Hello readers,

I hope you’re all well. Today’s entry is going to be a bit of a drag as it’s not about a fun subject. It’s not entirely a rant, but something I guess I woke up to given I’ve had a little more time to reflect on things these days – not because I have less on my plate… it’s more because of my short attention span / ability to focus thanks to my brain fog.

One of the things I am so grateful for being born in Australia is that we (sort of) value an equal society. Yes I am still bound by some cultural norms as a result of my heritage (Chinese/Cambodian), but I have grown up with my parents treating me fairly equal to my brother in most respects. God knows I have done some crazy things in my time and it’s never really resulted in anything harsher then perhaps the silent treatment.

But, I digress. One thing I have found in my current line of work (running the family business which is a store in the outer border of civilisation (oops) in Victoria) is that despite the ‘Me Too’ movements and women shattering the glass ceiling the in corporate world (think Gail Kelly, Julie Bishop, Julia Gillard, Quentin Bryce etc..), there is still an ingrained belief of ‘how women should behave’. and t is mainly perpetrated by the older generation and people who have migrated here from countries of which women are considered second class citizens. I notice this especially, as my brother and I (as well as mum) are in a customer-facing business, and every time a supplier comes in looking to get us to sign up to their company, they make a beeline straight for my brother. He also gets away with raising his voice, smart-ass comments and downright snapping at customers because he is male. Customers will laugh off his snappishness (particularly the males) and allude it to maybe him having a bad day or his footy team lost that week. Whereas when I exhibit less contentious behaviour i.e radio silence, I get called rude, a bitch, a cow and get negative reviews on Google. I have been told by numerous male customers that ‘as a female, I should be showing gratitude that a man is a) speaking to me and b) showing interest’. I’ve been told to ‘learn my place’ (in response to not being able to fulfil a task), ‘bow my head before a man when he speaks’ and to ‘go back to my country.’ I have also had people ask me a question, not like my answer, then go ask my brother the same question. He repeats my answer (after consulting with me) and they point and say I should have said that in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of our customers are great people. The problem is, the Karens and the Chads and the in-betweeners can really ruin your day. Moreso when it’s someone close to you in age – people say that a woman’s worst enemy isn’t always herself – it’s other women. Don’t come up to me afterwards and pretend to sympathise when you not only did not call out the person publicly, but you agreed with them too.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m Dylan Moran in Black Books. All I want to do is drink and read books and chase out the public because I don’t want to deal with them.

Sorry for the rant – wanted to get it off my chest.

Bx