In the past couple of weeks, I have had two confrontations involving business situations in which I was treated in a very intimidating and condescending way. My normal reaction in these situations (well, perhaps with the exception of with my children) is to keep my voice so calm as to almost be a monotone and not to let the other person's escalating tone of voice affect me. In later discussions with my husband, both of these people acted very differently. And here's the clincher...they were both women!!!
I really felt like they thought they were dealing with a woman, so I was less likely to know what I was talking about and more likely to submit to intimidation. I think in the years of fighting for equality for women in the workplace and in other areas of life, the men may finally get it! And sometimes it's our own gender who subject us to discrimination due to our gender!!!
Anyway...in praise of the male of the species, I would like to share the following things that were said to me this week that were very unexpected:
From my husband: "I'm a moron" (He is not particularly comfortable with admitting that he might just possibly be wrong, so this was huge!)
From my friend Billy after a discussion of the maximum strokes a golfer can take when entering one's score for the purposes of handicap: "Diane, you're right! I stand corrected!"
I often quote someone (I have no idea who) who said, "It is better to be kind than to be right." But I REALLY like being right!
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