[REPOST] Many years ago, I worked at a car dealership. The attached service garage was small and I was the only licensed mechanic.

I would occasionally have issues with male customers— they would second guess my diagnoses, watch me while I worked on their cars from the bay door, double check my work in the parking lot, etc.

I didn’t deal with customers directly and would often get my apprentice to pull cars in and out of the shop for me.

This morning in particular, we were busy. The lot jockey and apprentice were occupied helping wash cars for delivery and driving to a customer’s house.

The service advisor left a work order and keys at the parts counter, and I went out the front through service to get the car. It was in for a service campaign, which was an update done with a scan tool. It takes about 10 minutes.

The customer was planning on waiting and was sitting in service. When he saw me with his keys in my hand, he immediately stood up, alarmed. I was hustling so I walked right by him and out the door. I missed the following conversation, according to the service advisor (also female):

Customer: “Who is that chick? Is she going to be working on my car? I don’t want her working on my car.”

Advisor: “The other tech is out at the moment, so it’s going to be quite a wait until someone else can look at your car.”

C: “That’s fine. I’ll wait for a guy. I don’t want that chick touching my car.”

A, politely: “Understood.”

Cue malicious compliance.

The advisor comes to let me know, and I pull the car out and put the work order and keys back on the counter.

Half an hour passes. The apprentice is still away, and I am happily working on something else, bringing other cars in and out.

The customer is now watching each and every person who comes through the door.

The high school co-op student comes in to get something signed. The customer’s keys are still sitting on the desk. It’s been about an hour now.

C: “Hey— why hasn’t my car gone in yet? Can’t you get this guy to do it?”

A: “No, sorry. He’s just a co-op student so he is not allowed to drive the cars due to liability and insurance concerns.”

C: “Just get someone else to bring the car in and he can do the work. This was supposed to take 10 minutes.”

A: “Sorry, sir. He’s just a high school student doing his co-op; he’s not approved to perform warranty work. Only licensed techs and apprentices can do the recall.”

The car jockey returns. The advisor hands the car jockey a different set of keys, and he brings yet another car into the shop for me. The customer is becoming incensed.

C: “I’ve been sitting here for over an hour and I’ve watched 5 cars go in before mine. My appointment was for 8am, this is getting ridiculous,” blah blah blah.

At this point he says that he literally doesn’t care who does the recall, but that it has to be a guy.

The service advisor starts listing off the names of the men who work in the dealership, then saying why they can’t perform the recall.

“Well there’s Harmon, but he’s just the car jockey. He doesn’t know how to work on cars. Then there’s Jeet, but he’s about 17. I wouldn’t want him doing the recall, personally. I guess we could ask Mike— but Mike is the parts guy— he doesn’t know how to use the scan tool. The detailers are men, but they know NOTHING about cars… ”

The customer is fuming at this point, and demands to talk to the service manager.

The manager comes out of his office, and guides the customer into the garage. He’s pretty old school… lights up a cigarette standing at the end of my bay, and points at me.

“That’s my best technician. Those guys take orders from her. You can either wait for her to finish what she’s working on, and then you can ask if she’s still willing to do your work, or you can take your car somewhere else.”

The guy was pretty shook up at this point and he took his car and left, two hours after he’d first arrived. I don’t think we ever saw him again, which was not much of a loss, all things considered.

That manager in particular ALWAYS stuck up for me and took my side. The service advisor has this very dead-pan sense of humour. She knew full well it would easily be an hour before the apprentice would return from his errand, and that no one else could do the recall.

TL;DR: A customer brought his car in to the shop but when he saw me with his keys asked for a man to do the job instead. The service advisor happily agreed knowing full well there was no one but me to do the job. The customer ended up waiting two hours before leaving without getting his car fixed.

  • grue@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This type of sexism is doubly stupid. At least in my experience, women in male-dominated fields tend to be exceptionally good at what they do because the ones that aren’t passionate about the work don’t find it to be worth staying because of the sexism. If I were going to be biased, I’d be biased in favor of having a woman work on my car!

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is why we used a female plumber for years. She was extraordinary. Whereas you’re flipping a coin with every dude plumber, knowing half of them are morons and suck at the work.

  • v13@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    When I joined the army I was trained to be a generator mechanic. My final test to graduate I scored 99%… my first duty station, my bosses didn’t like female mechanics and put me in the tool cage, signing tools in and out… I hated it. Glad you have support from your male coworkers and manager!

    • dystop@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 year ago

      The army is one of the most sexiest workplaces imaginable, from what I’ve heard. Hope it’s better for you now!

      • v13@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        This was back in 82 so I should have expected it… my dad was a mechanic and I learned from him so I was a bit blindsided… I got out of mechanics and the military and into self employment in computers so things are indeed better. Thank you for the kind wishes!

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m a big guy a bit over 6 feet, but my wife is way better at fixing cars than I am. I can change a tire or the oil or other very basic stuff. But she can make actual repairs, like adjusting timing belt, mount a tow bar, change a ball joint. Where afterwards things actually pass safety check which is mandatory in Denmark.

    I’ve even been complimented by mechanics for her work, because I’m always the one driving our cars to check afterwards.

    I would NEVER have a problem with a woman fixing my car. On the contrary I bet a female mechanic has had to prove herself more than most, so I’m guessing chances are higher that a female mechanic is actually pretty good.

  • EnderWi99in@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’ve never understood anyone gatekeeping things they like. Wouldn’t you want to date someone who is into the things you’re into? I think it’s changing with younger generations, but when I grew up I remembered hearing the same guys saying they wish they could date a woman who is into Star Wars and video games, but then would gatekeep any woman they met who was into those things as if they are just faking it.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, they don’t want matching hobbies. Insert an alternate hobby below as needed

      1. Mechanic time is actually masked alone time
      2. Mechanic time is actually masked bro time
      3. They’re insecure bad mechanics
      4. They’re insecure good mechanics
      5. They’re worried the woman won’t find her natural calling being a housewife and might brush off those duties to the man if he can’t fulfill his mechanical duties
      6. They’re worried the woman won’t be dependent on them for “very difficult” work that’s also somehow super “easy for him”
      7. They might have to intellectually debate the woman on a topic instead of just being able to coldly fuck her

      I find this general mindset mad that modern mechanics are just “parts replacers” while they themselves also only replace parts. Yeah, the OEMs have spent decades troubleshooting and detailing repairs to make an entire encyclopedia of fixing the cause so you don’t have to.

    • Rampsquatch@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      At least sometimes, when you see a guy gatekeeping like that it means they think girls don’t like them because they like Star Wars or whatever. But in reality girls don’t like them because of personality flaws, or hygiene issues, or any other reason that is actually something they could fix if they cared to.

    • escaped_cruzader@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Wouldn’t you want to date someone who is into the things you’re into?

      There are things more important to match on than hobbies and interests

      Also, I’m enough of me, so I do not want a pair too much like me

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I used to make sandwiches at a deli counter. There was one male customer who insisted that his sandwich be made by a woman. Didn’t matter which woman. I guess eating something made by a man was “too gay” for him or he just felt like women preparing food was the correct order of things in the universe. Anyway, he would totally just stand aside and wait for a woman if they were all busy. If it were my shop, I probably would have invited him to fuck off, because how are you supposed to feel, as a woman, when some guy is getting extra jollies out of his sandwich because it was made by a person with breasts? That’s just gross. Customers shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate any more than employers.

  • Fanghole@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    I can imagine your service advisor smirking every time the customer complained and it brings me delight. Her and your manager make it sound like an amazing workplace.

  • jaydev@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m so grateful for these story formatted posts!

    Glad you had a supportive environment that stuck up for you. Makes all the difference at work.

  • Not2Dopey@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I love this! What does someone’s gender have to do with their ability to work on a car? Some people amaze me with their sexism/stupidity.