English Major Assignment 2

Last Name 1
Student Name
Professor Name
Class
Date
To: Companies That Tolerate Sexual Harassment
Dear Sirs/Madams,
I am writing because I had never experienced sexual harassment firsthand until I began
working retail at a small grocery market centered in a tiny town near the heart of the Wine
Country. I mostly enjoyed my time while working at the store, however, managements' inactivity
inaction to reprimand or punish employees that have sexually harassed their coworkers in any
way is unacceptable. Whether this negligence is due to not caring about the safety of employees
or the lack of knowledge on how to approach a situation such as sexual harassment, something
needs to change. Constantly walking on eggshells when speaking to customers who are much too
friendly is not how a seventeen-year-old girl should be doing her job.
I was a minor while working at the store and multiple men, both customers and fellow
employees, made advances onto me that I in no way showed interest towards. One customer,
who looked to be in his late 50s, told me that if he was my age we would be dating and then
proceeded to ask when my shift was over. I laughed it off and avoided his uncomfortable
questions because I was told by management that “the customer is always right,” and to just go
along with whatever they say. I felt as if the customer was going to take my avoidance of the
question as an acceptance of his implicit offer. This notion that the employees should not stand
up for themselves when experiencing a very uncomfortable situation with a customer is not in
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any way safe. Instead, safety training and educational programs should be implemented to
inform employees on what to say and do in these situations to keep themselves safe.
Another time I noticed one of my coworkers staring at both my female coworkers and
myself. He made multiple advances on me, which I once again avoided without causing
problems because I knew management would not do anything about it. While the company must
have a way for employees to formally complain, many fail to create a system that is safe and
reliable enough for it to be taken seriously. A study done by multiple university professors
further proves this and even adds that, “reporting harms a victim’s ability to be resilient at work”
(Ford, et al. 524).{changed to two sentences} So I, therefore, knew it would most likely make
things worse for me create a more stressful situation for me. He ended up asking asked for my
phone number multiple times and even though I denied him in multiple various ways, he found it
through one of our coworkers. He then proceeded to text me multiple times per day and ask for
pictures of me so he could “use them for a contact picture.” I continued to deny this and not
respond to his texts. A few days after this, he walked into the break room while I was in there
and asked me to take off my mask so he could “see the pretty little face under there.” I proceeded
to deny his requests and ended up having to walk out of the room as he persistently tried to
persuade me and even attempted to pull my mask off himself. Because of this, I asked the other
female employees around my age if they had experienced this as well and they all said yes. I was
completely bewildered that management had never tried to intervene and possibly nonchalantly
address the entire staff about the lack of respect or even reprimand the employee for his actions.
Once I found out that I was not the only one I finally decided to bring this to managements’
attention Despite the fact that “victim resilience decreases when victims formally report their
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sexual harassment,” I finally decided to bring the situation to managements’ attention and hoped
for a positive outcome (Ford et al. 523).
To no surprise, even after I had given a very detailed description of everything that had
happened, management brushed it under the rug regardless of my very detailed description of the
sequence of events. They then suggested to me that he is “harmless,” and “means nothing by it,”
so I should just go about the rest of my day with no worries. These types of mentalities are what
lead to more and more reports of sexual harassment in the workplace. In fact, “40% of women
and 16% of men say they’ve been sexually harassed at work,” which are staggering numbers that
can be lowered if companies and businesses like the market I was employed at implement
contrive effective sexual harassment training programs. A study done by two sociology
professors shows that explains how “the training programs that most companies put all workers
through,” are not “helping to solve the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace” (Dobbin
and Kalev).
Instead, programs such as bystander-intervention training and manager training have
shown proven to be much more effective. Bystander-intervention training consists of teaching
people how to recognize sexual harrassment and what to say and do in order to stop the affair
from escalating. say or do something when they see or hear someone being sexually harassed in
any way. It also teaches people how to recognize when someone is being sexually harassed or
not. Those who have already participated in this training “consistently report that it has helped
them know what to do when they see signs of a problem” (Dobbin and Kalev). Manager training
“presents harassment as a challenge that all managers must deal with,” and puts the
responsibility on them to enact (Dobbins and Kalev). It also teaches exclusively managers “on
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how to recognize early signs of harassment and how to intervene swiftly and effectively to
prevent escalation” (Dobbins and Kalev).
With the percentage of workplace sexual harassment cases so high, it is obvious that
actions must be taken to lower those numbers and make everyone feel safer in a work
environment. I should not have had to experience what I did while working at the market and
nobody else should in the future, which is why these new training programs should be put into
effect. If everyone learned how to respect both men and women of all ages, then the rate of
sexual harassment cases between employees or even an employee with a customer would
decrease. In my situation, my only choice was to block his number and quit my job, which is
something that no one should resort to just to avoid sexual harassment.
Sincerely,
Student Name
Last Name 5
Works Cited
Dobbin, Frank, and Alexandra Kalev. “Why Sexual Harassment Programs Backfire.” Harvard
Business Review, 27 Aug. 2021,
https://hbr.org/2020/05/why-sexual-harassment-programs-backfire.
Jessica L. Ford, Sonia Ivancic & Jennifer Scarduzio (2021) Silence, Voice, and Resilience: An
Examination of Workplace Sexual Harassment, Communication Studies, 72:4, 513-530,
DOI: 10.1080/10510974.2021.1953092

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Last Name 1

To: Companies That Tolerate Sexual Harassment

friendly is not how a seventeen-year-old girl should be doing her job.

for a positive outcome (Ford et al. 523).

Instead, programs such as bystander-intervention training and manager training have

shown proven to be much more effective. Bystander-intervention training consists of teaching

prevent escalation” (Dobbins and Kalev).

something that no one should resort to just to avoid sexual harassment.

Business Review, 27 Aug. 2021,

Examination of Workplace Sexual Harassment, Communication Studies, 72:4, 513-530,

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