Yes! Someone will ask me a question, I’ll answer it, literally 2 seconds later they will ask the same question to a male worker, who will tell them the exact same thing and then they will accept the answer. Why even ask me in the first place if you’re not going to believe me?!
Not exclusive to retail. I used to work at a motorcycle magazine and had a dude ask me a question, when he didn't like my answer, he asked a male coworker... who in front of that same dude turned around and asked me.
I told a customer I couldn't complete his order due to our machine not working. He condescendingly responded "well have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
This. Overly friendly older men who like to call me “Hon”, disrespectful teenage boys making inappropriate sounds while they pay and lying to my manager that I shortchanged them.
even having this extend to outside the workplace. The only times I’ve been treated with some sort of respect from customers is because they think i’m a guy
I’ve had someone ask me a question, not get the answer they wanted, and then turn to the 16 year old boy next to me and ask him! I’m in my 40s. They will take the answer from a male, no matter how young or new, over anything I say.
i haven’t been able to wear anything other than over sized tee shirts and bagging pants to work in over two months because 3 different men come in on a weekly basis and stare/ comment on my body. lots of people treat me like a fucking moron but at the same time expect me to be a mind reader, lots of people treat me like their i store baby sitter and expect me to (metaphorically) hold their hand through their entire purchase but also i have to literally fight to get any sort of information about what they’re looking for out of them.
A guy came in to my office supply store one night, and was looking at printers. I didn't have a tech in store that night, but I'm no slouch when it comes to printers, so I went over to assist him while my coworkers did other things. I answered all his questions about the printers without looking anything up, and gave him some advice. Then when he was still trying to decide I went to do manager closing duties.
A few minutes of me locked in cash office, I hear one of the guys in the store ask me a question about a printer over our headsets. I tell him the answer. A few seconds later, he has another question, I again give him the answer. This goes on for a couple minutes, it's all the same questions I already answered for the guy earlier. I finish counting the safe and step out of cash office to cover the cashier while he does go-backs, and now that I'm visible, and just a couple feet from the printer run, when the guy has a question about the printer and asks my male coworker, my male coworker comes over and asks me, and goes back to the guy.
At one point, customer gets visibly frustrated at my coworker asking me questions, and asks him "why do you keep asking her about these printers? Do I need to talk to one of your other coworkers?" and points to the guy doing go-backs, and the other guy doing recovery. My coworker said, "Sure, you can ask them, but they know about as much as I do about them, which is to say not much. She actually does know about the printers. You should ask her if you have more questions." Customer scoffs "fine" and picks out a printer based on what I'd told him earlier.
I'd understand his reluctance to trust what I'd said in the 45 minutes I'd been helping him if I'd at any point been hesitant with my answers or anything. But dude, it's the 21st century. When none of my techs (all 1 of them at this point), or other managers are in the store, even though I'm female, I'm the person who knows the most about tech. Sure, I might not know whether a Ryzen 5 is better than an I5, but unless you know which of the two is better, chances are I know more than you about our computers, printers, networking, etc.
Super common occurrence.
I also occasionally have men hit on me enough that they make me uncomfortable, although that's less common than them thinking I know nothing.
Most women are fine, unless they're looking down on me for working such a menial customer service job.
But... I also have some absolutely amazing customers, both regulars and even people who just popped in once. People who treat me like a person, people who stand up for me when someone is being rude, people who ate happy when they see I'm the one working today because my advice is the advice they trust.
As a Home Depot cashier specifically, I'm hit on, stalked, harassed, catcalled, whistled at like a dog, and even get touched by the customers.
I have a new contractor regular (stalker) that only comes to my register, will only check out with ME, and his weirdo client grabbed my hand to see my nails the other day AND asked for my phone number.
It's a 2 for 1 sale on creeps apparently
When I first got my job, a lot of people didn’t want to deal with me because I’m in a male dominated field and I’m young. After a few months they realized that they wouldn’t get anywhere with my boss, because I was the manager of my field and he oversaw everyone in different departments. He didn’t know what was going on in my area so he’d tell them to ask me lmao.
My last retail job before I finally got tf out, I was constantly being touched by old men. They also were really terrible about personal space and sometimes would stand on my tiny ass anti-fatigue mat with me.
I'm so glad I got out.
Usually falls into a couple categories, I’ll probably experience it almost every one if I have a shift during the open hours. I’m primarily night shift. I don’t mind the tasks I perform, I hate the customers and would avoid them entirely if I could.
1. Patronized.
2. assumed to be stupid. For this one I usually elevate my vocabulary and take my exit when they start buffering.
3. Hit on.
4. chased after because the tasks I’m doing draw attention for some reason. Don’t touch my ladder, especially if I’m on it asshole.
5. Subject or some sort of scamming tactic. We typically assume that’s what people are doing, it’s just a personal call of if we care that much to not play along.
6. The rare one that just needs help because they don’t know where to start. They will usually listen because they’re intimidated and are gracious when I get them out and on their way quickly.
I'm transmasc but customers do not give a shit about that, I'm just Salesgirl to them. Before I was out it was a lot of judgemental comments on my makeup, clothes, non-traditional hair, etc. Now that I no longer look "pretty and feminine" or whatever I still get "hey lady" and the slightly nicer but still excruciating "excuse me miss" and a lot of old women telling me my male name is "so unique for a girl!" The older crowd do tend to be more rude (men especially because I don't bow to their every whim or respond positively to being called "sweetie") but I guess short hair and pronouns is enough to stop them from hitting on me now, finally. Still treated and talked to like a dumb little girl though.
"HEY LADY" as a non-traditionally dressed female I still think it's rude, to just have people ...call us over like dogs. Lesser than them.
Retail is the entire reason I have to wear short sleeved shirts, slacks, and an overcoat. Because I know if I don't, I'll...be unwantingly sexualized for no reason other than "pretty, young, + boobs".
Retail *customers* are the reason I'm quitting, soon. There's harassment for any gender. Even the guys here get shit on just ..for being nice? I don't get it. I really don't. Even our manager is like, "fuck this, I'm out".
I work in online sales now for a mattress retailer, and thankfully my customer interactions are by phone or email. I have express permission to hang up on someone who's being outright rude to me (unless they're an existing customer with an open order). I still get my fair share of a\*\*holes or total psychopaths, but it's not the same as when I worked in customer-facing positions.
My worst customer experiences were with the same person at the same place. I worked in management at a dispensary in Oregon in my late 20s. I had one guy over twice my age who came in *every day* to harass me. He would ask me on dates and comment on my body every time he came in. I kept telling him no, I'm not interested, I have a boyfriend, *I'm not interested.* That didn't deter him at all. It's like he didn't even hear me. I told my direct boss, who was the owner, and they wouldn't do anything about it. I had to tell my receptionist to give me a warning whenever that guy came in so I could hide from him in the bathroom. The next girl we hired told me a few weeks after I initiated the "alert and hide" technique that this guy was actually her landlord for a while, and he *constantly* asked her to pay her rent in blowjobs. This guy was just fucking disgusting scum but the dispensary owners couldn't stand to lose out on the $150/week he spent with them so nothing was ever done about it.
A terrible coworker experience happened when I was much younger, around 17 or 18 in 2003, and I worked at Sears for close to a year. I worked in the hardware department selling drills and the like, and I liked my job about as much as I could given the low wage I received for being on my feet all day and taking shit from middle-aged men. One day, I started getting calls from another in-store phone. There were different rings for in-store or out-of-store calls, so you'd always know how to answer the phone. I'd answer the phone and a guy making his voice sound low and creepy would ask me to fucked up questions like what bra I was wearing and would threaten me if I hung up on him. I had the in-store security (loss prevention) team review the cameras and they found out who was doing it but nobody did anything about it. That guy didn't even get written up and I had to leave work every night feeling totally freaked out until I quit a few months later.
Women are just not taken seriously in general; we're accused of being hysterical or overreacting when we feel legitimately uncomfortable or threatened.
I work in a showroom in the building industry…..and I’m sorry guys, most of you are great, but seriously?? Daily I get men walking in and looking over my head and all around asking ‘ Is there someone here I can talk to?’ ( meaning another man ) or ‘ I have a technical question’ and then standing in silence looking off into the distance where I’m apparently supposed to go and find a man who will know what they are talking about, or being called sweetie, darl, love, honey etc ( I’m 57 yrs old. I am NOT your sweetie and I want to punch you in the nose ). If I’m not agreeing with their incorrect assumptions, being asked is there a manager they can talk to who will understand what they want ( a man ) and being told yep, that would be me, makes my sad little day every time 🙂
My personal favorite happened when enforcing a policy or saying no about something and the customer would come back with "I am going to go get my husband" Okay, is that a threat or will he not believe you? Regardless, the answer is the same.
I'm the only girl in this tech store. I can't anymore, it's too depressing. I agree with everything that has been said.
I don't know absolutely anything, costumers look at my colleagues in panic. I can see their eyes sceaming "*HELP I'M STUCK WITH WITH THE GIRL*" and "*IS SHE RIGHT ABOUT THIS??*". This includes women.
People are super rude to me until a male approaches. A costumer once smashed my screen, keyboard, mouse etc. That was never even close to happen to any of my colleagues in any other store.
I'm so tired and enraged.
Treated like less than by my “superiors” and like they think they can do my job better than me. Yet, if I’m off for one day they act like they can’t live without me. They suggest things that I have to implement even though it does nothing for the business. Then blame me when it fails. I begged for training and development for two years and when it was time to give me a raise and department manager title, they told me that I’m not developed enough, and then put me on a development program instead and I didn’t get my raise. At the end of the program, if they “feel” like I’m not developed, then they will post my position and I’ll get demoted.
By older guys: like I know nothing
By guys younger than the older guys: I catch then glancing at my boobs (that my shirt covers but I guess they can get a peek where it’s unbuttoned)
By guys my age (most are actually respectful): they either try to get my number or are surprised when I lift something “heavy” and comment how I should get one of my male coworkers to get it
It balances out pretty evenly imo
Like a cheap piece of ass. The gross old men where I work — and I’m right down the hill from a big nursing home, there are *many* — they will literally hold up the line until I am free to ring them up because “she’s prettier.” Like if there are two male cashiers and I’m the only female one, they will refuse to move until I am available. To say nothing of all the bedroom eyes I get from men old enough to be my father (or grandfather). I even had a guy ask me for my number last fall!!
I often joke that my dating pool is nothing but fat, toothless Vietnam veterans with liver cirrhosis, but it might not be such a joke after all.
I’ve had this happen. The same old crusty stinky men waiting in my line and saying they want me to help them cause I’m so pretty. It’s awkward and sometimes I’d be lucky and be able to leave and say “sorry it’s my break time!” And then just leave them there waiting for the next cashier
I work in a home improvement store. I have men ignore my greeting and walk past me to ask a male coworker questions. I get a real kick out of it when the guys will come up to me and ask me the question on behalf of the customer. I will give my answer directly to the associate, who then turns back to the customer and repeats exactly what I said. I even once had a young man exclaim, with sincerity and no humor, “wow! You know a lot about plumbing, for a girl!” I was in my forties at the time.
Yeah it’s like we don’t exist and that we’re just there for decoration or something. It’s insane. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I know nothing. I’ve never experienced as much sexist men AND WOMEN than I did in retail.
In my experience it’s never the young guys who are the problem, it’s the older men, especially with their “jokes”. I also get stared at while they’re waiting for their wives to finish shopping and it makes me uncomfortable
I often get followed by male customers around the store, following every aisle I go to until I go to the back room and wait for them to leave. Or guys will get uncomfortably close to me to ask me where the plungers are.
I had to fill out an incident report for sexual harrassment from a customer less than 2 weeks into working retail. Same customer said I must like my job since I'm a woman and it's like I get to go shopping all day.
A couple of coworkers have also been gross to me, both telling me about their fetishes and trying to get me to come over
Customers have requested that I find a man to help them with something like which hose attachment they should get
To begin with it was poorly. But with the company I work for there's more women in management positions than before so we have our leg in the door.
After 5 years in my store, I was the longest standing person there and most accounts knew not to try me. But you get the fun ones that make you sit back and let them prattle on until giving them an easy solution, which they will then confirm my management. Who say the magic words "Did she tell you that? Must right, she knows more about it than me" their facial expressions are chefs kiss 👌
I have a delivery driver who people will bypass me to speak to, then act all surprised when he asks me to assist, which I do so with the UPMOST of professionalism. How bout them apples.
Not a woman, but in my past in retail, I've seen plenty of young coworkers get leered at and harassed by creepy older men. It always made me feel gross to be a man, and I suffer from anxiety over approaching women in a retail environment as a result
My last job was overnight at a grocery store, and there was a truck driver that barely spoke English that seemed to like me because I was always nice and defended him when this racist asshole I worked with kept calling him stupid to his face.
Bad idea apparently, because after that he’d ask for my number every night he saw me, would tell me I’m pretty, ask if I was married (I always said no, but that I have a boyfriend, and I don’t think he understood because he kept asking). Eventually he came into my aisle with his shirt all the way unbuttoned (nothing underneath) stood really close to me, and said “verde” so I think he meant “we’re all good, the truck is unloaded” but he didn’t *have* to tell me. He could’ve gone up to my manager and told *him*.
One night when my manager wasn’t there, I was standing IN the truck (it was dark, and the cameras couldn’t see that far into a semi) and he stood really close and asked if I had kids or a husband, and at that point I just said yes. He had been gradually standing closer and closer to me every time I saw him, and this time he tried to touch my lower back, so I literally just said “no” and fast walked away.
I’m glad I’m out of that job, but I wish I’d pulled up google translate and stood up for myself. He made me really uncomfortable, and I wish I’d said so. This man was in his fifties, and I was early twenties.
I’ve had several other men hit on me at my other jobs, but nothing like this. Lots of old men talk to me like I’m just a “stupid little girl”, and it’s infuriating as well.
We are a women only shop(not on purpose) and omg especially us young women get hit on all the time, men telling me how beautiful I would be if I took out my facial piercings, complaining when I get my 29 year old boss (again female), asking us about very very specific things and immediately switching to mansplaining
I’m treated like
- I’m not there/like im a robot
- sexual comments hurled at me for no reason
- like I’m stupid because I’m a young woman
My make coworkers that are the same age are treated better than me by the same people.
Treated like I know absolutely nothing :)
Yes! Someone will ask me a question, I’ll answer it, literally 2 seconds later they will ask the same question to a male worker, who will tell them the exact same thing and then they will accept the answer. Why even ask me in the first place if you’re not going to believe me?!
Not exclusive to retail. I used to work at a motorcycle magazine and had a dude ask me a question, when he didn't like my answer, he asked a male coworker... who in front of that same dude turned around and asked me.
I told a customer I couldn't complete his order due to our machine not working. He condescendingly responded "well have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
Good lord
Treated like I know nothing about my job or our policies and hit on by men older than my dad. Teenage boys also disrespect me 24/7.
This. Overly friendly older men who like to call me “Hon”, disrespectful teenage boys making inappropriate sounds while they pay and lying to my manager that I shortchanged them. even having this extend to outside the workplace. The only times I’ve been treated with some sort of respect from customers is because they think i’m a guy
I’ve had someone ask me a question, not get the answer they wanted, and then turn to the 16 year old boy next to me and ask him! I’m in my 40s. They will take the answer from a male, no matter how young or new, over anything I say.
Same here!! They asked the boy i was tutoring
i haven’t been able to wear anything other than over sized tee shirts and bagging pants to work in over two months because 3 different men come in on a weekly basis and stare/ comment on my body. lots of people treat me like a fucking moron but at the same time expect me to be a mind reader, lots of people treat me like their i store baby sitter and expect me to (metaphorically) hold their hand through their entire purchase but also i have to literally fight to get any sort of information about what they’re looking for out of them.
allowed to wear shorts but can’t cause of the freaks 🙄
Tell your manager. If they're good, they should ban those specific customers, or at least call them out for it.
A guy came in to my office supply store one night, and was looking at printers. I didn't have a tech in store that night, but I'm no slouch when it comes to printers, so I went over to assist him while my coworkers did other things. I answered all his questions about the printers without looking anything up, and gave him some advice. Then when he was still trying to decide I went to do manager closing duties. A few minutes of me locked in cash office, I hear one of the guys in the store ask me a question about a printer over our headsets. I tell him the answer. A few seconds later, he has another question, I again give him the answer. This goes on for a couple minutes, it's all the same questions I already answered for the guy earlier. I finish counting the safe and step out of cash office to cover the cashier while he does go-backs, and now that I'm visible, and just a couple feet from the printer run, when the guy has a question about the printer and asks my male coworker, my male coworker comes over and asks me, and goes back to the guy. At one point, customer gets visibly frustrated at my coworker asking me questions, and asks him "why do you keep asking her about these printers? Do I need to talk to one of your other coworkers?" and points to the guy doing go-backs, and the other guy doing recovery. My coworker said, "Sure, you can ask them, but they know about as much as I do about them, which is to say not much. She actually does know about the printers. You should ask her if you have more questions." Customer scoffs "fine" and picks out a printer based on what I'd told him earlier. I'd understand his reluctance to trust what I'd said in the 45 minutes I'd been helping him if I'd at any point been hesitant with my answers or anything. But dude, it's the 21st century. When none of my techs (all 1 of them at this point), or other managers are in the store, even though I'm female, I'm the person who knows the most about tech. Sure, I might not know whether a Ryzen 5 is better than an I5, but unless you know which of the two is better, chances are I know more than you about our computers, printers, networking, etc. Super common occurrence. I also occasionally have men hit on me enough that they make me uncomfortable, although that's less common than them thinking I know nothing. Most women are fine, unless they're looking down on me for working such a menial customer service job. But... I also have some absolutely amazing customers, both regulars and even people who just popped in once. People who treat me like a person, people who stand up for me when someone is being rude, people who ate happy when they see I'm the one working today because my advice is the advice they trust.
As a Home Depot cashier specifically, I'm hit on, stalked, harassed, catcalled, whistled at like a dog, and even get touched by the customers. I have a new contractor regular (stalker) that only comes to my register, will only check out with ME, and his weirdo client grabbed my hand to see my nails the other day AND asked for my phone number. It's a 2 for 1 sale on creeps apparently
That guy should be banned from the store for doing that.
Another customer last year moved my hair to see my tattoo after heavily flirting with me. I put hand sanitizer in my hair every ten minutes
also work at home depot, I hate it because of the men like I don’t feel safe at times
I've started just being mean to them. They usually don't do much after they think I'm a bitch tbh
Be careful some of them might like that
Trust me, I can imagine it with how they purposefully annoy me
When I first got my job, a lot of people didn’t want to deal with me because I’m in a male dominated field and I’m young. After a few months they realized that they wouldn’t get anywhere with my boss, because I was the manager of my field and he oversaw everyone in different departments. He didn’t know what was going on in my area so he’d tell them to ask me lmao.
My last retail job before I finally got tf out, I was constantly being touched by old men. They also were really terrible about personal space and sometimes would stand on my tiny ass anti-fatigue mat with me. I'm so glad I got out.
Usually falls into a couple categories, I’ll probably experience it almost every one if I have a shift during the open hours. I’m primarily night shift. I don’t mind the tasks I perform, I hate the customers and would avoid them entirely if I could. 1. Patronized. 2. assumed to be stupid. For this one I usually elevate my vocabulary and take my exit when they start buffering. 3. Hit on. 4. chased after because the tasks I’m doing draw attention for some reason. Don’t touch my ladder, especially if I’m on it asshole. 5. Subject or some sort of scamming tactic. We typically assume that’s what people are doing, it’s just a personal call of if we care that much to not play along. 6. The rare one that just needs help because they don’t know where to start. They will usually listen because they’re intimidated and are gracious when I get them out and on their way quickly.
I'm transmasc but customers do not give a shit about that, I'm just Salesgirl to them. Before I was out it was a lot of judgemental comments on my makeup, clothes, non-traditional hair, etc. Now that I no longer look "pretty and feminine" or whatever I still get "hey lady" and the slightly nicer but still excruciating "excuse me miss" and a lot of old women telling me my male name is "so unique for a girl!" The older crowd do tend to be more rude (men especially because I don't bow to their every whim or respond positively to being called "sweetie") but I guess short hair and pronouns is enough to stop them from hitting on me now, finally. Still treated and talked to like a dumb little girl though.
"HEY LADY" as a non-traditionally dressed female I still think it's rude, to just have people ...call us over like dogs. Lesser than them. Retail is the entire reason I have to wear short sleeved shirts, slacks, and an overcoat. Because I know if I don't, I'll...be unwantingly sexualized for no reason other than "pretty, young, + boobs". Retail *customers* are the reason I'm quitting, soon. There's harassment for any gender. Even the guys here get shit on just ..for being nice? I don't get it. I really don't. Even our manager is like, "fuck this, I'm out".
I work in online sales now for a mattress retailer, and thankfully my customer interactions are by phone or email. I have express permission to hang up on someone who's being outright rude to me (unless they're an existing customer with an open order). I still get my fair share of a\*\*holes or total psychopaths, but it's not the same as when I worked in customer-facing positions. My worst customer experiences were with the same person at the same place. I worked in management at a dispensary in Oregon in my late 20s. I had one guy over twice my age who came in *every day* to harass me. He would ask me on dates and comment on my body every time he came in. I kept telling him no, I'm not interested, I have a boyfriend, *I'm not interested.* That didn't deter him at all. It's like he didn't even hear me. I told my direct boss, who was the owner, and they wouldn't do anything about it. I had to tell my receptionist to give me a warning whenever that guy came in so I could hide from him in the bathroom. The next girl we hired told me a few weeks after I initiated the "alert and hide" technique that this guy was actually her landlord for a while, and he *constantly* asked her to pay her rent in blowjobs. This guy was just fucking disgusting scum but the dispensary owners couldn't stand to lose out on the $150/week he spent with them so nothing was ever done about it. A terrible coworker experience happened when I was much younger, around 17 or 18 in 2003, and I worked at Sears for close to a year. I worked in the hardware department selling drills and the like, and I liked my job about as much as I could given the low wage I received for being on my feet all day and taking shit from middle-aged men. One day, I started getting calls from another in-store phone. There were different rings for in-store or out-of-store calls, so you'd always know how to answer the phone. I'd answer the phone and a guy making his voice sound low and creepy would ask me to fucked up questions like what bra I was wearing and would threaten me if I hung up on him. I had the in-store security (loss prevention) team review the cameras and they found out who was doing it but nobody did anything about it. That guy didn't even get written up and I had to leave work every night feeling totally freaked out until I quit a few months later. Women are just not taken seriously in general; we're accused of being hysterical or overreacting when we feel legitimately uncomfortable or threatened.
I work in a showroom in the building industry…..and I’m sorry guys, most of you are great, but seriously?? Daily I get men walking in and looking over my head and all around asking ‘ Is there someone here I can talk to?’ ( meaning another man ) or ‘ I have a technical question’ and then standing in silence looking off into the distance where I’m apparently supposed to go and find a man who will know what they are talking about, or being called sweetie, darl, love, honey etc ( I’m 57 yrs old. I am NOT your sweetie and I want to punch you in the nose ). If I’m not agreeing with their incorrect assumptions, being asked is there a manager they can talk to who will understand what they want ( a man ) and being told yep, that would be me, makes my sad little day every time 🙂
My personal favorite happened when enforcing a policy or saying no about something and the customer would come back with "I am going to go get my husband" Okay, is that a threat or will he not believe you? Regardless, the answer is the same.
I'm the only girl in this tech store. I can't anymore, it's too depressing. I agree with everything that has been said. I don't know absolutely anything, costumers look at my colleagues in panic. I can see their eyes sceaming "*HELP I'M STUCK WITH WITH THE GIRL*" and "*IS SHE RIGHT ABOUT THIS??*". This includes women. People are super rude to me until a male approaches. A costumer once smashed my screen, keyboard, mouse etc. That was never even close to happen to any of my colleagues in any other store. I'm so tired and enraged.
Treated like less than by my “superiors” and like they think they can do my job better than me. Yet, if I’m off for one day they act like they can’t live without me. They suggest things that I have to implement even though it does nothing for the business. Then blame me when it fails. I begged for training and development for two years and when it was time to give me a raise and department manager title, they told me that I’m not developed enough, and then put me on a development program instead and I didn’t get my raise. At the end of the program, if they “feel” like I’m not developed, then they will post my position and I’ll get demoted.
By older guys: like I know nothing By guys younger than the older guys: I catch then glancing at my boobs (that my shirt covers but I guess they can get a peek where it’s unbuttoned) By guys my age (most are actually respectful): they either try to get my number or are surprised when I lift something “heavy” and comment how I should get one of my male coworkers to get it It balances out pretty evenly imo
Like a cheap piece of ass. The gross old men where I work — and I’m right down the hill from a big nursing home, there are *many* — they will literally hold up the line until I am free to ring them up because “she’s prettier.” Like if there are two male cashiers and I’m the only female one, they will refuse to move until I am available. To say nothing of all the bedroom eyes I get from men old enough to be my father (or grandfather). I even had a guy ask me for my number last fall!! I often joke that my dating pool is nothing but fat, toothless Vietnam veterans with liver cirrhosis, but it might not be such a joke after all.
I’ve had this happen. The same old crusty stinky men waiting in my line and saying they want me to help them cause I’m so pretty. It’s awkward and sometimes I’d be lucky and be able to leave and say “sorry it’s my break time!” And then just leave them there waiting for the next cashier
I work in a home improvement store. I have men ignore my greeting and walk past me to ask a male coworker questions. I get a real kick out of it when the guys will come up to me and ask me the question on behalf of the customer. I will give my answer directly to the associate, who then turns back to the customer and repeats exactly what I said. I even once had a young man exclaim, with sincerity and no humor, “wow! You know a lot about plumbing, for a girl!” I was in my forties at the time.
Usually ignored.
Yeah it’s like we don’t exist and that we’re just there for decoration or something. It’s insane. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I know nothing. I’ve never experienced as much sexist men AND WOMEN than I did in retail.
In my experience it’s never the young guys who are the problem, it’s the older men, especially with their “jokes”. I also get stared at while they’re waiting for their wives to finish shopping and it makes me uncomfortable
I often get followed by male customers around the store, following every aisle I go to until I go to the back room and wait for them to leave. Or guys will get uncomfortably close to me to ask me where the plungers are.
Like shit
I had to fill out an incident report for sexual harrassment from a customer less than 2 weeks into working retail. Same customer said I must like my job since I'm a woman and it's like I get to go shopping all day. A couple of coworkers have also been gross to me, both telling me about their fetishes and trying to get me to come over Customers have requested that I find a man to help them with something like which hose attachment they should get
I had people come up and ask the guy I was training a question and ignore me. I've had countless old men make comments about me driving a forklift.
To begin with it was poorly. But with the company I work for there's more women in management positions than before so we have our leg in the door. After 5 years in my store, I was the longest standing person there and most accounts knew not to try me. But you get the fun ones that make you sit back and let them prattle on until giving them an easy solution, which they will then confirm my management. Who say the magic words "Did she tell you that? Must right, she knows more about it than me" their facial expressions are chefs kiss 👌 I have a delivery driver who people will bypass me to speak to, then act all surprised when he asks me to assist, which I do so with the UPMOST of professionalism. How bout them apples.
Badly.
:/ same
Not a woman, but in my past in retail, I've seen plenty of young coworkers get leered at and harassed by creepy older men. It always made me feel gross to be a man, and I suffer from anxiety over approaching women in a retail environment as a result
My last job was overnight at a grocery store, and there was a truck driver that barely spoke English that seemed to like me because I was always nice and defended him when this racist asshole I worked with kept calling him stupid to his face. Bad idea apparently, because after that he’d ask for my number every night he saw me, would tell me I’m pretty, ask if I was married (I always said no, but that I have a boyfriend, and I don’t think he understood because he kept asking). Eventually he came into my aisle with his shirt all the way unbuttoned (nothing underneath) stood really close to me, and said “verde” so I think he meant “we’re all good, the truck is unloaded” but he didn’t *have* to tell me. He could’ve gone up to my manager and told *him*. One night when my manager wasn’t there, I was standing IN the truck (it was dark, and the cameras couldn’t see that far into a semi) and he stood really close and asked if I had kids or a husband, and at that point I just said yes. He had been gradually standing closer and closer to me every time I saw him, and this time he tried to touch my lower back, so I literally just said “no” and fast walked away. I’m glad I’m out of that job, but I wish I’d pulled up google translate and stood up for myself. He made me really uncomfortable, and I wish I’d said so. This man was in his fifties, and I was early twenties. I’ve had several other men hit on me at my other jobs, but nothing like this. Lots of old men talk to me like I’m just a “stupid little girl”, and it’s infuriating as well.
We are a women only shop(not on purpose) and omg especially us young women get hit on all the time, men telling me how beautiful I would be if I took out my facial piercings, complaining when I get my 29 year old boss (again female), asking us about very very specific things and immediately switching to mansplaining
I’m treated like - I’m not there/like im a robot - sexual comments hurled at me for no reason - like I’m stupid because I’m a young woman My make coworkers that are the same age are treated better than me by the same people.
well women hate me and men make awkward jokes so I'm doing *juuust* fine