Baby Boomer Ranger

It’s that time of year where everyone on the Sierra National Forest is required to attend the annual Prevention of Sexual Harassment Training (POSH). Actually, the class has come a long way from those confusing and insulting “Changing Roles” classes that I still think did more to strengthen stereotypes than it did to recruit respect. Some things haven’t changed from those early days of training. Most people are still uncomfortable with the subject; there is still a long list of laws, policies and directions, and there are still attendees proudly wearing their “you-can-make-me-show up, but-you-can’t-make-me-participate” attitude.

I hate mandatory training as much as any Forest Service employee, but POSH is different. I remember several instances when I really wanted someone to do something, or stop doing something. I remember when I should have done something, and I didn’t.

My first Forest Service job was as a Forester Trainee, GS-4 on the Somes Bar Ranger District in the “California Out Back,” the Klamath National Forest. I had quite an education in Somes Bar; physical work is hard, never talk about how fast you expect to be promoted and I learned that people can hate you for things like age, gender and ideas. I learned how to be strong, and I promised that I would never let anyone ever threat me unfairly again. I experienced a lot of difficult situations, but one of the worst was a miserable exhibition of sexual harassment.

As part of my work expericnce, I was temporarily assigned to the silviculture crew. Our job was to pick up Douglas fir cones off of the ground, bag them and tag them for shipment to the nursery. Contract tree climbers picked the cones, and dropped them to the ground. Wearing our Salvation Army worst clothes, we spent the day wallowing in the brush and duff with our gunnysacks of cones.

How do bad situations start? Why do they continue? I can’t remember the names of the other people on the crew, but his name was Steve. Daily, repeatedly, like a broken record Steve went on and on about sex.

“How old were you when you first had sex?”
“I think a girl gets squirrelly if she doesn’t have sex by the time she is twenty-one.”
“When did you first have sex?”
“Are you having sex?”
“Are you a virgin?”
“Did you loose your virginity before or after you were twenty-one”
“I had sex before I was twenty-one”

Several times, we would look up from our pitch covered bags of cones and simultaneously shout “shut up!” The quiet lasted for about fifteen minutes, and then he would start up again. It was pitiful.

I was fortunate that Steve rarely directed his questions to me. He was stupid and I told him that my sex life was none of his business. But the other woman on the crew wasn’t able to brush him off. He must have liked her more, or disliked her more, because he would focus on her and continue pressing her for answers to his sexual inquisition. After a couple of weeks, she was absent from work. She called in sick, and when she returned she said that she couldn’t stand Steve’s repeated questioning. She was so upset that she was vomiting before coming to work. We told her she needed to do something.

Who’s butt is that? Cindy Climimbing trees on the Klamath National Forest.

Later that month, she was transferred to another job on another crew. Regretfully, we did little to help her and nothing happened to Steve. He stayed on with the silviculture crew, finished out the season and returned the next three seasons. I never saw her again.

Fifteen years later, I had just promoted to a GS-11 and I was pleased to move from Timber Management into a Recreation Planning job. I had a very nice office with a view and my own computer. I was very comfortable until the day the district Culturist (aka. Assistant Silviculturist) started to move into the vacant office next to mine. He had a bad reputation and he was a reckless loud mouth. There he was, booming outside my cubby door “Yea, did you hear bout the District Ranger on the … The only reason she got that job was because she was a woman… the only qualification you need today…woman…”

It wasn’t as if this was the first time I heard this, and it wouldn’t be the last. It was the first time I had a physical reaction to a comment at work. My heart was racing and I wanted to run. I looked at my hand and couldn’t believe I was shaking uncontrollably. I lost emotional control over comments made by someone who didn’t know what he was saying. Unlike earlier experiences with disrespectable behavior, I was fortunate to know where to start. I knew enough to walk down the hall and discuss it with my supervisor.

Now, I would like to blog about a future Forest Service without insensitive idiots and without the need to stop people from being rude and disrespectful. Regrettably, the current reports from the Adverse Action Digest show that there are plenty of reckless people still doing stupid insulting things. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

Right now, our POSH training focuses on content and process. What does a situation look like, and what do you do? I think that we need a deeper lesson. How do we teach compassion for others and the courage to act on our convictions? In POSH we had exercises where we practiced confronting someone when they crossed the line, but the difficult point is recognizing that moment. When our gut reaction says something isn’t correct how do we hear it? We need to quickly recognize when to take responsibility for the work environment and the well being of ourselves and our coworkers. People must have the ability to fix situations before they turn dire and productivity stops. Employees need a compassionate work environment where all are willing to take the responsibility for maintaining respectful exchanges under all situations. That’s character, and it is deeply personal and difficult to teach.

My wish for the recruits of the Next Century of Service is that they won’t learn compassion and responsibility the hard way. Mandatory training for sexual harassment ought to continue with proper perspective and audience because there will always be a need to understand the laws and policies and directions. Optimistically, fewer employees will find themselves wishing someone would do something, or wishing someone would stop doing something. I hope that we all can have the courage, the conviction and the knowledge to do take action when faced with that unfortunate destructive situation.