Leadership: Setting the Example… Just Not the Right One

From supervisors who weaponize their titles to HR reps who treat harassment like a compliment, sometimes the people paid to lead or protect us are the very ones behaving the worst. These stories remind us that leadership gone wrong can be just as disruptive as any workplace drama.

Funny How HR Can Bring Out the Polite Side

I had a supervisor who would degrade me after she found out I was interviewing for a position that would make me her boss. She would tell false stories to the CEO and others and then get in my face if I didn't agree with her supervision assessments. Too bad when she CC'd HR on her ranting rampage about how she was my supervisor until my very last day and other very personal things I discussed with HR, alone, she was much more pleasant in her email conversations moving forward...

Apparently, My Harassment Was Her Fantasy

I (27F) worked on the warehouse floor some years ago. My job tasked me with walking through the warehouse to the administrative offices numerous times a day for meetings, paperwork, etc. One week, we needed to have parts of our roof repaired, so the company contracted a business to come out to fix it. My path to the administrative offices was right next to where they were working. As I was passing by, a few of the contractors up in the rafters started dog whistling and “whoo”-ing at me. I kept walking, and they continued.

For a split second, I paused to turn around to yell at them to stop, but decided instead to walk to the HR office on the warehouse floor. After all, aren’t they the ones that are supposed to address harassment?? There was only one person in the office when I arrived. I reported what was happening and asked if she could go out there to address it. She told me, “Well, I wish someone would whistle at me like they are whistling at you.” She refused to budge.

I was in disbelief! We stared at each other in silence for a bit to see who would leave the office first. She finally got up, said, “Fine!” and left the office.

The next day, I received an apology from the business owner, and I didn’t have any issues with the contractors when walking by them after that.