Gender in the workplace

Thanks to Easter and her recent post, I’ve started thinking about my past jobs.

A bit of history for you, For the past 12 years I’ve worked in 3 office jobs. Each of these jobs included work that is considered secretarial.

I worked in the insurance industry as a “Customer Service Rep” (translation: Secretary that is licensed to sell insurance) and even rose to the vaulted position of District Marketing Assistant (translation: Secretary in the District Office). I then decided for a change of pace and now find my self as an Office Manager in a psychologist’s office (translation: Secretary commanding an office consisting of myself and the Dr.)

The fact that I have been a glorified male secretary has never concerned me. While working for an agent in the insurance industry, I discovered that there is a few other men out there in the same position with other agents. Of course the ratio of men to women holding the same job was 3:25. Seriously. I once attended a district meeting designed to help improve customer service (and therefore keep a high retention rate) and I was one of 3 men surrounded by about 25 women.

Still, I really never encountered any reverse gender discrimination. No one thought it was odd when they called the office and I answered and handled their problems. I developed an extensive rapport with the clients. I even had offers from other agents to join their agency when my agent decided to retire (the District Manager made a better offer so I went that way).

Throughout my time in the industry, I discovered one thing: I did more than the others in my same position.

While working in the agent’s office, I was often contacted by the district office to help train their staff in the computer system. I was even asked to instruct another agent’s staff in a new procedure that the company wanted done.

After being hired by the district office, I handled all the secretarial duties (answering phones, filing, etc.) but I also taught new agents how to use the company’s software. I would take over agencies, when their agents were unavailable, I was sent all over the district to teach new CSRs, and various other duties.

I can quite comfortably state that, as a male secretary, I was expected to do more than other secretaries holding comparable jobs.

This would seem to contradict the theory that “Women have to work harder than men to be accepted and viewed as equals.” Of course, this theory was applied to online games and not “real life,” and I don’t really think that I have disproved it anyway.

It is unfortunate, but I think there are plenty of stereotypes applied to jobs. An example would be construction workers portrayed as foul-mouthed men that like to sexually harass women, nannies as illegal female immigrants that barely speak English, etc. When you have a job that is typically considered to be a “man’s job” or “woman’s job” and if you do not belong to that gender then regardless of if you are a man or woman, you are expected to have to prove your skills by working harder.

Beware the Spores

As I mentioned in my last post, I own a copy of Bruce Campbell's book, If Chins Could Kill. It has been at least 2 years since I read it so after work yesterday I had to dig around in my numerous piles of books for the volume.

I then spent 3 hours going over Bruce's story of the makings of a B movie actor from Detroit.

If you are a Bruce Campbell or Sam Raimi fan, If Chins Could Kill is a must read. An excerpt:

After just a week in Hollywood, Rob, Sam and I began to show symptoms of a bizarre disease, including wild mood swings that took us from lethargy to euphoria and back. we found ourselves less concerned with screenings or schedules and all we really wanted to do was go to the beach. Something had gone terribly wrong and we didn't know what it was or how to stop it.

After doing some independent research with experts in the field, we learned that the spores we had been infected with are a motivation-sapping virus that alters your perceptions of reality. If left untreated for five years or more, Chronic Spore Syndrome is likely to develop.

...

YOU KNOW THE SPORES HAVE GOTTEN YOU WHEN:

* Your day-to-day decision making process is ruled by fear instead of reason.
* You wear black to every Hollywood function.
* You deny the fact that you're from Gary, Indiana.
* You attend parties hosted by losers, hoping to meet a winner.
* You entertain the notion of having a cell phone surgically implanted in your ear.

SPORE SPEAK:

* Look, I can't tie up the line, I'm waiting for Paramount, Universal and Columbia to call me back.
* Once I get my teeth fixed, I'm going to be a star!
* Titanic was the best film I've ever seen.

Oops!

The other day I recieved my much anticipated call from my bookstore, "The books you ordered are in."

So today I decided to skip a lunch and instead pick up my books including the one I was eagerly awaiting, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.

Oops! I didn't get that book, but instead I had If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor waiting for me. A good book, but one I already own.

*sigh*

Now I have to wait another week for the correct book. I can't blame the store for mixing them up. When I made the order I was happily chatting with the manager who is a friend of mine. I placed the order, along with 2 other books, and naturally the topic switched to If Chins Could Kill. I know that he probably put that in, instead of the correct one.

I probably could order through Amazon.com and never have to have a mistake like this occur, in fact there are many things that I get that way. However, nothing can replace the feeling I get when I walk into a bookstore. A feeling that can never be reproduced through online shopping.

Walking along the aisles, checking the shelves of books and seeing if any catch my eye. Talking with the employees or fellow patrons and asking what they have read and if the one I'm looking at is any good. Offering my opinions to the same questions.

Nothing like a good bookstore to make my day enjoyable.

A few quick links

First off, an old link to provide some background: Deadly plague hits Warcraft world

A deadly virtual plague has broken out in the online game World of Warcraft.

Although limited to only a few of the game's servers the numbers of characters that have fallen victim is thought to be in the thousands.

Originally it was thought that the deadly digital disease was the result of a programming bug in a location only recently added to the Warcraft game.

However, it now appears that players kicked off the plague and then kept it spreading after the first outbreak.

The situation of the players spreading the outbreak has lead to a study in human behavior at this link from yesterday. Virtual game is a 'disease model'

An outbreak of a deadly disease in a virtual world can offer insights into real life epidemics, scientists suggest.

The "corrupted blood" disease spread rapidly within the popular online World of Warcraft game, killing off thousands of players in an uncontrolled plague.

The infection raged, wreaking social chaos, despite quarantine measures.

The experience provides essential clues to how people behave in such crises, Lancet Infectious Diseases reports.

In the game, there was a real diversity of response from the players to the threat of infection, similar to those seen in real life.

Some acted selflessly, rushing to the aid of other characters even though that meant they risked infection themselves.

Others fled infected cities in an attempt to save themselves.

And some who were sick made it their mission to deliberately infect others.

And finally this ties in with what Easter was saying the other day.

And while I was meditating on this gamer community issue I ran into this article that sort of encapsulates my rant about anti-geekery last bloggage, and reveals that if there’s anybody holed up in mom’s basement avoiding human contact, it’s not us MMO players.

Roughly one third of gamers reported they could be 'more themselves' in the game than in real life.

You know, I think that’s very true. I definitely feel as though my endless array of rabbit-named cartoon characters are more “me” than the person I sometimes portray IRL. Maybe that's at the root of why some people get addicted. Once you've got a community of people you can be real with, it's very difficult to go out there and fake it up for others, especially if those others are constantly demanding that you be someone who is "less yourself."

Well, scientists agree with us. People act like people in virtual world games. You have the noble people willing to risk themselves to help others, the survivalist people that are determined to not be harmed, and the jerks that want to ruin everyone else's enjoyment because that is what they enjoy.

I've been playing online games since 1991, therefore I am fairly certain I could have saved the scientists a lot of money on this issue if they had just asked me. Oh well, they were probably just looking for an excuse to get paid for playing a game. Can't blame them for that.