Tales from the Frontlines: ‘Thanks for Taking Care of That, Babe.’
It’s pretty amazing to hear that our blog reached a woman working at a beer company in the Midwest. She writes:
Our company has 80 employees, 5 are female. When I first started, I didn’t notice the lack of respect for females right away, because I was working so closely with the only other women. Then I started to get to know our salesmen, merchandisers, inventory controllers & drivers: all men who thought that no matter what my position in the company was, I [was] here to make their lives easier. Even after I got promoted, I had salesmen asking me to do menial tasks they could easily complete themselves (think stapling). I was constantly referred to as “Hunnie”, “Sweetie”, “Dear” and my personal favorite, “Kiddo” (this by a man who happens to be 3 years older than me). My final straw came when our warehouse foreman was discussing a promotion at a Hooters restaurant and asked the sales manager to send me along so he could see me in those shorts.
After bringing my discomfort to the attention of my sales manager and boss, I was told that I needed to get a thicker skin. He reminded me that the guys didn’t mean it to sound as condescending as it was and that I needed to be a grown up and deal with it. I dropped it. Ever since, I’ve been denied the raise I was supposed to get a year ago when I got promoted because I “need to work on having a professional relationship with the sales force.” It’s been frustrating and upsetting, mostly because I really enjoy my job. At times I’ve felt like the problem here was because we’re a small, male-dominated company. And then the 77 cent statistic, it makes me worried that it will be like this no matter where I go! Your blog gets my energized and thoughtful of ways to get involved though, so thank you! I appreciate being able to read it right after I hang up from “Thanks for taking care of that, babe!”.
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