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From: dolofonos

2010-01-07 12:18 am (UTC)

I'm not going to go around flashing pictures of myself and I'm not trying to shut anyone up. I mean, if they thought that I was another not tough little bitch then the least they could have done was give a fair test of physical aptitude. If someone came in there and obviously didn't have the gall to do the job than I agree, they shouldn't have gotten the job. But the way that they went about it was completely inappropriate.



In any case, if it's any consolation from the picture, the job I got right after that was unloading trucks. On average the freight from the trucks was heavier than 50lbs. I was one of the only girls in the history of the store to unload trucks by myself, and when timed I did it faster than anyone else there. I enjoyed timing myself because there was a sense of pride in accomplishing something like that.

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From: cheez_ball

2010-01-07 12:23 am (UTC)

You could take consolation in the fact that you don't work with a bunch of jerks? Had you gotten the job, assuming the secretary job they advertised was actually available, you likely would not have liked it.



From: dearmisterecho

2010-01-07 12:24 am (UTC)





yeah, we wouldn't want to bother with the women. There's no way they could be physically strong enough. yeah, we wouldn't want to bother with the women. There's no way they could be physically strong enough.

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From: violentcheena

2010-01-07 12:25 am (UTC)

Ugh, I came across a lot of the same crap when I worked in a hardware store in high school. I was hired as a cashier, but when I saw boys with tons less experience than myself getting moved from cashier to sales floor or stock room after mere weeks of employment, I started making some noise.



First, they moved me to housewares (yeah, cleaning supplies and kitchen equipment) where I was promptly bored to tears since that department never gets any action. When they finally did open their eyes and put me in charge of the paint desk and let me work in the plumbing/electrical/hardware departments, it's pretty much what you'd expect: most customers would walk right by me, look confused, or straight up ask if there was a man around who could help them. It wasn't very long before I knew enough about the departments to help out with most of the questions our customers had. Oh and you should have SEEN the looks on their faces when newbie boys would redirect customers to ME for questions.



The best part was when I was deemed scrappy enough (at 5'5", 110lbs) to kick back and pretend to lift heavy stuff/break shit/assemble shit with the big boys in the back yard XD



Sometimes, the only way to do it is to prove them wrong.

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From: dearmisterecho

2010-01-07 12:56 am (UTC)

your icon is so sad. I want to hug the little muffin and go "but you have so much less sugar, and more blueberries! You are beautiful in my book."

From: aviv_b

2010-01-07 01:00 am (UTC)

If there are physical requirements for the job then there should be a test to judge whether or not an applicant meets the qualifications. That's the law.



Ditto for mental requirements. You can't just decide you won't hire someone for the position because they don't look smart anymore than you can refuse to hire someone because you don't believe they are strong enough.



The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is where you file a complaint in a case like this or a state discrimination board (or city) if one exists.



Federal law states, you may not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, color, national origin, religion, disability unrelated to the job, veteran status or vietnam era veteran status.



However, obnoxious, sexist know-it-all is NOT a protected class. Troll take note. You come back into the civilian workforce with that chip on your shoulder and you'll be going nowhere fast. Lots of good hardworking people looking for jobs. No employer is going to hire someone who is going to be a PITA.







Edited at 2010-01-07 01:03 am (UTC)

From: nightlove

2010-01-07 01:36 am (UTC)

When I went through a rough spot and couldn't find a job, I did some temp work through some local agencies. I used to do plenty of warehousing, a bit of construction, etc. When I went through another rough patch some years later, my hair was longer and I wore a bit more make-up but that was about it. All of a sudden though half of these agencies won't send me out on most of the jobs, because the jobs want only guys. I guess that's how they passed the buck of responsibility though, technically it's not them doing the discriminating. It's the companies hiring temps.



I much prefer physical jobs to office-based ones, but now due to an injury I pretty much stick to the latter. :( An injury at a job with little to no lifting at all.

From: liam_sensei

2010-01-07 02:06 am (UTC)

I know what you mean about that type of crap that women can't lift heavy things. I worked in retail for several years, including a lot of lifting boxes off the truck and bringing heavy items to the registers. I lift weights and 50 pounds is nothing, I could probably lift that much easily and 100 pounds if I took a while. However I used to hear wonderful things from my co-workers like "It's heavy, are any one of the guys here?" "You really shouldn't be lifting that box, you should get one of the guys to do that" or even "You should NEVER lift things that big, have a man do it." Every time I heard something like that, immediately I was going back to pick it up or getting a moving dollie if it was too big to carry in hand. It was a big invitation and gradually people shut up about it.





From: cheez_ball

2010-01-07 04:35 am (UTC)

Around Christmas I went to visit my folks on the East Coast. I like to workout regularly and do a fair amount of powerlifting. So I went to the local gym, near my folks, and paid the $20 day pass fee (yea, it was freakin' expensive, but I really need the stress relief). The staff kept attempting to direct me to the "women's gym." I asked them if they had a squat cage and a couple Olympic bars in the women's gym. They looked at me like I had just grown a third eye. I looked in the women's gym and saw some sad exercise machines and a couple treadmills. Nope. Won't do. So I went upstairs to the freeweight area. I did my sets of deadlifts, squats, etc. And got in a decent workout.



I lift more than any of the guys I work with. Yet, I still hear the same thing as you whenever anything needs to be moved. People at Sam's Club seem shocked that I can move a bag of dog food all by my little ol' self.



Women aren't delicate little flowers. We have power. The frustrating this is that we're expected not to use it and are rarely, if ever, given the chance.



End of rant.

From: zombiesauros

2010-01-07 05:41 am (UTC)

I dunno what's more awful, the sexism to your face, or the fact no one seemed to give a damn.

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From: aereci

2010-01-07 06:48 am (UTC)

You should probably mention the name of the law if you're going to try to prove it exists.

From: aac8390

2010-01-07 10:48 am (UTC)

What to do now That is definitely illegal. Title VII made it illegal to discriminate based on race, gender, color, religion, and national origin. However, they also recognized that differences in gender would effect one's employability. The courts ruled that businesses must decide based on qualification, not on gender. For example, in your case, they can subject all applicants to a strength test and if it just so happens that all the female applicants fail the test and cannot be hired, this would not be illegal. However, if the manager told you upfront that he did not want to hire any females, then you have the right to sue for gender discrimination. I suggest you go over to the office again (I doubt they still remember what you look like) and pretend to be an applicant again and try to talk with the manager. Be friendly and get his name. Report him to the company's human resources department and if they still don't do anything about it, you should report the company to the federal labor relations board for not doing anything about your complaint.

From: buggrit_1979

2010-01-07 05:16 pm (UTC)





So, on the off chance that this isn't just a complete work of fiction, maybe you should ...Culligan isn't a "local company", just FYI.So, on the off chance that this isn't just a complete work of fiction, maybe you should contact corporate . I found that right on the site you linked us to.

From: mokonekochans

2010-01-07 06:25 pm (UTC)

As some one stated, Culligan isn't 'local' at all. I've no idea what made you think that.



And, I don't blame the guy.

Your a woman. Men are stronger than women on average. Its just the way it is. Men are better at lifting 50lbs over and over all day long.

Also, your a woman, so you might end up pregnant on him. If you are pregnant you wont be able to preform your job at all.



Anyway, from all you posted, you don't even know what the job entailed.

Annd there are also laws stating that you have to hire a variety of races, and sexes. What if he already has 10 girls, and he cant hire all girls, because its illegal?

From: xforge

2010-01-07 09:55 pm (UTC)

1) Don't advertise for a "secretarial" job if you're looking for someone to lift 50 pounds all day



2) Don't treat women like persona non grata, ever. If, OMFG, a WOMAN dares to apply for a job advertised as SECRETARIAL, don't yell back to the boss that "we've got one of THOSE again." How would you feel if someone said that in front of you? How about if you were black?





From: xforge

2010-01-07 09:50 pm (UTC)

Is now not the right time to tell the story of a friend I had in my college days who was a 90-pound woman with an um, nice figure (32C-ish) who used to deshelve 100-pound boxes at Home Depot by pulling them down onto her chest, turning and loading them on the skid-cart, lather rinse repeat about 100 boxes or so a day? I still fail to see how that didn't ache by day's end, but she dealt pretty well.