Unconventional Harassment

My company has a stand at a conference centre. We are running a competition for anyone who signs up for the mailing list to win an electric cooler full of beer.

I’m quickly walking the hall before the next talk to drum up interest. So far, everyone I have spoken to has been interested, and most went straight to the stand to sign up.

I approach a couple and begin my spiel.

Me: “Hi there. I work for [Company], and we are running a—”

Woman: “Ugh, I’m not interested.”

Me: “Okay, fair enough.”

Man: “She said she isn’t interested, pal!”

Woman: “What is it with men thinking everything is a dating event?!”

Me: “I’m not trying to ‘date’ you. We are running a competition—”

Woman: “Who do you work for?”

Me: “I work for [Company].”

Woman: “I’m going straight there and putting in a complaint right now!”

Me: “Fine, you do that.”

Luckily, my boss is a pretty reasonable guy, and having met my girlfriend, he knows I certainly wouldn’t be interested in this woman.

I speak to a few more people and then make my way back to the stand.

It looks like my drumming up business has worked better than expected; there is a large crowd. I quickly let my boss know about the woman and then get stuck taking names.

It’s not long before the woman shows up with her friend and tries to push through but gets stuck at the back of the crowd. Eventually, we get through everyone.

Woman: “Are you his boss?”

Manager: “I am the owner.”

Woman: “Well, how do you feel about your employees harassing women?”

Manager: “That didn’t happen.”

Woman: “How dare you?! I am the victim here!”

Man: “That’s right. I saw the whole thing.”

Manager: “And what did you see? Because this young man has never stepped a foot out of line.”

Woman: “Well, he harassed me, followed me around, and wouldn’t leave me alone. Made some stupid excuse to talk to me!”

Manager: “The only time he left my side was for twenty minutes and to hand out flyers. I doubt he had more than a few seconds to even talk to you.”

Woman: “Well, I’m going to talk to the event coordinator about this!”

Manager: “[Coordinator]? Tell him [Manager] said hi.”

She stomped off. My boss told me later that she did manage to find the event coordinator, who had to spend the next two hours chasing video footage, only to prove she was lying. He was furious, apparently.

The woman and her friend were invited to leave the convention, and a letter went to their employer detailing why they were not to attend in future.