Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

GDB2222

I had a taste of what it's like to be talked down to by a techie from Apple yesterday. I asked how their diagnostic software could possibly determine the state of the battery in my ipad, as it only ran for a few seconds. "That's what it's designed to do," came the reply. Which translates as "I have no idea how it works, mate, but my script tells me to say the battery is fine as you only have 8 days left on your warranty."

GDB2222

bugslet wrote: »

Just between you and me Sue, head oop North - it's not that grim - even where I live. We like to tell Southerners about the gas lights and cobbles to keep them down there:p.



Excellent post DG. I deal with garages a lot and big hairy truckers and other hauliers all day long. I forget I'm a woman and I suspect they do too.

You're formidable.

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

My sister was always annoyed at the garage she and her husband used. They both worked in the same profession, my sister's job/title was higher than her husband's. Whenever she booked her car in for an MoT/service she had to fight to try to get a courtesy car, even though she needed it for work/whatever.... whereas her husband was routinely just offered/assumed one, even when all he was doing that day was playing golf.

I get a courtesy car and a full valet for the price of an MOT and some windscreen wipers. They don't even charge me the insurance fee. They don't know my job title and I don't drive a 5 series (;)). I get my tyres from a pace where they are lovely. I've had a bad experience in a tyre garage but I didn't go back and I knew it was them, not me, and certainly not because of my job title or sex.

Sometimes !!!! happens but why go to the same place for the same old !!!! to happen? It's like putting salt into a cake mix and expecting it to taste good. And then doing the same thing again expecting a different result.

Your sibling's husband might be more friendly to the people better in there, or be more flexible on dates for his servicing that allows him to have the car simply because it is available. When I call for mine I ask "when is the next available date with a car?". They have no opportunity to refuse, but I've never thought I was somehow working the system by asking the question that way. If I say "I want my car serviced on Wednesday and I want a car", they can refuse quite easily if one isn't available. It's not me or them, it's the car being booked out! My thoughts could quite easily tell me that it was me; that there was something wrong with me and they knew it, so refused. But just because That thought enters my head, it doesn't make it true.

He might even just go with the expectation that he can have a car where she believes they will resist - and they do. There's a million different reasons why one person is treated better than another and in the main, it is attitude. If you expect a fight, you get one. If you believe you deserve to be treated well, you will be. You find what you look for.

Doozergirl

bugslet wrote: »

Just between you and me Sue, head oop North - it's not that grim - even where I live. We like to tell Southerners about the gas lights and cobbles to keep them down there:p.



Excellent post DG. I deal with garages a lot and big hairy truckers and other hauliers all day long. I forget I'm a woman and I suspect they do too.

Indeed. You are a single woman to boot. Those people see you as bugslet, not 'a woman'. And you talk to them without expecting "they'll treat me badly because I'm a girl".

I changed "thinking" to "expecting" because we can all think things but choose to ignore the thought and JFDI. It's whether we allow the thought to become an expectation that makes the difference between shrinking back and moving forward.

Generali

bugslet wrote: »

Just between you and me Sue, head oop North - it's not that grim - even where I live. We like to tell Southerners about the gas lights and cobbles to keep them down there:p.



Excellent post DG. I deal with garages a lot and big hairy truckers and other hauliers all day long. I forget I'm a woman and I suspect they do too.

It's grim up north.

Mrs Generali has taken the car to the garage far more often than I have because I'm too lazy. These days we use a mobile mechanic so the issue doesn't arise.

I am very well known at the local RSL club as the child carer as I take the Generalissimos there every other weekend on average.

Sexual stereotyping is very 1970s.

kabayiri

Generali wrote: »

It's grim up north.
...

Linked with expectations perhaps?

If you rent a shed in London because you rely on bennies, is it any less grim then renting a shed in the middle of the Peak District?

Perhaps the "grim" scale isn't actually linear, but has peaks and troughs along the income axis.

(Cor blimey, now some social science grad will take this on as research, what the heck have I done? )

vivatifosi

kabayiri wrote: »

Perhaps the "grim" scale isn't actually linear, but has peaks and troughs along the income axis.

To the best of my topographical knowledge, most of the peaks are in the north. But the downs are in the south:(.

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

He might be more blokey, he's an arrogant 4ss to be honest... but he does always drive "new/smart Audis", whereas my pleasant/smiling, WI-belonging sister always drove small functional cars that were used to get to/from work, they always used his bigger car to go out because "men drive, it's what they do; wives sit in the passenger seat".

In the 20 years my parents lived a long way away my sister never drove once, not any part of the journey. They'd rather break the journey and stay overnight in an hotel than share the drive and have her behind the wheel. It was simply "not what wives do".

PasturesNew

I've already done a launderette run this morning; washing's blowing/drying on the line. The sun's out, but it's very blowy out there. I've got the line set close to the ground to prevent stuff taking off

bugslet

Generali wrote: »

It's grim up north.

.

Take no notice Single Sue, it's lovely oop 'ere. We have theatres and beautiful countryside and GPs that you don't have to wait 3 weeks to see;)

GDB2222 wrote: »

You're formidable.

'Cos I'm dead 'ard, with my hairy arms and tattoos and Pitbull called Tyson.:D