A reliable laptop is essential for many, many jobs, especially if you work remotely. Imagine trying to connect to a meeting and your audio or video doesn’t work.

That sounds like a big problem!

In today’s story, one female employee is sick of men mansplaining things to her.

In this case, she is successful at proving one man wrong.

Let’s see how she eventually gets the new laptop she so desperately needs for work.

Deny my new machine? Meet honey badger

As a minority female working in oil and gas IT for 20+ years, let’s just say my reaction for mansplaining is more like a honey badger than the sweet little girl these white boys think I am.

My work laptop is broken, it has been since the day I received it, but I can restart/ re-install apps and/or tolerate it mostly.

I am a remote worker, so my biggest beef is with MS Teams constantly failing.

Recently, I got assigned to a big project, and my issues were noticed by some important people, so they expedited my ticket and I was on my way to a new machine, hurray!

How dare he not get her that new laptop!

Cue “Rick”, self-proclaimed expert on MS Teams, who not only axed my new laptop, but decided to call me for an hour mansplaining how all my issues are caused by lag/ internet.

Honey badger mode activated.

First, I started re-installing all my company approved apps at least 3 times per week, even if they are not broken just to show it on logs.

Then, I started submitting a Service-less Desk EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME there is the slightest bit of issue, prompting SD to have to spend at least 4-5 working hours a week trying to troubleshoot the same issues.

She’s making it look like the problem is worse than it really is.

Lastly, remember that big important project I got assigned to?

I started hard-rebooting my machine during important calls, just to make it look like my machine had crashed.

I also faked MS Teams failure, and will use my mobile to attend key meetings and asking my teammates to share their screen instead.

Just to make it super petty, I will mouth my words and not make a sound so people thought I lost audio again.

Rick had to eat his words.

When leaders ask me if I had contacted SD, I would innocently say “but Rick said this was lag.”

“Rick” called, said they are skipping all steps and issuing me a new machine without me needing to submit a ticket.

He apologized for all my inconveniences, and said that just to assure I won’t have any bad experiences going further, I will be placed on a premium license that is usually reserved for senior staff.

I ended the call with “Rick” by asking in my sweetest voice possible: “So it is not lag after all?”

“No, it is not.” Rick said. Thank you Rick.

She may have exaggerated the problems a bit, but it certainly sounds like she needed a new laptop.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This is funny!

This person can relate to this story.

Another woman in IT weighs in.

And finally, let’s end with a round of applause!

Honey badger mode is effective!

And this time it worked out.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.