LIZZIE’S WORLD: The end of the road for Frank?

Both Frank and I turn to Julius in shock as he utters his next words. Up until a few minutes ago, I was sure the cards were stacked against me when Julius, the HR director, walked into his office looking all chummy with Frank, the man who has accused me of harassing him. But now it would seem the tables have turned!

“So, Frank, tell me, are you sure you want to continue with these charges against Liz, given that you have not provided any witnesses, instances or any other proof of your claims? In the meantime, I have all of this evidence against you — that was voluntarily offered by the women who work here, who provided text messages, recorded phone calls … So I ask again. Are you sure you want to persist with this? Because it’s pretty clear to me what is happening here. In fact, what you’re doing now is a form of harassment in itself, when you bring false charges against your colleague. Do you understand?”

“Eh …” Frank mumbles as he pulls a hanky out of his pocket and wipes his brow. He takes a deep breath of resignation and as he breathes out, his body seems to deflate of all its hubris. “Ok,” he tosses his hands up in the air. “What do you want me to do, Julius? What?”

“Well, you could resign and leave with your reputation intact-,”

“So that he can be hired by some other company where he will continue with his disgusting ways?!” I jump in. I shall not have this. Frank will leave as dishonourably as I can make happen.

“Liz,” Julius gives me a stern look. “I’ll ask for your input later please. Right now I need you to sit back and let me handle this. I’ll ask you for your input.”

I cower back in my seat.

“Right, back to you,” Julius focuses his attention back on Frank. “So what’s your choice?”

“Ah … I, ah … I mean, I don’t want any trouble … I have a wife. And daughters …” Frank splays his fingers out apologetically.

“So what if you have a wife?” I roll my eyes.

“Liz …” Julius shoots me a look. I sit back once again. “Continue,” he turns back to Frank.

DECISIONS

“So, ah, I was wondering if we can work something out.”

‘Like what?!’ pops up in my head, but I bite my tongue quickly before the words actually make it out of my mouth.

“Like what?” Julius frowns. I am relieved he’s asked what I want to know.

“I don’t know … Maybe I stop with the, um … Maybe I stop.”

“And then?” Julius prods.

“And then life can go back to normal.”

“Life will never be normal for those women you have harassed,” I spit out. “Do you know how much you have scarred them and made them wary of the workplace? How unsafe you make them feel? So for you, it’s an easy whitewash, but what about your victims?”

I turn to Julius, waiting for him to tell me to shut up, but all he does is nod in agreement. Meanwhile Frank doesn’t even acknowledge my existence.

“So Julius, I mean, this doesn’t have to go very far. I can just stop. How will I pay my children’s school fees if I leave?” From how his eyes are starting to get a shiny lustre to them, I suspect Frank is about to cry.

“Frank, I don’t think you understand. We can’t have you here at all. You are a risk to our business and to the women here.”

“Ok, I will leave,” Frank shakes his head and looks down at his lap morosely. “I will leave peacefully.” And then he stands up and walks slowly to the door, which he opens quietly and gently, none of the bravado he displayed earlier in evidence now. Both Julius and I exhale audibly after he shuts the door behind him. “Well then!” I turn to Julius. “That was unexpected!”

“In truth, Liz, we have all known, at board level, the kind of rubbish he gets up to. We were all unanimous in our decision to let him go but until you came along and helped us, no one was willing to provide evidence. So thank you Liz.”

I smile. “You’re absolutely welcome,” I reply, and literally leap out of my chair to go back to my office and have a little celebration of my own.