25+ years on the job and doors are beyond my scope

[Ree]

It's because I'm a woman, you see.

I was standing by the service desk yesterday, waiting to give some info to the guy working the desk.
An elderly man was in front of me with a door sweep in his hand.
He thrust it on my coworker's face and said, "What do you think about this?"

My coworker can be a bit rude and smart-assed, and he said, "What do I think of it? It looks like a wet piece of plastic."
(I though to myself that it was a rude and unhelpful thing to say, considering we are a really customer service oriented store.)

The old guy says, "It's off my door and I need a new one."

The part he was looking for was in a completely different area of the store.
Because my coworker was alone on the desk, he couldn't leave, so he directed the guy to the right area, but the customer was insisting on this guy helping him pick out a new one.

My coworker looked around, but none of his other crew were available. They were all still with customers.

I handed the paperwork to my coworker and said to the customer, "I'll take you over and get you the part."

Did the man say, "Thanks."?
Nope.
He just shot me down and snapped, "I need somebody who knows something about doors!"



I know damn well that he assumed, because I am a woman, that I wouldn't know a single thing about fitting a doorsweep.

My coworker said, "There are a few guys in that area that can help you out."

One of the guys who works in that department is French. The old guy says, "Does "Frenchy" know anything about these things?"
I snapped back as I walked away, "He's not a woman so he probably does."

I know it was not a very nice thing to say, but the guy really ticked me off.

[kibbles]

I don't think you did anything wrong at all Ree..the elderly guy seemed rude right from the get go on how he asked the question IMO.

[barainga]

I honestly thing it was a proper response. Bigotry, sexism, racism. Any sort of an attitude deserves a similar response. As polite an F*** you as you can give.

[cindybubbles]

The correct answer is for all of your male coworkers to pretend to not know what a "door" even is in front of the man. Bonus points if you can get them to repeatedly walk into a closed door with the sexist bigot watching.

When a female coworker opens the door, have all the male coworkers worship her!

[MistressOfTangents]

The correct answer is for all of your male coworkers to pretend to not know what a "door" even is in front of the man. Bonus points if you can get them to repeatedly walk into a closed door with the sexist bigot watching.

When a female coworker opens the door, have all the male coworkers worship her!

Oh the things we wish we could do. I know people who would pay money to see this sort of thing happen in front of sexist asshat.

Ree I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with that twerp, I think you showed remarkable restraint under the circumstances.