Until the last century, it wasn’t super common for women to work. Rather, they’d more likely be found running the household and taking care of domestic duties – cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare – while their husband was out at work earning the money. Thankfully though, this is now in the long past, giving women (at least in many parts of the world) the opportunity to follow the same career paths as men, rather than confining them to the home.

The majority of sectors now have a fairly even split between men and women, though some are lagging behind. Construction and trades including carpentry, engineering, car mechanics, and plumbing are still dominated by men – though each industry is seeing an increasing number of women as part of their workforce, with female-owned trades businesses often doing very well from women who feel more comfortable with a female professional in their home.

The woman in this story, though, is not afraid of a male-dominated workforce, and in her job as a temp she is no stranger to them either. But on one particular job, the ‘blokey’ vibe was more than ever before, leading to her documenting some of the crazy things she heard the guys say.

Read on to find out more.

What it’s like to work in an office that’s mostly male when you’re female

I’m employed by a temp agency, and they send me to various businesses that are short on staff.

Usually it’s a few days to weeks at a time until whoever I’m filling in for comes back.

I just finished up a month long term at a company that sells construction supplies. The staff there was 99% male (I was one of two women), and many of them were what you’d describe as “rough around the edges”.

My desk was in a corner out of the way so sometimes they’d forget I was in earshot. I found their conversations hilarious and started typing up some of things they’d said when I’d get home from work.

Let’s see what kind of things they would say.

One guy said, “Look at my ******* tool wall! Every time customers come in they mess it up! I tell them not to touch it and you know what? They still ******* do it!”

His buddy replied, “We should just ******* glue all this **** to the wall,” and then the original guy said, “Yeah, then we’ll glue a ******* dime on the floor and watch people try to pick it up.”

Another time one guy said, “If you’re going to put diamond in your company name you better have a big swingin’ **** and lots of cash.”

Then someone said, “I think [company X] got too big too fast,” to which another guy replied, “I wouldn’t trust them to knit me a sweater let alone work on the foundation of my house.”

And the customers weren’t safe from their unique style of communicating.

One time a guy was talking to a customer about a product and said, “I’ve got this stuff here. It’s way better than that **** you get at Home Depot.”

Another time a customer was having trouble paying with a credit card, and asked, “Why isn’t my card working?”

The staff member replied, “You have to push it all the way in,” before his buddy chimed in with, “That’s what she said!”

To another customer, a staff member explained, “This product has a nozzle that makes it go from a stream to a spray.” His colleague said, “Just like when he uses the urinal!”

Yikes! Still, some of their most cutting comments were reserved for one another.

There was a time when a guy said about someone else, “He’s hurdled so many fences that there are no greener pastures left.”

Another time, a colleague asked, “What are the details on [product x]?” To this, another staff member replied, “Hell if I know,” which prompted the question, “What the **** do you do all day, man?”

One time in the office, a guy said, “I hate that stapler.” Another guy replied, “I like any stapler that has staples in it. You’re just mad that it doesn’t fit your little girly hands.”

And when they saw the fifty-something branch manager go by wearing a leather jacket, one guy remarked, “Switchblade D. He’s lethal in the senior’s community.”

But most of all, this woman was amused by the sheer randomness of some of these guys’ comments.

One time a guy asked, “Is a goldfish the same as a carp?” The other guy replied, “No, a goldfish is a goldfish. A carp is a big ******* ugly thing.”

Another day, one colleague announced, “I can’t find [product x],” to which another guy said, “I’ll show you. It’s on a shelf at about ******* level.”

When the eyewash station was upgraded, one worker said, “What happened to the old water bottle eye wash station? This thing looks like you need a ******* college degree to operate it, or at least a grade 6 education.”

Finally, one guy came in one day to ask the office, “Does anyone have any mother in law remover?”

It’s weird to be a fly on the wall in these situations, a woman in a space that isn’t really used to women.

And with some of the crazy things these guys have said, it’s clear that they don’t have a whole lot of self awareness.

Still, credit to her for finding the funny side!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose friends say he’s privileged for wanting to eat at nicer restaurants.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person could really identify with her situation.

While others were impressed by the creativity of the guys’ expressions.

Meanwhile, this Redditor was just pleased that this wasn’t a worse situation for the woman.

Let’s be real: when you hear about the reality of a woman working in a male dominated space, you instantly imagine that there is going to be some kind of inappropriate behaviour involved. But credit to these guys – besides being a little goofy and crude, they clearly had respect for the temp who was filling in for their receptionist, and only seemingly made these comments when they weren’t aware she was listening. By the sounds of it she had a great time working in this office, and those memories of the silly remarks will keep her smiling for quite some time.

Men in the trades often get a bad reputation, but in reality there are far more good men than there are dodgy ones, even if – as she admits – some of these guys were a little ‘rough around the edges.’ But if you don’t have an issue with their cursing and their brand of humour, then this clearly isn’t a negative place to work. Sure it might feel a bit blokey, but there was plenty for her to smile about too.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.