I work with a known sexist & misogynist (among other things). He makes comments & jokes all the time- more so to the male coworkers than female. Today at the end of a very long & frustrating day, I told my boss how this coworker makes regular comments, and specifically told her a comment that coworker made about me.
My boss laughed at it.
She didn’t stop laughing until she caught me glaring at her. I told her these aggressions are one of the many parts making the workplace toxic & frustrating to work at. His bragging about this makes me uncomfortable. She then continued to defend coworker by saying “that’s how guys in production talk. There’s nothing you can do to change it.”
To which I said “it still isn’t right”. she replied “it’s how they are. Production guys will always talk with bad language.” I pointed out this wasn’t just bad language, but straight up sexism & misogyny, which is not acceptable for anyone in the workplace- especially from a coworker who is on the management team. I then shared other examples of his misogynistic behavior, racist & sexist comments (like how he brags about going through sexual harassment training 3 times at 2 different companies, and how “those women were crazy” and “can’t take a joke”.) She continued to dismiss it with “he isn’t that way around me. I guess I’ll talk to him, but that’s how production guys talk and he’s not going to change.” Never mind he hasn’t been in production for years.
Today was a legit shit show. I stood up for myself, challenged my boss, and spent half the day crying from frustration. Her new boss ended our meeting with an invitation to keep challenging him & hold him accountable. My boss ended our meeting by laughing at a sexist joke and telling me not to question her in a meeting ever again. Next time she wants me to walk out of the meeting and schedule a private meeting with her- which she will never keep (she’s notorious for cancelling meetings she doesn’t want to have).
Also told my boss’s new boss today that I get regular headaches from chemicals used & the lack of proper ventilation. He seemed alarmed at that. Then told him that I’ve been asking for air quality reports for years and have never seen one. Instead of showing me the reports, I’ve been told that “the air’s been tested and it’s safe. The reports aren’t meant to be handed out.” His reaction “that’s a red flag!!” I hope he actually does something about it. He actually seems like a competent leader, which is something my workplace has never seen. We’ll see what happens. However, I’m too jaded to have hope. And one of the chemicals used regularly is diacetyl which has known health issues and has cost many companies millions in lawsuits.
Needed to vent a bit. There’s so much that happened today, my mind is spinning. Any helpful advice on how to manage working in this type of place would be appreciated. We have new owners that seem like they could be competent- at least more competent than the good boys club that’s been in charge (which isn’t really saying much). How do I document these types of things (sexism, safety, inequality, etc) & is it even worth it?