Women Describe The Subtly Annoying Things Their Male Coworkers Do To Them
Let's face it: sexism in the workplace continues to be all too commonplace. When women describe annoying things men do at work, the list still runs the entire gamut of dumb, dumber, and beyond. Like when a male co-worker asks a woman back from maternity leave, "How was your vacation?" Or men talking excessively about how their female co-workers look in certain outfits.
The ways men bother women at work may have gotten more subtle than the *ss-grabbing days of Mad Men, but that doesn't mean it has gotten any less annoying or damaging. From demeaning expectations of women to intolerance or apathy, some men just don't understand or care how sexist their behavior can be. Women of the workforce, check out the tales of loutish office behavior below and vote up the most irritating things that men do.
- 12,180 VOTES
When Men Assume A Female Is Their Underling
From Redditor Unicorn_Swag:
"I work in tech support and have been here long enough that I lead my team and train up all our new hires. People reach out to me from around the world to get my opinions on things in our environment and I'm respected by a lot of people.
A guy (who I actually trained) referred to me as a secretary when he was asking me for help. He didn't get my help.
- 23,095 VOTES
When Men Are Allowed To Scream, But Women Aren't Allowed To Cry
From Redditor IfWishezWereFishez:
"When I worked at a broadcasting company, we had two engineers, a man and a woman. It was an extremely stressful job. They were constantly getting yelled at by the higher ups if a signal went out or whatever.
When a stressful situation came up, the male engineer lashed out. He'd yell and kick things and throw things. Once, he threw a heavy office stapler and it narrowly missed hitting me in the head. He'd kick over trash cans, throw things on the ground, etc. This was just accepted as normal.
The female engineer was very level-headed. One time, the higher ups were just being relentlessly awful to her, so she excused herself to the bathroom with tears in her eyes, where she clearly went to cry.
For days, nearly everyone at the company was buzzing with gossip about her and how maybe she wasn't really up for the job, since she was clearly so 'emotional.' I was pretty shocked and kept bringing up the male engineer, but a lot of people were like, 'Oh, that's not being emotional though!' And I'd say, 'Anger is an emotion and he's like that nearly every day.' Then I'd get blank stares. It pissed me off soooo much."
- 32,185 VOTES
When Men Say, "You Don't Count As A Woman"
From Redditor ladyintheatre:
"I had a coworker tell me that I didn't count as a woman and wasn't qualified to give a woman's perspective because I 'wasn't like other girls.'
... He literally told me I didn't count as a woman. Who knew men got to decide even that? I've got 30 years of experience on this earth as a woman and silly me, I thought that counted..."
- 42,676 VOTES
When Men Ask, "Is Your Male Co-Worker Here?"
From Redditor ninguen:
"I was working at a campus PC-room and one of the professors came with a problem and asked me, 'Is your male coworker here today?'
I said, 'No, he's not, but I can help you.'
He said, 'Well, I would rather speak to him, well, he's a man, he knows better...'
I said, 'I can really help you.'
He [replies], 'Do you really know about computers, you know, being a woman?'"
- 51,708 VOTES
When Men Say, "Just Leave It To The Men-Folk"
From Redditor f*ck_pavlov:
"As a new hire at a district meeting, I was told by a male peer to 'just leave it to the men-folk!' It made for an interesting introduction."
- 62,459 VOTES
When Men Label Women By Body Parts
From Redditor adagirlshel:
"I had a manager yell all the way across the shop, 'Hey you, with the vagina, well, I can't remember your name.' Classy."