Now that is a loaded question. Many people (mainly men) think that just because I am a girl that I don't know how to do certain things. I have been separated and divorced for 4 years, and I have a father that raised me very independently to make sure I knew how to do things for myself. He made me change the oil on my car, rotate my tires so if I was ever stranded with a flat tire I could take care of it without having to sit out waiting for anyone to show up to help. I value that.
Most men, in my opinion, (this is based off of observations from my friends) think that because I am female that I am not able to do things for myself and that I need rescuing. I recently had three incidents where this was the case.
The first incident was my sisters Truck. If you go back to a previous post titled, "Read The Manual" you will understand.
The second was at work I was dealing with a flat tire. I had several of the men from my office offer to come out and help me change the tire and then offer to stand around talking about what could be wrong with my car when it didn't start. They all kept coming up with things that could prevent it from happening. So I thought I would play the "Damsel in Distress". As we stood out in the sunshine that afternoon they all looked under the hood offering suggestions as to why the car wouldn't start. With each suggestion I would try what they suggested and again attempt to start the car to no avail. This went on for a good 30 minutes, the longer it went without resolution the more frustrated I was becoming. As they all gathered abot 10 feet away, I climbed into the car and sat there for a moment. I made a few adjustments inside the car and turned the key. The car suddenly came to life. They all walked over and started questioning what I had done. I looked up and said, "It helps if when you decide to roll the car to change the tire that you put the car back in Park. " They all had a good laugh and walked back into the office. It was never mentioned again.
Incident #3: I was driving a van for a friend and I agreed to check all the fluid levels in the van. I went to open the hood on the van and could not find the latch. My friends dad came out (he is a large burly aging bald man, the kind you don't want to mess with, looks like he is one of those guys from a prison movie). He looked around and found the latch under the hood but it wouldnt open. He pounded on the hood to "shake it loose" as he told me. He jumped up and down on the bumper as he tried to pry the handle to shake the hood free. As he was doing this I looked in the driver door of the vehicle. There was a handle with a key release on it of which I didn't have the key, I asked him if that could be the hood release. He looked at me, by this time he was red faced and sweating from putting forth so much effort to get the hood up, and said no it had to be under the hood. He continued trying to get the hood open with no success. Finally he took the keys from me and took it down to a local service station. He came back about 15 minutes later even more red faced but no longer sweating. He climbed out of the van and opened the hood by pulling the key locked lever that was on the inside. The look on his face said, "Don't say a word." He handed me the keys and went back into the house. I stood there shaking my head. BUT, I didn't say a word.
Amazingly people think I don't know what I am doing. I have more knowledge than people give me credit for. Even some of my friends underestimate the amount of knowledge I have. (Intimidator and Wolfman).
Sight Seer...you are NOT one of them. :)
This can be very frustrating. Not that venting here will help but......
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