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After encountering a sexual assault at work, I was uncertain as to what to do.
I was very much in a state of shock because of what occurred, taking into consideration that I was almost fifty years old and this was a very young man in
his twenties that grabbed my behind. I remember running to the ladies room and shutting the stall door. I began crying. Everybody at work knew that I was happily
married and I did absolutely nothing to give this guy the wrong impression. I felt
both violated and angry at the same time. This incidence happened a few minutes
before the store was closing so I wanted to tell my husband first. Of course, my
husband hit the ceiling but he also made me promise to tell my boss. I was still
pretty shaken up because I always went out of the way to tell the kids at work how
much they reminded me of my own children. It bothered me that he got a different
picture of me. What made it worse is that I told some of my girlfriends that are
my age and they couldn't figure out why I didn't look at this like a compliment?
I felt the young man had crossed the line. I never wanted to see this person fired
but he did have to know that what he did was wrong. The following morning I met
with my boss. He called a couple other managers in to listen on our conversation.
They had no doubt that I wasn't telling the truth. This is one benefit of being
with a company for a lot of years. The people there get to know you quite well.
You gain a reputation. They asked me what I would like to see happen to this young
man. I told them that I would feel uncomfortable working in the same store as
him but I did not want to see him fired. Our store has over 40 locations so it
would not be hard to transfer him. Although my bosses listened to my request, they
did turn around and fire him. He was one of the best salespeople we had at that
time. In this instance, money wasn't enough to win his stay at the job. I still
become upset when I recall the incident. It hurt that someone would assume that
I was this type of character. It's sad that he had to lose his job.

Learn more about this author, Denise Difalco.
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