Examples of discrimination today

[Finder]

I am curious if anyone has any stories of discrimination they experience today.

I recently tried to set up college/investment funds for my children. My first broker was a man who after weeks of trying to set up the appt. I decided to ignore. Then I had a woman rep who came out and still she pushed for my husband's financial info and presence. Their loss.

I had similar experiences in the last 2 years with contractors and even the bank. Ironically, half the time it was women who didn't "get it."

[Hello_Kitty]

1. Finding out I pay more for car repair than men.

Even oil changes. It's gotten to the point where I try to get a male friend to go with me when I need to see a mechanic.

A former boyfriend of mine worked in the repair department at a dealership years ago and told me that they had a higher "women's price" for every service. It was an actual code in the computer! :mad:

[Finder]

2. That is a lawsuit.

if it was a major chain.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. I think what happened with them was

That a local news station did a consumer advocacy report on them and they were embarrassed into changing it. But yeah, they should definitely be liable for a class-action suit and have to repay scores of women they overcharged. My ex said he refused to charge the women more and that's part of why they ran him out of there.

[marions ghost]

9. Not surprised...

Even in 2005 I let my SO deal with all car mechanics if possible. I know as much about cars as he does, but we have much less chance of getting screwed that way. He agrees.

Yep the male friend who'll watch your back at the car mechanic or car dealer is necessary.

[geniph]

3. I don't get much of it myself

mostly because I absolutely don't put up with it, but I surely see it happen to other women. It used to happen more when I was younger, men at work acting condescending, calling me "little lady," ignoring my contributions in meetings. Car salesmen not wanting to talk about the car's engine with me, but trying to discuss seat colors. Crap like that. It doesn't happen as much now that I'm not young and cute (I'm small, and used to get treated like a Kewpie doll when I was young). It doesn't hurt that I'm by far the most senior female technical employee in my company, and much higher-level technically than all but one of the men.

It's funny, I go to technical classes or seminars, and because of the level I'm at, I'll often be the only woman in the room who isn't either a salesperson or there to take notes. But no one assumes I'm the secretary or the sales rep anymore. Maybe it's because I dress and act like a typical geek, which I am. ;-)

My husband's a building contractor, and one of the reasons his female customers really like him is that he doesn't treat them condescendingly or in any way differently than he treats his male customers. That's hard to find in the construction trades, a man who treats female customers with true respect.

[Senior citizen]

5. Here is San Diego there is a lot of contruction going on.

But despite EEO laws, it is extremely rare to see a female on a construction job. The very best I've seen were crews with a sprinkling of male minorities and a single token female. And this includes city workers, despite very enlightened city employment laws.

It really annoys me to see so many construction sites with the same old demographic.

[MuseRider]

6. I seek out people

who will not treat me like that. I have fought the battles and am tired of it. I just keep looking for people who will deal with me as a grown up and not with a pat and a "there there little lady". They are out there and it requires you to be up front with the issues. Whenever I start something I make certain they know that I will not tolerate it and if they look at me funny I move on because I know it will come. It is getting a little easier I think and perhaps some of that is my change of attitude. I approach people with an air of confidence but will tell them up front if I am totally out of my realm but that confidence seems to keep the bullshit factor down.

We are getting ready to build a house and our contractor knows me quite well. I am interested to see how it goes with the subs. It is my little experiment.

The last time I had to deal with signature issues my husband had no part in it. It was for MY land, his name is not on the title. They still wanted his approval and after about two weeks I had had it with them. I finally asked them if they use their penis to sign checks and if not why did they seem to think that I needed one to write mine. I got everything taken care of that day.

[atommom]

7. Good comeback!

:applause: :yourock:

[atommom]

8. It's silly things, like having to shop around for a hardware store

or an electronics store where I won't get any attitude from the know-it-all staff. I've sent letters on a couple of occasions, most recently after getting repeatedly ignored at Radio Shack. (When one of the guys finally acknowledged my presence, he said impatiently, "Well, do you know what you want?" I decided I wanted to go shop somewhere else! :eyes: )

[geniph]

10. If I get attitude at a hardware store or electronics store,

I tend to put them in their place pretty quickly. I've been a network administrator for more than 25 years, and woe betide the wet-behind-the-ears geekboy who tries to tell me I don't want to try to install that particular motherboard myself because "that's really complicated, you should hire someone to do that." :D

A close second would be the clueless clerk in Rat Shack that tries to tell me that all speaker wire is the same. Kid, you want me to explain wire gauges and resistance to you? :D