Can I Have Friday Afternoon Now?

[anogete]

I'm exhausted, and I'm going to crash on the floor of my office if I don't get out of here soon. Stress is rebounding off the walls of this building, and I can't seem to dodge it. This entire week has been trying, but today was especially so. We've been bidding work left and right, without anything to show for it due to the current climate of the construction industry. I just spent the entire morning hunched over a typewriter filling out government paperwork and transcribing thousands of prices. My usual workload was pushed aside until this afternoon, which means I had to work twice as hard to get it completed. I suppose I could shove it off until next week, but that just leads to more work on Monday, and I don't have time for that. Tomorrow doesn't look much better than today, unfortunately.



And, you know, my entire day is made worse by the fact that I finished A Game of Thrones last night. I loved it, but I'm super duper depressed because I hate when characters I've grown to love die. I'm totally bummed.

During a moment for mental health this afternoon, I read this interesting article on work place sexual harassment. Specifically, sexual harassment directed at men from their female superiors and other women in the office. Working in a construction company, the sexual harassment from men is bound to happen, though I've never experienced it done in front of me while I was in the room. I have heard tale of certain individuals making comments about me or one of the other three women in this office, but it is never done in a harassing or insulting manner; it's usually meant as a complement. Then again, the crude things probably never get back to any of us girls because the boys know better. Has anyone experienced this in their job(s)?

Comments

[ccangel42.livejournal.com]

i've been sexually harassed at work twice that i've needed to report.

i work primarily with men and am not offended by a lot of the things that they say. i think i let them get away with more than most, but it's only what i'm comfortable with. as soon as they cross the line they almost immediately apologize when they see the look on my face or i tell them such...most of their comments however are not directed at me, but just in general or random comments they make. it's tough for them to know when to draw the line especially since i'm friends with them beyond a co-worker relationship.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I think most of the time people don't intend to sexually harass others. I'm in the same boat as you; I'm friends with people I work with. So, sometimes they think they can say things around you that they wouldn't necessarily say to someone they were on a strictly professional level with. I guess some people just don't know where to draw the line, and others find that to be harassment. I tend to just shrug it off as an uncomfortable comment that probably won't happen again by the chilly reception.

[marasmine.livejournal.com]

Difficult call. Part of me wants to say stop being so sensitive and part of me can recognise that it is a bad trend. Banter has a place in a good working environment - but one person's harmless banter can be another's sexual harrasment. I'm boring because I don't think flirting has any place in the office but that is something that can go wrong very easily and make people uncomfortable. Any sort of physical harrassment in wrong but making a call on light verbal harrassment is difficult.

Work often makes me uncomfortable but I don't see any campaigns to help me out! I wonder if in a few years we'll be able to drop the unpleasant tasks in a job because they upset us? I wish I could pick and choose... I suppose I ought to get a job before I complain about it though.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I guess the line with me is when you feel as if your job or safety is threatened by remarks. I'm not offended by sexual discussions or comments at work, but I've never felt as if any of those remarks threatened me. When I first started my current job, the girl before me had kept a sexual harassment log on the computer. It detailed conversations she had with other employees which she believed were harassment. I didn't find the log until about a year after working with these same people. I was astonished at the conversations she recorded, and to this day, I believe she probably embellished them or instigated them.

[neriah.livejournal.com]

I would have to think real hard about co-workers or bosses for anything as of late.

I have had more experiences with residents/clients being sexually inappropriate to my employment.

The most cringing was a quad who asked me to sit on his face so he could taste.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

Eww! The comment by the quad would definitely make me uncomfortable.

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

apart from the idiot at work who is crushing on me - a coworker though- and who does crowd me a bit every now and then or borders on inapropriate physical contact (just toeing the line between accidental stuff going on when we are all rushing and getting too close for comfort -
apart from that I never came into contact with stuff like that much

I find it hard to find the line with light verbal harrassment and joking - I think people are getting a bit too sensitive about that ...- as long as it isn't exactly personal or insulting