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Monday, August 30, 2004
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VOLUME 1
ISSUE 24
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I'll Be Your Sugar Daddy
Pinch Me...or Don't!
It was a horrible nightmare when the software company I worked for hired a new Executive Vice President of Sales. The worst of many incidents occurred when a female sales representative, the EVP (who was just a consultant at the time), and I went on a business trip. Due to the layout of the hotel, he insisted we get together in his room to prepare a document for an upcoming meeting.
Women in business are sometimes forced into situations that aren't the most desirable, and it wouldn’t have been the first time that meetings had taken place in a hotel room. Besides, there were two of us - safety in numbers, right? Immediately after entering his room, he began telling us that we should be at home and not working. He said he could be our sugar daddy and that we’d never have to work again. He’d dress us up in cute dresses, matching shoes and purses.
During our visit to the room, he proceeded to announce that he was taking a shower and quickly went in before we could react. He undressed with the door open, and unfortunately, we saw him naked. We were in shock and really didn’t know how to respond, so we moved to the other side of the room. In hindsight, we should have bolted from the room, but he was our boss. I’ve been in business in a man’s world for many years; comments are made all the time, especially if you’re in a sales organization. His behavior was off, but we thought we could handle it. After all, we always had before.
We finished our task and left the room immediately. He was just a consultant, and any woman would rather chop off her right arm than turn in someone for harassment. He became the official EVP eight months later.
His inappropriate comments and behavior continued, not only toward us, but toward many women in the organization. In fact, it escalated to the point of physical touching. We were in a field office and weren’t aware of the extent of his victims. Needless to say, a few months after he became a permanent employee, a group of females (including myself) turned him in for sexual harassment.
We were aware of seven or eight females that had been harassed, and he had been turned in to HR more than once before the group came forward. The company did nothing but slap him on the hand, telling us there was no corroboration of the events. He began retaliating against us, and within six months, every female in the group was gone from the company.
These females had been well respected, had a very long tenure at the company, and had been superstar performers in every way. It saddens me to realize that things like this still go on in organizations and that we have a very tough battle to fight if we choose to do something about it. The women filed a lawsuit against the individual and the organization.
That was three years ago, and it continues today. Organizations believe they can pay someone off with a settlement, brush controversy under the rug, and pretend that we’re just a bunch of paranoid women. Too often, we choose to look the other way because we don’t want to lose our careers or jeopardize our reputations. I’ve lost a lot, and it hasn't been easy, but I know in my heart that I did the right thing.
- ‘Betty’ in Texas
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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Copyright © 2004 WorldWIT, Inc.. All rights reserved.
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