22 Times When Very Clueless Men Went Above And Beyond To Mansplain Women's Own Jobs To Them
Recently, women in the BuzzFeed Community shared stories about men mansplaining their own jobs to them, and it's so unfortunately relatable. Here's what they had to say:
1."My ex got really into crypto and spent a good while trying to explain to me how amazing the new crypto coin he'd just invested in was and all of the cool incentives they were offering. I told him the incentives were a red flag and he should be careful. He went on a spiel about how I just didn't understand crypto investing. Sir, I am an investment analyst."
Paley Center / Via giphy.com
2."I worked at a 17th-century heritage site and a visitor insisted on giving me a lecture on 'the history of the building.' This is especially ridiculous because I was working as the head archivist at the time. Y'know the person in charge of looking after ALL the building's historic records. No way he could have been confused either — I was literally supervising the research center. The nerve of some people!"
3."I am a professional graphic designer. I was brought in to a local college to do mock interviews for the graphic design program's portfolio class. After introducing myself (as a professional designer for seven years), this fella proceeded to mansplain graphic design to me, including the software we all use, processes, and really basic things you would NOT bring up to someone who just introduced themself as a professional in the field."
"I thought maybe he was just nervous and that was just how he rambled. But when I brought up the mansplaining to the professor, I was told that that student was always like that with women."
4."I worked at an aquarium and was standing with a coworker above our large ocean tank when a birthday party on a tour walked by. Two girls, maybe eight to ten years old, stopped to ask what we were doing, what our jobs were, etc. One of the girls said she wanted to be a scuba diver one day. As I start to enthusiastically support her dream, her dad interrupts."
TLC / Via giphy.com
"He starts talking about how dangerous it is for women to dive — that our bodies can't handle the pressure (something about our uterus?) and that our periods attract sharks.
My coworker and I just stared at him. Did I mention that we were standing in the shallow end of the tank, in wetsuits and scuba gear, between dive shows in a tank with about 15 sharks in it?
I politely explained that he was wrong, as evidenced by the aforementioned fact that he was talking with two women, currently standing in a shark tank, who are aquarium divers. He just scoffed and said his daughter wouldn't be doing anything like that."
5."I used to drive a forklift. A male volunteer yelled at me to stop, so I did thinking I was going to hit something. He then lectured me on how I should NEVER reverse the forklift with a pallet on the forks. So I should drive forward with a full pallet I can't see over? Okay, cool."
"He was a geography teacher his whole life and couldn't even tell me what kind of forklift I was driving."
—nevl
6."Back when I was a lab tech, I was presenting some data in a lab meeting. One of the post docs (senior level career scientist) told me that based on the data I had presented, I should run a particular experiment, with certain perimeters. The data that I had JUST presented was for the EXACT experiment they suggested."
7."I did a TED talk. In the weeks after, I was flooded with comments from men and they all followed the same pattern: they’d state their credentials, expertise, degrees, etc. Then they’d proceed to tell me all the reasons why everything I said in my talk was wrong, unrealistic, misinformed, etc."
NBC / Via giphy.com
"Never mind that the entire talk had been fact-checked, and the things that many of them challenged were easily verifiable. It was really something. I’ll say though that women were equally brutal, but instead of attacking my intelligence, women attacked my clothes and appearance."
—Anonymous
8."I worked as a scientist for a company that tested drug products (think prescription drugs). The methods developed for each client and/or product had to be followed carefully and didn't always seem rational. I was training a man who outranked me and he had made a mistake, so I asked him to fix it."
"He spent ten minutes screaming at me, 'that's not how science works!' and throwing around expensive equipment. He treated me as though I didn't understand the science behind what we were doing, which literally had NOTHING to do with his error and everything to do with not following the prescribed method."
9."I am a physical therapist for mostly older patients. Daily, male patients and husbands of patients mansplain human anatomy to me. I always know I’m going to be in for it when a story includes 'the rotator cup' injury or 'the hammy' while pointing at the quadriceps."
—Courtney, Cleveland
10."I work in a laboratory and we do water testing weekly. A guy I work with was training a new hire at a water port and took it upon himself to drag me into the training. He quickly explained to the new hire, a male, the process and the science behind why we test what we do. Then, he turns to me."
NBC / Via giphy.com
"He asks me if I’m familiar with 'lefty loosey, righty tighty' and explains the full process of turning water on as if I have never seen water before. Worst of all, I was the one who trained him on this specific water port."
—Anonymous
11."My ex started to describe the field of political science to me. He was giving a detailed description of the type of research that’s done. I told him to hold on a minute. I went and grabbed my political science degree off the wall and handed it to him and said, 'I guess I don’t need this anymore since I have you.' I meant it as a joke but he was not amused."
12."I am a long-haul truck driver, as in 18–24 wheeler (80,000-112,000 pounds). It continues to amaze me how many men feel the need to explain to me how to back a trailer, drive in different road conditions, but best of all, 'how to shift a standard transmission.' I have actually had someone ask if I even know how to drive a standard transmission. Yep, all 18 gears."
—Anonymous
13."My key card stopped working and the security desk guy tried to mansplain how to use a key card. I'd been working in the building for about three years at this point, and working at jobs in keyed buildings for about 15 years or so in all. But really it killed me because he knew me. Saw me every day. I'd say hello. But he was dead serious with the key card thing."
NBC / Via giphy.com
14."I have worked in childcare my entire adult life. Once, a child's uncle came into the center I worked at to get his sister's child because they were going to hang out. Then he comes up to me and explains my entire job to me and then goes on and on about education and the things we teach the kids on a daily basis. He mentioned something about some lesson plans we should try. I literally had them in my hand. It was like he was quoting a Google search about childcare."
15."I’m a classically trained musician. I play the French horn, and the way we hold the instrument means we need to play our hand inside the bell to support it and adjust pitch and sound effect. I was playing a brass quintet gig with four men on stage who were playing trumpet, trombone, and tuba. During intermission, a man came up to me."
"He said it was hard to hear me and I should consider taking my hand out of the bell when I play. He also said it’s probably because I was intimidated being up there with all those big guys. Needless to say, I aimed my bell at him during the second half and was blasting, all with my hand properly in the bell!"
16."I am a math teacher. The father of one of my students came into the school to explain to me how to solve A PROBLEM ON THE TEST I WROTE. He said he’d discovered the problem while he 'was taking his child’s math test for fun' (?) and wanted to chat with me about it. I assumed he disagreed with my grading, but that wasn’t it at all."
Bounce / Via giphy.com
"His child had missed the problem, so of course, it had been marked incorrect. The father agreed that his child had missed the problem, but I guess wanted to explain to me that HE knew how to do it?
He came into school, solved the problem on the board, and talked me through how to solve it. Several times I tried to interject by politely asking what his goal was for this meeting, or trying to bring the conversation back to his kid.
He didn’t want to talk about his kid; he literally wanted to show me how to solve the problem, and then he left. (In case it isn’t clear, I knew how to solve the problem, lol)."
—Anonymous
17."I’m in the military and was in a training meeting explaining our upcoming training schedule to my commander. One of the lieutenants (who had been in the army about two years at that time compared to my then seven) decided he was going to try to tell me what my gunnery training consisted of."
"My reply to him was that I wrote the training schedule and know what training was planned and when it would be completed and if he had any questions I’d be happy to explain the regulation to him offline. My platoon leader tried to tell me I should have said something, but not in front of the commander."
18."I was out doing a breeding bird survey when I came across an older fellow with binoculars. Most birders will ask what the other has seen and chat for a little, so I said hello. Despite telling him that a) I was in college to become an ornithologist and b) that I had been birding for ten years at that point, he insisted on helping me with my job."
"Normally I wouldn't mind, as two pairs of eyes are better than one, but he kept getting the species of birds wrong, and arguing that he was right. No, that is not a Blue Jay, we only have Stellar's Jays here. Yes, that was a Wood Duck, and yes, this species does nest in trees. It was so frustrating, and I couldn't get him to leave for an hour."
—Grace, Arizona
19."I work at a book store, and my first week there my manager mansplained to me how to work a phone — even explaining to me which buttons to press for the numbers. The worst part of all was that his breath was horrid and he wouldn’t stand any further away than six inches, even when I moved back."
Comedy Central / Via giphy.com
20."I’m an attorney working for a trust company. A male coworker told me that 'a revocable trust can be revoked.'"
21."I work at a tea shop. A man rang us once and asked if we had an Earl Grey with lavender. We have multiple varieties of Earl Grey but none with lavender. When I told him we didn’t have any, instead of hanging up he started going on about how 'real Earl Grey is made with lavender' and 'why don’t you have real Earl Grey.' Folks, Earl Grey’s key ingredient is bergamot."
22.And finally, "I worked in a grocery store when I was 14. I worked with a much older man, Ted. He was around 45–50 years old. While we were talking, he mentioned that he eats pizza with a spoon. WITH A SPOON. I was surprised (obviously) so I said, 'A spoon?'"
CBS / Via giphy.com
"He proceeded to say, 'You know, the round thing you eat with? You stab with it.' STAB. Not scoop. HE WASN'T KIDDING. He mansplained a SPOON to me. Like, alright, Ted, go scoop the toppings off of your pizza."
—Catalina, New Mexico
