The Advances of Industry

"What makes you think you can do anything?" she spat, her face contorted with disgust as she stared down her long nose at me. "You are just a man." Her lips twisted in a mockery of a smile. "And not even a very attractive one, at that."

I sighed inwardly, my eyes closing briefly in a silent prayer, before I turned to face her fully. "I have been doing this ever since it was invented," I explained patiently, though patient was not at all what I felt. "My team was one of the first to beta test the device, and I scored very high marks during that and all subsequent testing phases."

She gave me a look that implied she still didn't believe me, but what else could I say? I'd told her the truth. Technology and I, we got along great. It was people I couldn't stand, but a man had to eat and pay bills somehow.

Still, some days it just didn't feel worth the hassle of putting up with such ignorance.

This woman had dropped hundreds - if not thousands - on a device she only barely understood. It had not been treated with the respect it deserved, and now that it was dying (several years before the end of its expected lifespan) she suddenly needed to get it fixed.

But I, a simple man, was apparently not worthy of the 'honor' of repairing what she only saw as a fun techno-gadget, a toy to make her life easier.

It disgusted me, how people treated these objects. These machines were delicate and needed a soft touch. 'Percussive maintenance' may work on the monsters of the olden days, but rarely was it suitable for our modern times.

I was absolutely certain that this woman held to the so-called 'tried and true' methods of dealing with ornery technology.

My job was even more difficult as a man. The leading engineers of the day were women, considered to be better suited to the critical thinking required of our ever-evolving machines.

This customer's sexism was not unusual, but it still grated.

After a long, drawn out silence, she finally sighed, shaking me out of my reverie. "Fine," she snarled. "But you had better not fuck it up."

Oh, it was so tempting...