Men at Work Wonder If They Overstepped with Women, Too
I&#x27;ve been an owner of a company for years now and I&#x27;ve always followed a few simple rules with the women who work for our company:<p>- I never, ever comment on their appearance, including new hairstyles, clothing, etc.<p>- I refer to them as &quot;women&quot;, never as &quot;ladies&quot; or &quot;girls&quot; or other nonsense.<p>- No touching (hugs, etc.) with the exception of handshakes and high fives.<p>- I don&#x27;t engage in, or tolerate, any sexist, sexual or otherwise inappropriate conversations.<p>I will, however, happily go for lunch, have a drink, etc., as I would any other colleague.<p>Incidentally I regularly break some of these rules with male employees, such as remarking on haircuts (&quot;looking good&quot;, etc.), but it&#x27;s different.  (I maintain the rule about sexist&#x2F;sexual conversations across the board - talking about women with male colleagues isn&#x27;t cool either.)<p>I could probably break some of these rules with some of the women in my office without causing offence too, especially the people I&#x27;m closer with - e.g. by remarking on a new outfit or something - but I don&#x27;t want to be a creep so I just play it super safe with everybody.<p>It&#x27;s really not all that difficult: be a professional, don&#x27;t be a creep, and err on the side of caution.  If you have to overcompensate like Pence, it&#x27;s still a hell of a lot better than the alternative.