‘Men in the office bet who’d be the first to have sex with me’: Double-glazing saleswoman reveals nightmare of oggling boss who told her: ‘It’s hard not to look at your a*se when the skirt falls in all the right places’

A double-glazing saleswoman who was the subject of a bet over which of her colleagues would ‘bed her first’ has told of her sexist office nightmare.

Molly Craigie, 24, was horrified when she learned of the sordid wager which followed a string of sexualised comments – and took her former employers East Anglia Home Improvements to a tribunal.

Today she told the Daily Mail: ‘I want people to judge me on my skills not on how I look or what I wear…It was really degrading.’

The sales team among whom the sexualised banter was shared was led by Ms Craigie’s line manager Filipe Goncalves and also comprised another manager and two other male sales reps, it was said.

Sales manager Mr Goncalves is understood to have been behind the bet about who could sleep with her first which was shared among team members.

According to the tribunal report Mr Goncalves told Ms Craigie: ‘It’s hard not to look at your a*se when the skirt falls in all the right places,’ as well as making other sexist comments.

He also told her after a potential sale fell through she should have slept with the buyer to protect the deal, it was said.

In an exclusive interview, Ms Craigie said: ‘It was really disappointing to see how they viewed me as just an object when in fact I was a successful saleswoman.

‘I like to think I have a little bit of personality and I’m not just about what I look like or how I dress.

I can’t believe that in this day and age people still judge women on their looks and not on their talents.’

Ms Craigie took the position at the Norwich-based windows firm in September 2022 when she was just 21 – and the sexist culture in the sales team was apparent almost immediately.

Mr Goncalves started asking about her sex life and making crude jokes, the tribunal heard.

Three months after starting Ms Craigie, who was making over £3,000 a month in commission alone, learned of the crude bet about her.

She told the hearing: ‘Mr Goncalves and another colleague had placed a wager between themselves as to who would sleep with me first.’

She was also reprimanded when a customer pulled out of a sale agreement, with Mr Goncalves telling her she should have ‘slept with the customer’, the tribunal heard.

And when she complained that another customer had behaved towards her in a sexualised manner she was advised to ignore this.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘I am not a stiff person, I can take a joke and banter but there comes a point where it is just not funny and that line was crossed numerous times with East Anglia.

‘What was infuriating as well, was that I would complain but I would be dismissed and it would just continue. And you have to remember that at the time I was really young and I was the only woman on the team.

‘They obviously thought I was easy prey for them, but I wasn’t going to let them get away with it, I was taught to fight for what is right.’

These incidents happened despite the fact that she let them know that she had a boyfriend with whom she was in a long-term relationship,

She left after nine months of sexist torment and later complained to the firm.

After attempts at mediation failed, Ms Craigie then took her case to a tribunal in Watford last year and details of her claim emerged in a 54-page report which named Mr Goncalves as the primary protagonist.

According to the report obtained by the Daily Mail, as well as the graphic comment about her bottom, Goncalves told Ms Craigie: how ‘her clothes would show off her figure’ and remarks of this kind were typically made twice a week.

Ms Craigie told the tribunal that Mr Goncalves encouraged her to ‘flaunt herself and flirt with male customers in order to secure more sales’.

Mr Goncalves – who no longer works for the firm – denied Ms Craigie’s account was accurate and told the hearing of the bet claim: ‘This is simply a lie and I deny it was said or took place’.

However Judge Rebecca Peer wrote in her report: ‘The claimant’s evidence is clear that this comment was made, and it stuck with her and I accept this evidence, I find there is no reason not to find her credible as to this.’

But despite the tribunal accepting her version of events, Ms Craigie still lost on technical grounds because she brought her claim too late under time limit rules.

Ms Craigie said: ‘In essence the judge agreed with me but what’s worse is that the people involved are getting on with their lives as if nothing happened and I am the one who has been left to pick up the pieces.

‘When I read the judge’s report it was really disheartening – she believed it happened but there was nothing that could be done. The dark cloud is still hanging above me, it’s not really gone away.

‘I just feel as if they have got away with it despite what the judge said and they have faced no consequences. But in their heart of hearts they know the truth.’

Ms Craigie went on: ‘To hear him speak in such a degrading way to me made me feel sad.

‘At times I wanted to pull out and let the dust settle but I knew what I was saying was the truth and I had to stand up for myself and other women as well.’

‘I am a really proud person and I believe you should fight for what is right and that’s why I took this to a tribunal but the whole thing from start to finish was really demoralising.

‘They just didn’t care and the experience left me shell shocked, I suffer from anxiety and that just added to it as well.’

Ms Craigie said she had made more than £30,000 in commission during her nine months with Norwich based East Anglia – who describe themselves as the UK’s number one home improvement provider.

She added:’ This was a pretty good figure, and it was achieved through hard work.

‘I enjoy sales, I’m still working in sales, I like talking to people and I’m a good saleswoman, that’s why my commission was so good.

‘But they just felt the best way to get sales was by flirting with the customers and that’s not what I believe in, you should just be honest and get on with them, that’s what secures sales.’

She added: ‘Three years down the line, this whole thing still haunts me. It was really degrading; I want people to judge me on my skills and all East Anglia could do was judge me on how I Iook and what I wore.

‘They claimed I was trying to control the narrative and made it up but if they thought I made this up to make a quick buck hey couldn’t be more wrong.

‘I just wanted to do what was right, I spoke the truth and I wanted to protect other females going into that company.

‘You would hope that in this day and age, people wouldn’t think like this, with all that’s going on in the world, and it makes it terrifying because you are not safe to be who you want to be.

‘If it wasn’t for the backing of my family, friends and partner, who have been incredible, I don’t know how I would have found the strength to go on.

‘Now I just want to put it behind me and get on with my life but I do feel sorry for those involved

‘I feel really sad for them and just pray that no other young girls ever have to experience anything like that, and they are not judged on what they wear or look like but are judged on what is in their hearts.’

When contacted by the Daily Mail this week Mr Goncalves said: ‘I have no comment to make and I have no recollection of what she said. I’m at work, goodbye.’

Ms Craigie, from Cambridge, did win an unpaid holiday claim, and the firm was ordered to pay £4,775 while an attempt by the company to recover £7,500 in legal costs was dismissed.

East Anglia was also approached for comment.