05 October 2010

Time Machine

My work title involves the word "assistant." All of the assistants at the company are females - that is partly because many of us graduated from the BYU family history program, which has very few males in it at all. This past week a new assistant was brought in, and he is a male. He was actually brought on more as a record searcher and gopher to the assistants than a true genealogist. Our operations manager is a male, and when he talked about hiring this new kid he made a joke about how he hoped the new kid didn't mind being bossed around by a bunch of women. We all laughed because it was funny. But the more I thought about it, the more it agitated me.

The thing is, the former C.E.O. of our company (former because we were bought out by a larger company, so she still runs things but no longer has the title of C.E.O.) is a female. She is very bright and entrepreneurial. She has worked very hard to get where she is in life. And she has bossed around a lot of men to get there (and women too!). Before we were purchased by the larger company, we ALL got bossed around by a woman. I don't think it was really a problem for anybody, but the fact that we still joke about it as if it might bother some people is irritating. I couldn't help but think, "Um, if anybody minds being bossed around by a woman, I recommend locating the nearest time machine and going back a good 50 years or more so you will be able to finish out your career without being bossed around by a woman."

I'll just stay in 2010 and get bossed around by whomever pays me best.

2 comments:

Packrat said...

Not to start an argument, but having worked for men and women who are/were "professional", I'd have to say I'd rather work for a man. Just from the experiences I've had over the years...

Dorothy said...

As I was reading through this blog and asking myself, "Do you even have a preference", I thought about all my former "bosses" and I've come to the conclusion that I apparently would rather work for a man as well. Women tend to be less forgiving and are bigger grudge holders. I've never been someone who's confrentational, and therefore my bosses tend to confide in me often. The things that women care about vs. men are quite different and women tend to be kind of petty. Then again, this is just my experience. I'm sure there's awesome women out there... but for now I'm gonna stick with men. =)