I am a dad to 3 beautiful daughers. They have all grown up and moved out, the oldest is home this week visiting with our granddaughter. Today for the 7th time in my life I got wind that someone had sexually harassed one of them. It takes a lot to get me angry, and this is one of those situations. As she was coming to our house , a semi driver driving a fuel tanker began to honk and attempt to get her attention. At first she (my daugher) thought there was something wrong w/ her car and he was trying to get her attention. She tried to pass and he sped up the truck so she decided to get behind him at which point, he started to slow down….this went on for several minutes until she finally got to her exit….he was still honking and making gestures as he continued on.
I asked her if she knew the name of the trucking company..yep, it is _ _ _ _ _..the name was on the mudflaps. …so, armed with that information, I got onto the internet, typed in the name of the company, found their website and e-mailed them this note:
| To Whom it may concern, Today is July 19 2007. I just got home for lunch to the news that my 27 yr old daughter was “propositioned” by one of your fuel truck drivers as he was driving North on Hwy *** between A. and B . she said that as she was passing him (it is a divided highway) he honked at her and continued to indicate something was up. She thought maybe there was something wrong w/ her car and he was signing her to pull over….This went on for several minutes. She slowed down but eventually decided just to pass him. As she did, he made a gesture which she took to mean he wanted sex. she had out of state plates so it probably looked like she was traveling across country. I’m not sure how easy it would be to identify who the driver was, but she said it was a semi fuel truck w/**** mudflaps. Needless to say, as her dad I would like to give the trucker a piece of my mind. My daughter also was carrying my grandchiid in the car with her and the whole thing shook her (my daugher up) Any thing you can do to address this situation would be appreciated. DM | |
The other 6 situations all make my bloodpressure rise if I allow myself to dwell on them. In 4 of the other situations where the girls were harassed I took the bull by the horns and confronted someone. A 5th situation resulted in a trip to an emergency room and a call to the police. In the 6th case, we didn’t do anything because of various circumstances….but nothing prepares you as a dad for this sort of thing….nothing….Anyway, this is not one of those “upbeat” positive thinking posts as much as me needing to vent………..I’m HOPING the trucking company will in fact track down the driver and he and I get to have an eyeball to eyeball visit before it’s all done. Any thoughts?
July 19, 2007 at 10:21 pm |
I live in a metropolitan area and women are exposed to this type of crap on a daily basis. I’m now 35 and still experience some of it but not to the extent I used to. Perverts are targeting younger girls <18 and it sickens my stomach. I too have confronted many when I witness it but living in a city is very dangerous. People are much more violent today. Please pick your battles wisely. A comment is not worth your life.
July 20, 2007 at 6:34 am |
It’s great that you sent that email; I hope that, if the same situation ever occurred, my dad would do the same thing for me. However, I wouldn’t want my dad having a face to face ‘chat’ with a trucker who’d sexually harrassed me. If the guy was crass enough to harass your daughter in the first place, he’s probably not the nicest of guys… and I wouldn’t want my dad to risk getting hurt. For me, it’d be enough knowing that my dad had sent an email to the company; hopefully the company will find the truck driver and discipline him appropriately. If they don’t, then you know that God will, later on… Have you talked to your daughter about this, by any chance? What does she think about your wanting to have an ‘eyeball to eyeball visit’ with this guy?
July 20, 2007 at 2:58 pm |
i think i would have to agree with melissa, i know its upsetting and that blood is boiling, but you did what you could. no one was hurt, if you must do anything else, call the company and talk to the human resources dept. or supervisor. Hopefully they will at least have a talk with all the truckers on their conduct while in their employment, if they can’t not decide who the offensive party is.
Good luck with that, and as always pray, pray, pray and breathe!
Kristina
July 21, 2007 at 1:01 pm |
A follow up as of 7/21/07 to the credit of the trucking company I e-mailed, I got a phone call the next morning from a company rep, first, he said, “We take this sort of thing very seriously and will deal with it accordingly. He apologized for the incident, even if it turns out not to be someone from their company, but just the fact that it reflects badly on the trucking industry as a whole. He also said that he himself has two daughers (22 and 19) and completely understood where I was coming from.
July 29, 2007 at 10:37 pm |
[...] Link to the original writing: http://hearttoheart.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/when-sexual-harassment-comes-knocking/ [...]