An Awkward Conversation

The customer who was sexually harassing several employees was in today. I pulled him to the side and gave him the speech that I had been thinking about for several weeks: "Sir, I realize you probably think you're being funny and just joking around. However, some of my employees find your jokes offensive. As a manager, I have the responsibility to protect my employees from what COULD BE CONSTRUED as sexual harassment. So I need to ask you to stop." He made a few excuses, "I wasn't using any foul language," stuff like that. But nevertheless, he WAS saying offensive things. If it continues, I'll have to ask him to shop someplace else. And he really won't like that. The conversation was awkward enough as it was. Asking a regular customer to shop somewhere else would be REALLY awkward, despite my regional manager giving me permission to do so, if necessary. I'll have to wait and see.

Oh, and new employees suck. They really, really REALLY, REALLY suck.