I guess I was being too charitable in my reading. I imagined that perhaps he’d toured other women around the floor in the past, and some workers had done some catcalling, and he was just forewarning you, as you might warn a guest in your home about a dog that jumps on visitors to greet them*.

But when I take into consideration all the facts of the situation - you’re an important visiting guest, you’re walking around with management right there - what he said takes on a whole new tenor. Probably what he was trying to hide-yet-communicate was that, given the opportunity, HE would likely “holler” at you. The fact that he said it (from your telling) in full earshot of the Head Honchos standing right behind him explains their horrified reactions.

Anyway, thanks again for walking me through this. I look forward to future stories, not least because they help me know what to look out for in order to keep my own work environment respectful and anti-sexist (although I work in a field with a historically much more equitable male/female distribution, both in raw numbers and in hierarchy). So there’s a practical side effect as incentive!

*And not to go all “but what about the menz” on you, but what struck me upon first reading was how very uncharitable the sim engineer was being towards the (male) floor workers, simply assuming they would act out uncontrollably, animal-like. So he was really being an ass to everyone (although obviously not equally)…which makes sense, I suppose.