OK retired DUers - how did you handle sexual harassment back in the day

[kimbutgar]

54. Right out of college I worked for Merrill Lynch

There was this guy who used to say awful sexual salaciousness stuff to me. He would call me on my private line and say he could take me away for the weekend and show me what a real man was like. And he’d make gestures like rubbing his crotch and sticking out his tongue in a sexual manner at me.

This was 1978 and I really wanted to succeed so I kept my mouth shut but finally I told my father and he blew up! He wanted to go to work and confront the guy but my Mother told him no and that I should go to my supervisor and complain. I did but nothing was done. I just dealt with it and eventually left the job. I heard later on he was harassing a bunch of other women and he finally got fired. The thing was he was a black man who was an affirmative action hire and I was a little light skinned black girl and the management didn’t wanted to get involved in”racial” matters. I learned that I had to confront these creeps myself and stand up for myself which I did in later jobs. But it made me a nervous wreck and I used to cry in the bathroom all the time.

I think now it it happened today I would have got a nice sexual harassment lawsuit to sue the crap out of that firm and made some serious money. I used to keep a journal about the stuff this guy did.