August 8, 2011
The front pages of all of the newspapers that I saw were horrifying today.
Below a story about "Riding The Dragon," a boat contest, there was a story called "New Champlain Bridge: Almost ready to close the gap."
"Riding the Dragon" was obviously meant to be humiliating to me, and the other story is code for making child molestation legal.
The Time Argus showed a picture of a little kid with a grown woman and below that had a fish reference.
The New York Times showed a picture of a little boy bent over with a grown man also bent over behind him. The author's name had the word "Gay" in it.
I looked at those newspapers as I was leaving Shaw's Supermarket in Montpelier.
Shaw's has had the entire salad bar filled with boxes of cherries for the past few days.
That's in addition to all of the other harassment around the store, and the sign that's also been up for the past few days that's ONLY about sexual harassment and child molestation, including putting a notice for a kids' activity above a notice for "seafood sampling."
Today, a poster that said "The Year of the Duck"had been added in the front entrance bulletin board.
The window of the first store front that I saw when I walked out of Shaw's seemed to have redone its entire display since yesterday. One thing it had in it was a picture of nothing but rows of fish.
Yesterday, I went to work. As soon as I walked in the door, my boss scowled at me and rubbed her nose ostentatiously. She rubbed her nose again while looking at me before we started working.
A few hours later, and older, female employee who also works in housekeeping walked up to me as I stood for a minute outside the door of the room I had been working on. She got close to me and said "I'm ugly today, I'm ugly today,"
I didn't say anything to that.
A few minutes later, she walked by outside in the hallway, paused in front of the door of the room that she knew I was in, and said loudly to someone in the hallway, "It's salmon pink."
I walked into the hallway a minute or two after that. One of the supply carts was blocking most of the hallway. The same older, female employee was standing near the cart, so I would have had to walk close by her to get to the other side of the cart. There was plenty of room behind her, because she was standing in front of an archway that is part of a small, side hall. She backed up a little bit, grinning. I said "Could you please back up more?" and she did.
A few minutes later, I was at the other cart, and she walked up to me, more or less backed me into the wall, and leered into my face "See you later Lena, I'll see you later," batting her eyes.
I said what I was thinking, which was "I'm going to punch your f---ing lights out."
She said "What?"
I said "If you harass me, I'm going to punch your f---ing lights out."
The boss was several feet in front of us and asked what was going on. The other employee said "Nothing," and they left.
A few minutes later, my boss walked into the room where I was working and said she wanted to talk to me. I immediately said, about the other female employee "She was talking about salmon pink." Then I said, to the boss "I know that you know what's going on. You knew who I was when you hired me. If you think I'm doing a bad job, you can fire me, but I'm not here to be abused."
She said "I don't know what salmon pink means," and began what is now the routine 2nd phase of my being harassed and abused, when all of the harassment of me is denied and I get blamed for everything.
After I'd tried talking to her, I saw that the conversation was going nowhere. I left the room and when to the front desk. There was no higher up for me to talk to, so I wrote a note. As I was writing the note, my boss walked up to within a few feet of me; she hassled me almost until the second I left the building. Even the front desk clerk was saying to her "Let (Lena) finish her note." My then-boss was being really aggressive, telling the same lies over and over again, as I first tried to ignore her, then said I didn't want to talk to her, and finally said "I'm still a private citizen, and you need to step away from me." She kept repeating "What does salmon pink mean? I don't know what that means. I'm 48 years old, and I'm from Utah, and I don't know what salmon pink means. Can you explain it to me? Do you want to talk about it, Lena? Don't you want to talk about it? I don't know why you're upset..,"
While she was hassling me, I wrote a note to the boss explaining what had happened. I said "I'm sorry if I didn't handle the situation the best I could." I also said "I'm happy to be working. I'm grateful for the job. If you want me to continue to work here, please call me."
No phone call at the end of today. I guess that's it for that job; also, it seems to me that sexual harassment of women is absolutely not being considered a crime anymore.
Copyright L. Kochman August 8, 2011 @ 9:35 p.m.
The front pages of all of the newspapers that I saw were horrifying today.
Below a story about "Riding The Dragon," a boat contest, there was a story called "New Champlain Bridge: Almost ready to close the gap."
"Riding the Dragon" was obviously meant to be humiliating to me, and the other story is code for making child molestation legal.
The Time Argus showed a picture of a little kid with a grown woman and below that had a fish reference.
The New York Times showed a picture of a little boy bent over with a grown man also bent over behind him. The author's name had the word "Gay" in it.
I looked at those newspapers as I was leaving Shaw's Supermarket in Montpelier.
Shaw's has had the entire salad bar filled with boxes of cherries for the past few days.
That's in addition to all of the other harassment around the store, and the sign that's also been up for the past few days that's ONLY about sexual harassment and child molestation, including putting a notice for a kids' activity above a notice for "seafood sampling."
Today, a poster that said "The Year of the Duck"had been added in the front entrance bulletin board.
The window of the first store front that I saw when I walked out of Shaw's seemed to have redone its entire display since yesterday. One thing it had in it was a picture of nothing but rows of fish.
Yesterday, I went to work. As soon as I walked in the door, my boss scowled at me and rubbed her nose ostentatiously. She rubbed her nose again while looking at me before we started working.
A few hours later, and older, female employee who also works in housekeeping walked up to me as I stood for a minute outside the door of the room I had been working on. She got close to me and said "I'm ugly today, I'm ugly today,"
I didn't say anything to that.
A few minutes later, she walked by outside in the hallway, paused in front of the door of the room that she knew I was in, and said loudly to someone in the hallway, "It's salmon pink."
I walked into the hallway a minute or two after that. One of the supply carts was blocking most of the hallway. The same older, female employee was standing near the cart, so I would have had to walk close by her to get to the other side of the cart. There was plenty of room behind her, because she was standing in front of an archway that is part of a small, side hall. She backed up a little bit, grinning. I said "Could you please back up more?" and she did.
A few minutes later, I was at the other cart, and she walked up to me, more or less backed me into the wall, and leered into my face "See you later Lena, I'll see you later," batting her eyes.
I said what I was thinking, which was "I'm going to punch your f---ing lights out."
She said "What?"
I said "If you harass me, I'm going to punch your f---ing lights out."
The boss was several feet in front of us and asked what was going on. The other employee said "Nothing," and they left.
A few minutes later, my boss walked into the room where I was working and said she wanted to talk to me. I immediately said, about the other female employee "She was talking about salmon pink." Then I said, to the boss "I know that you know what's going on. You knew who I was when you hired me. If you think I'm doing a bad job, you can fire me, but I'm not here to be abused."
She said "I don't know what salmon pink means," and began what is now the routine 2nd phase of my being harassed and abused, when all of the harassment of me is denied and I get blamed for everything.
After I'd tried talking to her, I saw that the conversation was going nowhere. I left the room and when to the front desk. There was no higher up for me to talk to, so I wrote a note. As I was writing the note, my boss walked up to within a few feet of me; she hassled me almost until the second I left the building. Even the front desk clerk was saying to her "Let (Lena) finish her note." My then-boss was being really aggressive, telling the same lies over and over again, as I first tried to ignore her, then said I didn't want to talk to her, and finally said "I'm still a private citizen, and you need to step away from me." She kept repeating "What does salmon pink mean? I don't know what that means. I'm 48 years old, and I'm from Utah, and I don't know what salmon pink means. Can you explain it to me? Do you want to talk about it, Lena? Don't you want to talk about it? I don't know why you're upset..,"
While she was hassling me, I wrote a note to the boss explaining what had happened. I said "I'm sorry if I didn't handle the situation the best I could." I also said "I'm happy to be working. I'm grateful for the job. If you want me to continue to work here, please call me."
No phone call at the end of today. I guess that's it for that job; also, it seems to me that sexual harassment of women is absolutely not being considered a crime anymore.
Copyright L. Kochman August 8, 2011 @ 9:35 p.m.