Gender bias in the workplace isn’t just a thing of the past.

When one female mechanic’s skills were questioned by a male customer, the customer found himself waiting for hours, only to leave the dealership empty-handed and frustrated.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

You don’t want a woman working on your car? That’s fine, but you’re going to be waiting a looong time.

Many years ago, I worked at a car dealership.

The attached service garage was small and I was the only licensed mechanic.

Because she was a woman, she often received unfair scrutiny.

I would occasionally have issues with male customers — they would second-guess my diagnoses, watch me while I worked on their cars from the bay door, double-check my work in the parking lot, etc.

I didn’t deal with customers directly and would often get my apprentice to pull cars in and out of the shop for me.

She started what she thought would be a typical day.

This morning in particular, we were busy.

The lot jockey and apprentice were occupied helping wash cars for delivery and driving to a customer’s house.

The service advisor left a work order and keys at the parts counter, and I went out the front through service to get the car.

It was in for a service campaign, which was an update done with a scan tool. It takes about 10 minutes.

But it was clear one customer was going to be a handful.

The customer was planning on waiting and was sitting in service.

When he saw me with his keys in my hand, he immediately stood up, alarmed.

I was hustling, so I walked right by him and out the door.

I missed the following conversation, according to the service advisor (also female):

He complains to the service advisor.

Customer: “Who is that chick? Is she going to be working on my car? I don’t want her working on my car.”

Advisor: “The other tech is out at the moment, so it’s going to be quite a wait until someone else can look at your car.”

C: “That’s fine. I’ll wait for a guy. I don’t want that chick touching my car.”

A, politely: “Understood.”

The mechanic goes about her day, already busy enough with other jobs.

The advisor comes to let me know, and I pull the car out and put the work order and keys back on the counter, nonplussed.

Half an hour passes.

The apprentice is still away, and I am happily working on something else, bringing other cars in and out.

The customer begins to get antsy from waiting.

The customer is now watching each and every person who comes through the door.

The high school co-op student comes in to get something signed.

The customer’s keys are still sitting on the desk. It’s been about an hour now.

C: “Hey— why hasn’t my car gone in yet? Can’t you get this guy to do it?”

The service advisor gives him the run-around.

A: “No, sorry. He’s just a co-op student so he is not allowed to drive the cars due to liability and insurance concerns.”

C: “Just get someone else to bring the car in and he can do the work. This was supposed to take 10 minutes.”

A: “Sorry, sir. He’s just a high school student doing his co-op; he’s not approved to perform warranty work. Only licensed techs and apprentices can do the recall.”

The customer continues to be on edge.

The car jockey returns.

The advisor hands the car jockey a different set of keys, and he brings yet another car into the shop for me.

The customer is becoming incensed.

C: “I’ve been sitting here for over an hour and I’ve watched 5 cars go in before mine. My appointment was for 8am, this is getting ridiculous,” blah blah blah.

At this point, he says that he literally doesn’t care who does the recall, but that it has to be a guy.

The service advisor explains all the reasons why this just can’t work, no, not today.

The service advisor starts listing off the names of the men who work in the dealership, then saying why they can’t perform the recall.

“Well, there’s Herman, but he’s just the car jockey. He doesn’t know how to work on cars. Then there’s Jeet, but he’s about 17. I wouldn’t want him doing the recall, personally. I guess we could ask Mike — but Mike is the parts guy — he doesn’t know how to use the scan tool. The detailers are men, but they know NOTHING about cars…”

Finally the issue escalates to the manager.

The customer is fuming at this point and demands to talk to the service manager.

The manager comes out of his office and guides the customer into the garage.

He’s pretty old school… lights up a cigarette standing at the end of my bay and points at me.

He has nothing but positive things to say about her.

“That’s my best technician. Those guys take orders from her. You can either wait for her to finish what she’s working on, and then you can ask if she’s still willing to do your work, or you can take your car somewhere else.”

The guy was pretty shook up at this point and he took his car and left, two hours after he’d first arrived.

I don’t think we ever saw him again, which was not much of a loss, all things considered.

She feels lucky to have been supported by her colleagues.

That manager in particular ALWAYS stuck up for me and took my side.

The service advisor has this very deadpan sense of humor.

She knew full well it would easily be an hour before the apprentice would return from his errand, and that no one else could do the recall.

Ultimately, it was the customer’s loss!

What did Reddit have to say?

One of the most desirable benefits of a job is a great boss.

This customer’s attitude just wasn’t right.

Some people just refuse to be reasoned.

Others can’t seem to see past their own prejudices.

If this customer had only been willing to put his assumptions aside, he could have had a much more pleasant trip to the dealer.

Some people just never learn!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.