Simmer Down

flattered by some of the things he said. It seemed like harmless flirting, I guess, at the time.” She paused. “And then his comments became more suggestive. He started touching me in passing and pretending his touches were accidental. Asking me out, wanting to be alone with me... well, it became terrible and scary. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I felt partially responsible because I’d been stupid enough to like some of his initial attention. When I’d ask him to stop, he’d ignore me. By the time I finally got around to speaking to the HR people, I was miserable. And you know what HR did? Nothing. Not a thing. They told me I had no proof and that this man had been an exemplary employee for all his years with the bank and it was highly unlikely that he was doing any of the things I was describing. I could fill out some paperwork if I wanted, and they could look into it, but it was my word against his, and perhaps I’d better just find another job.” Naomi had tears in her eyes.
    I reached out and touched her leg. “Naomi, I’m so sorry you went through that. I had no idea.”
    “And so I left the bank. I didn’t know what else to do. There was no one to give me advice and tell me what to do. The sexual harassment policy seemed like a token paragraph thrown into the HR manual. No one there had any training in how to implement the policy or how to handle complaints. I felt alone and frightened. I knew what he was doing was wrong, but I didn’t know what steps to take to protect myself. That’s when I decided that this is the kind of work I’d get into. I had planned on working with teen mothers after school, but this work became my calling. After my own experience. That’s why I’m so driven by my work here.”
    I immediately felt horrible for all the times I’d made fun of Naomi behind her back. It made me queasy to think of anyone terrorizing her. As much as her outspoken, overly dramatic style and her use of social work catchphrases (“Provide access for the disenfranchised!”) drove me crazy, she had grown on me. And now I was proud that Naomi had transformed her terrible experience with her manager into a motivating force to assist other women who needed help.
    “And this young woman who’s been calling reminds me of myself in some ways. When you work for a small business like she does, it’s even worse. She’s got nobody to help her except us, Chloe. She doesn’t deserve what she’s had to put up with!” Naomi was vehement. “And just because this Full Moon Group has money and power over her doesn’t mean they can get away with this!” Naomi clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh!”
    “She works for the Full Moon Group?” No way! My mind raced. Finally, a motive to implicate my favorite suspect! If harassment occurred at the Full Moon Group, maybe Oliver had harassed Hannah, who’d murdered him in self-defense! Or in a vengeful rage! On second thought, I realized that the Full Moon Group must have lots of female employees besides Hannah and that the sicko harasser could be someone other than Oliver. It could be Barry, for instance, or someone in charge at one of Full Moon’s locations.
    “I shouldn’t have said that. I can’t believe I violated her privacy like that. You’re a coworker, after all, but this caller has been so secretive. She only revealed her employer to me accidentally in one of our conversations. I’m not even sure she’s aware that she did so. I was just letting her talk and vent some of what’s been going on for her, and it came out. So, obviously, we need to keep this information to ourselves, as with all of the information we get from hotline callers.”
    “Absolutely,” I assured her. Confidentiality was no joke here. Women who called were not only desperate to stop harassment but desperate to hold onto their jobs, and they were usually too scared to give us much information about where they were calling from. When the women called from work, they sometimes whispered so nobody would hear them talking. Another sad fact was that we often had no way to return calls, since many women didn’t give us their home phone numbers because they didn’t want their husbands or partners to know what was going on. Although it was the harassers who should have been ashamed of themselves, it was the victims who felt embarrassed and guilty.
    “Do you want to show me your list of things that cause you anger?”
    Uh-oh. “Um, I’m still working on it. Can