Customer Asks for 'One of the Boys' When Female Employee Offers Help, Malicious Compliance Ensues

I don't know who needs to hear this in 2022, but women and men are the same species, and thus are equally capable of becoming experts in any given field. Apparently, some customers out there are still either terrified of speaking to women, or assume that all men are superior uber-geniuses whose wisdom knows no bounds. In a recent r/MaliciousCompliance post, u/WoolliesMudcake recounts the time his female colleague (who happened to be one of the most experienced employees at their automotive shop) was continuously rejected by a male customer who just wanted help from "one of the boys." Luckily, the boys maliciously complied.

Posted by Mel Dawn

“Don't want to speak to my female coworker and would rather talk to a man? How about we don't.” Posted by u/WoolliesMudcake

The comment section

Redditors recounted similar experiences in the comments.

“My parents owned a small tractor dealership in the 50s-70s. Daddy was mainly the mechanic and momma dealt with the parts and accounting. Many times a farmer would come in and ask for daddy, and daddy would just turn to momma and ask her to get the part from the shelves. The farmers soon learned that momma had as much, if not more, knowledge about the parts as they did.” said u/Complex_Shock_3256.

“I'm a horticulturist, I work in a plant nursery. It's just me and my boss. Men will always ask me to get my boss to answer their questions and my boss will consistently pass them back to me, because I am the expert, that's why he hired me" said u/morbid_n_creepifying.

“When I started in landscaping I was put on a crew with three women, and my forewoman was a red seal horticulturist. I have tons of stories like that, but one particular one that really irked me was one of our regular clients who absolutely refused no matter how many times I told him to talk to the boss would keep asking me about things. My boss would be beside me and he’d be asking me questions and I’d look her and ask or tell him that she knows a lot more than me but he’d keep coming to me.” said u/PeriodicallyATable.

"One of my help desk colleagues got a new job, and the last week she was absolutely brutal answering the phone.
‘If I have been writing in a document for several hours, and my computer crashes before I get a chance to save that document …’
‘Well, then you don’t deserve to have a document. Next question?’
Wherever you are these days Lotta, shine on, you crazy diamond." said u/NotSoGreatGonzo.

“I had a coworker years and years ago do this when I worked at radio shack. Cause you know no women could have any knowledge with small electronic parts.” said u/kawaeri.

Read the original thread here.