Am I being sexually harassed?
I’ve worked at my job for 3 years now and I feel as if I’m being sexual harassed. First off I am a straight male and it’s happening by a DL gay man. I obviously won’t put his real name on here so I’ll refer to him as “Tim”
Tim started off being really friendly when I first started the job and would always be there if I needed help with anything.
So friendly that I started to feel something is off about him.
Tim portrays to be one thing but at times would do things a lot of straight men don’t do. He would leave me a note by where I work and say “ whats up :)”, he started asking me to walk out together once our shift is over, he would wait in the parking lot for me to get there to walk in with me.
Tim never texted me anything inappropriate but would always text me after work and would call me on the weekends. It got to the point where I had to
tell him to stop. I blocked his number because it was too frequent.
To make a long story short, Tim would always look at me up and down in an odd way. He always asked me to hang outside of work even once I told him no multiple times. He started asking me “did you ever fantasize” and I responded with “no what are you talking about” and he just kept saying “read between the lines.” He one time mouthed the words “will you be my boyfriend” and at the time I thought I was going crazy because I’m thinking to myself “did he really just say that or am I tripping out??” I later found out that’s exactly what he said.
One guy came and asked me one day “some of us were joking around and the question asked was : if you were gay, would you be a top or bottom?”
I responded with “none of that.”
I later asked Tim was he apart of this so called conversation and when I asked him, he got mad at me. Tim started saying “what are you talking about, I don’t even know what a top or bottom is , I’ve never heard of that, why are you asking me this.” I felt bad because I thought maybe I was wrong and he really didn’t have anything to do with it…
Come to later find out, it was Tim who told the guy to come and ask me that question all along to see how I would respond.
I don’t have proof but I even saw him taking pictures of me while working. The first time I thought I saw it I didnt say anything because in my mind I could totally be wrong. The 2nd time I was sitting down in the break area and I saw him try to take one of me and I asked him what was he doing. He responded with “I’m just playing I’m on Snapchat” (he’s 40 years old btw). I told him to not do that and he just kept saying “I’m just playing.” The 3rd time, someone comes up to me and tells me “don’t tell anyone but I’m pretty sure I saw him taking pictures of you.” At this point I went to HR.
I’ve even had someone come up to me and say he over heard Tim talking about me saying “it’s like I’m obsessed with him”
I eventually had to pull Tim aside and ask him about his sexuality. I asked him was he gay or bisexual. He told me no he’s not (which now I know is a lie) , then he proceeded to question me about mine. I have not given him any reason to believe I was gay or anything. I’ve only been kind to him and that is one of my biggest regrets.
One day, a guy I worked with came up to me and asked me “is everything okay? I noticed you and Tim don’t really talk anymore.” I told him “yeah I just try to keep my distance from him now.” The next thing he asked me was “it something sexual?”
I told him “yes , how’d you know”
He then proceeded to tell me what everything Tim was trying to do. He said it’s like a game for Tim to see if he can “flip a straight man”
HR did absolutely nothing. No one wanted to come forward and state what they saw or have heard him say about me. Because I have no proof, they’re treating it like it never happened. He’s given me unwanted compliments about my appearance, made a comment about he likes the way my lips look and so on.
I’m sorry for the long text. I didn’t type out everything I really want to say I just don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve become so filled with anger towards the situation and some days I don’t even want to go into work.
Thank you