sixteen

Jane

When I first started work at the age of sixteen I worked at a car dealership where most other employees were male. I took my lunch breaks in the staff room, a dismal room with no windows, as I didn’t have a car back then and there was nowhere else to go in the local area. One lunch break I was eating my lunch when about 8 male mechanics all joined me in the staff room. As they came in they all gave me a strange look. One of them, the supervisor, turned on the tv and loaded a video into the machine. When the porn film started I was absolutely shocked and completely froze. I thought about leaving the room which would have meant pushing passed them and I was too embarrassed about the potential comments and teasing this would cause. I should have done it but I froze. I stayed in the room. After lunch my female colleague made a comment that it was disgusting – she knew about it but hadn’t warned me. The mechanics and their supervisor were all worried that I would tell on them but I never did. I felt guilty and dirty. Why did they go ahead with a sixteen year old girl in the room? They should have made sure I was ok and put me first. I know now that I should have taken action and that it wasn’t my fault.