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i'm not sure how i feel about what happened at best buy today.
i was at best buy to pick up an external dvd-rom drive for my eee. i had been trying to install a new OS on that box using either a USB or an SD, and all of those attempts had been colossal failures. so, i decided to break down, pony up the cash, and get an external dvd-rom drive. that way, i can install a new OS from a cd, as well as use files on cds and dvds from that computer. it's a good thing to have if i've got a box that's too small to have an internal drive.
in the computer drives aisle, i ran into a lady, probably in her forties or fifties, who was showing her eee to one of the employees. i felt like making conversation, so i started talking to her about how i had just gotten one, and about how much i like mine. we talked a bit about that, and then she started asking me if i knew a couple of things about it. they were things that were trivial for even a nascent computer geek like me, but were difficult and confusing for someone like her, who clearly did not know any more about computers than how to turn it on, how look at pictures, how to send e-mail, and the fact that windows vista is full of fail.
i started to answer her question, and the best buy employee butted in to try and answer it. that was perfectly understandable--i was just some blue-haired jackass hanging out in the aisle, and he was being paid to help the customers. she turned to him and snapped, "she's a woman. she'll be able to put it in a way i can understand."
that was strange to hear, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. regardless, i kept answering her questions...which was a difficult task, since she was so clueless about computers that she didn't even know what an "application" was. i tried to provide thorough answers, because her questions were extremely broad and complicated, and she had no idea what she was talking about. i eventually conveyed what she needed, but it was kind of hard to put it in a way that she understood.
i really don't know what she meant by that woman line, though. did she just mean something innocent, like she relates better to women? did she think women explained things better than men? was she insinuating that everything that the man was saying was going over her head, and that because i'm a woman, i'm more likely to gloss over the technical details of her questions--technical details so relevant to her questions that if i omitted at least a simple discussion of the background on them, my answers would make no sense at all.
maybe i'm being overly sensitive. part of it tells me i am. but, this still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
i was at best buy to pick up an external dvd-rom drive for my eee. i had been trying to install a new OS on that box using either a USB or an SD, and all of those attempts had been colossal failures. so, i decided to break down, pony up the cash, and get an external dvd-rom drive. that way, i can install a new OS from a cd, as well as use files on cds and dvds from that computer. it's a good thing to have if i've got a box that's too small to have an internal drive.
in the computer drives aisle, i ran into a lady, probably in her forties or fifties, who was showing her eee to one of the employees. i felt like making conversation, so i started talking to her about how i had just gotten one, and about how much i like mine. we talked a bit about that, and then she started asking me if i knew a couple of things about it. they were things that were trivial for even a nascent computer geek like me, but were difficult and confusing for someone like her, who clearly did not know any more about computers than how to turn it on, how look at pictures, how to send e-mail, and the fact that windows vista is full of fail.
i started to answer her question, and the best buy employee butted in to try and answer it. that was perfectly understandable--i was just some blue-haired jackass hanging out in the aisle, and he was being paid to help the customers. she turned to him and snapped, "she's a woman. she'll be able to put it in a way i can understand."
that was strange to hear, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. regardless, i kept answering her questions...which was a difficult task, since she was so clueless about computers that she didn't even know what an "application" was. i tried to provide thorough answers, because her questions were extremely broad and complicated, and she had no idea what she was talking about. i eventually conveyed what she needed, but it was kind of hard to put it in a way that she understood.
i really don't know what she meant by that woman line, though. did she just mean something innocent, like she relates better to women? did she think women explained things better than men? was she insinuating that everything that the man was saying was going over her head, and that because i'm a woman, i'm more likely to gloss over the technical details of her questions--technical details so relevant to her questions that if i omitted at least a simple discussion of the background on them, my answers would make no sense at all.
maybe i'm being overly sensitive. part of it tells me i am. but, this still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
