Can anyone tell me why, at an Officers & Directors
dinner held last month, the female compliance officer
was kissed by the directors and the male internal
auditor had his hand shook? Are men afraid to
shake hands with women?

I haven't noticed that!! Should I take it personally?

I don't think so, I was just wondering
if it was an age thing, you know, the directors
are about one hundred years old. Maybe they
haven't heard that women can vote nowadays...

The old coots were so grateful the Compliance Officer has kept them out of trouble that they felt like they had to show greater appreciation than a cold handshake.

Actually the most chauvanistic person I ever met is my age. I'm 41 and this was 10 years ago.

I cringe every time I think of it but I once heard the chairman of the board of a bank ask if the minimum wage was the same for men and women as he wanted to pay a woman the right amount.

That generation of now old coots were raised differently and don't know any better. It'll die off.

In reply to:

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Are men afraid to
shake hands with women?

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They may not be, but I'll bet they're afraid to kiss the male auditor!

Good one!

Steve, please tell me where you found SpongeBob...

Steve can still reply if he wants - but go to Google.com and search using the terms "Sponge Bob" and "pictures". I found over 8,000 hits in .08 seconds this way, many of which really did have pictures of good ol' Sponge Bob.

Thanks Jim, I think he's cool...

Thanks Jim, I think he's cool...

I was in several banks where the elderly Directors or President/Chairman would direct all questions to my male cohorts, even when *I* was the Examiner in Charge and THEY were trainees. I learned to nip that in the bud fairly quickly.

I was also in one TX bank where the President called me "little lady" and "hon". But he was in his 90s so I gritted my teeth and finished the exam (nobly resisting downgrading his management component.....)

I know what you mean...

When I met my husband I moved from a large city to a small town. In large city USA, I worked for a bank that I was an important part of the management team and my thoughts were valued and respected. I not only was the compliance officer... I helped with the overall development of the bank. Since commuting was not an option... I thought I was lucky to find a job in banking in such a small town and was happy to step in as a branch manager... although my love was compliance. Small bank did not have a compliance officer and really didn't think it was necessary

Well... my first week I worked with the fella that I was replacing. One day he got up from his chair and stood over me and said... "Listen here baby cakes... you better pay attention because you have a lot to learn. I've worked very hard to build up this community and you better not mess it up. I didn't even want them to hire you... your not a man and your young enough to be my daughter!" I just about couldn't believe it! I stood right up and said, "Don't ever call me baby cakes again and yes I do know what I'm doing. That is why I was hired for the job!"

I almost ran for my life... do I want to work for this company? But after consideration I felt that the bigger challenge for me was to stick around and shake things up a bit! I am now the Compliance Officer, and training takes place annually on sensitivity and harassment.

Things still aren't perfect. Always room for improvement!

"Baby Cakes" is still here... although ready to retire!

In reply to:

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They may not be, but I'll bet they're afraid to kiss the male auditor!

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I'd rather have the handshake myself.

Maybe there was something else behind that kiss....

You go girl!

My husband called me "baby-cakes" ....... once. That was over 30 years ago.

Michelle,
I'm impressed that you didn't haul off and you know, knock him on
his _ss! I think a kiss from a director is less irritating than that!

I hope there was nothing but platonic affection behind that kiss!

Top this! The 2 most chauvanistic men I ever met are 38 and 44!! and, yes, they work here--at the same branch. I think I need an outside consultant to do their sensitivity training.

I do not think age makes a difference when being chauvanistic. I've met "men" as young as 18 that are extremely chauvanistic!

I just can't fathom young chauvanists. I'm glad I'm not from one of those countries that would have me give Andy a couple smacks when me met.

Where did I get my picture? No tricks. I put my digital camera on a tripod and did the remote shutter release trick.
Or I might have done a 'clip art' search on Google for it. I don't recall....

While it is true that age doesn't make a difference; 18 doesn't count---male or female, they are still living off of Mom and Dad----they only think they know everything. To qualify as truely chauvanistic, they have to have had a real job for 2 years. If they haven't learned by then that not all women are like the moms they saw on TV, then they never will.

ha ha Steve, can I introduce you to my son, he''s a fanatic. Actually
my fiance once pretended to my son that he picked Spongebob up
while he was hitch-hiking in the rain, and actually called from his
cell phone pretending to be Spongebob and so on. My son, then 5,
believed him, it was pretty funny...