FORE! Someone yells at me, and I crouch down on the ground. A golf ball thunks against the window, right above my head. That was a close call.

I’ve experienced quite a few close calls while working here. I think about them often as I’m driving around in this golf cart, listening to the bottles banging around in the back. Boss man always tells us not to drive so fast because we’ll hit a bump and shatter those bottles of liquor. But we don’t care. I’ve broken my fair share of bottles he doesn’t need to know about.

A couple summers ago, some drunk man slammed the beer cart door so hard it almost snapped my finger off. A shattered bone later, and all I did was slap a band-aid on it and continue making my rounds on the course.

I wouldn’t say I’m normally a reckless driver, but when I’m on the clock, you can bet I’m going to make my rounds as fast as I possibly can. Because the faster you are, the more money you make. That money is the only thing that keeps me sticking around this place, because there are many reasons to quit.

Our entire staff is made up of college-aged girls, while most of our customers are 30-60 year-old men. Not a day at work goes by that we are not begged to take a shot with them. Once you take one with them, they never stop asking, and arguing when you turn them down. One day I told a man: “No thanks, I’ve had enough today.” and the response I got was not shocking to me but would probably concern many others. He said: “No you haven’t, you’re not naked yet.”

Then there are league nights. League nights are usually fun, as you make a lot of money and take a lot of shots. However, one league night I found myself bringing out another round to some men, and chatting with them, when I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. A man had come up behind me and untied the knot in the back of my shirt.

These are the kinds of things that many women have to deal with in our society. Many people have said: “stop flirting with them” or “wear a less revealing shirt” or “it’s your own fault, just work somewhere else.”

After doing some research, I found many different stories about women online who have experienced cat-calling and sexual harassment. A woman named Molly said: “Whenever I run outside, I put my phone and my driver’s license in my pocket. My phone so that if something happens, I could call someone. My license, so that if something bad happens, they could identify my body and let my family know.”

Another woman, Coren, stated: “A man grabbed my arm. I screamed because I was scared about what he might do. Luckily, it was outside a busy station at rush hour, so another man intervened and told the offender to back off.

Though these are stories from people I do not personally know, they are still concerning, as these things are happening all over the world, even at our own University. Not too long ago Campus Safety and Security sent out an email about an assault on campus. The email read: “The male approached a female student and grabbed her wrist. The student was able to break the hold and run back into the building”.

Though all of the stories mentioned here were just close calls, that is not always the case. My job has given me more awareness. Not everyone on the course acts this way, most don’t. Just as most people in the world are not out to hurt you. Though you can never be too safe.

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a36188246/being-a-female-runner/