Speaking of Sexism . . .

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

Just got off the phone with a guy who refused to do anything I said. When I basically repremanded him for not listening.


He responded with explatives (poorly sued, i might add) "Well, you're a girl, what the hell are you doing on the phone for tech support anyways!"

My responce was "MY computer works just fine. MY dsl moden is working jsut fine because I wasn't foolish and went and changed a bunch of settings randomly. YOU are the one witht he problem. I can hang up this phone and surff the Internet, YOU can't. So are you goign to listen to me, or hang up and return to the 50s?"

He hung up.


The good thing is, he's not on my phone anymore and his verbal abuse is documented int eh case notes.

The bad thing is, this is the second time I've had to say something like this in 3 months.

Pity some men can't get their heads out of their asses.

Comments

ok now

[irishmasms.livejournal.com]

breathe in

breathe out

breathe in

breathe out

The guy is an asshat, and you are most likely getting paid more than he is. Remember, it is better to be an asshole than a whole ass!

Now, you should really spell check your post. ;)

Re: ok now

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

Ack! Lol, i'm normally not so useless without spell check, which I didn't do this time . . .

Re: ok now

[irishmasms.livejournal.com]

well, I figured you would appreciate someone pointing it out - even if it was from a guy. ;)

Re: ok now

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

:P I guess I can handle it this time, lol

[methedras.livejournal.com]

[applaude]

[megpie71.livejournal.com]

You have my profound sympathies.

My usual response is to just cheerfully and calmly put the user on Hold (aka "No Tech for You!") and get my supervisor to come and listen in while I continue the call. Usually said supervisor is hovering already, having seen the visible indicators of Meg's Blood Pressure Reaching Critical (aka steam out of the ears).

Alternatively, go search out the most tech-savvy of the female managers, and put them on the other end of the line. Used to be a lot of fun here. With just a little bit of planning, a female tech could put the user onto a female team leader, who could then escalate to the female Help Desk Manager. Helps greatly that I work for the public service, where implying that being female is not a good qualification for tech work is a very Bad Thing and can lead to the tech in question putting in a complaint against *you* to *your* manager.

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I didn't think of doing that. I'll have to grab a female supervisor next time i have a guy like that.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Of course, due to the winds of change, we no longer have a female helpdesk manager or a female CEO. C'est la vie.

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

Asshole.

Him, not you, of course.

[prozacnation.livejournal.com]

I hate those type of men.

I'll bet you he was calling from a phone with a dial on it. :)

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't surprise me. lol, co worker just made a slip and said gayol instead of aol. :) This makes me smile.

[prozacnation.livejournal.com]

/me laughs

I almost say "AOHell" to the ones that call up and use them through their broadband connection.

[japester.livejournal.com]

reminds me of the times when tech-ism was just starting to become prevalent[0], when people in the over 40 age bracket couldn't understand why these 20-22 year old kids were lecturing/tech supporting/stuff and getting offended about it. Saying things like 'You're only a kid, how could you know why a widget goes into the whaddyacallit to make gizmos'. Once it was ageism. Now it's sexism. Next ... ?
who cares. I have a sharp swingy thing


[0]happens in most industries, I'd say

[jcaswell.livejournal.com]

Some of the worst sexism I ever had was from another woman. There was this teacher at school who basically wouldn't talk to me if I answered the phone. She'd ask for one of my male team members, then another, then the third (who was utterly useless at everything and sulked for days if he didn't get his own way) before saying "OK, I'll leave it" and hanging up the phone. The guys would often send me over to fix her problems to show her that I was ultimately the most capable member of the team, but it didn't make the slightest difference.

I was really upset the day she left.... Not.

But your way of handling it was excellent :)

[random-c.livejournal.com]

I have never had anything like this while on a helpdesk. The nearest I had was a particularly shrill woman shrieking 'Aha! A woman at last! Maybe we'll get somewhere now!' I had a quick glance at her notes. 'I must have missed the day we covered using our ovaries to get accurate diagnostics from customers who won't meet us half way, so if you're still not sat in front of your computer I'm afraid that's not going to be the case.' She was, in fact, finally sat at the computer - the fifth call - and I had her off the phone in about 5 minutes. I think a lot of it is that people don't see me, they just hear me, and having come from a job dealing with concatenated speech, I tended to use a very measured voice, and had phrases I would use over and over again. It gave the general impression they were talking to a machine, something like a GPS system. Things they're used to obeying because they *do* get it right. Those things are almost always female.
On the other hand, I don't do it in shops, and I've often encountered people who know sod-all thinking they know it all and I know nothing. Forgivable, I think, seeing as most people buying tech kit in shops *don't* have the slightest hint of a clue, this being why they go into the shop rather than buying online. I go into shops if I'm in a *hurry*.
The only thing I have had at work is in my current job. We had an issue with a bit of hardware which came down to the hardware guy's leaving two things on a prototype not touching that should have been touching. He insisted that they were not supposed to touch. I proved that they were by pulling out my electric screwdriver and moving the thing, at which point it started to work. He still insisted it must be something else until my (male) boss explained why I was right He threw in some physics which seemed to please the hardware guy, whereas I'd avoided it, being too used to talking to morons.
Thing is, I really don't think it was anything to do with being a girl so much as being new. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, once, but just about everyone I've encountered at work has been, in at least some way, a moron. They're usually really hot on their tiny, narrow field, but utterly clueless on everything else. I worked from home yesterday, and at one point I was giving support to four people at once over IM, all for very simple things...

[ladynisa.livejournal.com]

I can't believe we were betrayed by another woman! lol

And thankyou :)