ANONYMOUS #2

This was taken from an interview with a Stanford service worker, who shared personal experiences of workplace harassment.

I fell, but they were saying that I didn’t have anything wrong with me, that I was just saying that. I work with restrictions. I can’t do everything because of my doctor’s orders. “I am on my break, I can’t move.” She said, “Okay, you can take your break on the way.” I told her, “I can’t take it on the way, I have restrictions.” 

She also shared her peers’ experiences with workplace harassment.

The man’s sugar levels went up and he had an aneurysm. He was hospitalized for a long time, and when he came back, he wasn’t the same. Sometimes he didn’t understand things, but they took advantage of him. In about two months they gave him three warnings, and after three warnings they fire you. And he was an older man too. And since no one really listens if you complain. They say it doesn’t do anything. And that’s how people keep going on – and what happens is that then they get bored, they get scared, you get mad, tired, and then you leave. That’s how we workers are too, when they give us too much work. When you first get here, they give you here, they give you there, they give you work everywhere, and people do it because they want to work, but people say, “We’re in such a rush. We’re not working how we should be.” 

People work too much. And they’re running around too. Sometimes they don’t even take lunch so that they can finish.

Drawing upon these experiences, she shared a few final thoughts with us on what she would like to change.

I would like to see that there be more laws, too many companies give their employees too much work. They humiliate you, many things – they don’t respect what you say, they ignore people when they complain. It never amounts to anything. When you complain, it’s always “tomorrow, tomorrow” we’re going to do something, but nothing ever happens. Because when you file a report, it takes weeks, months, and you ask, “what happened to the complaint I filed?” “Oh, they’re looking into it. It’s being taken care of.” But that’s it. After a month or two months they forget. Well, that’s not right, I don’t think that’s right because too many things happen that way. A lot of things happen there, but people don’t speak out.