"Did you observe any other incidents of sexual harassment during Sean's visits during that transition period?" I was looking for more corroboration to the sexual harassment allegations.
"He was down to Macon at least three or four times during the transition, and he held a management meeting each time. " LaTonya sat back and relaxed as she continued the story.
"He seemed to like to joke around. And some of those jokes were sexual, or there were these sexual innuendos. You know,...some people describe things using sports metaphors, 'the ball's in your court,' or 'you're part of the team.' But Sean would use sexual metaphors to emphasize a point. Talking about a joint venture, he'd say 'we're going to get in bed together,' or when the competition landed an order that we sought, he said that we got fucked by the competition. When you made a mistake, you 'fucked up,' When he wanted to build excitement about a new product, his expression was let's get a 'hard-on' about this."
"Did anybody say anything, anyone complain?"
"What can you say? Who can you complain to? He's the guy that bought the company. You're concerned about losing your job. The guys chuckled, the women just rolled their eyes and kept their mouths shut." LaTonya hesitated a moment, and a subtle triumphant grin came to her face.
Then she added, "But when he tried that on me, one-on-one, I gave him an eye to eye glare and told him to stop it. And then one time he tried it again, so I walked away and saying, 'I'll finish this conversation when you ready to speak civilly.'"
LaTonya was on a roll, as one memory seemed to spark another. Her voice picked up its tempo. She continued, "Another time, he thought he was being cute and his fingers went to my breast. In half a second, I had his thumb twisted backward so far that he fell back into his chair and rolled back onto the floor. I walked out of the room and didn't talk to him the rest of the time he was in Atlanta."
LaTonya sat back, and crossed her arms, nodding affirmatively. "He didn't know where to draw the line, so I drew it for him. After that, he behaved when he talked to me."
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(He Crossed the Line is an excerpt from my recent novel "Drawing a Line: A look inside the corporate response to sexual harassment." You are invited to read the novel for more exciting adventures on gutsy PI Gina Girardi as she works to solve this case.)
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He Crossed the Line
Short StoryHow do you handle a man who tries to handle you? Chicago PI Gina Girardi travels to Georgia to interview a witness who may have information about the shooting of executive Sean O'Rielly. Here she meets LaTonya Washington, who describes her experie...
