At least it's rare now
The consulting engineering firm I work for wants me to cover for a construction safety engineer who works for a large contractor tomorrow and Saturday. As is usual for such an assignment, I spoke to the person I am covering for, to find out what sort of work is going on and who are the contacts I should see while there.
About half way through my conversation with this engineer I get, "Wait - are you the person covering for me?" It seems I was female so he thought I was just "calling from the office."
I had to search my memory on how to handle such clueless types because it had been a while. "Yes, I know it's rare to be a female safety engineer, but there are a couple of us. I've been doing this for 16 years." Then I proceeded to give him my site safety manager's license number, which is low enough he should know I'm not new at this. I did not mention my related bachelor's degree, the national safety publications I've edited, or the various awards and other licenses I hold at a state and local level because he probably did not have most of these and I might have made him feel inadequate.
One must not piss off the client, even if he's living in the previous century.
About half way through my conversation with this engineer I get, "Wait - are you the person covering for me?" It seems I was female so he thought I was just "calling from the office."
I had to search my memory on how to handle such clueless types because it had been a while. "Yes, I know it's rare to be a female safety engineer, but there are a couple of us. I've been doing this for 16 years." Then I proceeded to give him my site safety manager's license number, which is low enough he should know I'm not new at this. I did not mention my related bachelor's degree, the national safety publications I've edited, or the various awards and other licenses I hold at a state and local level because he probably did not have most of these and I might have made him feel inadequate.
One must not piss off the client, even if he's living in the previous century.