Profesional Workplace Dilemma

Professional Workplace Dilemma

There are many professional workplace dilemmas that I can write about but I decided to use the one that has impacted my life the most. I was employed in the U.S Navy and due to the fact that I was pregnant at the time I was transferred to the physical training department and put in charge of the fitness program. When I first started thi position, my supervisor at the time was on the process of retiring and was training his replacement. Both men were in the Marine Corps. Since my current supervisor was retiring he was never at work, so I was left to run the department on my own and because of that I earned the trust and respect of my fellow workers. After many months of working with my new supervisor and progressing in my pregnancy, there were days I was not feeling well and had to have the normal pregnancy doctor’s appointments. He did not like that. He was one of those military men that have been in for several years and are very much set on his ways and feel that the military is no place for women. Being pregnant restricted me of doing certain tasks but nothing that affected my job tremendously. He did not hide those feelings but I just ignored him, did my job the best way I possibly could and continued to be praised on my efforts by Department Heads and fellow workers.

One morning I came to work later than usual due to a doctor’s appointment and found another girl sitting at my desk. When asked what she was doing there, my supervisor told me he was thinking of requesting her to come and work with us since I was not able to do my job to its fullest since I was pregnant. To me that was absurd because my job was to do paperwork and run the fitness program and my pregnancy in no way prevented me from completing those tasks. I expressed to my supervisor of my concerns about having another person working with us because there was really nothing for her to do. His response to me was “Well since you are getting so fat and unattractive I need a cute little thing to look at everyday” I was shocked! I just ignored his comment and went on with my work. That evening I told my husband about what my supervisor said and he told me how inappropriate the comment was and how it fell under the navy’s sexual harassment guidelines. After a long talk, I decided that I was going to let his comment slide but if ever another comment was to be made I would do something about it.

A few weeks went by and our working environment was very stressful. He was complaining about certain things I was doing, even though he had never had a problem with before. He started yelling at me for no reason and would take extra long lunch breaks knowing the office had to be manned at all times and I couldn’t take my lunch until he was back. I went from looking forward to going to work, to dreading having to get up every morning and deal with him.

One day I came in and he had my entire filing cabinet empty with all the files on the floor and started yelling at me on how he was looking for a file and couldn’t find it, so if he couldn’t find one file, the whole filing system was messed up and had to be redone. I explained to him the file he was looking for was in a different filing cabinet because of the persons age. He knew we had a different filing cabinet for the people that were past the age of 50 because their requirement for the fitness test was different. He yelled at me so much and called me incompetent, lazy, fat, and many other derogatory names. I was so upset I started crying and left the office. That afternoon I went to see my department head and told her what was going on. We had a good conversation and she ensured me she was going to speak to my supervisor and for me not to worry.

After he had been talked to instead of the situation getting better it got worse. He resented me for making a complaint about me and his verbal abuse got worse. One afternoon I overheard him on the phone saying how I was letting myself go just because I was pregnant and how my cute little body was looking worse by the day and how “my delicious behind was no longer delicious”. That was it for me and I once again went in to my Department Head and told her what had happened. She apologized for him and once again ensured me the situation was going to be resolved and told me to go home for the rest of the day and rest.

When I came into work the next day my supervisor was not