A Journey into Conversion - Part III

Continued from Part II…

This is a true story - mine. This is the third part of many

A Journey into Conversion
Part III

So it was around the spring of 1995 and I had no daycare. I had finished an AutoCAD program at St. Clair College earlier that winter and afterward was hired on a three month contract with them to work in the Architectural Lab to help out the students.

That previous year the other students in our group had been finishing up classes. Over the time of the course we developed a bond and became close. We used to go out to bars as a group or just hang out for picnics. On one occasion one of the guys from our class had called me almost in tears because he had spent $2000 at the Casino. His wife was out of town and I guess he was bored.

As always, I was ‘one-of-the-guys’ so I didn’t have a problem with him coming to visit to talk about his concerns. A couple of days later he called me drunk and crying because he had gone back to the Casino. He couldn’t handle the stress of his gambling debts and asked me to come over.

I thought nothing of it because I was used to hanging with male friends without any problems. I brought over a comedy to cheer him up.

I had just been out on a date so I had a glass of wine or two. By the time I got there, Billy (name changed) was into a mickey of liquor and had porno on. I asked him to shut them off. He did but kept interrupting the comedy to put them back on. We kept arguing back and forth to shut each other’s move off.

By this time I had a few drinks too many and wasn’t able to drive home. He offered to sleep on the couch if I wanted to sleep in the bedroom. I agreed, still thinking there wouldn’t be any problems after all, he was married and committed so I shouldn’t have had to worry about it.

Wrong

It wasn’t long after I had almost fallen asleep that he was on top of me, trying to convince me to give in. I don’t know how many times I said ‘No’. At least 20 times with no exaggeration. Finally, I told him that I was going to tell his wife. He stopped and left me alone.

The next day as I was leaving I noticed how many crucifixes there were +in the house, indications of his Syrian Christian background. Some Christian I thought to myself.

But this scenario didn’t stop there. I wanted nothing to do with him and chose to ignore him. He didn’t like that and decided to continue his sexual harassment in front of our friends at school, insulting me in front of them as often as he could. It finally came to the point that I had to launch a formal sexual harassment complaint with the school.

A facilitator came in to try to resolve it with us. Billy was afraid I was going to tell his wife and commented that he told her already (he didn’t it was just to appear that way). The facilitator told him if the harassment continued that I could press criminal charges. By this time I didn’t want to work with a male again.

By Christmas we had gone out drinking with the class group again. This time I downed as much tequila and beer as I was able. I was so warm from the alcohol I felt I didn’t need a coat but it was damn cold outside. My friends had tried to get me to put a coat on but I felt I didn’t need one.

Within weeks I had chronic bronchitis or misdiagnosed pneumonia. It was so deep and painful that it lasted 3 months. I couldn’t stop coughing and pulled a muscle in my ribs to the point the pain was so severe I had to go to emergency. I spent Christmas and New Years of 1995 in bed comatose on narcotic cough medicine.
This was before my neighbours downstairs had moved out. They made as much noise as they could but I was so drugged that I barely heard them.

I started at the Lab at St. Clair a few months later but still had boughts of illness. By the time I started with daycare problems in the spring my son got the chicken pox. I had to stay home because no family member was able to watch him.

The director asked to see me when I returned the next day asking me to tell him when my son would have chicken pox! I couldn’t believe it. That was the most ridiculous statement I ever heard how was I supposed to know when my son would suddenly get sick? This wasn’t unusual of male management. I’ve gone through enough harassment in work environments I was almost used to it.

In any case, his similar behavior with other women was so consistent the school asked him to retire.
It wasn’t long before Billy was looking for work at the school in the same department. I got nervous at this news. He would come into the Lab while I was working when no one was around and make insulting comments. I had no proof. It was just my word against his.

I hadn’t started seeing Joe at this time. If I had been, he would have put the boots to him and I would have let him.


Continued in Part IV





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