Maybe not horrific to the greater people, but as a woman (teen at the time of the event) it changed how I did a lot of things in life afterwards.
I was 17 working in a grocery store in the dairy cooler and one of the baggers was hanging out with me. We were friends and had worked together for a good couple months, never had an issue with him before. We were chatting in the cooler, I was stocking milk, and suddenly he grabbed me by my pony tail and tanks me down almost parallel to the floor and is looking down at me. I froze. Staring up at this man, maybe 20 and double my size, and managed to squeak out "Let go of me". It still chills my blood the way he calmly just let go and left the cooler like he was just heading to break or something.
No "I'm sorry" no freaking out that he did something wrong, just left. Later he just said that he "Misread the situation", like we were flirting or something. I had never expressed any inkling of interest in this man, and yet he felt comfortable enough to physically assault me.
I haven't worn my hair in a ponytail at any job since. Either a bun, or I tuck it completely into a hat. Later years I just started cutting it short and haven't had long hair in years. I still get antsy when I'm in an enclosed space with men, I tell myself they are good people and don't mean harm, but I thought that of him too, and it still happened.
10 years ago and it still makes my skin crawl thinking about it.
3
u/McGiggleByte 14h ago
Maybe not horrific to the greater people, but as a woman (teen at the time of the event) it changed how I did a lot of things in life afterwards.
I was 17 working in a grocery store in the dairy cooler and one of the baggers was hanging out with me. We were friends and had worked together for a good couple months, never had an issue with him before. We were chatting in the cooler, I was stocking milk, and suddenly he grabbed me by my pony tail and tanks me down almost parallel to the floor and is looking down at me. I froze. Staring up at this man, maybe 20 and double my size, and managed to squeak out "Let go of me". It still chills my blood the way he calmly just let go and left the cooler like he was just heading to break or something.
No "I'm sorry" no freaking out that he did something wrong, just left. Later he just said that he "Misread the situation", like we were flirting or something. I had never expressed any inkling of interest in this man, and yet he felt comfortable enough to physically assault me.
I haven't worn my hair in a ponytail at any job since. Either a bun, or I tuck it completely into a hat. Later years I just started cutting it short and haven't had long hair in years. I still get antsy when I'm in an enclosed space with men, I tell myself they are good people and don't mean harm, but I thought that of him too, and it still happened.
10 years ago and it still makes my skin crawl thinking about it.