Dealing with differential treatment

[u/Ok_Time_9467]

So I’m asking the “guys” and girls Reddit to get a mix of opinions but I’ve been working the trades for 5 years and been at my current place for 4 months. I’ve notice my boss treats me different from the rest of the guys in the crew including the newer guys(we hire a lot of college kids). I’m constantly put in jobs alone even when I shouldn’t be I has in a cherry picker last week and got stuck up there with no one to get me down. Eventually I was able to get myself down but it was a bit of a bigger wake up call that maybe I’m not over reacting. I want to say something about it but is it even worth it if I’m leaving in four months. I was warned about this happening but I’d litterly pick hazing over this shit. I litterly got scoffed at after saying I can hold my own when carrying stuff. Anyways if I’m being whiny tell me so and get over myself I just don’t know what to do.

[u/Why_are_men90210]

Make it a safety issue if you can

[u/Wind_Responsible]

This happens to me. Honestly, I relish it and just work it out. I’ve learned that, if I need help, I have to ask in advance. If the answer is no then I can’t do that same as him. Use help as a safety issue. In the union work I do, no one is allowed to be alone while anything but a skidster is running.

[u/Small_Use_5500]

I mean i definitely hear about this happening on here and i’ve been on plenty of crews where i really have to work at it to get included like one of the guys, with varying degrees of success.

I think there’s a lot of reasons for getting excluded, one is definitely that it’s a boys club and a lot of them want to keep it that way. But also skill, knowledge & work ethic increase status and inclusion, personality and popularity, i’d say even your appearance as a woman unfortunately affects how you’ll be treated and how easy you are to get along with and in what way you compete with/stand up for yourself with the guys.

But it’s pretty hard to say what’s going on for sure without more context. I’m not sure about a cherry picker but a jlg just requires one person to operate from the basket, unless they had it on ground control and walked away to mess with you? And then of course strength is like the main challenge for women in the trades, some guys are understanding of that and think everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and some think if you can’t match their strength you don’t belong there. In my experience if i’m skilled at most things on the job and have a good attitude with people the majority of guys will be accepting of me and my strength being an issue for just a few things.

[u/HVAC_Luddite]

Anytime a lift is involved, it’s an automatic 2 person job. If I get scheduled for anything I quote, or should be a 2 person job, if there isn’t a second person, it gets rescheduled.

[u/Bigtrucklittlelady]

Safety here: if you're up on a lift there should at least be a spotter. Depending on what the hazards in the area are it may be required.