Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3131 to 3135 (11-15 January 2016)
Azhchay:
This comic hit so close to home it made me stop lurking and register. :-)
I was at an electronics store two weeks ago to get a new monitor for the boyfriend and a new mouse and headset for myself. The sales guy kept talking to my boyfriend while we were looking for my stuff, and when we pointed out that it was for me, he stopped giving technical specs completely. Instead he would point out how the mouse could change colors or how the headset could easily fold up to go in a purse.
I wasn't carrying a purse.
I was livid, but just gritted my teeth and kept quiet. He put his commission stickers on both the mouse and headset despite the fact that I picked them out and he had no input. Actually I had already picked the mouse, put it in the cart, and was looking at headsets when he walked up and started his talk about the mouse.
I picked off the commission stickers. Petty? Yes. But he didn't actually "sell" me anything. Both the headset and the mouse were things I had already picked out and decided on myself. He just happened to walk up and start talking about how great they were. There was no "sale". He just talked over me, or patronized me. No, I'm not giving commission on that.
Worse was buying a car. I walked in saying I'd like to test drive [make and model] in black and with a manual transmission. Sales guy went "pooh we have this PRETTY RED one and it's an AUTOMATIC" (said really slowly). I said "Black or grey, and manual please. Like I asked for." He found a grey one and kept talking about the "pretty" feature while driving me to the place where we'd swap seats. I kept quiet.
Then slammed him into his seat when it was my turn and nearly was in 4th gear leaving the (small) parking lot. He was very quiet and said "You're.......not a normal girl, are you?" All I said was a short "No".
He was silent the whole way back. And then handed me the book on the car showing all the important specs and things I really wanted to know. He didn't get the sale. Mainly because I really wanted the black, but also because of his attitude.
So this comic hits WAAAAY too close to home. I hate shopping for electronics or car parts. :-/
BenRG:
--- Quote from: Azhchay on 12 Jan 2016, 05:52 ---Then slammed him into his seat when it was my turn and nearly was in 4th gear leaving the (small) parking lot. He was very quiet and said "You're.......not a normal girl, are you?" All I said was a short "No".
--- End quote ---
This bit made me laugh. Maybe it's wrong of me but it did. I would enjoy sitting down with this guy and ask him what his definition was of the term 'normal girl'.
Anecdote: I have been in the passenger seat of a tiny 1000cc Fiat 131 driven by a lady senior citizen. She tried to race a V8 Jaguar XJS off of a traffic signal and only backed down when she needed to brake to make a turn. Scariest experience of my life.
I guess that's my blessing. For most of my life, I've been surrounded by strong and independent female personalities (raised by a single mother who learned being tough from my grandmother); sister who is in the traditionally male-dominated career of cinematic projectionist (with a bachelors' degree in the subject). Consequently, I really, really can't personally take common female stereotypes seriously.
Neko_Ali:
This sort of thing does happen in reverse as well. Sales people or crafts people who are assumed/judged incompetent in their jobs because of their gender. More towards women than men, but also towards men in women dominated fields, like nursing or some performing arts. I've had that myself, back when I was still living as male and working in the soft goods department of a department store. Because obviously being 'male' meant that I couldn't sell people bed linen or curtains properly.... :roll:
It is actually one of the few amusing things about being visibly transgender... Watching clerks in situations like that have to suddenly and unexpectedly try to figure out what gender I am so they know how they are supposed to pitch their sale to me. It sometimes gives me a chuckle watching their little brain-hamsters suddenly have to kick into high gear. Mostly it's just annoying and offensive though, because they are going to hit me with a high pressure, offensive sales pitch.
wlewisiii:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 11 Jan 2016, 23:07 ---FWIW, whilst I've met people who make gender-based assumptions about interests, I've never seen that extended to hardware purchases. I'm guessing that this is one of those "parody through exaggeration" things.
--- End quote ---
I've seen women get given hell by sexist salescritters for wanting to buy cars, computers, guns, cameras, etc. It's a nearly universal truth in America that if a woman goes shopping for "men's" things, the condescension and sexism will start off at high and usually only go higher unless smacked down like Sam did at the first instance.
ankhtahr:
I don't think today's comic is exaggerated. In addition to the sexism there's also the patronising because she's young. I've had salespeople question my choices, when I intentionally asked for specific professional hardware, like managed switches, ECC-RAM, and once I even encountered somebody who tried to talk me into buying Beats headphones, when I asked for Beyerdynamic DT-250 Studio headphones ("But the Beats have more bass!"). It's gotten better with age, so yeah, the sexism is by far worse.
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