Any girl worth her salt would’ve done the same thing. It was pretty egregious. I was lucky I was right by the coffee maker and it had just brewed. Sometimes you just gotta say enough is enough! I was respected rather quickly after that.
We sort of hit a stupid point in business over the past decade where “frontier justice” in the workplace was subordinated to mandated escalation of every potential instance of harassment or discrimination.
Now….it was bad before, from the stories I was told. On business trips, guys knocking on hotel doors of female colleagues wearing nothing. And more. And repeat offenders. And lest you think I’m one-sided, from what I’ve seen AND observed, women can dish out viciousness and “mean girl” behavior just as badly as guys hit on gals.
And in the case of HR, to be fair to them, they’re protecting the company against lawsuits. The “reasonable” course of action is “tell your boss or call the confidential hotline.” Finally, there are so many managers nowadays who don’t have the fortitude to handle this situation.
But I believe, in my heart, if a predator got kicked in the groin or if a mean girl got some back alley justice, the rest of the office would be thankful. They KNOW who are the baddies, and don’t need to conduct an investigation with interviews. They know Fred in accounting is a creep, and Freida in accounts payable is a cutthroat beyoch.
The workplace would thrive. And, to quote Monty Python, there’d be much rejoicing.