FoxChevrolet/AutoNation

[Anonymous <karinm@myself.com>]

 I began working at Fox Chevrolet in October of 1999, I left last May. While I no longer work there, I still have a great deal of communication with this company, only now it is through our lawyers.  I began a naive 21 yr old, and left with a stigma that I will live with for the rest of my life.  
There were many jokes, many comments that I shrugged off.  I was young, I was the only female employee working on the sales floor, and I wanted to be liked.  I offer htese justifications for those of you who may not understand how I could have taken so much of it so lightly, although I resent having to justify my behavior while this company does not even offer an admission of guilt for what I believe was an absolute violation of my rights no matter what jokes I chose to laugh at in the past.

On a busy Saturday morning I was working with one of my managers behind the sales desk.  This manager asked me to reach across the desk and grab a paper for him.  I reached across the desk, and across another manager, who was below the one I was working with, and as I reached for the paper this manager put his hand on the back of my neck, pushed my face into the desk and bit..yes BIT me on my lower back.  I screamed, partially in pain, and entirely in shock , as I went to get away he grabbed my arm, pulled me onto his lap and slapped my backside.  Everyone (including his manager) broke into laughter.  Comments such as (aww, she liked it) were flying . In what I can only explain now as social referencing, I did not scream, yell,  slap anyone, or cry.  I simply collected myself-still not fully comprehending what had taken place and excused myself.

When I brought it up with his boss-who was sitting next to me as it happened, that I was very upset be these actions he offered to discuss it with this mgr, but suggested that because it was my problem, it would be best if we handled it like grown ups and I took it upon myself.  Later that day the mgr in question apologized for his actions. One hour later I heard him making jokes about it.  I again approached his manager- I tried to appeal to his sense of decency, and asked "How would you feel if your wife came home and said this had happened to her?" his reply-"This would never happen to my wife".  Many people throughout the company then went on to rationalize my assault.  I was told that "if I wanted to be one of the guys I had to learn to have a sense of humor", that it didn't jeopordize my standing among the other men on the floor because my character was already in question prior to the incident because of how I dressed-(after my first month of employment we were required to were uniforms).  When I brought it up with the "higher ups" , they told me  it was a "bad thing, but it's happened before and it will happen again".
The EEOC has rejected the case after talking with representatives from Fox....THEY NEVER INTERVIEWED ME.
My lawyer is getting concerned about continuing with this case because I am not paying him hourly-I can not afford it-(again I am 22yrs old, and in school full-time) so he is starting to try to talk me into giving it up, and no one, besides me seems to think this is a problem.  
This really scares me. Not just for the fact that I will never work with men and feel the comfort or security in a job that I used to feel simply because I am a woman, this scares me for my daughters, this scares me for every single woman on the face of the earth. This scares me that my boss bit me while I was at work and  no one thinks it is a problem.