Curiosity, Thoughts and Whatever...

Dear friends,

I would like to share my unpleasant experience being sexually harassed yesterday & would appreciate your help to spread the words to warn your friends & family. For privacy & security, please omit my e-mail address while doing so, thanks.

I parked my car at the opposite the Taman Jaya LRT station (next to Amcorp Mall, RM3 per entrance) in the morning & paid for my car to be washed. I was too upset that I have forgotten the car park management name, if not mistaken, it should be Legean (or something similar) Management.

Upon collecting my car in the afternoon around 3pm, I was greeted by a young Indian male who could barely speak English or BM. It was raining heavily then hence I agreed to be escorted to my car by him with an umbrella. During the less then 50 meters walk next to him, he hugged my shoulder making me feel uneasy, I tried moving my body away & quickly ran to my car which he followed.

I jumped into my car quickly, attempting to close the door but he stopped me. He kept saying "Wait". & when I was seated at the driver's seat, he threw him body across me & started searching for something below the carpet of the passenger's seat next to me. You can imagine how much body contact there was in between my steering wheel & my body. I kept saying "Stop", "Tak Mau" & god knows what other words to try to stop him. Unfortunately, he did not, he continued his search with half of his body on my lap, & left arm rubbing my breasts.

He then took out a piece of clothe & started wiping the interior of my car. For obvious reason his favourite spots seemed to be my gear box & the dashboard in front of the passenger's seat. I continued to yell at him to stop & at the same time pushing him away, his response was still "Wait". After some attempts, I finally managed to push & kick him out of the door. That was the time I noticed he was having a hard on & he actually had a smile on his face.

With no further delay, I locked my car door, zoomed off the carpark & preceded to the entrance booth to place a complaint. There was an Indian lady manning the booth. I repeated the incident to her & told her I would like file a complaint to the management. Unsurprisingly, she mentioned that her boss was not around, she apologised that the Indian male is new from India & asked me to forget about the whole incident.. Being new doesn't give him the right to harass other woman. Hence, I pressed further, demanding her to call her boss so I could speak to him.

Instead of calling her boss, she called the same Indian male who attended to me, he came & both of them attempted further to apologise to me & tried convincing me to drop my complaint as it will never happen again. As they were doing so, there were cars, queuing behind me waiting to enter the carpark. I offered to move into the carpark so I will not block others' way, she had the gut to tell me that I will have to pay for the parking in order to get it. I refused to & finally after some heated argument & also dissatisfaction from the cars behind, I was let in to the carpark.

After entering the carpark, I came out from the car to continue the conversation & I was given the boss' number to call - Samy (016 3903438), I attempted several times but this number was out of service. I then called the complaint & inquiry number pinned on the booth (019 3267104), again, I could not get connected. What is the point of displaying a designated number for complaint when the line is not functioning, it shows how insincere is an organisation in handling customers feedback.

I insisted for another number to call which I was reluctantly given (016 6959731) & it finally went through. Another Indian male, Khartik picked up the phone whom I repeated the incident again. After much discussion, he agreed to meet me at the booth. All these were done with me standing in the pouring rain, the Indian lady nicely in the entrance booth & the India male nicely under an umbrella. If I had not request for an umbrella, I will be left drench & wet standing under the rain.

When Khartik arrived, again, I repeated my story to him & again, he apologized & tried to persuade me drop the matter as the staff is new from India . I pointed straight to their face that this is a lame excuse, especially when the Indian male has shown obvious arousal response following his action & he actually had a smile on his face after I pushed & kicked him.

Upon my resistance, Khartik informed that the Indian male will be dismissed as he feels very ashamed of his action towards their customer. At the same time he raised his voice to reprimand the Indian male in Tamil. I am unsure if this will indeed be done but I doubt I will ever want to return to the carpark to find out. By dismissing the Indian male does not justify the harassment, humiliation & hassles but Khartik mentioned there is nothing else he can do.

It is very disheartening that unless a female is physically injured or rapped, she will not be taken seriously. & the sad thing is, most female friends that I know, including myself have experienced sexual harassment numerous times in their lifetime. & many chose to walk away, thinking that it is pointless or too troublesome to pursue further. In addition, many organisations are very poor in handling customer distress, pinned up the complaint hotline just for the sake of display & always attempt to rush complainants away, hoping they will shut up & leave.

I am working towards highlighting this matter to the press. At the same time, please do alert your friends & family to be careful when parking at this particular carpark & never to use the car wash service there.