Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Ball Syndrome!!

Being in the work scene for three years now, I had just heard about female exploitation, but now being on the receiving end, I exactly know what its like…

I am sooo mad at people here!! A series of events in my office made me witness what I just saw in movies or heard from other people. How the “weaker gender” used their feminism to rise at work… Mine is an MNC and primarily comprises of middle-aged men in their late 40s, staying away from home while the top management constitutes of foreigners, again away from their families. Being on the top level plus being a ‘firang” gives them that added advantage of getting away with things on the pretext of being liberal, unlike us Indians…

The first incident happened at this meeting where we presented our collection to one of the senior guys. He is an Italian guy in his late 40s or 50s. He made this female stand on the display table before about thirty people saying that he wanted to see the look of a particular footwear design on the feet. The female was more than happy to oblige and get all the attention even with people passing remarks and spreading their arms and asking her to fall, she was all smiling and laughing… Was that attitude alright or am I the only one who’s seeing things out of proportion??

A few days ago, in another meeting, I took a step behind to give this senior guy space to walk. By chance my shoulder just brushes mildly to the rack behind, “not hurting” me at all. That a****** has the audacity to rub my shoulder…It’s a probability that he’d have thought that I might have hurt myself, but I believe that every girl recognizes a touch, the intention behind it and I felt disgusted. All I could do was shrug his hand and give him the coldest, dirtiest look possible…

Towards the end of it, I am confused. I don’t know whether its the men who suffer from the so called “ball syndrome” to be blamed or the females who do let them take that kind of advantage.. But one thing is for sure, its soon going to be bye-bye time for me (hopefully)!!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kudos SRT........ but would say endure on for the greater good of learning and then piss it off.

ani said...

luv ya girl! been there... differently.

~ thr's a law out there for even the tiniest of such things. i can get ya details.

Anonymous said...

'spreading their arms and asking her to fall' :-o wer do u work ?

what luk did he have on his face after u gave the 'coldest, dirtiest look possible' :-)

take it easy, shit happens everywhere but there is no point taking it. If dirty luks dont work, there are other ways!

@ani: wot law? i want d details too

Sam said...

@maxii:Will see..

@ani:Law, as in?? Yes, pleaseee give me the details.. :)

@sangfroid:You'd be shocked if I tell you where I work, its supposedly quite a reputable place but the rest is "history"!
Ohhh..now thats the sad part, I don't think those looks were "dirty & cold" enough, got the most disgusting looks back from him!! :D
Tell me the "other ways" please!!

abhartiya said...

hey sam..how u doin?
hmm..i dunno bout all this..m still very young :)
but wht ive heard, read and seen in movies, i can make out that both the genders like it in some or the other way...might not be a case with you am sure but with other ladies, yea...you never know how crazy a wanton people become at the age anywhere between 20-25 :P

Anonymous said...

Well every company has a sexual Harassment code of conduct and every employee is tutored in on the same. Infy has a ASHI : Anti Sexual Harassment Initiative.

In India , it has started with ref. to VIshaka Judgement of supreme court.

If possible for more infor. visit National commision for women, for detailed code of conduct.


But at the end of the day, its how you tackle such stuff.

Its life and shit happens everywhere.

ani said...

anon covered quite a bit of it.

working on getting u the exact details of the law. need a day.

Sam said...

@wacko: Yeh, you are right I guess and glad that you aren't exposed to that side of the industry yet.. :)

@anon: Thanks a ton for all the information but think I won't go to the extent of going to the law, will just try finding a better job with better environment.. :)

@ani: You are a sweetheart!! :) Again I would repeat the same what I wrote to anon.. ;)

Skinsleuth said...

Gosh! How awful! Was this lady-on-the-table a bonehead? I think it's girls such as this one who worsen the situation even more. And guys think they can get away with it. Anyway, u take care sweets! :)

Anonymous said...

some of us at my workplace went through a 1/2 day mandatory course on discrimination and harassment. It was like a discussion and i was seriously amazed by the kind of incidents that the women shared. Going by their stories, this happens at every place and won't stop unless you get vocal about it. Next time(hopefully never) threaten them by quoting the law!

Sam said...

@shraddha: Couldn't agree more..thanks sweetie..

@sreejith: Yeh, its like the higher you get, the level of exploitation rises but then you gotta move on.. I wish quoting the law was a solution but belive me, at times the incidents, when looked in isolation are too small to be reported though they do bother you to quite an extent..