Accommodating the disability.

I used to work at a place where there was one client who was mentally competent but was extremely grabby with female caregivers and on at least one instance masturbated in front of one. (He once grabbed me by the back of the head and shoved me down towards his crotch, urggh. I was able to break free before making contact, but urggh.) Management's solution was to put a note in his chart: "MALE CAREGIVERS ONLY." Not "we will no longer be providing service to this person," and certainly not "we will be pursuing legal action," but just a simple accommodation of his little problem.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I went to HR to complain about a coworker who had been treating me extremely disrespectfully because--although I'm more than a year senior to him in the organization--I'm just a little girl. HR's response: "Hm, it sounds like he needs to work with a man." No, it sounds like he needs to work somewhere else, dammit. I know firing and hiring aren't as easy as all that, I understand where she's coming from, but it still pisses me off.

Being an asshole isn't a special need.