First of all, this is a long complaint, and I just want to express my thanks in advance to all who finish reading it and respond in regards to this little story of mine. Also it is slighty graphic due to the nature of the complaint. You have been advised.
I am a current employee of a Blockbuster Franchise location.in the past month, I have been sexually harassed by my District Manager. Since he is the highest in the chain of command employees are allowed to speak to, this makes reporting this activity extremely difficult to take action against.
There have been four incidents. Three have been verbal suggestions such as; soiling myself in my "panties", bringing naked pictures of myself to work, and the suggestiveness of how good my fingers look when I'm filing. After the third incident, I verbally expressed my distaste of the comments being made and sternly told my District Manager, David C., to stop.
The next day, while I was putting away movies, David came up behind me and began to "do his white boy dance" less than a foot away from my body. His arms were in the air and he was moving his hips in an akward way.
I have not been the only victim either. Another girl, who shall remain anonymous, has been receiving comments herself of inappropriate suggestions, and other physical elements (non touching) being made towards her for an unknown number of months. Most are on a daily basis. The reason for not coming out herself is because she is afraid of severe retaliation, up to and including termination. Not to mention out-of-work problems involving David C..
There have also been other incidents brought to my attention of favortisim. Since Feburary there have been only female applicants hired on to staff, (most of them are young and attractive teenagers). It wasn't until recently that a male was hired on, and I believe it to be because David C. Did not do the hiring himself. I have been shown favortisim towards myself, along with other females. David will take care of projects assigned to us (individuals). Some females have been demoted or promoted not always because of perfomance, but because of their availabilty, according to an inside source.
But the best is saved for last. Before these incidents had happened to myself, David C., in an act of frustration and anger, had "quit" his job by leaving his store keys on the desk in the back and saying the words, "I quit. Have a good weekend." to three seperate employees on a Friday afternoon. This is known at most workplaces as a "walk-out". David had left his keys and made clear verbal communation to three employees of his self termination. It was a huge shock to all of us when he was allowed to return to work the following Monday without any punishment of his actions. He expressed to us that his bosses allowed him to return with no problem and they dismissed it as work stress.
I believe that because David was allowed to return to work without punishment, his ego grew to the point where he thought he could get away with anything. It was shortly after this incident that the sexual harassment started on me. I have since spoken to David's boss about the situations and have asked to have time off until David has been punished for his unappropriate behavior. This was last Tuesday, August 23 and I have still not received any information about his punishment.
I am having to go out of my way, lose my time and money by staying away from my job, while he is still allowed to work and has not even been told about any of this to date. I have been compensated for one day (8 hours) that I was scheduled to work on Sunday. After this is over, I will have lost over a week of work due to his behavior.
Overall I am not happy about being put out of work just because he is the District Manager and I am just a lowly worker. Also I believe that if he was terminated and allowed to not return to work due to his walk-out, none of the sexual harassment incidents would have occured. If there are any other Blockbuster Employees out there, or anyone for that matter being sexually harassed anywhere, please don't let it continue. I am still planning on filing a Sexual Harassment suit against the Franchise due to their negligence in handling this matter.
Again thank you for any future comments or suggestions.
Christa
Bedford, Texas
U.S.A.
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