A woman agent who returned from her lunch break found that a male colleague had been through her handbag and put her tampons on her desk.
The woman said: “He told me the reason I hadn’t sold anything that week was obviously because I was on my period.”
It happened, apparently, in an unnamed estate agency in Exeter.
Could it really be true? And if so, how shocking.
More here
Comments (13)
I would be inclined to suggest that (irrespective of the number of tampons placed upon this lady’s deck) they should be systematically be inserted in to this guys ar*e!
These little kids that did this, its not even funny, not even original, unimaginative, just really childish and sad. These sad little boys just make themselves look immature, maybe even bullies. Its such a pathetic ‘joke’ that they don’t even warrant the time of day or attention to it, apart from that I only write this comment to appease any anxiety that the victim may suffer. I really feel for her, having to work amongst such little pr**ts. These ‘boys’ should be reminded that whilst at work they are professionals, dealing with property that is likely to be the vendors most important asset, their life times savings. These little jokers need to go back to school and come back to work when they’ve grown up. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I’m sure these little boys most be single.
Coming from a retail background ( superstore manager for 15 years ) before becoming an estate agent it is always disappointing to find this industry stuck in the 1980s…this muppet in Exeter should be named and shamed, no place in any workplace for this kind of attitude ever.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. 24yrs in the industry and hardly anything has changed!
Its been a very male dominated industry and tough to be part of.
I remember wearing a smart trouser suit to work only to have a letter put on my desk reminding me that women employees were not permitted to do so, the dress code was skirts/dresses for women employees.
when I was expecting my second child I had been offered a small promotion. Thrilled at this news I discussed with my manager how excited I was about my new role. I had only just found out I was pregnant but thought it best that I let him know ASAP. BIG mistake! On my day off there was a knock at the door, it was my Manager. He came to tell me that the role was not going ahead and not only that, they had decided to cut back on staff and that I didn’t have a job anymore. They re-employed me when my daughter was 3months old.
When I was expecting my third daughter 6years later I struggled on through morning sickness (which for me pretty much lasted all day) and tried not to let anyone know for fear of losing my job again. Thankfully things had moved on a bit by then and I was treated much better.
I started working for another company. They decided to open another branch. I was core in its setting up, every week that went by I was praised and promised a pay rise at the end of it but when the new branch opened, that never happened. My pay rise went to the new managers budget for a secretary as he couldn’t type. As I could do all my own administration I didn’t get a secretary, even though I was in the busier branch. No secretary and no pay rise, but a pay equal to someone who was doing a lessser role.
I had worked my way up to Branch Manager level, something I was very proud of. The long hours, hard work and the exams I sat were paying off – so I thought. However, according to everyone else it must have been because I was sleeping with the boss, something I’m sure my male colleagues would not have accused each other of! And as for trying to discuss anything they didn’t agree with “must just be hormonal”.
This was the final straw for me, I realised no matter how hard I worked, I was never really going to get the credit for it, so I set up on my own to prove that I could. This changed nothing, one of the first visitors to the office came in and asked “so who is Mr Kemp”. A plumber I replied, I’m Mrs Kemp, can I help? Well he must be doing very well to set you up in business! (…because in their eyes, I couldn’t possibly have done that for myself!)
And it didn’t stop there. The tales are too numerous to share. Only last year we had a competitor board knock one of our properties, he told our vendor “another advantage of our office is that we’re all men and we don’t just work the hours that women want to work or have time off with children”.
This came after another competitor had said to a vendor “don’t get me wrong, they’re nice ladies and everything, but they’re just dabbling”. 24 years is a long time to “dabble” and what’s worse my female Associate Director who has been in the industry longer than myself had trained him!!!
The list of examples are frequent and endless. So no, I’m not surprised at all.
If indeed all that happened as you say Maria, you have my heartfelt sorrow.
All i will say is being in the industry circa 20 years i have never seen it thankfully and i have managed A LOT of individuals, branches and regions.
Not excusing what the chap in the story did (or your experiences) but “banter” can go too far on both sides, sometimes the women are equally as bad but this is swept under the carpet as they are “women” and “Men” should be able to handle it.
For me its not just about sexism but bullying or inappropriate office conduct.
Sexism and bullying are entirely different things, although one might happen as the result of the other. Of course bullying, indecent or inappropriate behaviour of any kind by either sex should not be tolerated. But the article was in relation to a female estate agent being accused of not having the ability to do her job because she was on her period. This was directly prejudice and discriminating against her as a woman, the examples I gave were of sexism and not bullying. I lost my job because I was pregnant, I was not provided with a secretary as stereotypically, I was that already in the eyes of my employers. The comments made by competitors were implying that as a woman my mind was only ever half on the job and the other on my children and juggling home life and housework! The whole point being that, as a man in the industry, whilst you might encounter other issues which are possibly equally as unacceptable, you could not have encountered the same as they were directly in relation to my sex.
As for anyone being bullied, sometimes it is very difficult to go to a superior to report what is happening and the people who are involved. In a very male dominated industry, the likelihood is (and certainly was 24 years ago) that the boss is going to be male. Most people will not speak up for fear of the problem escalating or them losing their job, or being looked over for promotions etc. Whilst you have managed many people over the years, it’s not to say that it might not have been happening. If I was was still employed now, I certainly wouldn’t be posting this and certainly not under my own name. It’s only now that I am answerable only to myself I have the confidence to chip in and say how it really was for me and yet your reply started with “if indeed all that happened” …possibly a prime example of why some of us will just shut up and put up with their circumstances rather than tackle the issues – I know that’s what I did!
Maria,
I have had it said in offices i have had that a male member of staff has given a favourable rate to a females which is why his listings fees are below par.
Is that sexist of the female listers to single that out or sexist because it COULD be perceived the lister is doing this? – FYI looking at his KPI’s i do not think this is true.
I honestly think (thank god) that in 2017 sexism in the workplace is all but gone, it is now more a case of unprofessional standards and this is form both male and females.
As for if indeed it happened comment all i will say is two sides to every story, when i ran a corporate region the amount of poor performers (who did not know they were poor performers) that had very damaging comments to make regarding others that could not be substantiated happened almost on a weekly basis. – I am not for one termini saying you are lying just that sometimes things are not as one party always portrays.
Out of interest your firm shows a women to men ration of 5:1 – Could this perhaps be seen as sexist? – Again sure it is not but sexism does work both ways.
Jobs should be given based on who has the best ability to fulfill the role, irrespective of their gender. I have employed both men and women, it just so happens that I have had more women that have applied for jobs than men. When both have applied, I have opted for the one that I felt at the time had the best skill set for that particular role. My decisions are not based on whether they are male or female, it’s based on their CV, proven track record and how they conducted themselves at interview. I’m not sure why more women apply than men, perhaps like yourself they see the website and make poor assumptions? I’m certainly not going to give a job to the wrong person just to gender balance the team! How do you suppose anyone would feel if they knew you were giving them a job based on their sex and not on their skill set. Like you say, it works both ways!!!
I didn’t lose my job because of poor performance, I lost it because I was pregnant. The same company came to me when my daughter was 3 months old to say they were conveniently employing again and gave me my job back. They just didn’t want to pay my maternity leave. It’s a small town, work options were limited, I had been happy there prior to that and I carried on working there for years after. If my performance was poor, I didn’t fit in with the team or I didn’t have the ability to do the job, they would not have re-employed me. I am still on very good terms with that manager and that original team, the orders didn’t come from him, they came from a notorious area manager, I knew that. I certainly wasn’t going to jeopardise my career because of it.
You say sexism in the workplace in 2017 has all but died out, I disagree. It’s certainly much, much better than it used to be, but it’s still out there. I’m not some man hating ranting feminist, I simply saw an article on sexism in the industry and I commented on it with my own experiences saying I wasn’t surprised as I still encounter it frequently. Of course sexism is not limited to just females, I don’t think there has been any suggestion that it is and just because I am sharing my experiences of what I have encountered, because it is relevant to the article, I don’t believe this makes me discriminatory towards men!
I have two teenage daughters and I know that certainly one of them will certainly get better A level results than I ever got one of and one of them undoubtedly has the capacity to be better than me at business and estate agency, if that’s what she chose to do. I just hope in future that if either of them come across this type of stupid behavior that they have the strength to realise what it truly is….a large male chicken under the impression that he is somehow better because he has an appendage.
Sorry…should have read;
I have two teenage daughters and I know that one of them will certainly get better A level results than I ever got ……and one of them undoubtedly has the capacity to be better than me at business and estate agency, if that’s what she chooses to do. I just hope in future that if either of them come across this type of stupid behavior that they have the strength to realise what it truly is….a large male chicken under the impression that he is somehow better because he has an appendage.
FYI
I like the “Bee your own agent” add on,
You should package that and sell it to other agents as a bolt on like VAL PAL – Think more agents are looking to go down this route.
Utterly disgraceful (and illegal). The man should be ashamed of himself.
The man should be arrested, Chris!
He carried out an illegal search of the lady’s personal belongings – had the victim taken the matter up with the authorities, he should have at least been cautioned.
Trouble is – the article that the above refers to is jam-packed with anonymous-this and hearsay-that, and there is nothing that actually suggests this or any of the other cases were recent events.
I wonder if this is a ‘memories of the way we were’ piece rather than a ‘this is happening – TODAY’ article?
IF it is the latter – and it’s happening on a regular basis – then we have more serious problems to deal with than #relistings within our industry.