If you have social media, you sometimes receive random messages from people you don’t know. It happens quite often on such platforms as Instagram or Facebook or similar platforms where people share their pictures as it invites other people to engage and comment on your appearance.
It probably doesn’t happen that often on LinkedIn as it is a platform intended for people to find employers and employees. But this TikToker got lucky and she was ambushed by a company executive who at first seemed like he came with a serious job offer, but then made an inappropriate comment that made the woman publicly shame him.
More info: TikTok
A woman was offered a job opportunity but she quickly learnt that she couldn't work there even if she wanted because of how the man spoke to her
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
The TikToker is Alexandria Kelly, a 25-year-old digital creator from Michigan. On her account she shares beauty, lifestyle, travel, fashion and pageantry videos as well as memes. One of her videos went quite viral and now sits at 240k views.
In that video, Alexandria shows a screenshot of her LinkedIn messages. A man claiming to run timeshare sales operations for Hyatt, an American multinational hospitality company, reached out to the woman and told her he’s hiring in San Diego, which is on the other side of the country to where Alexandria lives.
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
The man wrote Alexandria saying that he is hiring and she should come to work for him
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
The woman responded, wanting to know more about the position, and when Jeffrey Slusarek introduced himself and where he has open positions, he went on to say that he is actually glad they don’t work together. The reason for that was that he would stare at Alexandria walking around the office all the time and couldn’t get anything done.
The woman didn’t take the unsuccessful compliment very well and went on TikTok to shame the man for having that much audacity to make such a comment after starting a conversation about a possible business relationship.
Bored Panda contacted Alexandria and she shared what her reaction was when she first saw the message, "My reaction to the message was disgust. It happens all too often and the fact that someone representing companies decided to do this, or anyone in general, thought it was appropriate or okay."
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
People were invested in the story and wanted an update from Alexandria, so she posted a couple of videos giving a little bit more detail. She revealed that she contacted Hyatt on Instagram and asked them to keep her updated on what they proceed to do. Alexandria doesn’t reveal what the company is planning to do, but she got information that this won’t be ignored.
She also said that she contacted the man’s wife and daughter on Facebook, but later decided to delete the messages because it was causing her anxiety. She was kind of scared of what consequences she could have from making rich people angry as they possess not only money but also power.
She was interested to know more, but was disappointed when the man followed up with an inappropriate comment
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
Alexandria isn’t trying to get Jeffrey in trouble because of spite, but because she already has had experiences of getting harassed, however she revealed to us that it was the first time that it has happened in other than a social setting. But she just wants the HR to know what kind of people work for their company and to try to prevent something similar happening to other women. She also believes that this wasn't the first time Jeffrey behaved this way, "There have been people in my TikTok comments saying they know him and he is known for this, which shows employers of his like Hyatt Vacation Rentals and Welk have let this slide. From what I know, I've been his only consequence, because he chose the wrong woman to sexually harass."
Even though Alexandria contacted the companies the man works at she still hasn't gotten a response from them, "I haven't heard any updates from Hyatt, and Welk has completely ignored me and everyone. But this is why I speak up. Because people will never face consequences if I stay silent. If I can prevent women from experiencing this, then I will."
The video of her showing the message went viral so she made an update video and told her followers that she contacted the man's HR
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
We don’t know what will happen to Jeffrey and if the company actually will take measures but Alexandria would expect a strict response from the company, " I hope he gets fired. I hope his consequences from his actions are just. Because this will set a message for men in the future. People will look and see what happened, and either feel scared to continue with this behavior, or feel comfortable doing it because he didn't get any consequence. I would also like Welk to step up and say something, or even respond or reach out to me."
While we can't know about Jeffrey's situation at work, we can check is his LinkedIn profile and it is nowhere to be found. Alexandria mentioned that she reported him to LinkedIn, but it is unclear if the account was deleted by the platform or Jeffrey did it himself after receiving some unwanted attention, but he is obviously aware that what he said didn’t go unnoticed.
The HR promised to take action and Alexandria hopes that this man won't be able to send similar messages to any other woman
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
According to Rights Of Women, 45% of women experiencing sexual harassment say that it comes in the virtual space. They get sexual messages through emails, texts and social media, get cyber-harassed via such platforms that are often used in professional settings such as Zoom, Teams and Slack, and get called on their phones.
The shocking statistics show that 42% who get harassed at work experience it online and it only increased during the pandemic while working from home and needing to communicate through various virtual platforms. What is even worse, 72 percent of women feel that their employers aren’t trying enough to solve this issue and to protect them.
For now it is unclear what consequences he could suffer, but he doesn't have a LinkedIn account anymore
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
Online harassment doesn’t seem as dangerous as harassment happening in person, but it still makes women feel threatened and the online world is a reflection of what happens in real life, so people like Alexandria who speak up about it and call out this behavior are making small steps towards changing this reality.
But for now Alexandria has only one important advice to women who get in a similar situation as her, "I would advise other women to speak up if possible. These men, or even women who do things like this, will never face consequences if not reported. These types of people are repeat offenders. They feel comfortable doing this, as you can tell. Which most likely means they have been reported before and nothing has happened. So if we all remember to speak up and even make it public, hopefully we can all make steps to stop this behavior. Even though it's the harassers job to face the consequences, and just straight up not do this in the first place."
Image credits: alexandriakelly96
Below you can find the video with Alexandria's reaction
What did you think of the email? Did it seem unprofessional or do you think that it isn’t such a big deal? Have you ever been in a similar situation? Let us know in the comments!
People in the comments were disgusted that a potential colleague would behave like this
