As this semester is approaching its end, I’ve accompanied my roommate on a couple trips to The Home Depot to pick up supplies for her final projects. Both of my roommates are art majors, so they frequent The Home Depot throughout the semester. They always come home annoyed and frustrated because every time they shop there, without fail, they are spoken to by male employees as if they are incompetent for no reason other than the fact that they are women.
The last couple times I tagged along, I noticed this as well. In most other instances, I had shopped at The Home Depot with either one or both of my parents, so I’ve never experienced the kind of responses that they described to me. It’s almost as if two young females act as a neon sign to the male employees that shouts: OPPORTUNITY FOR SEXISM HERE.
Almost as soon as we entered an aisle, we were approached by a male employee who asked, “Need some help, ladies?” You could argue that this question seems helpful in a retail environment (if you ignore the fact that we hadn’t even been browsing the products for a full thirty seconds yet), but it was the tone that coated the question that baffled me. It was asked in such an undeniably condescending way that I actually got secondhand embarrassment for the man speaking. It was said in such a way that assumes yes, we do need help. Across the board, “ladies” is always overly emphasized too. We politely said no, found the product we needed and quickly moved on to the next necessary aisle.
As we stood and browsed the different wood stains, a male customer approached us and asked, “Having trouble finding what you need, ladies?” Yes, ladies. Again. At this point, I was already amazed that we had been approached twice in less than five minutes, and not only by an employee, but by a fellow customer. My roommate said that we were just checking out the different stains, but thank you. The man responded, “Oh, well I know what I need.” Neither of us responded, obviously feeling uncomfortable. He then proceeded to look for the stain he needed with no success, until he had to ask us if we saw the specific one he was looking for. My roommate found it for him instantly. He didn’t even say thank you.
On our most recent visit, my roommate needed wood cut down for a sculpture. She asked a male employee for his assistance. As soon as he turned down the aisle where I was waiting with the cart, his smirk gave him away. He gestured toward the trolley cart we had and asked, “You came in here to get wood and that’s the cart you’re using?” I simply asked if he needed us to get a larger cart (knowing very well that he was just making a point to be an ass). He said no, but typically if you’re buying lumber, you would use a lumber cart. My roommate rolled her eyes. He cut down the wood and my roommate started loading it onto the cart. It fit perfectly fine on the regular trolley cart, and I made sure to say so loud enough for the employee to hear me.
All of these incidents may seem small and insignificant, but when you put them together, and include the amount of snarky and downright rude comments my roommates have endured when they go into The Home Depot alone, it’s just completely baffling. This kind of sexism may be subtle, but it’s still important to point out. Sure, we’re “ladies” but we’re also completely competent and capable.