WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER

I was with a couple the other day and the conversation turned to men and women being equal  and being treated that way both in the business world and in the private sector. At one point the man turned to the gal and said, “I want you to be by my side, not in front of me or behind me.” I like this idea although it isn’t always true.

 Sadly, when a woman tries to do something in a man’s world, she can still be taken advantage of, usually financially. Now, don’t get me wrong, most of the businesses out there treat women with respect 99.99999999999999% of the time but it is that .000000000000001% that is frustrating and sticks in my craw.

A visit to a hardware store the other day actually prodded me to bring this subject up and, hopefully, make us unsuspecting victims a little smarter. As I got ready to check out, I noticed their featured item displayed behind the cashier’s counter. It was a picture of an adjustable wrench and, instead of it having an adjustable head on just one end and handle on the other, both ends of the wrench were adjustable. The wording above it proclaimed that one end was metric and one was standard, a wrench for us gals so we wouldn’t have to figure out if the nuts we were tightening or loosening were standard or metric.

  Really? Isn’t the idea of an adjustable wrench is that it is adjustable, made to fit any size nut regardless of it being metric or not? What an insult to us! I wonder how many of us women almost fell for the gimmick.

This just goes to show that we gals have a stigma that we can’t hold our own when it comes to tools. I don’t know how many times that I was the “gopher” and asked to bring a pair of channel locks and I showed up with vise grips. Did I grab the wrong tool? Well, yes and no. Vise grips are owned by Irwin Tools which makes a groove joint pliers that look and work like the Channel Lock’s tongue and groove pliers.

Different folks call different tools by different names. If asked for a simple pair of pliers it could mean diagonal pliers, diagonal wire cutters, cutting pliers, diags or dikes. Five different names for essentially the same tool. Not our faul

Take the simple hammer. A hammer is a hammer, right? Well, not exactly. There are over 40 different kinds of hammers including the most popular ones like claw, sledge, framing and Ball peen. The most common is the claw so when asked for a hammer, picking up a claw hammer is a pretty safe bet, right?

Well, no because there is the straight claw and the curved claw. The curved claw is for pulling small finish nails with minimal damage to the material. A straight claw is for prying and gives more power for the punch. I rest my case.

OK, this is just simple stuff, knowing the difference in hand tools. What about the big stuff that can get into our pocketbooks because a business suspects that we females don’t know our stuff. I ran into a situation like this a couple years ago.

OK, I talk about being smart on these things, but accidents still happen. I turned a little too short with the truck and scraped the side of it. The scratches weren’t deep but they did run the full length of the truck. I checked with a local body shop who provided me with an estimate of a little over $1000. He went on to explain that the estimate was a little higher because they would need to pull off all the chrome to do the work.

I checked a couple more places out and their estimates were just a bit lower.  Eventually, I found one who was straight up with me, told me there was no need to remove the chrome and his final bill was $350. Really? That is a $650 difference! So, did the others think that, because I was a gal alone, I was that gullible?

Apparently so because I ran into the same scenario last year when I had to buy tires for the car. The same GM repair facility that had serviced my car ever since I bought it there priced them to me for $850. The local repair place in town gave me a quote of $559 for the same tires with the same warranty. To be sure, I even asked if that quote was for all four tires. Yep, sure enough it was.

This assumption that women don’t know anything when it comes to “guy stuff” wouldn’t be quite so bad if it worked the other way too. Recently, I walked into a quilt shop for some material when I noticed a man and woman ahead of me and both were picking out material. After talking with them, I learned that the guy also quilted and they did it together. How nice! I’ll bet he never had a problem with being overcharged just because he was a guy buying “woman things.” 

No one should assume that a person knows nothing about a certain subject based on what sex you are. Information is not gender specific.

 So, what can a person, specifically a gal, do to not be a victim of this inequality? Even though it is the 21^st century, old habits die hard with some folks.

I have learned that, before I go to make a new purchase or to get something repaired, I consult my best friend…Google. Google literally does know everything. You can find info on any subject so you can converse intelligently about any subject. If you still don’t understand without visuals, Youtube videos are great.

Even if I don’t really know all the facts, I try to sound like I do. I used to be guilty of going into a repair shop and telling the mechanic, “Well, it is making a little squeaky sound down there.” Really, how lame is that!

Now, I say something like “I think it is the rotor on the left front brake” even if I don’t really have a clue. As long as I mention something in the general area of where the problem is, I am good. Instead of the mechanic rolling his eyes and thinking he has another female customer without a clue, he sits up and takes notice and says he will check it out. Mission accomplished.

Of course, it still adds insult to injury when you take your vehicle in for repairs and it doesn’t make the noise or do what it has been doing when you get it in the shop. I don’t know how many times I have wanted to hang my head and cry but instead, now I just say, “I realize that the noise is intermittent, but I would still like it checked out.”

You have to take control. Of course, you can still grab your hubby, grab your brother or any male to go with you and that will ensure that you get an honest answer. But, I am learning not to, I sort of like the independence of doing it on my own.

Now when Ron asks for a boxed-end ½ inch wrench and I hand him an open-ended one by mistake, I just smile and say, “Just checking to make sure you were paying attention!” Yep, what is good for the goose is good for the gander!