"I need a MALE associate for customer carry out"

[Bright_Star]

One of the things that makes my blood boil is hearing a page that goes "I need a male associate for a customer carry out at register so & so" I hear that & think to myself..."What the hell do i look like-WEAK??". To me, that page is being sexist. & sooner or later Wal-Mart is gonna get called on the carpet for that nonsense.
Most of the girls at my store, including yours truly, can lift some pretty heavy things. We're always lifting BIG cases of soda & other big items. I'm not a HUGE by any stretch of the imagination. I'm 5 feet tall & weigh 125 pounds. People look at me & then look at the big item on their cart & say..."I can help you with that". I say..."That's sweet but I can manage."
I'm stronger than I look...

[Estil]

It too makes my blood boil to hear the terms "bagger boy" and "checker girls" at my store. Sexism can work both ways, you know.

[Der Cute]

Where I work, theres a couple of old-fashioned guys holding doors open for me (nice) but they have a habit of asking "Can you carry that?"

I tell them "Sure, if you get the door...".

Be fair about it, and remember it's also culture too.

Cutenoob

[CherryB]

Listen to someone who was foolish and picked up heavy things in her youth DON'T DO IT. When you are 49 your back will thank you.

[Seshat]

I disagree, Cherry B.

Do it, but first learn how to do it safely, learn what your specific body's limits are, and make certain your core strength is good through your whole life. And if your body's limit is 40kg, only lift 45kg if it's saving someone's life to do so.

Side note: One of the most fun core-strength exercises is bellydance.

[AirHostess]

I don't do heavy lifting, I physically can't!

[draggar]

Heh, not to sound sexist, but that's how it was done when I worked at an office supply store (I believe you have my stapler?).

No, it wasn't that the cashier was being sexist, but they would constantly page for a man to come to the front to help out a customer. Why? There was only two girls working on the floor and she couldn't do heavy lifting. (Think frail teenie-bopper and the other was pregnant)

So, we had one, older, cashier who was quite funny with the pages.

"I need a man"

"I need a big strong man in the front"

And so on.

Understnad, though, I know very well that some women can lift better than I can (especially since I'm out of shape now). IN a store as large as the aforementioned store, I can see where it can get tense with this, but in the store I was in we all knew each other, knew the humor, and didn't take offence. I guess that's the advantage of only having 20 people in the store?

[KaeZoo]

From the customers' point of view, many male customers will be uncomfortable walking to their car unencumbered, while a female employee carries their purchase. It's a "chivalry" thing; possibly it may be more prevalent in the rural and Southern areas where Wal-mart originated. Anyway, just because that attitude may be somewhat sexist, it doesn't mean Wal-mart can ignore it.

[South Texan]

I wish I had worked with you!

When I was working with a local television station, my job required me to lift lighting, build sets, climb ladders, etc. Although we were required to have a degree, the job itself was very physical. One of the women on my crew decided that she was a "lady" and thus would wear a dress or skirt with dress shoes almost every day. Then she would state emphatically that she would not do whatever the rest of us in jeans would be doing as she would ruin her clothing to do it. She also refused to climb as it just was not lady-like to do such things in a skirt. She then would busy herself with something trivial and light while the rest of us worked. Of course, if anyone from management walked into the area in which we were working, she (in her nice clothing, perfectly styled hair and fresh makeup)would greet them and act as if she somehow was in on or in charge of everything the rest of us were doing. If anyone on our crew dared to call her on how she was acting, she would run to management and cry that she was being harrassed.

We all knew her goal was to be promoted or transferred to another department and job that was sedentary. Management finally got wise to what she was doing and helped her get out of our department by telling her she no longer had a job.

[CaroPhoenix]

I disagree, Cherry B.

Do it, but first learn how to do it safely, learn what your specific body's limits are, and make certain your core strength is good through your whole life. And if your body's limit is 40kg, only lift 45kg if it's saving someone's life to do so.

Side note: One of the most fun core-strength exercises is bellydance.

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Now matter how properly you pick something up, sneezing can and will put your back out of alignment. Trust me, I know this. I know how to lift properly, and one day I was lifting a box properly .... I sneezed .... bed rest for the entire weekend.

[BookstoreEscapee]

We all knew her goal was to be promoted or transferred to another department and job that was sedentary. Management finally got wise to what she was doing and helped her get out of our department by telling her she no longer had a job.

Yeah, cuz we all know the way to get promoted is to refuse to do the job you were actually hired for.

(I believe you have my stapler?).

I deal with boxes of books every day, and after almost 10 months here my boss STILL does not trust me to not lift something too heavy. When I was in the store I threw out my back trying to lift a box (it was a lot heavier than I realized before I tried to lift it from the floor)...believe me, I have no intention of doing that again. I always test the weight of a box before I really try to lift it, and if I have any doubt at all I will get one of the guys.

[Seshat]

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Now matter how properly you pick something up, sneezing can and will put your back out of alignment.

Hrm. I'd not thought of that. I suppose that's what the core body strength is for - but I see your respectful disagreement and raise a respectful 'hrrrm, good point. I dunno.'.

[Kilamon]

It's a "chivalry" thing; possibly it may be more prevalent in the rural and Southern areas where Wal-mart originated. Anyway, just because that attitude may be somewhat sexist, it doesn't mean Wal-mart can ignore it.

This actually stems from victorian principles when ladies were treated akin to porcelain. Modern movies and beliefs would have it attributed to chivalry, which is just a romantic thought that knights treated women with some sort of honorific pedestal, which they didn't. Knights were warriors and their jousting on horses was the equivalant of a gladatorial sport.

If I may reference John H. Young from Our Deportment published in 1881

A gentleman will never permit a lady with whom he is walking to carry a package of any kind, but will insist upon relieving her of it. He may even accost a lady when he sees her overburdened and offer his assistance, if their ways lie in the same direction.

Obviously, this is not fully applicable in these times as no one trusts anyone, even their own neighbours, and in some families a parent and child may even have a poor relationship that wouldn't allow for one's son to carry a package to the car.

I would also like to reference George Routledge's Routledge's Manual of Etiquette from 1875 which states:

If a person ... desires you to step first into a carriage, or through a door, it is more polite to bow and obey than to decline.

So, ladies, I would suggest that if a gentleman offers his assistance, do not be offended. We (for I was raised to be a) gentlemen are not seeing that you are unfit to carry a package, hold open a door, or are otherwise handicapped by your gender. We see that you ladies require respect as befitting anyone else in society, even though some of the 'rules' may be a little outdated. Cries of sexism, harassment, unfairness and equality only serve to lower your status from lady to woman (or lower) when a polite, "no, thank you," would have sufficed.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Awesome conversation that made me have to put down my tray and get hold of the laughing fit when I worked at the Olive Garden:

Female Bartender(needing help lifing huge crate and sticking her head into the alley): Hey, I need a man up here.

Gay Waiter: Be right there, FB.

Straight Waiter: Hey, GW, she said she needed a MAN.

Gay Waiter (without missing a beat) : I'm twice the man you'll ever be, and twice the woman you'll ever have.

[Rapscallion]

Vaguely reminds me of when I bought the chair my bum is occasionally polluting right now. I tried one in the store (PC World for those in the UK - and they were on sale, so don't think I'm daft), all the while attended by an associate.

"I'll take one," I said. He made a move to the box next to the display model, but it was already on my shoulder.

"Are you going to be OK with..." he said, his voice trailing off. He came all the way to the register with me, as if concerned it was too much. Being the braggart that I am, I made sure I paid for the chair with my card with the chair still on my shoulder and a poo-eating-grin on my face.

Rapscallion