Editor’s note: I try to keep it fairly lighthearted in this space, veering away from anything political or controversial, but today something so terrible happened to me that I felt no choice but to speak out.
This morning, I was standing at my desk contemplating getting to work. My desk faces out of 3 large windows and directly across the street is a construction site. As I was glancing around, I realized that 2 men from the construction site were on their roof, watching me. When they realized that I saw them, they started yelling at me — horrible, ugly things. My initial instinct was to close my curtains… which cued even more yelling… more vocalization of their displeasure that I was not allowing them to continue watching me and yelling at me. Even as I write that, it boggles my mind. A lump rises in my throat and my arms tingle. I felt uncomfortable and unsafe in my own home. Not ok.
In terms of the bigger picture, it has never been a good time to harass people, in my opinion. Given news-worthy events of late though… it is an especially poor time. If anything, I desperately hope that as a country, we are becoming attuned to the plight of minorities… and actually learning to be good to each other. With Ray Rice in the headlines, I can’t help but wonder WHY these men felt like it was ok to act as they did. WHY? Have you not learned your lesson from this asshole that you have idolized? Do you think it is still ok to degrade women? Because I am here today to say it is not. It never will be. And the next time you decide to watch me, I will call the police again. And I will not stop until you are fired.
I waffled about whether to cite the name of the construction company, but I think they should be called to task for employing misogynistic, crude lowlifes. So listen up, Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, I will not stand by and let your employees treat women this way. The police have spoken to your crew, I have left a voicemail, I have tweeted you and sent you a message on Facebook, I even wrote a Yelp review. You need to know that this is not ok.
I’m so sorry Joanna that you experienced such a violation in your own home and I commend you for being so brave as to stand up for yourself and speak out, that is certainly not the easiest thing to do….ever.
The NFL with their conniving failed attempt at covering up for their players is disgusting. Harassing a woman in her own home, the place where she should feel safe and, well, at home is inexcusable. I’m glad you stuck up for yourself. I swear being single was such a drag when it came to shit like this. I’d come home and look in the bathtub to see if there was a murderer in there waiting for me. Dudes have no idea some of the weird stuff we go through.
I’ve always gotten myself into to trouble because I’m the girl that flips men off when they say lewd things. It’s not the way to go but sometimes men have to know that I’m not gonna take a thing from them. Hope you’re feeling better.
xoxo
Joanna,
Thank you again for bringing to our attention the incident you experienced over the weekend. Nibbi Brothers is a family owned business, and we pride ourselves on our respect for the community. We care deeply about the community that we live and work in, which made hearing about your experience very troubling for us. After thoroughly investigating, we were able to identify the two employees, employed by a subcontractor, who were responsible for making you feel unsafe and uncomfortable, in your own home. At Nibbi, we take harassment very seriously and do not tolerate this kind of behavior from our employees or our subcontractors’ employees. In order to prevent any future occurrences we have taken the following steps: 1) these individuals have been promptly and permanently removed from the jobsite; 2) these individuals will never be allowed to work on a Nibbi Brothers project in the future; 3) the subcontractor in question has been restricted from bidding on Nibbi projects in the future; 4) all of our construction project teams have been informed about the incident and reminded of the importance they play in fostering goodwill within the communities and neighborhoods in which they work.
Joanna,
On behalf of Nibbi Brothers, we are very saddened to hear about this incidence and appreciate you bringing it to our attention. We feel that this behavior is absolutely unacceptable and we take it very seriously. We are looking into the matter and will provide you with an update on the situation later today.
What the flip flopping heck! Peeping toms much?? I’m glad you reached out with numerous ways to let the company know and hope they’ll do soemthing about it rather than a stern talking to.
THANK YOU for sharing the name of the company. I am a pretty strong alpha female and even I struggle with speaking up when I feel harassed or belittled. It’s so important that women (and men) stand up and speak out when these things happen to support each other. Please keep us updated as to any response you get from the company.
and THANK YOU for your encouragement. it truly means a lot to have awesome ladies like you on my side.
PS – this is when you need your old Fishtown neighbors across the street cuz they would’ve never stood for such things on their block!
you know, i’ve been thinking the same thing. this NEVER happened to me in philly.
you are just the sweetest. <3
This is terrible. But I am glad you are sticking up for yourself and refusing to back down!
thank you for your encouragement!
I am so sorry that this happened to you but I applaud you, complete with standing ovation, for standing up and addressing it.
thank you so much!