Moral Obligation

I just found out some shocking information about one of my coworkers at IHOP. This coworker is (I'm guessing) in her early 40s and when I started she was working just the graveyard shift. Last Saturday, she worked in the morning. I asked her if she was changing to mornings and she said she was. I asked why (really just to make conversation) and she said it was because she had a problem with someone she worked with at night. I was curious (since I know the people that work graveyard as our shifts overlap by bit) who, so asked if she was comfortable elaborating. She did, with the assurance that I would not pass on who it was.

It's one of the managers. I know the manager and work with him quite a bit. I figured she didn't like him because he can be very abrupt and can come off as rude to some people. Well, that wasn't the problem.

She was being sexually harassed. Severely. He would come up behind her and kiss her on the neck, slap her on the rear so hard that it stung for the rest of the shift, or “rub his hands all over” her. She was going to quit, but the general manager said he would change her schedule and she would have to work with the other manager again.

How does this man still have a job?! If the GM knows, why hasn’t he been fired?! Not only that, but the offending manager’s wife works at IHOP, too!

The victim said she will not try to fight this because she moved here to get away from another sexual predator and doesn’t have the energy to fight another case. Well, I’m not going to sit back and let this manager get away with this. This probably isn’t the first time he’s harassed an employee and I’m betting it won’t be the last. After talking about what I learned with Allison, it’s clear that I can’t allow this to continue. I have no idea what is required of me to fight this, like if I need a statement from the victim, or if the offending manager has to be caught in the act, but whatever it is, I’ll do what I can.

There is one issue that I’m a bit nervous about and it’s race. The offending manager is black and the victim is white. I’m afraid it may seem that I’m fighting against because I’m against interracial relations. Obviously, I’m not, but (as I’ve written about on here before) racism is alive and well in Oklahoma.

I’ve spent some time gathering information (like the last names of the parties involved) and now I’m ready to contact the corporate office. I hope some change can actually happen and not simply be told nothing can be done.