32 Women Share the Worst Thing Said to Them at Work
Whoever is out here saying these things to other people needs to check themselves before they wreck themselves.
1.
I used to work as a barista and my boss literally said to me, "No wonder you get more tips, you've got the body for it" and then looked at my boobs.
I felt really gross the rest of the day. It made me super self-conscious about the T-shirts I wear.
2.
I once had the boss of my boss tell me, in front of most of my colleagues, to bring a cup of water to the partners into his office, because "The hottest woman of the office is out, and you're second on that list".
The water fountain was literally on his way from his office to my desk. Also, I am an IT specialist, and the entire firm was reliant on the job I (and the few other IT consultants of the firm) was doing.
"Hottest woman" was the secretary, who was sleeping with a higher up, barely worked an hour or two a day, and made more than I did.
3.
“You need to stop referring to your wife. It’s making people uncomfortable.” This was in response to after asking how my weekend was and I said, “My wife and I went to visit family in Minnesota.”
4.
My girlfriend had a miscarriage last year at six months, she stayed at home after that for two weeks because she wasn't feeling good.
When she came back her boss told her to man up a little, that it isn't a reason to stay at home.
5.
I’m a firefighter. I’m also a woman. A few years ago I had one of my officers tell me, “You should really consider a different career. Women’s bodies are just not designed to withstand this job.”
He ended up having to retire early last year due to a shoulder injury.
6.
I had dental work done when I was pregnant. I came to work with a numb and drooling mouth.
My boss pulled me aside and whispered to me, "Isn't a shame how semen rots your teeth?" I was a 29/f at the time, he was a male in his 60s. So glad to no longer be working for this idiot.
8.
My boss at the comic book store knew I was anorexic and in recovery, which is why I ate little snacks constantly.
He told me there was an alternate universe version of me who never ate but was enormously fat because of all my snacking and she didn't know why she kept getting bigger, that by eating I was torturing her.
9.
"We're excited to have you here. And not just because you're a beautiful woman."
This happened last year. VP of my department. I've since left the company.
10.
My old boss told me multiple times that I'm lucky he's married, because he wouldn't be able to control himself if he wasn't.
He would also tell me that I would make an amazing personal assistant/secretary (I'm a systems analyst) for my looks alone.
When I told him this was inappropriate he'd ask why I'm being hormonal. I was on the verge of filing a sexual harassment complaint when he quit.
12.
Two days ago my boss told me that he didn’t like my shirt and it made me look pregnant.
Yesterday he had a talk with me how I don’t have potential in life due to low motivation.
13.
I asked for a raise, and my boss told me I didn't need one because my boyfriend made enough for the two of us.
14.
I was eight months pregnant and I walked into the office and my boss said, “Wow! I can’t tell if you’re coming or going.”
Meaning I was so round all the way around. I just found it very offensive and insulting.
Another boss screamed at me, “You live in a vacuum!!!!”
16.
Job 1: After asking for help for three months, working 60-80 hour weeks. “I don’t care if you have to stay up all night to do your job. Get it done”
Job 2: Women aren’t allowed on the company trip because there’s alcohol involved and we want to keep them safe.
Also Job 2: A manager comes to my office yelling at me cause I looked at him wrong and questioned his response to something. I’m not letting someone talk to me that way, he wouldn’t leave when asked, so I raised my voice and responded to his comments.
I’m the one who got in trouble for yelling at a man. They also made him my manager after that.
17.
When he was letting people go home early, my boss comes up to me and said, “You’ve been a good girl. You can go.”
I was a grown-ass woman in my thirties.
18.
My female coworker and I were prepping before the lunch shift at a restaurant.
Male GM walks over and says, "You know, I had a dream about you two last night," pauses, reconsidering something, "No, I probably shouldn't tell you about it," smiles to himself, and walks away.
We were so appalled and disgusted we just stood there, too stunned to say anything.
19.
During an interview with HR: “What do you intend to do to prove yourself? You know, since you are a woman”Same guy, when I was planning a presentation and asked him for about 30 minutes of his teams bi-weekly meeting time: “you’re are good as a man, you could do it in 15!”
20.
Back when I was interning for a PR company, one of my male supervisors told me to forward some contracts to a magazine we were working with.
I did as I was told, only to be yelled at by my boss for doing it. He then calmed himself down and said, ''Women can't think rationally anyway, I overreacted.'' My supervisor pretended like he had nothing to do with it.
21.
I was pulled in to his office and asked if I was pregnant. I told him, but I had in fact gained a bit of weight. Thanks for noticing, but I'm not pregnant.
He then insisted, telling me it would be hard to find a replacement so I should tell him now. It then got out and I had coworkers teasing me about my food baby.
That part I could laugh off, but I'm still insulted even I think back to that exchange with my manager.
22.
That a project I was managing was being moved to a male colleague because it was more of a "man's project."
23.
"You are great at your job, but you are not pretty enough to think that should get you anywhere."
24.
My boss accused me of having an affair with another married coworker, then said, "Or if you haven't yet, you will."
25.
When I was working as a bakery manager for a gas station, my shift started at 4:30, so I had time to get breakfast ready. No one else was waiting for me to get there.
I clocked in one morning at 4:35 and my boss said, "You know there are plenty of jobs you can get lying on your back."
I ended up clocking out and going home. I filed a complaint against him but was told it was a 'he said, she said' situation and they couldn't do anything about it.
26.
My boss once put a crumpled piece of paper in the pocket of my uniform vest and said that he wanted me to throw it away for him. He wasn't joking.
28.
Most recently was something that happened to a coworker. Her grandmother passed away after a long illness, and she went to the funeral a few days later.
She came back to work for the evening shift the same day as the funeral, and the manager told her (in front of several other staff members): "This is customer service darling. For gods sake, put a smile on, yeah?"
30.
In 2004 a boss asked me if my partner and I had had sex the night before and what were our most frequent sex positions. It was out of nowhere and in front of three other employees.
Other women had problems with him and complained about him to each other. I decided to talk to my line manager about this and all the other female employees denied he had ever said anything that made them uncomfortable or that they disliked it.
I was more disappointed in my coworkers letting me take the fall in truth. Though I understand their need to keep their jobs and not rock the boat.
31.
My daughter (15y/o) had been suicidal for two years. During a rough patch I brought her to work so I could take her to counseling appt that afternoon.
She didn't need to be left at home alone so I let her hang out in my car. Everyone was accustomed to bringing kids to work when there wasn't daycare available or a doctor appt, etc. We just didn't make habit of it.
This was the first time I'd brought my teen in with this type of scenario. She's got social anxiety and didn't really want to come in. She had her laptop and phone.
She wasn't hurting anything but to be transparent I told my boss about the situation. The next day my boss says to me, "You can't bring your daughter to work anymore. Heaven forbid she do anything while she's here, we'd be liable for that."
I found another job soon after that.
32.
He made fun of my morning sickness in staff meetings and told me, as he watched me learn a task for the first time that "If I were any slower I would be going back in time."
Another evaluated my performance in front of a new coworker and told me that the new people thought I was weird and they felt uncomfortable working with me.
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