Gender Unawareness Issues

(I’m attempting to pull a heavy hand cart that happens to have a broken wheel. I also have a very rude impatient customer behind me.)

Customer: “Oh, come on! Is that as fast as you can pull that thing?”

(I pay little attention to the customer, and I continue to struggle with the truck.)

Customer: “When did this place start hiring wimpy, weak-a** boys to do this sort of work!?”

(I continue to ignore the customer as I turn into the aisle I’m assigned to work in. As my luck should have it, the customer is also headed there.)

Customer: “Figures, it’s a long-haired pretty-boy. Go work at a clothing store you f**! You obviously can’t handle this job.”

(I turn to face the woman, who almost immediately goes pale at my appearance.)

Me: “Ma’am, I apologize for moving so slow, but this cart has a broken wheel. I was going about as fast as I could. And as you can see from my name tag, I am not a ‘long-haired pretty-boy’; I’m a young woman.”

Customer: “Young women shouldn’t work here either!”

(She hurries off, without getting what she needs from my aisle. That was the first time in six and a half years that a woman told me I shouldn’t be doing my job.)