quick story

i was pulled into a meeting today to listen to some potential vendor and his pitch for brochures that come with built in videos.

this was a pretty geeky/techy/dorky meeting. so of course i was invited. i love geeky stuff and i guess i have a "geeky stuff" background seeing as how i used to work for a mobile application developer.

there were three other men in the meeting, and i was the only woman.

so the video brochure rep is yapping away in some pretentious british accent about his product and how his customers use it and blah blah blah.

he gives us an example...

Mazda had a bunch of these video brochures made to give to people who bought a new car. It was a good fit because the video told people how to do stuff with their new cars like set up bluetooth. because, you know, that sort of techy stuff is confusing to some people -- especially women because, you know, they're just not as good with that sort of techy stuff.

now if ONLY i could raise just one eyebrow. (isn't that the best look?) i would have titled my head and stared this dummy sales guys down and slooooowllly raised one eyebrow as if to say, "DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT COMMENT BACK?"

but alas, i haven't perfected the "one eyebrow raised" look just yet. so instead i looked up from the sample i was browsing to make eye contact with the guys across the table who all bust out laughing because....ummmm....DID HE JUST SAY THAT?

realizing {too late} that there is in fact a female present, dummy sales guy says, "oh, well, you know what i mean. they're [women] just aren't as interested in technology. like... my wife always has to ask me to program her cell phone. also, old men! old men aren't very good at technology either."

so women and old men, huh? good to know.

question: will i recommend to my boss that we buy this guy's product?

answer: not a chance.

conclusion: i win.

know who you're selling to, dude. and maybe don't make assumptions about "women" based off that fact that your wife is ignorant. mmmmmkay?

also? i know some "old men" that can kick your ass.

3 comments:

CH said...

hahhaa. I am on calls like that a lot where they're briefing analysts here and they say things like that about women. 60% of the time they don't say anything... but I love when they got "but not Caroline!!" even though I don't like to set up anything technology related. Funny story- I can relate!

Nikki said...

haaaaahahahah. Oh man. I think people think i'm exempt from those comments because i'm asian (so obviously i'm good with technology). However i can't drive but can throw ninja stars, play the violin, and do math really, really well.

Tammy Blythe Goodman said...

that's hysterical. i just tweeted the other day about how my favorite section of any website or newspaper to read is the technology section!