Woman praised for reporting boss over his ‘inappropriate’ nickname for her

The woman was not impressed by the ‘inappropriate’ nickname her boss gave to her, so she decided to go ahead and complain about him rather than suffer – and people praised her for it

When you go to work, you’re there to get the job done and then leave. Work friendships are important to many, but people do not go to work to receive abuse – especially not from their boss. One woman so was fed up of the comments her boss was making to her, that she decided to make a formal complaint against him – and people praised her for her confidence.

She took to Reddit to explain what had happened and why she wasn’t comfortable with the nickname her boss had allegedly given to her – so much so that she filed the complaint. She thought it was completely inappropriate she was being hyper-sexualised, but some of her colleagues said that she was being ‘dramatic’.

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She wrote: “I’m 31-years-old, female, and recently started a new job. It’s a five guys office, plus the boss. The boss is one of those guys who think has a natural charm that ladies would instantly fall for… but he has a lot of dumb confidence for making inappropriate comments, even when talking to me about work issues.

“I keep him at arms length, and I’m very professional with my workmates.

“Some days ago I was chasing after some workmate because was procrastinating sending me a document. I went to him to make him send it, and he said ‘ok’. Took his phone, opened the messages app, and sent me the file, but looking at it, I noticed that he saved my number as ‘Jessica Rabbit’.

“I asked him about it, confused, and looked at me, shocked, eyes wide open. Just said ‘I’m sorry’. I didn’t let him go, and interrogated him until he confessed that the boss always calls me Jessica Rabbit.

“To be clear, I’m naturally a redhead, got it from mum, and dye my hair red when it gets darker, but I don’t look like Jessica Rabbit. I despise the thought of being compared to a hyper-sexualised cartoon character.

“I talked to my boss when he came into the office, and asked about the nickname. He just said ‘because you both are sexy redheads’. I told him to stop it, because I don’t feel safe, he just said ‘why are you so angry? It’s a compliment’. I said it’s not and stormed out.

“I went to HR to do a formal complaint, the HR lady said that she’ll process the complaint, but that it was worthless, because ‘the boss is just like that’. I told her that I don’t like my boss’ attitude.

The woman’s complaints haven’t been received well, as many people have criticised her for making a stand.

“Since then, my boss stopped talking to me, and my workmates say that I’m way too dramatic, and don’t know how to take a compliment, they also complained that don’t feel safe around me, because they don’t know if I will twist their words somehow. Am I the a****** here?”

People were pleased that the woman was brave enough to report her boss, especially after his comments to her face.

One wrote: “Wow. This is sexual harassment. The nickname is inappropriate and calling you a ‘sexy redhead’ is inappropriate. HR is not doing their job. This company needs to be reported if HR tolerates this kind of behavior from their management.”

Another said: “Gosh, it’s so weird that they would hide such a wonderful compliment from you and then say sorry while looking guilty when you found out.

“It’s almost like they know they are disgusting sexist pigs who are doing something wrong.”

Someone else fumed: “It is everyone’s job to protect women from workplace harassment and in turn that protects the company. If the men in the office don’t casually sexually harass women they have nothing to worry about.

“They are creating a hostile work environment with their attitude and are retaliating against the original poster for not putting up with harassment. If the boss was discussing these men’s bodies they wouldn’t like it either. How not to harass women: treat them like people not like sex objects.”

“Any mention of sexy or attractiveness more than I like your hair cut should be a no-no”, one seethed.

Do you think she did the right thing? Let us know in the comments.