Who’s your office lech/predator?

Federal Report

Who’s your office lech/predator?

We read about Hollywood producers or media giants being outed as sexual predators, but what about the ones in your office?

Mike Causey@mcauseyWFED

November 2, 2017 1:00 am

2 min read

Just about everyone who has worked for any period of time has probably heard of, knows about or has personally encountered the office lech. Some can be ignored and they will go away. Other times, if the sexual stalker is the boss or someone important in your career path, it can be a major problem.

It is annoying if the lech is a coworker. It can be very bad and dangerous if he (she) is the boss.

Probably most women, and some men, have been subject to sexual pressure from a colleague, supervisor or big boss at some time in their careers. And it is not confined to Hollywood producers, TV big shots, media heavies or corporate gropers. True story:

Years ago while working for the Washington Post I got a call from a woman with a problem. The problem was her boss. He had raped her. At the office on a weekend. And he was threatening to ruin her already troubled marriage if she went public.

She and her husband were having financial problems,. which spilled over into other parts of their marriage. Including sex. Or lack of same. When her boss asked her to work overtime, evening and weekends, she jumped at the chance. After the second or third overtime session, he raped her, she said. Then he told her that if she told anybody he would go to her husband. He’d say they had been having an affair for months! Given the state of the marriage, she decided not to tell anybody. She was going to try to get another job but for the time being she was stuck. And had to face the boss every day.

Terrible, right?

Couldn’t get much worse, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that just before she called me (maybe the reason she called me) was she found out, from her doctor, that she had a sexually transmitted disease!

What next?

Naturally, I didn’t have any answers. Except maybe the truth, which can be tricky. In any case, all I could do was listen. Besides, she probably hadn’t called me, a stranger, for “the” solution. She was familiar with my column and decided I — not knowing her — would be a safe listener.

What happened?

I don’t have a clue. Never heard from her again. If my guess is correct, she would be in her early 60s by now. I’ve thought about her a lot over the years. Especially lately.

So what’s your story?