We Think It’s Probably Just Because You’re A Jerk

I’m pulled to one side by the senior human resources manager. A woman has complained about unfair treatment due to her being a woman in every single department she has worked in. The list of names fills half a page of A4 alone.

We’ve had complaints before, but they were rare and the perpetrator was always someone known as a “complicated” employee. It’s never been to this scale.

We have to take it seriously, but we can’t suspend half the company. Instead, I am asked to spend some time with the employee who’s complaining and see if we can see what is happening.

I follow her around and watch her cut in line, take food off people’s plates, make jokes about others’ appearances, push others to buy her coffee, and just generally be over-familiar with people in the worse possible way.

I pull her to one side and quiz her on it.

Me: “What was that?”

Woman: “What?”

Me: “The way you acted?”

Woman: “Oh, we were just kidding around. I always do that.”

Me: “Are any of those people the ones you’ve had ‘problems’ with?”

Woman: “Oh, yeah. [Man #1] and [Man #2] were there. [Man #3] I think was the one staring at me by the machine. Who does that? I just wanted a drink.”

Me: “Well, I think he was annoyed that you pushed in front of him.”

Woman: “You snooze, you lose.”

We did have some sensitivity training, but there was only one participant.