My Kinda Sorta #MeToo Moment

After giving two weeks' notice at my first post-college job, I started meeting with clients to wrap up projects. Our health system had just merged with another, resulting in corporate eeny-meenye-miny-moe among senior executives with redundant responsibilities.

One of those meetings was with a senior vice president from the other system I hadn’t yet met. After we introduced ourselves to each other, I presented options for a new collateral piece.

“On the cover, we suggest using an embossed logo as the primary image,” I said.

“I have an idea,” he said. “How about using a picture of me in crotchless pants?”

Let me repeat: “How about using a picture of me in crotchless pants?”

Annnnd once again in super slo-mo: “How … about … using … a …. PICTURE … OF … ME … in … CROTCHLESS … PANTS?”

You know how people carefully weigh their words before saying anything out loud? Yeah, I don’t.

“We can’t print that small,” I blurted.

“Touche,” he said. And we finished the meeting.

So much malarky to unpack, but how nutty was it the creepy veep and I finished the meeting like normal? Then again, what was there to say?

Actually, I’ve thought a lot about what I could have said. Would the better response have been: “Wow. You’re asking for a lawsuit.” Or “That was inappropriate. If you make another such comment, I’m going to HR.”

Had my blurt OK’d such out-of-line lines? If he thought it was flirty banter, what would it have been like to work with this guy on an ongoing basis? I didn’t want any corporate blowback, so I confessed to my managers. Thankfully they laughed.

I am not making light of much more serious situations. As a #metoo moment, this registers as less than a nanosecond.

Yet this tete-a-tete still sticks with me. If called to testify (way too dramatic, but deal), it was a he said/she said situation. His comment was so bizarre, it sounds made up. More than anything, he was the 50-something weasel with issues, so why was I spending time considering the fallout of his bizarre comment?

He had made his issues mine, which ticked me off long after the laughter subsided.

What do all y’all think? Would it have been better to play it straight? (Not an option, btw. The comment was as reflexive as being hit in the knee with one of those triangle rubber things) Please share your thoughts. As always, thanks for stopping by.