Tina Gaetani, a popular cashier who worked in both Hinman and Mountainview Dining Halls at Binghamton University, was fired in September because of the exposure of a video tape depicting her enacting lewd gestures.
According to Gaetani, she was recorded caressing her chest and giving a description of her breast without her knowledge through a cell phone. The recording of the act was exposed to staff members and Gaetani was consequently fired from her position, she said.
“She is no longer with us,” Bob Griffin, director of Sodexo, said, although he declined to comment further.
According to Gaetani, the incident took place when a group of 10 to 12 students, both male and female, provoked her when a female student suggested the act.
“We always joked around. They had a sense of humor; I guess it went a little too far,” Gaetani said.
Gaetani said the incident occurred after work hours. She said she was fired because she had signed the company policy about harassment, and she was still in uniform.
Raven Rivera, an undecided freshman and former customer of Gaetani’s at Mountainview Dining Hall, said that she believed Gaetani shouldn’t have been fired.
“I don’t think it is necessary for them to fire her for something silly like that,” Rivera said.
A source close to Gaetani who spoke to Pipe Dream on the condition of anonymity thought the firing was unfair because the University acted in a “biased” manner.
“The University was looking at the situation as though it would occur in the future, the issue was not addressed on an individual basis,” the source said.
The source also said that firing Gaetani was unnecessary and there were other methods of dealing with the issue.
“Maybe there was a reason why what took place happened; it should have been handled differently,” the source said. “I would have suggested they go through some type of sexual harassment training, a job coach or go through Sodexo’s human resource department.”
Gaetani said she does not think the group attempted to get her fired intentionally, but that the gesture may have offended them and the students in turn brought it to the attention of her manager.
She said that she is upset about the students’ decision to tape her performing these acts.
Both Gaetani and the source said the students prompted her to perform the gestures.
“Tina was on her break minding her own business; the students started coercing her into doing what she did,” the source said, adding that the students were selfish in their actions and should have thought about the possibility of affecting Gaetani’s employment.
Gaetani said she thinks she deserves an apology from the students involved, and the source said the University as well as the students involved should have been held responsible: “It was not just a violation of Tina’s individual rights, but the rights of every student on campus.”
Glenn Rosner, a junior mechanical engineering major, said he believed Gaetani should have been more responsible in her actions.
“Even though she was provoked, there was no reason to do what she did,” Rosner said.
Gaetani is known for her loud birthday announcements in the dining halls. Ryan Jennings, a sophomore undecided major, remembered a time when twins paid for food at one of Gaetani’s lunch lines.
“Gaetani hollered their birthdays one after the other,” Jennings said. “It was hilarious.”