It's a mans world . . .

Being a woman in a mans world, I have had to put up with a lot of sexism from a lot of people. It usually just amuses me, it is fantastic to be underrated, you are always surprising people!

The following is a little extract of what has happened to me, how I would have liked to react, and how I did react.


Scenario 1
I answer my phone, with my standard
ME: Hello, Kerryn speaking
POP : May I speak to Kevin
ME : We have no Kevin, I’m sure it’s me you are looking for, my name is Kerryn.
POP : No I need to speak to Kevin, I need some technical info.

How I would like to have responded
1. Hold a moment, and then put them through to Jacob, the gardener, and told him to tell the guy on the phone his name is Kevin.
Or
2. Changed my voice so it was deep and said "Hello This is Kevin".

What I did
I said, I’m sorry I can’t put you through to Kevin because we have no Kevin working here, why don’t you just ask me, and lets see if I can help (I’m so fricken ‘helpful’ and ‘nice’.)

Scenario 2
I have done a proposal, with drawings and rates, and I know what is going on. I go with the boss (Mike) to the meeting with the client. He has just come back from another meeting and does not have any fricken idea what is going on with this project. So I give him a brief rundown in the car, but keep in mind he has never even looked at the drawings (this is not unusual, pretty standard for how we roll).

So we get to the meeting and sit down to discuss the proposal. Mike, rightly, says "I’ll let Kerryn take it from here".

So I give my very professional presentation complete with impressive technical terms and explanations. I use many laymans terms, just enough technical jargon. I have done this exact same thing seven million times before.

The client does not look at me once during the whole presentation, and when I am done, he looks directly at Mike and asks a completely random and stupid question. Mike! who, clearly, handed the presentation over to me!

How I would like to have responded
1. Keep dead quiet and let Mike sweat (this wouldn’t have been fair. He is totally awesome and values me because I am a woman and not despite it.)
Or
2. Said "Oi, over here dude, I’m the one you want to ask - were you not here for the presentation I just gave you. Did you sleep, were you semi comatose, are you still?"

What I did
I said "Excuse me Mike, if I may . . . . " and answered the guys question, and the other four hundred totally stupid, idiotic questions he had after that! I used my authoritarian voice too. The same one I use to shout at the puppy when she wees on the floor.

The client was like a naughty puppy who had just weed on my floor.

Bad boy. Bad, bad boy!