In today’s Ethicist column, Anonymous explains that he watched a Coworker cellphone-filming up the skirt of another coworker during a company meeting. This went on long enough for Coworker to transfer images to his laptop, recharge his phone battery, and then continue filming. Anonymous didn’t confront Coworker at the time and now explains that he is wary of causing trouble for Coworker or putting himself in a “messy situation.”
My immediate reaction was disbelief that anyone old enough to attend a company meeting would engage in that sort of behavior. I can’t imagine the biggest jerk in my office pulling something like that.
My swift follow-up reaction was disbelief that Anonymous did nothing while the filming was occurring. If he’s too timid to call the guy on it, couldn’t he spill a soda in the guy’s lap? Even afterward, Anonymous waffled about whether he should do something.
Is this the sort of thing that could happen in your workplace? Do I really need to worry about crap like this if I decide to change employers?
Am I out-of-line in thinking that Anonymous is a jerk in his own right for his failure to defend his unwitting coworker?
Do you think the filmed coworker should have been alerted, or at least informed that she had been filmed?
If you think it’s relevant, what’s your gender? I’m a female, and today I am feeling thankful that I generally wear slacks to meetings.
(note: this picture is safe, but other pictures elsewhere on the site are NSFW.)
I have a couple of co-workers (in their mid-late 40’s) whom I could easily imagine trying to do something like this, plus a couple of others who’d be begging to see the footage. There’s a good reason why phones in Japan are required by law to make a noise when filming.
While lowbrow and tasteless, that sort of response has become expected the minute a doper mentions anything sexual in nature. We should be glad that it was said early and hope that no one else feels it necessary to parrot the joke. (a term I use somewhat loosely.)
Anonymous is a coward and should have the decency to pull the filmer aside and mention that he noticed what was going on, at the least.
Is this the sort of thing that could happen in your workplace? Do I really need to worry about crap like this if I decide to change employers?
No, but we don’t have meetings. We work one person per shift and if anything needs taken care of we go through a boss. Plus, we all wear kahkis/polos to work, not skirts (especially since it’s mostly guys). I don’t think it’s something to worry about too much. I mean, it does happen, and it’s good to be aware of, but I wouldn’t miss meetings over it.
Am I out-of-line in thinking that Anonymous is a jerk in his own right for his failure to defend his unwitting coworker?
I think he should have at least said something to the other employee (the filmer).
Do you think the filmed coworker should have been alerted, or at least informed that she had been filmed?
I think she should have been alerted, but maybe after the meeting, or in private.
It could happen. There’s a lot of people where I work which means that the raw odds are better that at least one person would do something this reprehensible. That said, I think that our HR department would jump on it like the liability sinkhole that it is, and most people wouldn’t stand for it if they saw it happen.
I think that Anonymous was stunned to see it happen. Sometimes we naively think that the people with whom we work will act in a professional manner. I’m glad that he ended up calling HR.
In a perfect world, Anonymous could act like his phone’s battery had died, ask to borrow Sleazy’s phone, then immediately ask the coworker outside to explain the situation. No one owes the guy taking pictures any communication (If he can’t figure out the ethics of this one on his own then I’d assume that friendly advice will not work either. He needs experience.) Ideally, Anonymous should escalate things while inside the conference room only if the guy taking pictures tries to leave with him and the coworker.
Not where I work currently, but I have worked in enviroments where this kind of thing not only could have happened, it did happen. To be sure, those were manufacturing, not professional places, but it also went on the offices/management areas. Some places just gather people like that, if you know what I mean.
No, you’re not out of line, Anonymous is an accomplice to the act by way of knowing about it and not stopping it. Under most employer’s sexual harrassment policies, to know about something like this and not report it is just as big an offense as being the one to do it. I am pretty sure the law looks at it that way, too (IANAL).
Yes, she should have been alerted. If nothing more than a simple “hey, I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure so-and-so took pictures under the table, I hope your legs were closed when he did.” Something to let her know, but also to keep yourself off the hook by way of implying it might have been an accident on the part of so-and-so. Can ya tell I have been around timid people a lot?
Female, but I may have to take pictures, just to be sure…
Is this the sort of thing that could happen in your workplace? Do I really need to worry about crap like this if I decide to change employers?
I have to think this type of inceident is relatively rare. We have a few weido’s at work but I don’t think any of them would stoop that low. W did have one guy who I imagine could possibly do that just because he didn’t seem to have any sense of what was appropriate. We fired him last year.
2. Am I out-of-line in thinking that Anonymous is a jerk in his own right for his failure to defend his unwitting coworker?
Anonymous is certainly a coward.
3. Do you think the filmed coworker should have been alerted, or at least informed that she had been filmed?
As part of my company’s management team I would be obligated to report this individual, and would do so with pleasure.
4. If you think it’s relevant, what’s your gender? I’m a female, and today I am feeling thankful that I generally wear slacks to meetings.
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Is this the sort of thing that could happen in your workplace? Do I really need to worry about crap like this if I decide to change employers?
I don’t know - there are certainly many meetings that go on around here ( :rolleyes: ) but frankly, I’m of the mind that my coworkers are, all in all, better than that. But I don’t know EVERYBODY.
Am I out-of-line in thinking that Anonymous is a jerk in his own right for his failure to defend his unwitting coworker?
Nope. You’re right.
Do you think the filmed coworker should have been alerted, or at least informed that she had been filmed?
Absolutely - and the filmer should have been fired IMMEDIATELY.
If you think it’s relevant, what’s your gender? I’m a female, and today I am feeling thankful that I generally wear slacks to meetings.
Was the person doing the filming ‘more powerful’ than annon in some way? Higher up in the company, bigger than?
Annon was probably stunned during the event and a confrontation could have turned very ugly very quickly. I’d like to think that I would have done something, but, you never really know unless you are in the situation yourself.
Is this the sort of thing that could happen in your workplace? Do I really need to worry about crap like this if I decide to change employers?
Not normally. This is certainly not an everyday occurance.
Am I out-of-line in thinking that Anonymous is a jerk in his own right for his failure to defend his unwitting coworker?
Yes, he’s a jerk. He should have done something immediately.
Do you think the filmed coworker should have been alerted, or at least informed that she had been filmed?
Anonymous needed to have left the meeting, called HR and had the evidence seized on the stop. If that happened at my office with my staff, the police would be here in minutes. (It’s against the law here in Japan). Naturally, the filmed coworker should be informed in such a way to not embarrass her.
If you think it’s relevant, what’s your gender? I’m a female, and today I am feeling thankful that I generally wear slacks to meetings. Don’t know it’s relevent, but I’m male and I’m feeling thankful that I generally wear slacks to meetings as well.
He’s a jerk and under the sexual-harassment policies of most places where I’ve worked, as likely to end up fired as the guy with the cellphone.
She should be alerted as part of the alert to HR, legal, IT et al. IT because if the guy is transferring the films to his laptop, they may be able to find more.
Female. I almost always wear trousers, right now the only skirts I own are a sundress and a very heavy, long black skirt which wouldn’t show “anything of interest.”
I’ve worked in places where anybody doing something like that would have been at risk of being forcefully ejected - into the irrigation canal that ran about 100yd from the factory.
Felt exactly the same way as the OP when I read this. ‘Anonymous’ seemed more concerned about any possible impact on his own position than the fact that he was working in the same environment as this asshole. I suppose he could have been worrying about there being no evidence on the guy’s computer (doubtful), or being accused of harassment himself (could happen in a lawsuit-happy state), but seriously, what a pathetic douche.
ETA: As always, Gawker’s Unethicist has a perfect response