed by students quite frequently when I worked as a paraprofessional in a classroom for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (mostly disgusting comments that made me feel horrible--I was spit on, but no student ever touched me in an uncomfortable way). That's part of the job, though, so you have to put up with it and know it isn't personal. I didn't handle it well emotionally. </p> <p>Working at that school taught me that while it's important not to give up on something just because it's difficult, sometimes it's not worth it to keep a job if it's detrimental to your psyche. I totally admire people who work with tough student populations, but I am not cut out for it, and I should have quit that job instead of sticking it out for the entire school year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433705 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:04:38 +0000 Mrs. Pen 433705@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. I worked with a guy in high school who was the same age as me, but he was a crew leader and I was just a regular employee. He knew I was a Christian and awkward about sexual conversations so he would purposefully bring it up and make sexual comments and jokes alllll the time. Drove me nuts but eventually I just ignored him. He ended up getting fired for being lazy lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433703 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:01:53 +0000 doodlepoodle 433703@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@oliviaoblivia: As an HR person that ticks me off!!! :( </p> <p>I've never been sexually harassed but I have been harassed...I'm hoping he retires soon. He's a fellow HR employee in my dept who has been there before and is on the verge of retirement so I'm hoping after open enrollment this year he'll just bow out and I won't have to deal with him anymore. He treats me like I'm his secretary. We're actually equals. I told him to the the f*ck out of my office while I was pregnant when he asked me to change the toner in our dept printer. Oops. ;-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433587 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:29:57 +0000 blackbird 433587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep and I got someone fired for it. He kept gossiping to other coworkers (a friend of mine, in particular) about how good in bed he thought I was and how I was a "moaner". Blech. My friend told me about it, I got super grossed out/creeped out by this older guy talking about me like that (um, i was 19 at the time? maybe 20?...) and management fired his sorry ass. Nobody's ever touched me inappropriately, though. </p> <p>I've worked with some creepers or people who say odd things but nothing that made me feel threatened. There's a difference between saying something that deserves an eye roll from me and crossing the line to the point where I say something. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433578 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:25:10 +0000 LinzR 433578@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hmmm not so much sexually I guess, but I had something super uncomfortable happen that resulted in someone getting fired. </p> <p>A few years back I was in lower management for a hotel, and one of the maintenance guys kept making super weird comments to me - not sexual, just weird, things like he wrote me a letter, wanted me to meet his daughter, etc. just weird. </p> <p>One day I left property and went out to lunch by myself and an unknown number kept calling me, and I finally answered and it was HIM! He was so off, telling me we were meant to be together, he was bringing his parents in town to meet me, etc. I hung up, called my boss, and took the rest of the day off while he was terminated. I got about 70 blocked calls that day until I changed my number. </p> <p>It was super weird and uncomfortable. Like I said, nothing really sexual, just like something was mentally unstable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433494 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:39:16 +0000 Mrs. J 433494@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes--I started my first job at 15 at a butcher shop (yea...I know, gross), and it was mostly males who worked there. I was constantly harassed and called names like TAL (tits, ass, legs) and car crash (because I could cause one walking by). It even extended to the customers--one went so far as to imply that I would give a BJ to my "husband". (hello, I'm a teenager.) I told my boss, who was a family friend, and he kind of laughed it off. It was so frustrating because they considered me like a "sister" yet did nothing to protect me. </p> <p>My second job was at a certain popular coffee chain, which pretty much meant I was held captive behind the counter as customers harassed me and said inappropriate things or tried to get me to go out with them. Ugh </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433304 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:37:16 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 433304@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thankfully, NO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433293 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:33:02 +0000 avivoca 433293@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Unfortunately, yes. It was while I worked as a hostess after I graduated, and our GM was pretty inappropriate with all the ladies. He even asked me if I'd come to his house as a private maid (paid under the table of course). I was so glad when I got out of there, and to this day I refuse to eat at any restaurant in the chain. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433272 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:24:13 +0000 Bao 433272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433252 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:10:59 +0000 MrsSCB 433252@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never been by someone AT my work, thank goodness. But I had a horrible experience on my way to work last year and my boss said something about it that really bothered me. I take the subway to work and a man took advantage of it being really crowded by rubbing his hand on my backside--it went on for a few minutes before I realized that it wasn't someone's bag that kept touching my butt, it was someone's HAND. I jumped off the train and ran to tell someone at the station. I was extremely upset. A very kind police officer helped me file a report. I was late to work so I told my boss what happened. She was an older female. She said, "I'm not surprised that happens at this time of year [it was summer] with so many women wearing dresses." I was wearing a dress and I was pretty offended that I felt like she was blaming me for what this guy did just because I happened to wear a dress on the Subway. Ugh. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433204 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:37:19 +0000 banana 433204@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: OMG wth? handcuffed you? That's crazy!</p> <p>I was harrassed once a work by the security guard. He used to stalk me and follow me around and leave me presents at my desk. When it would rain, he would come to my desk right before I left and offer to walk me to my car with his umbrella. I told HR and a week later, he was gone. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433199 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:34:22 +0000 chrispygal 433199@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Arden: OMG, how scary! That person has some anger issues.</p> <p>I've been harrassed, not directly but there was definitely an inappropriate and hostile work environment at my first job. The boss kept playboys in the men's room and we'd have to go in there and hide them when customer's kids would want to use the bathroom. He'd also watch porn on his computer, which faced the door and his office had windows so we could see it all. He'd also be on inappropriate "dating" sites and then tell us details of his excapades. He also pressured us to lose weight. Completely inappropriate and dysfunctional and if we had ever sued him, we totally would have had a case. But I was happy enough to just leave that behind and move forward. I will never work under those conditions again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433167 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:16:22 +0000 Alivoo01 433167@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thankfully, no! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433163 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:13:49 +0000 Anagram 433163@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Arden: restaurants are crazy places to work!! See my stories in the other thread about quitting without notice. </p> <p>Waitressing is seriously one of the worst jobs in the entire world. At least if you work at a "low end" restaurant. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433162 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:13:31 +0000 chopsuey 433162@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep. By an attorney of all people! Hahaha<br /> He was so unprofessional.. He was 27 years old at the time and had just started his own practice.<br /> He'd drop ice down the back of my shirt, make inappropriate comments, handcuffed me to my chair once!<br /> I should have sued him :P </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433157 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:12:06 +0000 Anagram 433157@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Never in any of my professional jobs. Although when I was a hostess at a chain restaurant in HS, one of the older waiters would constantly walk by and slap me on the butt. One of the managers did that too. Honestly, I was so young and stupid at the time, that I felt almost complimented by it, because they only did it to the pretty girls! Sick, right?</p> <p>I was only like...16! Of course, the waiter and the "manager" were probably both around 18-19. But still. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433147 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:09:19 +0000 Arden 433147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. At one restaurant job I worked at, it was coming from multiple guys. </p> <p>The general manager (a woman) actually told me to wear tighter pants and more makeup "because the owner (a man) liked it". I refused, told her that was incredibly inappropriate, and ignored her.<br /> After that, other managers started getting inappropriate as well, making sexual comments, "accidentally" brushing my breasts or butt when they walked by, etc.</p> <p>The final straw was when a manager came up and grabbed my butt. I spun around and said "Do not ever touch me again!", and he slammed me against the wall and started screaming obscenities and saying he was my boss and he could do whatever he wanted. </p> <p>I looked him in the eye and said "notice that security camera behind you?". He backed up and I took off, and never went back to work. </p> <p>(There actually was no security camera in that spot, but it gave me the time I needed to run out the door. If it had been on video, I would have gone to the police.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433059 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:30:58 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 433059@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes. It ended up getting so bad that I brought it to HR and he was fired. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433047 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:22:48 +0000 Rock n Roll 433047@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not since I've had an office job. (I mean, there have been a couple of inappropriate jokes or whatever, but nothing that made me feel bad or unsafe.) </p> <p>I worked in a kitchen in high school and college, and it's pretty common in that line of work. I got unwanted shoulder massages out of nowhere and a chef that would grab my ass all the time. I switched shifts so I didn't have to deal with grabby chef as much and I think the GM gave him a talking to because he dialed it down after that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-433012 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:06:37 +0000 oliviaoblivia 433012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At an old job the IT guy asked me out regularly. I politely turned him down for two years during which he refused to fix my computer unless I talked nicely to it and went out with him. It kept escalating with him saying more and more inappropriate and vulgar things to me until I made a complaint with HR. HR told me that was just how he was and I should ignore him. I quit a week later. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-432993 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:54:50 +0000 dagret 432993@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yup, posted about it in the "no notice" thread. SUCKS.<br /> Also got the hairy eyeball on the regular from a boss at a different job, but that was as far as it went, so whatevs. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-432988 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:53:13 +0000 tororojo 432988@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thankfully no! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-432984 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:50:56 +0000 MrsBrewer 432984@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope never. I'm thankful I have never been in that kind of situation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-432982 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:50:18 +0000 autumnlove 432982@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/have-you-ever-been-sexually-harassed-at-work#post-432977 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:47:54 +0000 mrbee 432977@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was a temp in high school and college,, so I worked in dozens (hundreds?) of offices over the year. There were weird moments at the occasional job but when I was in high school, I had one boss that went way over the line... I just pretended nothing had happened, and so did she.</p> <p>In retrospect, I wish I would have said something to my contact at the temp office. I'm sure that she was doing it to lots of other temps, and it may have even been while she was hiring temps on a regular basis. None of that occurred to me when I was in high school. Plus I wanted to maintain a good relationship with my contact at the temp office, because I was totally dependent on them for gigs.</p> <p>Oh and also, my experience was that temp work in an office tended to be heavily skewed towards women temps... most guys I knew were assigned to light industrial or construction work (which pays the same or less, but is more dangerous and difficult). So I was fearful that if I said anything, I'd be given nothing but construction gigs in the future! (Or worse yet, no gigs at all.) I had heard of that happening to other male temps who complained (about other things).</p> <p>Ugh I'm so glad I'm not a temp any more! You are in a really vulnerable position, so people constantly abuse and degrade you with impunity. </p> <p>Have you ever been sexually harassed at work? </p>