The Fox Hole

So anyway, there's this particular manager at her office (not her upline manager) who seemed to have taken a liking to her. Well, her and every other female colleague from what Debbie said. Whenever this manager came around to hand stuff over to any of the girls, he'd stand very close to them. When he approaches Debbie for any sort of "work-related" issues, he'd stroke her arm, or smell her hair, or rub her neck.

To Debbie, that's harassment. Initially when it happened, she just started to shrink away from this manager. Everytime he came around, she'd squeeze herself as much as possible into a tiny ball. When he came to her table, she'd lean away from him. Yet, he persisted and continued to stroke/smell her. Debbie could only confide in her female colleagues, who confirmed similar things have happened to them too. The only thing Debbie could do back then, was to talk to her own boss.

Eventually. there came an office meeting with the Human Resource department. That was when Debbie brought up his behaviour. Of course, the manager denied all the allegations, saying he was just being friendly and wanted to put the girls at ease.

The best part is, he didn't stop. He'd continue the stroking and sniffing, standing very very very close, touching them, holding their hands etc. Debbie couldn't take it anymore, and called the cops. Yeah she really did!

Company Z actually supported Debbie's actions, instead of trying to sweep everything under the carpet like what many other companies would do. Although this might be "an internal problem", it's affecting many people.

So anyway, the HR department gave an ultimatum to the accused manager. "Resign on your own, or we terminate you."

He quit the next day.

That was the day we saw Debbie at the pub, and that was the day Debbie said she'll finally be able to sleep peacefully. She said she'd had nightmares eversince she got harassed at work, and had not been able to sleep properly for the past 3 or 4 months.

Moral of the story (in Singlish) - All you chee hongs at the office, wanna tackle girls hor, tackle with mouth only ok? don't tackle with hands. Sure kena mata one, especially if your target is Debbie!

In all seriousness, sexual harassment can happen to men too, not just women. Just like rape, it happens to men too. The thing is, when it DOES happen to men, they're too embarassed to talk about it, let alone report it. Men are supposed to be macho, suave, and not meek little sheep.