Friday, July 23, 2010

Taken Care Of

Currently there is a kick of the guys saying they need to get me married off so I can "be taken care of".  I has now happened enough that I cannot just push it off to something the guys say as a joke just to get my goat.

I've told them I do not need to be taken care of.

Another woman has told them I don't need to be taken care of.


Clearly they think I still do. Yes, there are some things my girly strength cannot do, like lift the ~60lb boxes of 13'' tapes.  Yet there are a lot of things I can do, and when my (lack of) physical strength gets in the way, I figure out how to get around it.


I know I can take care of myself and I am exhausted of the implications that I cannot.  I've moved half way across the country twice.  I've lived away from family for the past five years. I am fairly certain at this point I can easily make it on my own.  



Training seven guys how to work with a girl for the first time has not been easy, but it has been worth it.  I still find it amazing that I am the first woman in the lab  so I chalk most of the moments up to lack of understanding. Once I explain how things come off to me,  most of them try to change. It helped fix the "quit being such a girl about it" comments, we'll see if it can fix this problem as well.