3 years ago I was passed up for a promotion at work. I was the floor supervisor in a call center. I was up for a promotion to personnel supervisor. I didn't really want the job, I was just doing it for the money. That isn't really the point.
I was the most qualified person for the position. When all my peers heard about the decision they were outraged. More so than I was. You see, the person that got the job was only slightly less qualified. I, in fact trained her. All of the people who expressed their outrage to me felt that she only got the job because she was a "he" previously. The change was not one where you couldn't tell. That wasn't what got her the job. I told these people that. I knew the reason why I didn't get the job and that is my point.
I didn't get the job because I was accused of sexual harassment by a co worker. Here is what happened.
A group of us were at lunch. We were sitting there talking about the bullshit one will when you are with coworkers. This girl was telling us about how badly a date she went on was. She was telling us that the guy made her feel unwanted and ugly. I would go into detail but, her story is not mine to tell. I felt really bad for her because some of the things he said and did were just really uncool. My advice to her was, forget about the guy. He was an obvious asshole. I told her, "you are absolutely gourgeous and will have no problem getting yourself someone new. Keep your chin up." This wasn't what got me accused of sexual harassment though.
I had just started seeing this girl I knew from high school. It was the end of january and V-Day was coming up. I was tying to think of something to get her and wanted to get her a well thought out gift. I got paged to the desk of that girl from the lunchroom. She was having trouble finding some information and I helped her finds it. While there, I couldn't help but notice the perfume (It turned out to be body spray) that she was wearing. I asked her what it was, thinking this was the gift I was going to buy. She told me, I said thanks and didn't think about it again.
3 days later I got called into human rescources. They told be that I was being accused of sexual harassment. They laid the whole story out for me. Told me that some of the people that were in the lunch room had heard the first instance. They wanted to hear my side of the story, so I told it. I was advised that I was being given a verbal warning not to do say anything like that to her again. See she never told me not to so they really could do more to me for it. Or could they?
It was a month later that the other job opening became available. When I asked why I wasn't given the promotion I was told, "We do not have the confidence that you could perform the job of a personnel supervisor given your history of dealing with female employees in a sensitive manner. If you can go two more months with no incidents we will be giving you the job if we get our next expansion." I figured there was no point arguing. The decision had already been made. Even if they saw my point of view they weren't going to take the job from someone else and give it to me.
I learned two things on that day. The first thing I learned was; no matter how friendly you think people are with you at work, they do talk about you behind your back. The secoond thing I learned; When dealing with ANY coworker at work, it is best to keep personal conversation to a minimum. In doing so peole can not say you treat them differently than others.
Perception is a wonderful thing.
I was the most qualified person for the position. When all my peers heard about the decision they were outraged. More so than I was. You see, the person that got the job was only slightly less qualified. I, in fact trained her. All of the people who expressed their outrage to me felt that she only got the job because she was a "he" previously. The change was not one where you couldn't tell. That wasn't what got her the job. I told these people that. I knew the reason why I didn't get the job and that is my point.
I didn't get the job because I was accused of sexual harassment by a co worker. Here is what happened.
A group of us were at lunch. We were sitting there talking about the bullshit one will when you are with coworkers. This girl was telling us about how badly a date she went on was. She was telling us that the guy made her feel unwanted and ugly. I would go into detail but, her story is not mine to tell. I felt really bad for her because some of the things he said and did were just really uncool. My advice to her was, forget about the guy. He was an obvious asshole. I told her, "you are absolutely gourgeous and will have no problem getting yourself someone new. Keep your chin up." This wasn't what got me accused of sexual harassment though.
I had just started seeing this girl I knew from high school. It was the end of january and V-Day was coming up. I was tying to think of something to get her and wanted to get her a well thought out gift. I got paged to the desk of that girl from the lunchroom. She was having trouble finding some information and I helped her finds it. While there, I couldn't help but notice the perfume (It turned out to be body spray) that she was wearing. I asked her what it was, thinking this was the gift I was going to buy. She told me, I said thanks and didn't think about it again.
3 days later I got called into human rescources. They told be that I was being accused of sexual harassment. They laid the whole story out for me. Told me that some of the people that were in the lunch room had heard the first instance. They wanted to hear my side of the story, so I told it. I was advised that I was being given a verbal warning not to do say anything like that to her again. See she never told me not to so they really could do more to me for it. Or could they?
It was a month later that the other job opening became available. When I asked why I wasn't given the promotion I was told, "We do not have the confidence that you could perform the job of a personnel supervisor given your history of dealing with female employees in a sensitive manner. If you can go two more months with no incidents we will be giving you the job if we get our next expansion." I figured there was no point arguing. The decision had already been made. Even if they saw my point of view they weren't going to take the job from someone else and give it to me.
I learned two things on that day. The first thing I learned was; no matter how friendly you think people are with you at work, they do talk about you behind your back. The secoond thing I learned; When dealing with ANY coworker at work, it is best to keep personal conversation to a minimum. In doing so peole can not say you treat them differently than others.
Perception is a wonderful thing.
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Oh, that's a nice thing, look up ones "roots", even if they're from long time ago (Who in your family comes from this parts?)
Hehe. I'm so bad at speaking english though, because I get so embarrassed and feel a bit insecure. I hope it will go away now when I can practice a lot at school.