28-MAR
“Naughty.” That was such a pervy word. A porn word. And yet it was the first one that came to Grace’s mind. Oh, Grace, you’re being so naughty. Thank goodness her thoughts weren’t broadcast for public consumption.
After lunch, Grace slipped into the pumping room and locked the door behind her, checking it twice to make sure that it was firmly latched. She entered and slipped off her high heels. In the corner, she had stowed a plastic, lidded bin, with her name written in Sharpie across the side. Her little smuggled stash. She patted it fondly.
Grace hadn’t started the whole thing intentionally. Only following the tryst at the hotel, that wild night of aromatherapy and room service. She opened the container and began pulling out her treasures. A sleep mask, French hand cream, cashmere socks, a pair of silk pajamas, a down pillow in a fresh linen case, and a blanket made from merino wool. Grace changed into the pajamas and tugged the socks over her tired feet. She moaned audibly. The pads in her nursing bra were damp with milk but she left them in, stretching onto the cracked leather sofa and fluffing the pillow into a mound beneath her head. Meanwhile, the parts of her electric pump still floated in a bowl full of soapy water beneath the kitchen sink.
To keep up with Emma Kate’s demand, Grace should pump at least three times a day. Then, one afternoon she thought, Screw it, and lay down to take a nap instead. She woke with red lines creasing her cheek and drool dried into the corner of her mouth, but for a short time after she felt suddenly human.
Her milk supply had already begun to dwindle and yet she couldn’t bring herself to quit the now daily nap. Every afternoon, she was like a woman who, upon embarking on a new diet, was dismayed to find her willpower tapped out when faced with a chocolate cupcake. The pumping room was Grace’s chocolate cupcake.
And, because Grace was a perfectionist, she’d set to work perfecting her craft. To think that a few short weeks ago, she felt trapped inside this very same room, put out by the lack of cellphone service and loss of her precious time.
It was so easy.
Grace knew her rights, too. For a whole year after Emma Kate’s birth, Truviv was required to provide her with a private space in addition to breaks sufficient for her to express milk. Truviv was not required to allot her any time to sleep, but really, shouldn’t they be? Maybe just a little?
Grace pulled the sleep mask over her eyes and tried to shut the world out. The beauty of it was that no one suspected Grace Stanton would lie at all, much less about feeding her infant daughter. No one suspected a thing, which made Grace wonder, what else might she be capable of pulling off?
Deposition Transcript
26-APR
Ms. Sharpe: |
In your initial complaint, you alleged a decade-long culture of sexual harassment. A decade is a long time. Why didn’t you say something? Surely, you were afforded the opportunity to report your concerns at some point during that timeframe. At least once. But I will tell you, we didn’t find a single instance of complaint on record from you. |
Respondent 1: |
I obviously feared for my job and the future of my career. I feared retaliation from Truviv. A fear, which, as you can see, has turned out to be quite valid. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
Ms. Glover, in that case, you’ve now sat on this alleged information for at least ten years, by your own account. Why now? |
Respondent 1: |
To believe that I was the only incident of sexual harassment would have been naïve. But I wasn’t comfortable with the same thing that had happened to me happening right under my nose. I could no longer, in good conscience, stand by and watch without speaking up. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
Mr. Garrett was poised to become Truviv’s next CEO. You were aware of this, weren’t you? |
Respondent 1: |
I was. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
Your conscience has impeccable timing. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
When you say that you recently believed there was another target of Mr. Garrett’s alleged behavior, to whom exactly were you referring? |
Respondent 1: |
Katherine Bell. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
And what exactly did you see Mr. Garrett do to Katherine Bell? |
Respondent 1: |
I saw him singling her out for attention, attention that was not commensurate with her current position within the company. I saw him ushering her into closed-door meetings in his office. |
Ms. Sharpe: |
Does the company have a policy against closed-door meetings? |
Respondent 1: |
Of course not, but— |
Ms. Sharpe: |
So in sum, you are alleging that Ames Garrett paid attention to one of his employees and had meetings in his office. |
Respondent 1: |
No, Cosette. It got worse. Much. |