Labor Attorneys Agree: The Adria Richards Firing Will Be Hard to Defend

[Kelvin Mace]

106. Twice in a day

I run into you.

I had a wonderful woman named Helen who worked with me at a small company that wrote software for community banks. She was the best tech I ever worked with and someone I was glad never to get on the wrong side of, as she brooked no BS from men who thought her less than capable.

All but two of the programmers at the company were women, and we quickly learned that the sales rep was a nasty bully who berated and belittled them when he felt they weren't living up to his standards (he was technically clueless).

That shit STOPPED when Helen started working there. He came running into the office one day screaming at Helen that he had a customer who needed a new modem RIGHT NOW, and she needed to get out and install it. Helen had already spoken to the customer on the phone and walked them through the problem (HE had plugged both ends of the phone line into the modem) and she just rocked back in her chair, folded her arms and stared at him. He kept blustering on, and she crossed her legs and kept just looking at him with a slightly bemused expression, until finally he ran out of steam and just stood there.

I then told him that the matter had been taken care of earlier and what he had done wrong. He went red in the face, looked back at Helen who just continued to stare at him, mumbled an apology and slunk out of the room. From that day forward she made a point of labeling the phone lines "to modem" and "to wall" to remind him of the incident.

After that, he was the soul of politeness when dealing with her. And he would quickly cut off any tirade against the programmers, as Helen made a point of wandering into whatever office he was in when he was being an ass, and simply standing there quietly with that bemused look, like she was watching a five year old having a tantrum. He would become intimidated and slink away.

A highly recommend cultivating this tactic whenever a woman finds herself dealing with a complete dick.