Man Up And Let A Woman Fix It

(One of the new girls is trying to take care of an older gentleman who is having a problem with his phone. I actually discovered a temporary fix for the issue and have taught it to the new girl while we wait for a permanent one from corporate. I’m at the station right next to hers, and she’s done a good job at determining the issue, but she’s just having a hard time remembering the instructions for the fix. Note that I am also female.)

Customer: “You have no idea what you’re doing do you? Get me a tech guy now!”

New Girl: “Sir, we don’t have techs here, but I know exactly what the problem is and I can fix it. Give me a minute to—”

Customer: “I SAID get me a tech guy! Geez, women can’t do anything right!”

(Frustrated, the new girl turns to me.)

New Girl: “Hey, that fix you showed me… how—”

Customer: “Did you not hear me?! I said tech GUY! As in, get me a MAN!”

New Girl: “Sir, I can assure you, she’s the closest thing to a tech that we have here at the store.”

Customer: “Ugh! She’s not going to know anything either!”

Me: “Actually, sir, your problem is an easy fix. I know exactly—”

Customer: “This is outrageous! I want to speak to your manager now!”

Me: “Sure thing.”

(I go to the back room and proceed to get both our assistant manager and our district manager, whose office is in our building. Neither one of them has a clue on how to fix the memory issue, so they both ask me why the customer doesn’t just let me fix it. They agree to speak to the customer.)

Customer: “Oh, thank God! Men!”

Assistant Manager: *takes phone and looks at it* “So, it’s the memory, huh?”

New Girl: “Yep.”

District Manager: *to assistant manager* “Okay, then… you know what to do.”

Assistant Manager: “Yes, sir!” *hands phone to me* “Fix this thing since you’re the only one here who knows how to!”

Me: “Sure!” *takes phone*

Customer: *shocked* “I don’t want her touching it! She’s a woman! How the h***—”

District Manager: “Yes, she is, and a great one at that. If it wasn’t for this young lady figuring out this issue, our company would be losing tens of thousands of dollars in replacement phones right now.”

Customer: “But women can’t—”

Assistant Manager: “I’m VERY happy to have her here in my store and I will do anything to protect all of my employees. If I hear one more biased comment out of your mouth, I will have her hand you back the phone RIGHT NOW and you can leave here with your phone still messed up.”

Customer: *face turns beet red and shuts up*

(I proceed to go through the phone, showing the new girl step-by-step how to fix the issue in the future. When we’re done, I hand her the phone to give back to the customer.)

New Girl: “So, there you go, it’s fixed! Was there anything else we could help you with today?”

Customer: *silently walks out the door with his phone, defeated*

Me: *to the new girl* “Good job. Don’t worry, it happens a lot.” *to my managers* “Thanks for the support, guys. I appreciate it.”

District Manager: “Oh, don’t worry, we know better. And you’ll be rewarded, trust me!”

(I was rewarded. I won MVP of our store for that quarter and got a bonus!)