What I've Learned After Working 6 Months in a Male Dominated Field

in #life6 years ago

Men call each other out on things more often, small or big.
This is something I love to watch when the men gather, as it's usually funny or heated. Either way it's entertaining. Whether they're calling someone out over something small and light-hearted, or something big and uncomfortable, this opens the door for self-reflection and improvement. While men will say it directly most of the time, women will say this indirectly with passive-aggressive behavior, or behind your back.

Men gossip just as much as women do.
Yes, it's true. I've heard men gossip about their coworkers on almost anything: from their dislike of their girlfriends/wives, to clothing choices, to their bathroom habits. They tend to make more petty banter about each other's office mannerisms and how they manage their accounts instead of their personal lives.

Men talk about the problem in order to solve the problem.
Women talk about the problem, and talk about the problem, and talk about the problem... In my previous experience working in an office of all women, we talked about the problem, but that's all we ever did about it. We talked the problems into oblivion, instead of talking about how to fix them and actually fixing them. Men talk about the problem, present examples, and provide solutions.

Men have no shame in their bathroom game.
No shame. Negative shame. They will come out of the bathroom looking beat, wipe their brow, and sigh about the effort they just made on the can. Their bathroom stank is so potent it can fill an entire room with just one open of the door, and can last for more than an hour. Febreze doesn't always do the trick, and sometimes neither with a Bath & Body Works room spray. Sometimes the only solution is to burn a piece of toilet paper in there. And yes, that has happened in our office.