Anyhow, while sitting here, I was chatting with a wonderful woman from India, a grandmother in fact. More then I cared to know but ok. She asked why I was getting printed and I told her that I was starting my own business selling alcohol. She told me kindly that if I fall, I need to get up and keep going. There's no staying on the ground. That was it but so nice. Normally, I'm not one for the gushy cat-poster-inspirational chats but this time it stuck. Plus after fighting traffic, waiting for hours, only to get turned away by the evil bastards at the independent fingerprinting agency, her words were fitting, and as it turns out, appropriately timed. I'm more surprised by kind words from people that I run into then not, so it got me thinking about the other rough spots in the biz (I tied it together, see?)
Often in this industry, I'm in the minority in the boardroom if not the only woman. I'm grabbed by buyers who think they've been given a doll to play with (you know who you are!) Reps and accounts ask me out or flirt with me uncomfortably when I'm just trying to do my d@mned job. I can handle all of that with grace, humor and sometimes a kick to the man-jewels. What really bugs me the most, though, are other women that cut me and each other down. Wtf?!?! Ladies, there's plenty of hurdles to getting to the top for us without hamstringing one another. Being a malicious little backstabber is truly unnecessary and gross. Think you're winning points with your male counterparts? Nope, you've just knocked yourself down a peg. I've asked. Here's an example. There was this company I worked for once where a woman told my boss, several other employees and my distributor that I was acting strange and to some, that she smelled alcohol on my breath...at a wine tasting!!! Grow up. Supposedly this was out of concern but why go to multiple people? Go to me first. Oh wait, she did and I explained the following, and she still went around "helping me." A natural disaster had just hit and I was nervous about the event going well, since power was still out in many places. Plus, in a hurry, I made the bowel-destroying decision to eat a hot dog. The point is, there's enough drama in the world, stop creating it. Oh and it was a wine tasting. Everyone's breath had alcohol on it. When I talked to her about it she told me there are double standards in this business. Well stop making them worse!
Another example is a superior at another company tried to get me to sell the wines on her side of the book when I had other priorities and directives. Unsatisfied with me telling her this, she went over my boss's boss to tattle. What a brat. Because she was friends with the higher ups, I was trapped. She was hated for this repeated behavior by many. Then we had a cage match, I put her in a sleeper hold and won the title. We had to call in reinforcements and put yellow crime tape around us after it was all said and done.
Now some of my most cherished mentors are women, so I'm not a hater. I support all people in the biz that aren't morons. If you're a female cretin, I can't stand you as much as your idiotic male counterpart. We should all be supportive of co-workers that are smart and hard-working no matter the sex. God only knows the amount of dipshits we encounter no matter who they are.
My point is that it's hard enough to break through the proverbial glass ceiling, fighting in pissing contests all the way with the big-swinging...well you know, that the last thing we need is infighting and materialized drama. Keep that energy for more important things, like your girlfriends and how tacky they can be.
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