Wednesday, December 07, 2005
"mr." asshat.
at work today, i went over a list of bugs i'd found in some software. the software was written in french, and some of the translations are awkward. for example, the contact area has some options for people's titles. the titles are:
Mr.
Miss.
Mrs.
this seemed weird, so i found some business standards website that confirmed that in the US, it's standard to address woman in a business context as,
Ms.
so i logged a bug about it. when we went over the bug list today, it was me, my immediate boss, the project manager, and this otherlady. my boss (female) and the project manager (male) have had incredible conflicts right by my desk before. she has some weird notions, and i can see how it might be difficult to manage her, but the guy routinely yells at her, and is dismissive and disrespectful--stuff that would make me angry but i'd show it by crying. it's weird; he has some good points about my difficult boss, but he is also totally inappropriate, and often comes out with these misogynist or homophobic zingers that take my breath away. he's british, and i wonder if, i don't know, offices are different over there.
anyway. i describe the issue, and the project manager says:
oh, come on.
and i say, no, really. i mean, i think if i were a CEO and got a business letter and it was addressed to "miss" byrne, i think i wouldn't like it. i might even be offended.
the otherlady says, i would be offended. my boss is staying completely silent.
and he snorts and says: this is a place of business
and i say, that is why i'm suggesting this. this is a business suggestion.
and he rolls his eyes and says, oh, get over yourselves.
and i laugh really, really loud! and say, no! you get over it!
and then i move us on to the next agenda item.
and that was a few hours ago, but i seriously want to punch something.
Mr.
Miss.
Mrs.
this seemed weird, so i found some business standards website that confirmed that in the US, it's standard to address woman in a business context as,
Ms.
so i logged a bug about it. when we went over the bug list today, it was me, my immediate boss, the project manager, and this otherlady. my boss (female) and the project manager (male) have had incredible conflicts right by my desk before. she has some weird notions, and i can see how it might be difficult to manage her, but the guy routinely yells at her, and is dismissive and disrespectful--stuff that would make me angry but i'd show it by crying. it's weird; he has some good points about my difficult boss, but he is also totally inappropriate, and often comes out with these misogynist or homophobic zingers that take my breath away. he's british, and i wonder if, i don't know, offices are different over there.
anyway. i describe the issue, and the project manager says:
oh, come on.
and i say, no, really. i mean, i think if i were a CEO and got a business letter and it was addressed to "miss" byrne, i think i wouldn't like it. i might even be offended.
the otherlady says, i would be offended. my boss is staying completely silent.
and he snorts and says: this is a place of business
and i say, that is why i'm suggesting this. this is a business suggestion.
and he rolls his eyes and says, oh, get over yourselves.
and i laugh really, really loud! and say, no! you get over it!
and then i move us on to the next agenda item.
and that was a few hours ago, but i seriously want to punch something.
