Have to be hotter than .. er.. her!

Although today was a Friday, I telecommuted because my car wouldn’t start. I have no idea why. I have an auto off feature for my headlights so who knows. The hubby is gonna take the battery in tomorrow – so pray for us. Getting back to my story – I’m not a big Oprah fan but today I was flipping channels and saw her episode of Transgendered Families. The show was about Dad’s who had decided to change to women. Now I’m all for do what makes you happy, but I will say if I was going to be on national tv with my man now turned woman – I would definitely have to be hotter than him.

The wife

 

The husband

Damn!  Take some makeup tips from your hubby! 

 

Worth

Why is it that women don’t value our services/knowledge with as much worth as a man?  Is that the Glass Ceiling Syndrome working in our own psyche?  And the perpetuating stereotypical expectations of the opposite sex don’t help either.  

I say this because if you don’t already know – I’m a girl geek. I’ve been in the IT industry for about 10 years.  I’ve done everything from HelpDesk Tech to Applications.  I can work on computer hardware, build machines, troubleshoot issues, remove viruses – the whole lot.

Anyhow, a co-worker of my hubby asked if I could fix his laptop.  It turns out that the laptop had a lock on the Bios, as well as a lock on the Hard Drive.  Which basically means at bootup – it wouldn’t do shit.  Ask me how this happened and I’ll just say, I didn’t ask questions, I am only contracted to do the work asked and I presume the laptop was a “gift”. 

Supposedly, he had taken the laptop to a big time tech friend who works for a well known hospital  and another friend that works as a computer consultant.  Both male and both kept the laptop for a couple of months; neither could fix it.

I really like challenges and I tend to be analytical which serves me well when troubleshooting.  So to make some side cash, I told him to bring it and I’d look at it.  The deal was IF I could rebuild the machine the cost would be $100. 

Well being that I’m badass (say “She’s badass!”),  I was able to crack both passwords in less than 2 hours.  I reloaded the machine with a new OS and he was good to go! 

He was excited that I was able to “fix” the machine.  However, upon payment – he tried to give me a little bit of go around.  I felt like if it had been a man that would have fixed his machine, there would have been no squabble.  He did pay, after all I did do the job and he ended up praising what a great tech I am.  Nonetheless – the incident caused me to think about the many times I’ve fixed machines for far less than most guys would charge – at least the ones I know.

Does any one else feel their worth is valued differently based on gender?