My name is Sonja Parker. I first became employed with the City of Atlanta in the Employee Benefits Department. My primary duties were file management. This was a temporary position that I knew would end at the completion of the assignment. I did an excellent job of updating the files, and I got along well with the employees. No one ever complained to me about any personality conflicts. At the end of the assignment, I was even referred for permanent employment as a Secretary in the Accounts Payable Department.

Less than a month later I was started work in the Accounts Payable Department as the receptionist/secretary. I sat in the lobby area (alone) where I greeted other employees and contract workers and guest. Upon my arrival I was well received I got along well with everyone except one employee.

Shortly after my first day, a male employee named Barake Mulefu started showing up at my desk. Please don’t associate this idiot with the President in even the remotest of ways because he in no shape form or fashion has the slightest amount of integrity as the president and is no where near in his same league except for a name similarity. Don’t even give him the credit.

He started showing up at my workstation and would remove paperwork from my in box and spread it across the overhead space at my workstation, which was only about 1x4 feet (very narrow). It definitely sounded to me that he had begun to make inappropriate comments. I never acknowledged him and I would just continue working trying not to engage with him, so we weren’t having any conversations back and forth, he would just be standing their talking to himself but saying things that were strange and out of line in my opinion. I felt that it was inappropriate and I wanted it to cease because he was really getting on my nerves. So one day when a customer came in, I took that as an opportunity to get rid of him from coming there in the mornings.

I didn’t go the supervisor because I felt that if I asked him to use another space to sort out his work, it would be as simple as that and he would comply and move on. I’m sure that most of you who have been in the new hire status at work can relate that when you are caught up in a situation like this the last thing that you want to have to confront is a harassment scandal or catch a case of any kind, especially during your probationary period. You just automatically kind of feel helpless because you are a new hire and haven’t really established yourself or have a support system in place, so you just kind of try to do the best you can to avoid any conflicts until you get that monkey off your back.

One day while he was standing there with papers strewn across my desk a customer walked in. She had to stand to the side and I had to try to work around him. When she left
I said to him in a very calm and polite manner, never letting on at all as to the real reason why I was making the statement. I said to him “Do you mind from here on using your desk or one of the empty cubicles to sort through the inbox so that I will have adequate space to service the customers when they come in?”.

He jumped all over me. He became very belligerent. He was shouting at me and his face was angry “you can just kiss my ass, this is not your desk anyway, this desk belongs to the City of Atlanta, anyway my desk is too crowded, I don’t have space at my desk”. Well whose problem was that? It’s his responsibility to keep his workspace orderly. I quess that in his twisted mind he had somehow associated the City’s ownership of the office furniture to me.

He came across as though since the city owned everything he must have some rights with me by his own type of fantasy association, and that he could do or say whatever he pleased to me.

For one thing the City of Atlanta doesn’t own a damn thing related to Sonja Parker and anyone else. We are free adult human beings. The City of Atlanta is an entity not a pimp. And that entity and all of assets are owned by the citizens. And the citizens employ the people who work there to oversee the day to day operations that are required to meet the citizens needs. There are no employees at the City whose titles are Master, Deity, or God or Pimp. They are just employees like any employees and should not be allowed to use the hard-earned money of citizens as an opportunity to spread destruction in people’s lives.

I’m not currently employed but if I was and I was paying taxes into this city, I would want to have a say in cases like this because there is no way I would want my tax money going toward a fat paycheck or pension check to someone who can use my money to misuse their authority as a city employee to manipulate, extort, or hurt anyone else. Most certainly not in an emotionally disruptive manner such as threatening a persons employment for the purpose of enforcing sexual or sex related harassment. I would not approve of them using my buildings, my office furniture, my vehicles or anything else enforce his/her desires and then hide behind the protection of the stigma that the city cant be sued or behind the fear of their victims.

It’s horrible and I think that if these cases were not hidden from the public, citizens would have stepped in long ago. I am confident to say that I believe that there are certain citizens who would be appalled at the treatment I received simply because of the waste that goes on in city government and their need as a citizen to have good employees working for them. I’m sure that they would want to know why people like myself who are good workers, highly qualified, customers service oriented employees are being forced out for refusing to participate in non-work related activities with co-workers (at work or outside of work) while slackers remain employed and continue to waste the tax payers money.

The only reason his workspace was so cluttered was because of all of the junk and non-work related junk that was consuming a lot of space. You all might not believe this but this man placed a photograph of a woman nude from the waist up on his desk some time right before or after his confrontation with me. It was a photo of an authentic African looking female around 20-25 years old. She was standing next to a white column and she had on a wrap around mini skirt with absolutely nothing covering her breast. This was not a shot from National Geographic of a bush woman. This woman looked more like a model. We have all seen the documentaries with the shots of the topless bush women but this woman had a neat short afro hair cut, make up, was not in the jungle, and had on a cute skirt. I’m sure that all African women would have been offended by this picture if that is what his impression of them is. Most of them have probably never even seen a bush woman and almost all of them now have adequate clothing to cover themselves with. I don’t think that he was trying to make a cultural statement, I just think he had it there for his personal pleasure. But what type of person has the courage to express that in the manner that he did on his job.

I don’t know when he placed it there, I saw it one day when I had to go and deliver a written message to him. Shortly afterwards I overheard the manager (Sharon) at his desk. I remember sitting there listening for her to jump in his ass about it but she never did. I know she had to see it because it was right next to his Computer and there was no way that you could hold a conversation with him without looking in that area of his cubicle because when he turned to talk to you it would have been slightly to the left of his left arm. I saw it immediately. It was right there in the open. She didn’t say anything about it. She was there a good 2-3 minutes. Believe me I was listening. He only sat about l0 feet from me.

I don’t know if he was religiously motivated to do that or just trying to stay in touch with his heritage. He used to sometimes dress in African style clothing and he had dreadlocks. But you know what he seemed like a fake to me more like he did it for the attention more than anything. I bet you couldn’t pay him to stay in Africa for a week out there with those bush women, especially after they start waking him up talking about lets run out and catch some breakfast (literally) or after she puts him one of those gazelle hoofs on his plate. I bet you in less than one day he would be trying to walk out of Africa on foot to get back to the drive thru dollar menus and back to Kroger. I bet he’d come back and cut all of that mess out of his head. No disrespect for the indigenous people of Africa but they have survival skills and endurance that the average American can’t match.

I remember one time some body ordered lunch for our department. We had Kentucky Fried Chicken delivered. When I got to the food area he was there. He told me that he didn’t eat meat. I was like you’re on your own on that one as I found me a juicy piece of chicken and started to tear into it. I loves me some Kentucky Fried. He was looking at that chicken like, damn why did I say that, I know I want some of that chicken. I’ll bet that when he got off of work he couldn’t drive fast enough to that KFC drive through. He probably left a trail of chicken bones all the way to his door.

Then he used to bring this big walking stick with him to work, looked like a broken off tree branch. And he would go out into the atrium and walk around with it like he wanted to look like one of those African cattle herders, except that his stick was lacquered and store bought. I couldn’t see any apparent need he had for it, he would just show up with it sometimes. I personally think that he thought that it made him look stately or scholarly or maybe he wanted to look mysterious and wise like people who really are mysterious and wise, but in my opinion he just looked rather odd walking around in an office building with a big stick, for no apparent reason.

I know I just got off of the subject. I’m joking a little but in the midst of this mess there was some humor.

In addition he sat on a row of 4-5 cubicles and all of them were empty except for the one he occupied. It was only a 10-foot walk to reach them. And if he didn’t want to do his sorting in that area he could have easily gone to the communal workspace in the center of the department or used one of the at least 5-6 other empty cubicles throughout the department.

A hit dog will holler and I think that the reason why he hollered so loudly that day he cursed me out is because he knew that he couldn’t fight the customer. He might have thought that he was able to intimidate me into something by making claim to the furniture but he knew that once I got the customers involved, he didn’t have a leg to stand on, and he had to go. He couldn’t argue with the customer. But more than that, I know that he knew the real reason I was asking him to leave and that’s what really made him mad.

I was shocked. I couldn’t believe his disregard for his job or the disrespect for me. I couldn’t believe that he was that angry. I had a few words for him to after he cursed at me. I told him that he had better “get his little skinny ass away from me”. I became a little upset to for him speaking to me like that so I responded out of reaction.

He left and went back to his desk so I thought that it was over. But, about 2 weeks later the department manager, Sharon Davis, approached me and demanded my resignation. She would not give any details. She only said that possum face had told her “She disrespected me”. And when I denied it she said that he was not the only one who had made a complaint. That some other people had said that I had been rude to them to. When I asked who she couldn’t provide any names. In that case, I think that she was lying and was just trying to build her case to get back at me for what he had said.

I knew that she was jumping the gun or that she had some debt to the possum because even after I told her exactly what had happened she didn’t even take my comments into consideration, at all, she just wanted me to resign.

There was something going on there because Mulefu was getting away with too much stuff. He came in one morning and walked past my desk. He was reeking a strong smell of marijuana. Don’t ask me, all I know is that he smelled like he had just finished a joint. I don’t know how he made it past those Atlanta Police officers at the security gates without them smelling it to. Not implying anything, just saying what I smelled. I overheard Sharon talking to him on this day shortly after he arrived but she said nothing. Maybe she didn’t’ smell him because he was sitting down. Maybe she was used to it. Maybe it was marijuana scented cologne.

As far as the other people there are only two or three other people who I think might have made a complaint on me.

One was this creepy man named Leon. He didn’t even work in our department. He just all of a sudden started acting like he was trying to get some attention. He came into the lobby one day as said to me “why don’t you ever speak to me in the mornings”. I was totally confused because at that point I didn’t remember ever seeing him upon arriving at work in the mornings. Like most people, I’m usually just focused on getting up, getting dressed, getting through traffic, getting from the parking lot into the building and to my work place on time. I certainly was not looking for Leon. I didn’t even really know this dude or did I see him in the mornings. I asked him “Where are you standing in the mornings because I don’t ever remember seeing you”. He knew I had never really seen him any attention and that’s why he couldn’t respond. On an average day I spoke to people all day long but they were usually people who I was familiar with who were directly in my path but I didn’t go looking for any particular person just so that I could speak to them nor did I just enter the building saying hello to every one. There was a steady flow of people arriving to work and nobody spoke to everybody. This guy just needed a life not revolved around me. He was really putting too much into something that was nothing.

Then one day he called me on the telephone asking me to look up something for him in a directory. I was busy. A part of my job was to distribute checks and then log them in a log book. One customer could be receiving 50 or more checks at once or one check for millions of dollars. It was important for me to keep good records. I told him that I was busy but I did it anyway. I said in a friendly manner. I don’t understand why he didn’t call to his own department for that information in the first place. He may have reported to Sharon something negative about me because I would not give him the attention he was seeking.

The second person was this maintenance man named Mike. He came into the lobby area one day and said to me “I want to date you”. I mean, what are you supposed to say to that if you don’t want to date a person except “I don’t want to date”. That’s what I told him. I wasn’t trying to be rude and I didn’t say it rudely. I don’t know if he was joking or not, he didn’t seem to be, and I wasn’t trying to be rude or hurtful. I was not up for all of these drama. That’s not why I was there or wanted to be there. I wasn’t focused on becoming the City Hall dating agency. I was new, I was still trying to get acclimated to my new job responsibilities, yet I have all of this type of petty distractions and pressures from people who just need to get on with themselves. At the time I just wanted to go to work, make friends and get along with people.

Anyway, he became belligerent to. He started talking all loud and raging “Where Sharon at, where Sharon at”, with no regards to the office environment or any visitors who might have been in the area. Also Sharon had implemented a new policy whereby all visitors (employees or whomever), had to be announced and wait for their escort. Even though I told him to give me a minute and let me contact Sharon he ignored me and just barged right on past me into her office. I’ve never seen the likes. I remember thinking to myself “I don’t know why you are running in there to Sharon all huffy and puffy because Sharon can’t pimp me”. She is just a woman like me and my only obligation to her as my boss is to respect her authority and do my job well, not to intermingle inappropriately with her friends. Don’t get me wrong, I think that assistants should have a good respectable relationship with their managers at work and even on a personal level outside of work if they click that way but there are lines to be drawn just like with any of your friends. Bosses have to understand that you are an adult just like they are with your own interest, goals, family, and personal life and that their authority is very limited in those areas. I don’t go to work to get beat down so badly that I can’t function anywhere else. Its not going to happen, that’s just bad managing.

The third person whom might have made a false complaint might been this lady from one of the local radio stations who were on the City’s payroll. She came in to pick up a check or checks. She didn’t have any identification and I had never seen her before. I explained to her that the policy was that you had to present a legal picture ID before checks could be released. She became annoyed and started to call out names of her acquaintances and managers who worked for the city, none of whom I were familiar with, keep in mind I’m still new. She implied that because she knew these people I should release the check. I explained that I couldn’t release the check based on just that. I told her that if she could get one of those people to accompany her into the office while Sharon or Shawn (assistant manager) were present maybe I could get it cleared for release on their recognizance. She also mentioned that both Sharon and Shawn knew her but just so happened they were both out of the office at that time so I had no way of verifying anything that she said as far as their relationship or her identity. I told her that she would have to come back with the required identification. She left but she didn’t come back. She was understandably upset but she was not new to this and she knew the policy existed long before I got there. She may have complained and said that I was rude to her in some way just because I wouldn’t give her the check, and taking into consideration how petty Sharon was, she probably believed her without a doubt, without even giving me a chance to defend myself.

That’s another thing about the City’s staff. Every body is closely connected to somebody else in some way. They are either related by blood, marriage, adoption, went to the same school, church or something. You can’t run a business like the City of Atlanta like that. That’s why so much corruption gets overlooked and the place can’t get out of that slump and function at its fullest potential.

These are the only three people who I know of who might have made a complaint because I got a long with everyone else and I was courteous to everyone and vice versa. And I believe that everyone that I came in contact with would verify that I was always polite and respectful to him or her and it wasn’t a put on. I’m very approachable and I’m cordial to everyone unless its unavoidable and its not a act. Its just a part of the job that I happen to do naturally. If Sharon would have only taken out the time to ask them. Of course there were times when I’ve had to explain the policies and enforce them but I never have felt compelled to have to do it in an offensive manner. Policies a re policies. I don’t make the rules and everyone except a few people understood that.

Its hard to say definitely because Sharon wouldn’t say to me who made the complaints, I feel that I had a right to know, but if it was any of these three people they know that they were wrong and that they were lying and I hope that the same thing happens to them. There is no need to lie on a person just because you don’t get your way or just because you have the influence and advantage over them with their manager. Moreover, this lady from the radio station knew the deal. She would not have gone to any other establishment, a bank for instance, to conduct a transaction regarding a check release or other funding and not have to show identification so I don’t know why she would challenge the City’s security any differently. If she did this to me, she was just being low-down, just imposing unnecessary drama.

The first time I heard the “you don’t’ have any rights comments” was at the accounts payable department from Sharon and maybe 1-2 other employees. Some of them were just trifling and they came across in an intimidating manner like they would use their seniority or influence with other people against you if you didn’t kind of feed their egos. I’ve heard things like “you don’t have any rights” or “you are still on probation”, or “you don’t’ have any rights while on probation”, or “you can be let go while on probation”. These things were not said to me in an informative way but in an intimating threatening type of manner. Like I didn’t already know that I was on probation.

After she demanded, I submitted my two-week resignation. At that point I felt defeated. How could I remain there anyway now, even if someone else had intervened. She had taken sides with a man who was lying on me and using his influence against me to force me to submit to something. I had to leave there anyway then because there was no way that I was about to establish anything more than a co-worker work related relationship with him.

But you know what is really really super creeped-out about this entire experience? After I was fired, I found out that this guy lived just two doors up from me. Supposedly he had lived there for around 5-10 years and we had never had any contact prior to me working with the City. I happened to be out in my back yard doing some yard work one day and the man who lived in between us came out of his house. A few minutes later Mulefu walked out of his house and over to his fence facing my house.

I freaked out. I thought that he was just visiting someone there and had seen me in my yard and was just trying to torment me. While I was still working at the City I overheard him on the telephone one day, this was after he cursed me out and he was talking about my street name. To be honest I thought that he was trying to intimidate me further by making me feel like he knew where I lived. So, just imagine when I saw him walking across that yard toward me, I thought he had resorted to stalking. He came out to pretend like he wanted to talk to the guy who lived in between us but I believe that the other guy only came out there to give Mulefu an excuse for coming outside at that particular time. I have lived on and off in this house for over 30 years and I have never seen him two doors up, never spoken to him face to face, nor had I ever seen him and the guy in between outside socializing. I don’t know about you all but it kind of scared me at first because I was thinking that now he had turned into a stalker, and he was using the people who actually lived in the house to get his point across. I don’t know how you all would have reacted but I rushed into the house. I only found out a short time later that he lived two doors up. Now I kind of feel like he knew who I was the first day I arrived for work and just didn’t’ say anything.

Also, while I was still working in the Employee Benefits Department on the temporary assignment, I used to see him out in the atrium near the Employee Benefits entrance. On several occasions I would be walking up the street to get lunch and I would look back and he would be walking behind me. It disturbed me enough that I eventually mentioned it to some of my co-workers but nobody reacted like they thought that I was in danger, but on the other hand none of them said that they knew who he was either.

Because of his appearance, I would never have guessed that he worked there in a office. Not trying to be funny but I’ve never worked in a office building where the men wore dreadlocks and a lot of facial hair. Seriously, I haven’t. Plus, City Hall is a public facility and there are all types of people roaming around there all of the time for various reasons on a regular basis so when I kept seeing him in the atrium I just assumed that he was there on some type of business. You can imagine how surprised I was that he was sitting at my new desk when I arrived on my first day of work in Accounts Payable. And thats why I freaked out when I saw him walking toward my home. Instead of looking like a neighbor, he was looking just like a stalker to me.

Like I said, I’m very approachable and I don’t know why he just didn’t come up to me at work and say “I know that we have never met but I’m your neighbor”, and then just introduce himself if he wanted to recognized as more than a stranger. Like I said I had never seen him but it is very like that he had seen me out in the yard at some point. I have been doing yard work and washing my car at this house for over 25 years, so its likely. Or maybe he might have seen me somewhere else because in the 1980’s-90’s I was on the go all of the time. Either way that entire stalking behavior was not even necessary, especially taking into consideration the emotional stress and hardship it caused for me.

Its funny how some women who have been subjected to harsh treatment in their lifetime become harsh themselves and others fight for justice and the protection and betterment of others beyond them.

I can only imagine what some of the women at the City before me succumbed to by force. Especially back in the day when her rights really were ignored and when it was easier to use her terms of employment as a weapon to force her into submission. I don’t blame the women though, they couldn’t help themselves and just had to bury and ignore all of that pain and somehow convince themselves that it was for their best. It had to be almost unbearable for some of them.

Just imagine, after everything resembling dignity had been taken from them all they were offered by their offenders is the opportunity (rank to them) to get to participate in subjecting some other poor woman to the same devastation. All that comes out of it are some desperate, angry, evil women, who are trying to get any type of revenge or payback for what happened to them, by helping him and assisting in the degradation and spread of terror on other women. Its like when a person contracts AIDS and are powerless to spread it back to the person who gave it to them and get consolation that way. So, since they cant get confront him or her about it, they just become evil and twisted and go around knowingly spreading it to as many people as they can. Instead of trying to use that experience to educate the public and prevent the spread of AIDS, they just want everybody they meet to be in the way. In a lot of cases that’s all a beat down is.

I saw a story on the news recently where the pimp got the prostitutes with the higher seniority to beat down the new prostitute and lock her in a cage so that she would submit. Not implying that there are pimps and prostitutes at the City of Atlanta, that was just an example. My point is, that for all of the degradation and pain that they had suffered at his hands all he had to offer them in return was the opportunity to destroy something else. And out of their desperation and pain they did.

Think about it people. Think about how the treatment of the women who had to endure the unwanted advancements of their coworkers affected not only them but also their family members, especially their kids. These women go home broken, humiliated, depressed and so emotionally drained that they can’t even be the best mothers to their kids or just have a life outside of work. The kids have no clue and probably sometimes blame themselves. And old dude who is at work harassing her is just at home chilling or at home chilling with his own family counting the hours until he can get back at work to get at her again. I was beginning to not want to go to work either because that was where he was every day.

Corporations have a moral obligation to the community’s well being in various ways. If a company ignores these types of complaints or harbor these people and allow them to use their resources and property to create dysfunction, that dysfunction leaks out into the environment by way of mothers, fathers, sisters, brother, etc who can trickle it down to everyone in their family.

If the City of Atlanta was so passive about my claim as recent as 2001 just think how they evaded other cases before then. So no, I don’t blame these women for trying to earn a better life for them and their children but I do blame those individuals who had the power to intervene but just let it slide.

But on the other hand, when a place is so corrupt like that even the some officials who have the power are afraid to do their jobs. Afterall, if a man has to use his job to help him force himself on a woman he's a desperate man. And if an employer will allow him to do to it, he’s a dangerous man.

Sometime between the time I wrote the resignation letter and two weeks after, I received a telephone call from the Human Resources Office. She asked if I would be interested I a Secretary position at the Atlanta Fire Department Headquarters. I don’t remember every applying there and I don’t know how or if she knew that I had resigned from the Accounts Payable Department, but of course I was interested, it was only a matter of days before I would be unemployed.

She told me when to arrive to the interview. I was interviewed by a panel of people. One was the fire Chief (McClendon Billings) who was the chief over the Fire Education Division whom I would answer directly to and also attending was 3-4 women who already worked for the department. Shortly after the interview I was told that I was hired.

Shortly after I reported to work Captain Calvin Matthews started coming around. it seemed friendly at first. We all know how it is to be the new person. You don’t know anybody and meeting new people and making positive impression is just as stressful as getting the hang of your new job responsibilities. You know how it is, everybody knows you and your one name but you have to remember a hundred people and all of theirs, what they do, etc.

He would stop by and say hello or chat for a while. At first I didn’t’ mind because it broke the monotony and the boredom. At some point he must have mistaken my kindness for a deeper different emotion because he made several comments suggestion that we get together on a more intimate level. For example one morning he called my extension and said, “I’m feeling really stressed, I just want to go home and cuddle up, why don’t you come and join me”. I wasn’t interest in doing that with him or anyone in the Fire Department. Each time he made a similar comment, I immediately expressed to him in a calm manner that I wanted to keep things strictly friendly and work like.

I was new, I was trying to learn my job, I had my own personal issues and goings on, I wasn’t interested in him in that way. Sometime later, he called me and said that he had come across some tickets to a comedy show at the Comedy Club in downtown Atlanta. He asked if I would go with him. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to mislead him, taking into consideration how he had already been acting toward me.

I told him that I would go if he understood that it was just a friendly outing and that there were no strings attached. Plus, since I had taken it that he had been given the tickets I didn’t feel as thought he would be expecting anything in return from me. He agreed and seemed like he was cool with us just being friends.

When we arrived at the show and exited the car, he said “Can I hold your hand because I don’t want us to get separated in the crowd”. It was crowded sure enough but I doubt that we would have gotten separated because it was not that kind of shoulder to shoulder crowd. It was more crowded outside from the people who were waiting in line. But once were got inside it was not that crowded. Plus we didn’t have to wait in line because someone had left his tickets at the window.

During the show, he was a little too excited. He was just over laughing loudly compared to everyone else in the area. I was embarrassed. When we left we went to get some food. After leaving the restaurant he went in a direction that I thought was out of the way but I didn’t think much about it because you could reach the interstate and my neighborhood from that direction also.

But then we got to an unfamiliar area not far from headquarters and he turned into an apartment complex. I asked him where we were going and he said “I left something at the house that I need to get”. He wanted me to go in with him but I didn’t. First of all I thought that I was on my way home, second he had already wanted to hold hands, third he had been acting hyper at the venue. It might have been innocent but I didn’t’ want any trouble, after all, this guy worked with me and was good friends with my boss. I wasn’t trying to get caught up in any office politics at the time. I felt that it would lead to some kind of office drama. You know how it is, maybe a happy hour or a show but I’m not trying to get all caught up in no mess.

Also this place looked out of place. Maybe that was where he lived but I would have thought that a near 20-year firefighter would have been able to bump it up a notch to a better apartment complex.

So, I waited in the car. He returned a short time later, stopped by the liquor store, he made a purchase but I didn’t’ want anything, finally he took me home.

Soon afterward, I was sitting at my desk one morning working on some papers and Matthews showed up. He started a conversation and I responded. He then walked up to my desk as if he was looking over my shoulder to see what I was working on and then all of a sudden he leaned in and kissed me. And then he just hurried out of my office. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t invite that or provoke it. You know what I mean I just did not want a case. You know what I mean, no woman or man wants to go through a harassment case just for the heck of it. I like most women try desperately to avoid it but the guy just kept it up. Who needs that?

I didn’t tell my boss immediately but as the days went by Matthews was becoming a serious nuisance. I was beginning to not even want to go to work. One day my boss told me to bring my lunch into his office and have lunch with him, he wanted to show me something. I did. He had a videotape of a birthday celebration that he had given for his wife. It was very endearing. As we watched and the camera moved about the house, he started pointing out couples who he had hooked up (played match maker with). I didn’t think about it until later but then I started to wonder if that was why Matthews was bothering me so much. Was my boss encouraging him or trying to match make us. If he was he should not have crossed that line. Or at least he should not have done it without talking to me first because I was not interest in Matthews like that from day one and I never suggested that I was.

Finally, Matthews became so annoying that I went to my boss to tell him about what had happened and to ask him to get him off of my case, afterall, I had tried to reason with Matthews on several ocassions. When I told him that Matthews was harassing me he told me “If you keep complaining I’m going to discipline you”. I almost fell through the floor. I was soooooo let-down. I thought for sure that he would have responded differently. I felt helpless and bound. I felt like he was tying my hands and saying to me to go back out there and you tolerate this man or else.

I mean, what do you do after something like that. I had already heard him say before “You don’t have any rights” but surely he didn’t mean it to me like that. I respected my boss because up until now, I felt as thought he had treated me with some decency. So, I was really let down.

Then I became fear struck because these people were carry on like they really was the law. They were blatantly doing things to me that were totally in violation of what I knew to be workplace violations, and they were getting away with it with the support of the managers. That made me fearful. I guess its like when a child goes to a parent a reveals some type of abuse and the parent takes sides with the abuser, I can imagine that that child just kind of has his/her nervous breakdown right there on the spot, and then the next step is submission because they feel like there is no escape or even fear for their safety.

Keep in mind I had just come from the Accounts Payable Department from a similar situation with a similar outcome and similar remarks to me. So I was really spiraling. I needed my job so badly at the time.

Without the money or other resources to hire a lawyer to challenge the firings we are left with a negative mark on our employment records and with the burden of trying to convince the next employer of your innocence.

Even though we work in a state where you can be fired at will. We should at least have the opportunity to redeem ourselves. Employers should be forced to disclose the complete contents of second hand information as well as the source. Just saying that somebody told me something about you should not be an excuse for firing someone because not only is you work history damaged you are left with that stigma and the burden of trying to live that down to future employers.

In my case the people who slandered me was the City of Atlanta. They first stated in my personnel file that I was dismissed by the Manger of the Accounts Payable Department when in actuality I was forced to resign as a result (in her own words) of what someone told her that had nothing to do with my job performance. Then the Fire Department stated that I had been dismissed from their department because I was discourteous to fellow employees. When in fact I wasn’t, not even when I was trying to avoid the unwanted advances of a co-worker.

I didn’t not seek out Mulefu or Matthews or any one else in an incident that might have been reported they came and started with me. As a receptionist/secretary, I am one of the easiest persons to locate primarily because I’m a greeter, I have to be there. I quess one of the downfalls of working in an isolated area is that victimizers view you as an opportunity, even at work.

Anyway, he called a meeting with us. I was there with my supervisor and Matthews was there with his. Matthews immediately began whining about how poor he grew up and how he didn’t have this and that. He went on to tell about how in all of the years with the fire department he had never had an accusation like this brought against him. Pretty much he was just laying out a sob story and denying any misconduct. I’m sitting there thinking what does any of this have to do with me and what he was putting me through.

What if I had started whining about how my mother was widowed after her young husband suddenly dropped dead and left her with three small children to raise on her own, and that I don’t even remember my father because he died in my infancy which made me an orphan. And then proceeded to blame every thing in life that didn’t go my way on that. So what we have equally tragic stories. Now what?

You know what I mean, none of that crap he was telling had anything to do with a firefighter behaving badly and trying to take advantage of a widowers orphan daughter who was struggling to help her son, who was a student living out of town, and trying to get an education which is declining amongst black males, whose father was deceased and not around to kick his firefighter ass for trying to destroy her career. What story is worse than that? My story is actually more of a tear jerker than the one he told is but I have never used it to get my way with anyone or for hurting someone else.

To be honest I was afraid. I had become afraid to say anything else because they had made me feel as though there would be consequences. A day or two after that meeting Matthews supervisor advised me that I could file a formal grievance. I told him that I wanted to, I really wanted to talk to someone outside of the department, but before I could my boss fired me.

About a year later I was watching the news and saw Captain Calvin Matthews’s mug shot on the screen. He had been arrested in the Thomasville Heights Housing Project, in uniform, in the possession of marijuana and cocaine (probably crack). I was very happy to hear the news even though it did not provide any justice for me in terms of losing my job. At least he was finally getting some help.

After seeing that story, I was able to tie it to some of his behavior that I observed as odd while working there. I had always thought that he was a little odd but I had just associated it to underlying emotional problems but after that story I can see how some of his behavior and appearance might have been a result of some personality altering chemicals.

I wonder how the chief would feel if someone tried to match make his daughter with a suspected crack head. I’m sure that he wants better than that for her and I sincerely hopes that he doesn’t try to arrange a relationship for her and cause her any pain. Think about it, I was in my late 30’s and Matthews was at least in his mid 40’s early 50’s. Who wants to get tied down with a old-head crack head? What woman my age wants to meet a older man who is already cracked out and assume a relationship with him. At that age your perspectives change and you have a different mature outlook on life? You start thinking more about stability, happiness and your future. I know that I was. I was a single mother, my son had just left for college and I was looking forward to supporting him in his ventures and exploring some of my own. I quess you could say that I was exhaling a little, the last thing I wanted to have to do at that point is become a nurse maid for a crack heads crack pipe and all of his drama. I wasn’t trying to get caught up like that. I have escaped drug addiction for all of my life and any curiosities that I might have had left long long ago and I am not about to start living my life in that way. If anything I needed somebody who was emotionally and financially sound enough to ease some of my burdens and generate some positive happiness and excitement for me.

Moreover, I didn’t have to lose my job when I did. It was senseless. First of all if a thorough investigation had been conducted someone probably would have discovered Matthews substance abuse problem if he had one, long before his arrest. And, having being with the City for as long as he had they couldn’t have fired him anyway. He could have gone to rehab and still kept his job or taken a leave of absence. At the time when I worked there that place came across like a dump. I’m sure that there were all types of substance problems with City employees but those people weren’t fired and probably still work there.

On the other hand, we just could have been separated. I would have gladly moved to another area to get away from the Fire Department and that drama and I could have still kept my job. There was a better solution that would have helped the both of us.

I feel that if my own boss for reasons unbeknown to me could not have conducted a fair and unbiased investigation properly, he had a obligation to pass it along to the appropriate internal unit and let them handle it.

When I last looked into my personnel file after I was fired there was still no record or mention of the incident in my file. I can see why Matthews was whining about never have a complaint like this against him. The way it looks they just overlook these complaints and never record them to their files. Who knows how many other complaints he has had made against him. Nobody can be sure considering that my complaint was not mentioned. The least he could have done is acknowledge that I did seek out help by reporting that Matthews was harassing me.

It was a horrible experience for me. I need my job so badly at the time. I’m single, my son had just started college, I was starting college. I was left financially strained, I couldn’t pay my bills, I couldn’t pay my car insurance so I had to park the car, I couldn’t pay my bills so my credit went to hell, and my own family thought that I was at fault for getting fired. Like most people and the public, they sympathized with them just like we teach our children that they do no wrong and to trust them. Well this time they did wrong.

There is no telling how much was shaved off the value of potential pension or the 401k I could have accrued. No job is guaranteed but who is to say that I may have not had a long career with the City of Atlanta just like they did. I am single and I doubt that I will ever be married to bring in additional income, so pensions, 401k’s, savings and investments are detrimental to me because those are the things that will provide for me in my old age.

I’m not one to hold grudges but I have been wronged by so many people who unjustly damaged my career but stay at the company to accrue their retirement, people who deserved to be there far less than me, but sometimes I wish that they’re whole pension fund would collapse just fare enough that they’re asses get a good 15-20 years cut off of their retirement checks, and see how they like that shit. I don’t hold grudges but I’m human and I think evil to sometimes.

I’m sorry that this is falling in the hands of the current Mayor or department heads where I previously worked but since my dismissal from the Fire Department iaccuse has been the only outlet that I could find for getting help and answers.

I doesn’t matter what company you are, if that company has wronged someone, that wrong needs to be righted especially something like this where they know that this type of problems has always existed.

I had worked for many years before working with the City of Atlanta and I had a good work history and I had worked and trained diligently to develop my skills and most of all my customer service skills along side some good role models. I arrived at the City of Atlanta with these skills and they have no right to try and misconstrue my reputation.

As a front office personnel providing services such as receptionist, secretary, administrative assistant, customer service, etc, it is detrimental to my survival to be perceived by a potential employer as a professional who can greet, communicate, and instruct other people in a courteous and tactful manner. Moreover, I have to be perceived as a team player that can interact closely with my coworkers in the same manner.

Its so unfair to have all of that over shadowed and mangled just because a man (co-worker) refused to accept that a particular woman did not want to become involved with him. I’m sure I’m not the first and definitely not the last. That’s just the ropes, we all have had to move on when a person didn’t respond to us mutually.

Both of these men who were directly involved were allowed to continue their jobs unaffected yet I have suffered emotional and financial ridicule because of them. Moreover, it is a pitiful man who has to hide behind the protection of his job to force a woman into relationship with a woman at any level. I hope that none of them sleep well at night.

I would like to know why? Why wasn’t I allowed to remain employed? Why in this day and time would any body let that slide. When I complained outside of the department they referred me back to the department. What made them think that they were going to do something if they were the ones who fired me.

All I did was go to an employer for work and did the best job that I could do. I never intended to be left with something like this hanging over me that I have to explain over and over again. I gave the City of Atlanta a full days work for a full days pay and any other duties as needed that were work related.

I feel that my personnel file with them should be amended to reflect the full details (and not those one line explanations on the separation letters) of what occurred in each of the departments where I experienced conflict. And then I would like to be able to walk in there and resign from each of those departments with dignity. Also, I would like a copy of the amended separation notices. An apology would be nice.

Lastly, I hope that the City of Atlanta’s atmosphere had improved over the years. I would like to see the current Mayor implement a policy of exit interviews for all employees who are fired for reasons other than downsizing or economic downsizing that is approved by his administration. I think that if that person is worth listening to on the way in, they should be heard on the way out to because they may be a victim of some unfair injustice or discrimination. You cant clean up a workplace if managers and other employees cover up complaints by firing people. Also I think that he should take extra measures to protect new hires during their probationary period because I have experienced first hand how employees are attacked during this sensitive period of their employment.

Sincerely,
Sonja Parker