Ladies only please. Have you been harassed on the job?

You said "people." It's actually just zagoshe, so...grain of salt.

 

I think Chazp said he "errs on the side of caution" too, but seriously, I don't know a single woman who'd be offended by a guy saying she looked nice or asking if she'd gotten her hair done. You guys are, well, acting fools if that's what you believe.

 

there's a line, and as long as you know it, and the person you are saying things to knows your intent, not sure where the big deal is. to be scared to talk to people is unbelievable.

 

chazp: The woman had a baby, she didn't go to jail. Post-partum.

And I would guess those men who are now hypersensitive to any interaction with female co-workers have previously been accused of being that skeevy guy in the office. Given the sources, likely with good reason.

 

I've heard variations on this story for 30 years, with the line attributed to a number of women.

Assuming it did happen, it's probably not a good idea to follow the same course. The withering putdown line may or may not work, and odds are stacked against it when it's one of you against many of them. It might also send the message that you're agreeable to discussing their equipment and offering comparisons to others you've met.

Better, probably, to move on, try to do your job and take the issue to the appropriate authorities for them to address.

 

Except that I know of multiple situations in which it worked. Sometimes, it is just best to ignore the bullshit and do your job. But sometimes, you have to show you can stand up for yourself with some athletes and some coaches. They just won't treat you with respect until you respond to their bullshit in kind.

That isn't just women reporters. That's all reporters.

 

The traditional version has a naked Gastineau saying 'whaddaya think of this?' And Kellner says, 'Looks like a penis, only smaller.'

Close enough.

I don't know if anyone would recall the late Anita Martini.....she died in the early 90s at the age of 54. She was the first female reporter allowed into a MLB locker room....she covered the Astros for the Houston paper.

I met her when I was just starting out, and asked her if she had one piece of advice for other broads getting into the business.

'Keep your notebook down there, and your eyes up here,' she said.

 

I also had a noted female sportswriter tell me to use legal-sized notepads because they cover more of your peripheral vision.

 

If a manager is standing there calling a guy an asshole and telling him he doesn't know your ass from a hole in the ground, it's a much different situation than some guy trying to spook a woman by flaunting his package.

That isn't the time to exchange bon mots, it's time to move on, do your job, and make sure the issue is handled by the people who can make sure it won't happen again.

 

And yet I know more than one female reporter who points to responses in those situations helping them get past the bullshit to do their jobs.

 

Uh huh. And I know of a lot more who would be making a bad situation worse by trying that approach. You're assuming everyone is going to have the same confidence in their timing and delivery and be able to devastate an offending player in front of an audience dominated by his peers.

There's a place for tough talk, but if the matter winds up on the desk of the NFL commissioner, is it really a good policy to say your solution was to wither an offending player with an insult relating to dick size?

If the newspaper/station is going to make a case, I'm guessing they'd rather have a situation that was handled with as much restraint and professionalism as humanly possible. Trying to go nose-to-nose with playground putdowns isn't the best way to go in most cases.

 

And you're assuming that very few are going to have "confidence in their timing and delivery" in a situation they deal with pretty damn often, even if it's on a minor scale.

Sometimes, the situation calls for an immediate response, sometimes it calls for restraint and professionalism. It's a judgment call, either way. But by no means should they take one of those tactics out of their arsenal, especially for fear of "the matter winding up on the desk of the NFL commissioner." :

That's the offending player's concern, not the reporter's and/or the newspaper's.