Sexism is alive and well in corporate culture. One woman was shown no respect by her supervisor and treated far below her designation, simply because she was a young woman in the workplace.
Despite a recent promotion, her boss treated her like his personal assistant.
Content creator Chris Donnelly is an entrepreneur and business advisor who often shares employee stories about toxic bosses and workplace culture on TikTok. Recently, he shared the story of an employee named Amy and her boss, Emanuel.
“This boss is treating their employee as if she’s their assistant,” Donnelly stated. He then shared messages between Amy and Emanuel that showed just how little he valued her.
“Morning, Amy,” Emanuel wrote. “Please grab me a coffee on your way in, and get one for yourself, too. Thanks!”
“Sure, I’ll pick it up,” she replied.
Their conversations continued like this, with Emanuel requesting coffee and lunches from Amy as if she were his personal assistant. Finally, after one request, she had enough.
“Amy, can you print and drop off the documents with Sophie in town?” he asked. “Can you grab salads on the way back for everyone?”
Amy responded, “Emanuel, isn’t this something that the office assistant should handle? I am so overworked on client stuff.”
“Just do it, Amy,” Emanuel argued. “It’s not a big deal, and it’s on the way.”
He then asked Amy to go through and organize his email. She had enough.
“Emanuel, I was promoted from account executive to account manager,” she said. “I wasn’t meant to be doing these types of tasks anyway, but the promotion was specifically caveated with I will be doing accounts work only. These tasks are inappropriate for my position.”
Emanuel’s reply was condescending and hurtful.
“You should be thankful for your job,” he said. “As your boss, I expect help with anything I need. Your time is less valuable than mine.”
After being treated so disrespectfully by her supervisor, the employee contacted HR.
After Emanuel’s repeated demeaning behavior and messages, Amy contacted her company’s HR department.
“Over the past two months, Emanuel has consistently treated me more like a personal assistant than an account manager, delegating tasks well outside my job description, such as fetching coffee, ordering personal lunches, handling personal errands and even sorting his personal emails,” she wrote to HR.
“These tasks, coupled with his recent comments about my time being less valuable, are not only demeaning but also undermine my professional role within the company,” Amy continued. “His behavior is increasingly aggressive and patronizing, and impacting my work environment negatively.
HR promised Amy, “We have registered your complaint and will initiate an investigation into the behavior of Emanuel. We will get back to you with updates and further steps.”
The recently promoted employee’s situation reveals part of a disturbing pattern of sexism in the workplace.
A reader wrote into Dr. Kirstin Ferguson’s column in the Sydney Morning Herald and said that although she was not an assistant, her boss frequently asked her to pick up his lunch and run other errands. The reader felt she was being targeted because of her gender, something Ferguson agreed with.
“The fact he is asking you — the only woman in the team — is an example of everyday sexism in action,” she said.
The same seems to be true of Amy’s situation. Donnelly said that Amy shared with him in a DM, “The boss effectively treated any younger female staff as if they were, like, his personal assistants and, sort of, errand doers.”
Pew Research Center confirmed this is sadly not uncommon. “About four in ten working women, 42%, in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender,” they said.
Despite the great strides women have made in the workplace, they are still subject to instances of sexism, both great and small. To think that women contribute less or are less valuable because of their gender is erroneous and hurtful. To expect them to fulfill administration tasks and pick up coffee because of their gender is demeaning.
Women contribute just as much to a workplace as men do and should be treated as such.
Thankfully, Amy revealed that Emanual has since left the company, and she is happier in her position than ever.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.
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