Reporter Humiliated

A reporter is humiliated in front of her coworkers

It was a hectic morning since it was a production day, and I had worked all morning getting stories out for tomorrow's edition. I had skipped lunch so I took a late lunch and didn't get back to the office until almost three. I thought I was done for the day and planned on leaving early since I had put in so much time this morning, but when I got into the office, the photographer Brian came running up to me frantically and told me that I needed to go see Monty right away because he had a story he wanted for tomorrow's paper. I hated it when they came up with these last-minute ideas and then expected us to work miracles.

"What's this one all about?" I asked Brian.

He just looked at me kind of funny and said, "You better hear this from Monty himself."

He ushered me into Monty's office and Monty was on the phone and I heard him say, "I know but this one is really important and we absolutely need it in tomorrow's edition. This could be an award winner for us." I figured he was talking about this mysterious story I was supposed to write. "What is the absolute latest you can have the copy and photos and still make it? Geeze, that doesn't give us much time. Alright, hold the double-truck for this until the last possible second and then call me before you start the run."

Well, it sounded pretty important, at least in Monty's mind, so I knew there was no way I was going to squirm out of this one. If they were going to hold the press run for one story, and it was going on the double-truck, I knew this was important to Monty, and I was going to be the one stuck writing it.

"Oh Marie, god I'm glad you're back. Where the heck have you been? We've had people scouring the city for you."

I could feel myself getting scared. I hadn't done anything wrong, I took less than 20 minutes for lunch and not until after 2, but being right didn't matter. If Monty was mad about something that's all that mattered. "I skipped lunch because Warren assigned me three last-minute articles to write so I didn't get out for lunch until 2:30, so...

"Oh that's okay, I didn't mean to sound like I was yelling at you, I'm just so excited about this idea and we have no time to do it but if we can pull it off this will be an award winner for sure. I can feel it."

The more he said that the more I knew I wasn't getting out of this. Brian said, "I'll leave you guys to talk."

"No, stick around. We honestly have no time to waste. We have to coordinate the logistics of this and move right now; In fact, two hours ago." Brian nodded and leaned back up against the wall.

"Marie, Ruby came up with this great idea. If only she had come up with it a week ago." I could feel myself starting to shake. I don't know why I felt guilty for taking lunch and not divining that Monty was going to have a last-minute brainstorm. But I felt guilty like somehow this last-minute problem was my fault and I had let everyone down.

"So here's the deal," he leaned forward on his desk as a way of making you see how serious he was. "I don't' know if you know this or not but this month was National Women's Health Awareness Month."

Oh great, I thought. That's why it's me because health issues are my beat. I was wondering why if this was Ruby's idea, why wasn't she writing it. I could see the writing on the wall. Not only was I going to have to write a last-minute article, but it was going to be one that required a lot of research.

"So anyway, Ruby found some NY Times pieces from a few years back where they followed a few women to different clinics and wrote about their experiences and how easy it was to get care but that most women don't bother just because they are not aware or have false impressions or something." So our idea was sort of the same. And this is voluntary. If you don't want to, all you have to do is say no and that's the end of it."

Well, this is a new one I thought. I have never had a story be voluntary, especially when everything I've heard so far sounded like Monty thought this was going to win the paper a Pulitzer or something.

"The idea is to follow a woman through a routine clinic and write about how simple and easy it is to get the care every woman should have." I must have looked confused because I certainly was, but where would he find a clinic at the last minute.

"I know this is outside the box, but that kind of thing is what wins awards. Ruby is working on the research now and she found that 80 percent of women don't' get the preventative care that they should and the National Women's Health Institute says that it's almost exclusively because of false impressions that it is too expensive or too painful or they just don't know what you should do and when you should do it. So Warren has found a Doctor in town that has, what time is it now, shit, he has forty minutes until he has to leave for surgery."

I didn't understand the panic and said, "Why not just do it for next week, and then we'll have plenty of time?"

"Because this is the last issue coming out this month and next month is not Women's Health Awareness Month."

So okay, I see why the panic and conceptually it's not a bad idea, but rushing through something wasn't going to make it an award-winning article. It was going to make it sloppy. "So here's the bottom line, and again, this is voluntary on your part. I can't tell you that you have to do this but I am hoping that you will be a trooper and help us out here and do some real good for a lot of women at the same time. And it just requires everybody to be a team player here."

"Alright," I said, "what do you want me to do?" I was thinking since he said it was something I didn't have to do it, it was probably to write some sidebar or something peripheral to the main story.

"Alright Marie, you are a real asset to this paper. I knew you wouldn't let us down. So as I said, Warren has found a doctor here in town who has agreed to let us sit in on a, what they call 'an annual exam' and ask questions along the way and such. And Brian will go along and get some supporting shots and we just have to roll on this right now: this second."

He stood up like he was done. I was still trying to piece together what he was saying. "I'm still not quite clear on this." I could see the annoyed look on his face. "What are Warren and the doctor going to do?"

Very annoyed and gruff now, he said. "The doctor is going to let us sit in on an annual exam and write about what all it involves and how easy it is and what every woman should do and know about her health. Get it?"

"Yes," I said.

"And Brian will get some shots to support the writing, all very proper. Discretion is the name of the game with this one. So you know, maybe some from the back with the doctor listening with a stethoscope, or some other various tests with the doctor blocking the view, Strictly PG stuff. The art we print will be very conservative. Maybe getting weighed or something," he said looking up at Brian who nodded.

"So the only real issue is certainly not what we print, but just that people will be there, and maybe it will be a little embarrassing, but I'm hoping that since we are all professionals it will work out fine. I'm sure it will. So you have to get moving now." He said and came around the desk to open his door. "Here's the address and Warren is waiting there getting some background."

"And you have a woman who is going to let us come into her exam with her?" I asked incredulously. He had opened the door and was holding the handle and looked at me like I was a total moron. He closed the door slowly and looked at me with a really strange look; annoyed for sure, but also odd in some way. All he said was, "You."

It seemed like one of those answers that didn't fit the question, so I didn't know what he meant "What?" I asked, not at all understanding what he had in mind.

"You are the woman that is going to be examined."

"Me?" Hearing his words, but still not understanding how that could be right. My role in this was as a reporter.

"Yes, you; this whole thing flies or sinks based on you. I was hoping you were going to be a team player. I thought you already said you wouldn't let us down."

"You want me to go and get an examination for the story?" I said the words, but still thought I wasn't clearly understanding this all. That couldn't be right. I was sure he was going to say, 'no, no, no. that's not what I'm saying.

What he said was, "that's right. It's all set up."

I didn't say anything as it sank in. but it was sinking in slowly and the full scope of it hadn't become clear yet.

"We have no time now to even talk about it. It's either become a team player to assist us with winning some awards and do some good in the world or say no and the whole thing falls apart. If I had thought you wouldn't do it we could have been trying to find someone else all afternoon instead of searching for you, but now it's too late for anything else. We have a little over a half-hour."

So that was it. He wanted me to have an annual women's health exam and write about it for the paper. I certainly wasn't thinking about what all this meant, but I just didn't like it at all and said, "Why not Ruby if it was her idea anyway?"

Annoyed again, "because she is at an important interview with the mayor right now and she is going to write the technical sidebars when she gets back, and that is going to take all of her time. We need this story in two hours."

"I am not going to be able to go get an exam and then come back and write an effective story in two hours."

"No, Warren is going to write the main story. He's over there now getting the building blocks from the doctor. You will just give him your insight and observations and impressions and feelings and such and he will write the article."

"I will have to what? Dictate the whole procedure to him? That will take as long as just writing it." No just tell him your impressions and feelings about it. And things like how easy and painless it all is and help make women feel comfortable about going in for these things."

"Well, Warren's not going to know everything that happens if I don't recount the entire thing to him is he?"

"What do you mean?"

"How will he know what all the procedures are and what they are for and how they are performed?"

"He will ask the doctor anything he thinks he needs to know as you go."

"Ask as we are writing it?"

"No, as you go through the exam. Now come on. We have less than 30 minutes. Are you with us or not?"

"What do you mean he'll ask questions as we go?"

"The doctor will explain everything he is doing and the reasons why as he does them, and if Warren thinks he needs more info or doesn't understand something fully, he'll ask the doctor to explain. The doctor has already agreed to it and will give Warren all the info he needs and Warren will ask all the questions he needs to. Warren is a good reporter. Don't worry he'll do a good job."

"Warren will be talking to the doctor as he does the exam?" Once again I was thinking that can't possibly be right and Monty is about to explain what he means.

"Yes, of course, that was one of the primary prerequisites for a doctor for this story. This doctor he found said he has a large exam room, it's a training room, that they can use for the exam so they can all be in there and Brian can move around and get shots from different angles and different perspectives. And the doctor said that's all fine and he said he will explain anything Warren needs to know or stop a procedure to talk about it or so Brian can get the shot he needs. I talked to him myself and he is very interested in helping here. He thinks this will be a great service to the community, and so do I."

"What do you mean 'all be in there.' All who? You don't mean Warren is going to be in the exam room with me during the exam?" obviously he didn't mean that. That was just absurd. "Yes, I thought I explained that at the beginning," sounding annoyed again. "Warren and Brian will both be there." And then lowering his tone trying to sound caring, "but this is all up to you. You have to feel comfortable with this or we won't do it."

"Oh, I don't know," I said.

"Look, Marie, there is no more time for discussion. Either you get going over there right now or we give up one of the greatest ideas we've come up with all year." He was laying the guilt on thick and I am very susceptible to guilt. And I had still not fully thought through what was going to happen.

So reluctantly I said, "Alright, I guess I'll do it.

"Great," he said,

"You are a real trooper. This is going to mean a lot to all of us. So now just to be sure we're all fully clear, the doctor is going to do this 'exam' and whatever he thinks women need and Warren and Brian will be there, so that should make you a little more comfortable with your coworkers with you. Warren will be taking notes and asking questions and Brian will be getting us very presentable not at all embarrassing art for the story. That all sound okay?"

"Yes, I guess so." I was already thinking about how I would not show very much. I would direct this and make sure I kept covered and limit the scope of the exam."

You're all right with that. You know you will probably have to take off some of your clothes or something. We certainly won't show anything revealing in the article, but Warren and Brian will be there with you and you'll probably have to take your clothes off."

He knew a lot about women's annual exams. "Yes. And who's the doctor?"

"I didn't get his name, but his address is on that paper and he is expecting you."

"He knows it's me who is going to be examined?"

"Yes, I told him. I'm not sure if he knows you or just recognized your name. But he's waiting for you now so get going."

He pushed us out the door and Brian said we needed to hurry. We practically ran to his car. And he started driving. I was wondering who the doctor was. There was a doctor in town that I talked to a lot about medical issues for the paper. I was terrified that it might be him. We had met many times to talk and I thought of him as a friend and did not like the idea of him as my doctor. He flirted with me whenever we met. I liked that. He treated me like I was very special and he had said I was very pretty.

I would never do anything but I liked the attention and I always dressed extra nice when I knew I had an interview with him. It was just an innocent flirtation. I could see him watch me as I walked to the ladies room when we met for lunch and I could certainly feel the desire he had for me.

I thought I would die if it was him about to do the exam, it would just be too embarrassing. Then I started to think about the whole thing. OH MY GOD! Warren and Brian were going to go into an exam with me. What had I done? What would they see? I hated Warren and could not bear the thought of him seeing any of me. I had to back out. There were just no two ways about it.

All of a sudden I became acutely aware of my body. I had worn a very short sleeveless dress. And I looked down at my nearly naked legs and realized that my dress was almost up to my crotch. When I wear this dress I am always very conscious of how I sit, but I was so freaked out that when I got in the car I did not even think about it. I hadn't seen Brian look, but he could not have helped but notice that all of my legs were bare from almost my crotch down. I was so embarrassed, but I thought it would make it worse to try to wiggle it down now, so I just sat there with my legs bare in Brian's car.

"Where is this doctor," I said sheepishly as my voice cracked.

"Over at the hospital."

OH MY GOD!! That's where John's office was. I started to shake with fear, and I felt a little faint, but I told myself that there are twenty doctors with offices in the hospital so it probably was not him.

"What was his name again?" I tried to sound nonchalant, but again my voice cracked when I spoke.

"I never heard his name. Just have a room number."

Okay, try to stay calm. I couldn't stop looking at my bare legs and when Brian talked to me I saw him look down at them, but there was nothing to do now. And if my worst nightmares came true, in just a few minutes Brian would see a lot more of me.

We arrived and went straight to the room. Brian was rushing me while I was trying to stall. My mind was running furiously fast. Please don't let the doctor be John. If I have to put on a gown, which I will try to avoid, I will leave my underwear on at least. I tried to tell myself that old 'it's no more than you'd see in a bathing suit' crap, but that wasn't all that comforting. I would try not to take anything off. I'd try to just get him to do vitals and talk about the other stuff. Maybe the shortness of time would work in my favor.

I was not about to let Warren and Brian see me get naked and have something as intimate as an annual exam. JUST NO WAY!

When we walked in there was no one in the waiting room and no nurse at the counter. I heard someone walking from the back and Warren came around the corner. "Great you finally made it. I was getting a little worried. Come on back here quickly. We have almost no time to do this."

He was ordering me around just like he always does and I hated it. And I hated him, but we followed him back to a very large exam room. It was normal except for the size and there was a wall-to-wall mirror on one wall. In the very middle was the usual exam table. I felt the blood rush from me when I looked at it. I saw the stirrups folded up on the end, a roll away table with the tools on it and when my gaze settled on a speculum I felt like I might faint. "I need to sit down," I said as I went to a chair against the wall.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked.

I just nodded yes. I had my head down trying to get blood back to my brain and I saw that I again had not paid attention to how my dress was and again it was up at the very tops of my thighs. But now, not in a car, people were standing in front of me and they had a view that Brian didn't in the car. I looked up and caught Warren staring right at me. I looked down and realized that from his vantage point right in front of me he could see my panties so as dizzy as I was I stood up fast. As I did the blood rushed from my head as a door opened and to my horror, my friend John walked in.

He said "hi" and introduced himself to Brian and then came over at me and shook my hand and smiled and said, "Hi Marie. It's really good to see you again." I wanted to die.

"Let's sit down and talk for just a minute." "I think this is such a great thing you all are doing for the community. And Marie I can't tell you how much respect I have for you and your willingness to give to help others. This is such an important issue that just is not talked about enough."

'Oh yes, I'm a saint.' I thought it's not too late to back out, or is it? My boss, a photographer, and a doctor are all involved in this project. People back at the office are working on angles. The press is on hold. Oh my god, maybe it is too late.

Here I am. I could have backed out back in Monty's office, but not now. I had to just resign myself to going through with this and protecting as much of my modesty as I can.

"Okay, I've gone over this with Warren here, but not Brian so let's just get us all up to speed so everyone knows how we'll proceed. I'm sure you have all talked this through at the office, but anyway, let's be clear." Turning to me he said, "so this will be a complete annual exam, Marie, including a pelvic. I'm assuming you have had a pelvic before and know what it involves."

I just nodded yes knowing that Warren and Brian would have to at least step out for that part of the exam.

"Okay, great. So here's the game plan. So you all will know what will happen and in what order. First Marie, I will have you put on a gown, I'm sure you are familiar with them and I know they do not live up to the level of fashion consciousness that you subscribe to, but we do the best we can." He smiled at his joke and Warren laughed out loud.