All I could think was how mortified the Journal's marketing people would be, since they spend so much money and so much brainpower (term used loosely) promoting the paper to businesswomen, who after all make up 50% of the U.S. workforce. Then I considered that the customer service rep might have been working from a call center in Utah, and you know how they treat women in Utah, land of polygamists gone wild.
OK, so now I'm being a snotty New Yorker, but in self-defense, this experience momentarily brought out my worst instincts. It's a good thing I learned a long time ago not to chop off my nose to spite my face. I need my nose to maintain my NYC cred. And I need my Wall Street Journal to do my job.
Welcome to my world! As a woman with an androgynous name, I've spent my whole life dealing with people who assumed that I was a secretary for a man. In the "old days," (nee pre-computer days) I spent years showing up for interviews or meetings only to shock the other attendees who expected a man to appear. I know for a fact that I got interviews in the 1980s that I wouldn't have gotten if they realized ahead of time that I am a female. The federal government even tried to come after me for failing to register for the draft! To this day, I get calls from credit card companies and charities who ask for me by name but when they hear my voice, they ask to speak to my husband. One credit card company took it even further and after hearing my voice, asked me if I wanted a credit card on "my husband's" account. On the other hand, it's pretty cool to play along sometimes and then surprise the caller when it's most embarrassing to them.
ReplyDeleteYou're a truly wicked woman.
ReplyDelete