A couple of weeks ago I wrote that the Office Hook Up = Lifetime Threat of Being Leveraged as we took a look at the Letterman case. The point was that if you choose to do office hookups, you've got that right as an American, BUT you'll give someone leverage against you if they ever need it. That's just good ol' American politics, workplace style.
Of course, I realize that probably didn't cause any behavior changes anywhere. With that in mind, I'm back with materials you can easily insert (I'm really not joking) into your Harassment training to bring it home to everyone, especially the guys. Just screen the relevant clips of Fatal Attraction, then distribute the timeline of events that is going to cause ESPN to fire on-air personality Steve Phillips. More from Deadspin:
"Reports out of ESPN headquarters this morning say that "Baseball Tonight" analyst Steve Phillips is on a "leave of absence," after an affair with a 22-year-old production assistant turned into a special edition DVD release of Fatal Attraction.
According to the New York Post's rather lengthy deconstruction of events, Phillips had a brief fling with a fellow ESPN employee named Brooke Hundleythis summer. He ended it rather quickly, which did not go over very well. She allegedly began harassing Phillips, his wife and even his teenage son—who she friended on Facebook by pretending to be a classmate, and then grilled him for personal information about the family.
The final straw came when Phillips' wife arrived at her home to see a strange woman coming down her driveway and getting into a car (which she promptly smashed into a pole while trying to make a quick getaway.) The woman had left a very creepy letter in the front door, addressed to Phillips wife. The full original letter is available on the Post website[PDF]"
If you really want to go shock and awe in your harassment training, just play this - TMZ has the 911 call from Phillips' wife after Hundley showed up at their house. Ugh...I'm serious when I say this - do your normal stale harassment training, then print the post article, the letter from the woman, then end the training with the 911 call. Have them sign your acknowledgment while they listen to the 911 call.
Then say, "Don't be Steve Phillips". Then drop your microphone and walk out of the room like Randy Watson, leaving the stage in Coming to America. Watch the clip here for the how to...
Shock and Awe for sure, and a tightening of one's posterior.
Yeah, this'll get their attention.
Posted by: Steve | October 23, 2009 at 05:04 PM