There have been a couple of times I've mentioned my previous job - the one I had before the one I'm at now. However, I don't think I've ever gone into detail.
The summers of '06 and '07 I worked for my step-dad's construction company in their summer student internship program - aka - I became a construction worker laborer.
Everyone always asks what I could have done. I guess I shouldn't be too offended, I'm probably one of the girlyest girls you'll ever meet. But believe it or not, they had me tearing down drywall, pouring new cement, cleaning up after the carpenters - you name it, I did it. Basically I was their bitch.
The first summer was a pretty cushy job, I was inside most of the time working in air conditioned office buildings helping one carpenter. I learned a lot and worked hard. I learned how to 'demo' a room, lay rebar, and tear up carpet squares.
The second summer was a different. I had decided I wasn't going back to school and this was going to be an indefinite job since I didn't really have a plan. I was working for a different construction manager, in an outside facility, and it was hard. It felt more like 'real' construction work. We had our own trailer we ate lunch in every day and everyone kind of kept their heads down and did their job. That was fine with me, I just wanted to put in my hours and get home. Until about mid September, I started getting sexually harassed by one of the fore mans of another company. He was an older man, scraggly beard and smoked like a chimney, he was disgusting. But none the less, I feared walking by his trailer in the morning and lock myself in the porta potty after he would say lued things to me.
I first reported it to my foreman, then the project manager and then my own step-dad. I got the same response from all three, "That's just how he is, don't take it to heart." "Oh, you're gonna get that at any job you work at when you're the only female." "Don't worry about it." I was twenty years old at the time and knew that what was happening wasn't right. I wish I would have gone further to the top of the company with my complaints but I was scared. I thought making a bigger fuss would cause him to be more relentless with his sexual teasing and cornering me. I had finally had it one day, I called my mother in law during my lunch break, standing outside the gate of the construction site, crying. I felt like all my complaints were either falling on deaf ears or people just thought I was trying to make an excuse to not work there. I was lonely, ashamed and felt like I had no other option but to keep working at a place where nobody cared that this was happening to me.
Thankfully, that same day, Bryan's aunt contacted me and said she had a position opening in one of the clinics she manages and thought I would be an excellent candidate.
So, I gave my notice, said goodbyes to the few friends I had made, and kissed construction goodbye. I currently still work for the same company - that in my mind, saved me. I miss it sometimes, working in the sunshine, union laborer's wages, and getting off at 2:30 in the afternoon. But I know that I would have drowned if I had stayed.
In no situation is sexual harassment EVER tolerable.
There is nothing wrong with you, and you should go as high as you need to to get someone to listen to you.
I'm so sorry if this is something you've gone through or going through in your life. If you'd like to talk or need some advice, please email me at alhutson0513@gmail.com
This was a hard one, it definitely brought back tough memories, but I think it's important to talk about the painful stuff. Helps us heal.
Thanks for listening ladies <3
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