Equal Rights, or Just Plain Mean?

I got a blast from the past this morning when an old buddy from back home in Virginia called me to say hello, catch up, etc.

It was a guy I met one summer - I think my junior year of high school - during a disastrous, short-lived gig with a commercial painting contractor. I say it was disastrous 'cause I probably nearly killed myself and colleagues more than once with my unintentional Three Stooges antics on the job sites. What can I say? I can do blue collar work - remember, I'm a certified aircraft machinist - but I just wasn't cut out for painting/construction, etc.

Anyway, my guy, who I've stayed in touch with off-and-on over the years, ribbed me a little and reminded me of our old boss, who had a reputation as a curmudgeon. And we both recalled one incident in particular.

We were riding with the boss on the way to a job site, and we saw a woman on the side of the highway, standing next to a car. She had waved and was apparently in distress, so we pulled over. As we drew closer we realized she had a flat tire. I still remember, she was relatively young - looked to be in her mid 30s, and she wore a dark business power suit. Her car was in the west-bound lanes, heading toward downtown. I remember wondering if she was on her way to some big biz meeting.

Well, my boss being a southern "gentleman" told us to snap to, 'cause we were gonna change her tire. We snapped to.

And then the boss saw her bumper sticker. It read something to the effect of "Women don't need men to get the job done," or something along those lines.

Well, the boss, who was definitely not a fan of any women's rights arguments, turned to the woman and asked if she really believed the sticker's message.

She turned up her chin and answered in the affirmative. So he responded something to the effect of "If you really believe in equal rights change your own tire! C'mon boys!"

He made us get back in the truck and we left.

My buddy and I can laugh about it now, not 'cause it was funny that we left that woman stranded, but because that exchange was bizarre.

Gender does not matter to me - with the exception of my wife, of course; I did require her to be a woman - as long as you can pull your weight and do what you do and do it well. I know 50X the male bums than I know female bums.

But a small part of me understands my old-school employer's frustration. Here was a woman on the side of the road trying to flag down help for a bit of manual labor. And she was sporting a bumper sticker saying she didn't need help (from men) with anything. In his generation that sticker was the equivalent of a slap in the face.

Still, in the end I say we should have helped her. She may have been a better tire-changer than either me, my boss, or my buddy. But maybe she just didn't want to get her nice business suit dirty. I'm not being facetious. Seriously, if I was on the way into a white collar gig and wearing nice clothes I'd call AAA to change my tire before I risked getting my gear dirty.

Your thoughts?