Reader: Wait, no Covid-19 in the title? Is this the real life?
Yes it is, dear reader. This has absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic.
Reader: Great! So what uplifting story of charity and togetherness are you going to talk about today?
Uh…
Reader: There’d be nothing better during this time than a tale of kindness to lift our spirits. So what is it about?
Well, it’s uh, another case of harassment and molestation.
Reader: …
…
Reader: Humanity is doomed
Restaurant Director Abused His Position & Harassed & Molested His Married Staff
A 30-year-old restaurant director was ordered by a district court to pay a fine of S$5000 after he harassed and molested his subordinate.
Neither the director nor the restaurant can be named due to a court order to protect the 31-year-old victim’s identity.
According to TODAYonline, the married victim was an assistant manager at a popular restaurant at the time of the incidents.
From 21 to 24 December last year, the man harassed her five times.
On one occasion, the victim was drying dishes at the bar counter when he stood beside her and put his right hand around her waist.
Shocked and uncomfortable, the woman immediately pushed his hand away and asked him what he was doing.
His excuse was that he was trying to get something.
Oh yes, my cup just happened to be floating mid-air right next to your waist and I accidentally bumped into it, that’s all.
A few days later, when she was standing behind the cashier counter, talking to the chef, the director grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards him without saying anything.
She immediately brushed him off.
Because if there’s one way to get a woman to date you, it’s to forcibly pull them towards you even though they’ve made it very clear they don’t like you.
The man also sent her several messages in a WhatsApp chat group, professing his love for her and asking her to marry him.
If there were a guidebook on how to make a woman extremely uncomfortable and dislike you intensely, this guy could write several volumes at least.
He also harassed her by putting a red shirt and blue jacket over her back. I can’t really explain the motives behind this one.
Apologised for the “inconvenience caused”
In court, the man, who did not have a lawyer, apologised for “the inconvenience caused to my staff and the court”.
Now, if his restaurant had to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he could certainly apologise to his customers for the “inconvenience caused” by the closure.
Or if the bathrooms in his restaurant happened to run out of toilet paper because they were all sold out at Giant, he could definitely apologise for the “inconvenience caused”.
But you can’t harass and molest someone and then use such an impersonal and remorseless phrase.
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Took advantage of his position
The man ended up pleading guilty to one count of using criminal force on her and another charge of molestation, with three other charges under the Protection from Harassment Act taken into consideration during sentencing.
District Judge Luke Tan told him: “I agree with the prosecution — this is a situation where, quite aside from the offence of outrage of modesty, you really took advantage of your position as the director of the restaurant.”
For using criminal force, he could have been jailed up to three months, fined up to S$1,500 or both. For molestation, he could have been jailed up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of the three.
Dear men, if you like someone but they don’t like you back, accept it. If you can’t handle rejection, don’t take it out on these poor women who have to think about what you did to them for the rest of their lives.
