The Fair Wage Trucking Inc ((917) 682-7353; 229 Mott Street) in New York City was delivering a package to a building on Washington Square North.
One of the three delivery men decided that it was perfectly acceptable to cat-call me, and called out, ‘Mmm, delicious.”
I refuse to accept street harassment from anyone, and the moment the words left his lips I turned around, cried out, “that’s it” and marched to the side of the truck to find out the man’s employer so that I could contact him later in the day.
The apparent team leader of the delivery guys asked what the problem was. So I let him know that his colleague had cat-called me, said inappropriate things and had sexually harassed me by cat-calling and yelling out inappropriate comments based on my gender and appearance.
The man told me “that’s not sexual harassment,” to which I became incensed and said, “yes it is.”
The man agreed that it was wrong, that he would talk with the harasser, and let his boss know.
When I called the Fair Wage Trucking later that day, the owner said that he had heard about the incident, and that the no one could understand why I was upset, since the man only said, “hello sweet-heart” (again, an unwanted & unwelcome advance by a stranger towards me based on my appearance and gender), I told the owner that he had said a bit more than that, that the man’s behaviour was inappropriate, and cat-calling women was sexual harrassment. I recommended that since the man in charge at the time didn’t recognize this behaviour as a form of harassment, they should educate their employees about what constitutes sexual harassment.
The owner said, “Sweetheart, I don’t see it that way. That isn’t sexual harassment. Sometimes people have bad days, so I don’t know,” implying that perhaps I was the one at fault for having a ‘bad day’ and being in a bad mood and wrongly accusing his workers of harassment. Might as well just asked if I had a bad case of PMS. To which I call bull-shit. Apparently the owner’s a bit of a sexist, misogynist as well.
He then said that he had just called me ‘sweetheart,’ and asked if that was harassment, to which I replied it was, and if I was his employee, I could sue him for sexual harassment.
Obviously, even the owner of Fair Wage Trucking still doesn’t believe that cat-calling women is harassment, and until these ignorant men get schooled, nothing will ever change, since they don’t even know what the problem with their behaviour is. Needless to say, if one of those Fair Wage Trucking employees ever does it again to me, I’ve got a lawyer on speed-dial.
– EB
Location: Washington Square North, New York City, USA
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truckerdesiree says
I am sorry to hear that you encountered some of the ignorant representitives of the trucking community. Not all truck drivers or management behave in this manner but sadly way to may do & are not held accountable.
Leadership and professionalism occurs from the top down. It has been my experience that the trucking industry in the executive branches & even organizations who say they are trying to change that obstacle, spend more time covering up harassment and sexual misconduct rather than educate their public representatives (drivers) how to behave.
When you mention the management of this trucking company equally had no clue on how to handle your concern and went on to dismiss your experience it shows not only are they uneducated the disregard the notion to raise their level of conduct. These are the kind of trucking outfits that give a black eye to the many professional drivers who care about being good citizens.
This conduct is going on in training carriers which affect unprepared female students and sometimes becomes more violent. Sexual misconduct training is almost non-exisitant & it is rarely enforced, more often covered up. Braceuse of this the climate has become “we can do whatever we want, who is going to stop us?” Truck drivers are in the service industry although the work behind the scences. I hope more shipping & receiving vendors in the supply chain will review the street conduct & training conduct that occurs toward women from these carriers & cease to do business with them until they can act like professionals . We would not patronize any establishment who made us feel degraded would we? So why contrat with a trucking carrier whose driver & management cannot conduct themselves properly.
Trucker Desiree
@TruckerDesiree
@WomenTruckers
Beckie says
Thanx for posting number. I just called and left a voicemail complaining. I applaud your efforts.
beckie weinheimer says
On my last comment I mentioned that I called and left a message to the moving company. Since I posted the owner called me back and was aware of the incident. While he was defensive when we first talked, by the end of our conversation he agreed that he should instruct all his male drivers that they should not stop their work to cat call or even say hello to women they notice passing by. I’m glad I called and I hope more people will leave phone numbers or websites where we can all complain when the post. Maybe we can stop some of this if we pull together and complain!
EB says
OMFG – This is EB, and you ALL have just made my day! Grinning from ear to ear!
New York Chica says
Thank you for standing up and showing that each one of us can make a difference. We really can change the world one person at a time. And Desiree, thanks for your info on what goes on in the trucking industry. I used to drive a yellow cab in NYC and had to deal with nasty, sexist attitudes from my fellow male coworkers and drivers, and the one time I mentioned it to a supervisor he dismissed it telling me “if you can’t take the heat, stay in the kitchen”. I was beyond outraged! The pure callousness of MY BOSS’s disrespect of my gender immediately let me know that I was on my own. I fought those few idiot guys in my cab company (verbally) whenever they made their wise cracks and insults. They harassed me until they saw that they didn’t have the power to make me quit, which I never would have done and given them the satisfaction. However, management really should have had a much better attitude about it. Seeing that the boss was just as sexist as the drivers was no help.
Truck driving, cabbing and delivery services are very male dominated and you will find that attitude of disrespect towards women on every level there. I can only imagine what some women in trucking school must go through. But yes, we can help change those attitudes by speaking out and taking action just like the author of this post did. When I was driving a cab there was no Hollaback or Stop Street Harassment, and also no compassion or understanding from anyone you would complain to. Thank God all that is changing.
Thanks to all who stand up and do something about it and thanks for sharing your experiences.
Jim says
What about sexual advances from woman?