:: Way to pick your battles ::
In the past, I've written extensively on a few of the women who work in our building who are burned-out hippie, left-wing feministas.
I have also recently written of the bathroom situation at the office; now the bathrooms are locked and keys are required. A little while ago, the two subjects met in some kind of office/blog-fodder perfect storm.
The keys hang on hooks near the door, and were made easily identifiable by large, over-sized key chains. One half of the key chains, "MEN'S" is scribbled in black Sharpie, for it is the key to the men's washroom. On the others, it says – you guessed it – "LADIES"
Makes sense, no?
Well, these labels were just brought to the attention of one of the aforementioned co-workers, who either never noticed it before or hasn't peed in six weeks. Not surprisingly, she's upset. She says the term "ladies" is demeaning. It should say "women" she has argued.
I don't know whether she's right or wrong – and frankly I don't care. But in the grand scheme of things, I mentioned to her that perhaps what is written on the bathroom key wasn't that important. Just go to the bathroom and stop worrying, I said.
What happened was I got a long-winded response about feminism and why, exactly, it's not right to call a woman a lady.
It will come as no surprise, then, that my suggested alternatives – "Dames" and "Fellas" and "Chicks" and "Dudes" – were summarily and quickly dismissed.
That's the last time I try to help.
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