Asking

Econo-Girl hears you, Iggy, but maintains there is no harm in asking. You don't get fired for just asking.

The kid in question would undoubtedly earn more as a waiter than the theatre job. And skilled, reliable people to run your box office don't grow on trees.

But that raises a temperment issue. Econo-Girl is known for her requests for more money. Sometimes quite substantial requests. As a former beau once said, "My, that's bold." And bold she is.

Econo-girl knows that women earn less than men do for the same work. This is true almost across the board. So she is never shy about wanting more and asking for it. She just assumes that somewhere there is a man in the organization that is making more than would be given to her. So she asks.

All that ties into the glass ceiling. Slate.com reviewed a book called:

"Blindsided Ambition - Diagnosing a crisis in young women's lives" by Christine Stansell

The book examines the glass ceiling and how women participate in sidelining their own careers. One salient point was that post-adolescent females in most white middle-class families are not applauded for their professional successes. So women start to get their applause somewhere else. The men are, but not the women.

In Econo-girl's family, performance evaluations are discussed at the Thanksgiving Day table. Not a joke, guys. Seriously. So we would be a marked exception to this generality because there are only girls in the family and a good evaluation is very much commended.

The book review talks about how women are loathe to be one of those pushy, demanding, credit-grabbing women. But that is what men do to get noticed and recognition. And somehow Econo-Girl tends to act like a man in this respect also. Yes, she certainly irritates those around her. But not getting recognition for what she has done feels worse.

Women in general are annoying because so many of them are deferential to men and can't even see they are doing it. They allow themselves to be interrupted. They allow their ideas taken by others. They are more concerned with being 'nice' than taking care of themselves. Like all these women who say they are not feminists. You're working, aren't you? Don't you want to be paid the same as your male coworkers? Apparantly not.