Letters to the Editor
-
I have never had a problem with the men I worked for
I have, however, had a problem when I worked for women. Or, should I say, married women with kids. The one single woman I had for a boss was a dream come true. Why? Because I'm a single woman and she didn't look down on me like I was sub-human because I wasn't married and didn't have kids and think I was there to do her work so she could get promoted.
Sorry, but I'll never work for a woman who is married and has kids again. And I won't blame men for their behavior. When I worked for men, married or single, and for the one single female boss I had, I was able to work with them to set my goals, I knew what my responsibilities were, I was given regular reviews, we went over my strengths and weaknesses, and when I took on extra work, I was rewarded for it. I was promoted and I actually got raises when I did my job, and, when I went above the call of duty, I was rewarded for it.
Then, in the same organization, I started working for married women with kids. I started to be asked to take on extra work so that they could keep extremely regular hours and get out on time. In some cases, I was taking on extra clients because these clients had complained that these women were not available because they were always with their families. After the first few favors, I started asking for and received assurances, in writing, that I, and not the people originally assigned to this work, would be given credit for it. I worked evenings, weekends, etc., because my career was important to me and I was interested in being promoted. They were interested in their familes, or so I was told.
Then I was told, thanks for taking on all this work, and what promise? They are getting credit for it because they need to be promoted because they have a family, you don't have a husband, you don't have children...I had a bunch of women, all of whom were married and had kids, looking at me like I was sub-human because I was single. I went to HR with the documentation I had saved and ran into exactly the same kind of women. They laughed at me. Basically, they told me I was doing favors for women who 'deserved' it and I, as a single woman, simply couldn't understand what these women were facing and I was selfish to expect to get promoted, or to get a raise.
I have single female friends who have the exact same experiences. I will never, ever, work for a married woman with kids again. Ever. If they want to screw someone, it won't be me.
-
HAHAHAHAHA
So they bitch and complain about not being able to work in the same jobs as men, and now they want to bitch and complain about working too hard?
Tough! You got what you wanted.
Women work hard because now they have to. Also women don't get raises as much as men because most women (not all, mind you, but most) take the kids to the doctor, take time out for pregnancy, and all that other stuff that HAS to be done...but unfortunately, the women are penalized for the loss of time at work...it sucks that's life.
Just remember - you can't blame the workplace for the fact that NOW you have to work...you can thank feminism for that! Oh and men haven't had the power Catherine SAYS they do since women forced their way onto the workplace. Sorry Catherine, but you just can't blame men for the mess feminism created for it's followers.
Put the blame where it DESERVES to be!
-
Work sucks? Blame yourself.
If the politics in my office added up to some nasty lady/guy scheduling meetings for 6pm and answering emails at 4am (so they’ll look like they’re the responsible one at work) I’d walk into that person’s office and tell them they’re playing a transparent game. I would seriously call them on it and look them in the eye and wait for some sort of defense of their complete lack of time management.
And if it was the opposite situation and my co-workers were leaving at 4:59 and pushing every bit of over time at me, sans any sort of compensation, I’d put my foot down too. Seriously – what’s up with anyone that they’d put up with that? I’d head straight into my bosses office and I’d let them know what was up and why it’s unacceptable and what could be done to make the situation better. If you’ve got something in writing from HR you don’t just back down from what is yours and then passive-aggressively vow never to work for women again – that’s just what ‘they’ want you to do.
What’s the worst that happens? They tell you to get back to work or you’re fired? Whatever – I’d just go back to my desk, brush off my resume and the end result would be me at a better job.
-
re: Work sucks? Blame yourself.
Anne in NYC,
"What’s the worst that happens? They tell you to get back to work or you’re fired? Whatever – I’d just go back to my desk, brush off my resume and the end result would be me at a better job."
Not only that...you could file a complaint with OSHA as there is a limit to how much overtime they can request an employee to do and it is figured by the TOTAL number of employees a business employs!
-
Blame her? Blame the greedy, selfish corporate attitude
It's not women's fault, it's the fault of right-wingers and corporations that work standards have slid over the past 20-30 years. BernieO's and Jared2's comments above come close to reflecting my reaction.
Is it women's fault that as they became more empowered in the '70s and more entered the workplace, big businesses took advantage of women's lower salaries and lower assertiveness to boost their bottom lines? Is it really women's fault, or their greedy, selfish bosses?
Is it women's fault that salaries have lowered (relative to inflation) over the past 30 years so that women now have to work for families to make ends meet, instead of it being an option? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a spouse stay home to raise the kids, as many of our parents and grandparents did? Now where is the business-defending, right-wing "family values" crowd on that?
Not only have job demands become more onerous for women and men, but the pressures on extended families have grown enormously. It sucks to have families fractured by the long distances many of us live from each other, largely because we've been forced to become more migratory to find decent jobs. The support system of having relations living in the same town or adjacent isn't there like it was when we were kids. Where is the "family values" crowd on that???
The writer of the original op-ed was I think out to stir up debate, as I don't think she can really take seriously the crux of her argument.