Quote of the Day: H. L. Mencken

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."


Today, one of my co-workers made one of the most laughable statements I've heard in a long time. She said, "Our company wouldn't have all these problems if we had women instead of men in all these executive positions."

I said, "What? Seriously?"

"Seriously, if we had more women we would be a lot better off."

"You're right. We wouldn't have any of these problems because we've had completely different ones. I've been at women dominated companies and they're just as dysfunctional in different ways."

"I don't think you know what you're talking about."

I said nothing because that was the part where I stopped arguing to avoid getting my head bitten off.

I can see where she is coming from. Most of the internal friction at our company could be described as the result of a group of egomaniacs trying to hold onto their turf in a war against a smaller more powerful group of megalomaniacs so it is entirely possible that more women bosses could help change the situation - by driving all that open conflict and macho-posturing underground into more passive-aggressive channels.

I am not trying to be sexist but I once worked in management at a company where eight of the nine person management team was female so I know the notion that women cooperate with each other better than men do is just absurd. Don't even get me started on grudges. I'll tell you one thing. I have never seen anyone at my current company cry during a meeting or make a remark about someone's weight.

In some ways I think men are better at working with people they don't like because we have learned how to negotiate armistices with our enemies better. Throughout history men learned not to fight with other men just because we didn't like them because other men carried weapons that could kill or maim us. In the domestic sphere that women were confined throughout most of history it was a different matter. You could cry and live to cry another day.

Before everyone flames me with angry comments I should say that my co-worker was half right. The men would probably get along a little better with a few more women around just to keep them in line. Just like the other day at QFC how Stacey wouldn't let me confront the guy who flipped me off in the parking lot for taking the parking spot I was entitled to because I was the one who waited for it.

So to repeat, I am not sexist. I just think it is a fallacy to elevate one sex over the other when history, logic, and experience tell us they are both awful in their own unique way.



PS
I have now lost 182.2 pounds in the past 16 months and - I am not going to lie - I am more than a little proud of myself.