Have you ever taken advantage of online surveys?
I did. Last night, Hamed and I went into "Galpin Ford" a Ford Dealership to check out their cars. It's interesting because our plan had been to wait until next year to buy a new car but after speaking to the "Internet Consultant" on the phone, I thought, hey why don't we just check it out? And in the days leading up to our appointment with Ford, we were seriously considering buying a car within the next month! However, we had such a horrible experience with the agent at the dealership itself that we changed our mind about buying a Ford forever--at least from that store! I'm still furious at that man and the way he humiliated and embarrassed me. He really made me scared and the more I think about it, the more upset I feel.
You might be thinking...well wasn't your husband with you? Yes, he was. And he was also offended by this act. However, he only came to the U.S. 4 months ago and up until 4 months ago he lived his entire life in Iran. And unfortunately, things like this happens so often in Iran and women just keep silent about it and men (the good ones) think, we can't change the system, people are just like that so the best thing to do is to just not take it personally and move on. However, I grew up here. And I know for a fact after going through all the "Sexual Harassment" courses at different jobs, I know that it is not in fact okay that he treated me like that. In fact, not only can he get fired but the entire company can go into question and might have to pay for his actions--if I decide to go on record about this. I haven't done that yet. I don't know if I will. But here's what I wrote in the online "survey" they sent me this morning in my email:
The Internet consultant was very courteous and convinced me to consider buying a Ford car even though that was not my agenda at all when I checked the website. However, after visiting Galpin Ford itself, I have completely changed my mind and would never want to go back to that store as the man who managed our case was very rude. First of all, instead of "selling" the car that we were planning on getting in the first place, he kept downplaying it. Then, after showing us another model that we really liked and were considering, he kept on trying to stall us. I felt like he was getting paid by the hour that he spent with us so every time my husband and I wanted to go ahead to the office and talk numbers, he kept on trying to stall us more. Once we got to the office, he spent 10-15 minutes typing things onto the computer and making small talk with us. I'm not sure what he was doing as he was not transparent with what he was doing--maybe his own personal work? Then, he finally said, "Ok I will go and get the numbers for you." He first spent about 10 minutes at another office across from his then he left the building and disappeared. We waited for another 10-15 minutes. At this point, my husband and I were very agitated and tired and felt like we were not taken care of at all so we decided to leave. We made an effort to find someone to tell them we're leaving but no one seemed to care that we were unsatisfied or lost! So we went ahead to the parking and got in our car to leave when finally the agent appeared. Then, instead of being apologetic in some way for making us wait for so long, he was very very rude. He spoke threateningly telling us: "what do you think? this is 7-11 or something? that you can just get what you want really fast? buying a car is no joke. it takes time--you have to be willing to put the time." At this point, I felt very scared because he was coming very close to my face telling me this and I was just thankful that my husband was sitting right next to me in the car. Then my husband agreed to just go and look at the numbers. We went back into the office to look at the numbers. Again, he was very rude and I was trying not to talk so much or look him in the eye though at that point I was furious and scared. I just wanted to get out of there. Then, to make it all even worse, the agent kept on asking personal and unprofessional questions from my husband and I like where did you meet? when did you get married? oh so you brought your husband here from your country? you went to your country for a visit and came back with a husband huh? in a very misogynistic way. I was very embarrassed which is really messed up. I did not expect this kind of treatment--ever! I had a horrible experience and I never wish to go back there. I wish the man who was on the phone would have been the one to guide us through the process at Galpin Ford. Even if I do decide to buy a ford, ever, I would never go back to that store and get it from there. And I will make sure to tell anyone I can to never go there. I felt like I was harassed there.
The interesting part was the process of me writing this in the website. Two men's faces kept coming up in my mind--my dad and my husband. "What are you doing? it wasn't that bad! you could get him fired!" And it's just them. I kept thinking to myself, "was it that bad? maybe I was just imagining it? maybe it was my fault?" But then, now, after I'm writing about it in my blog, I just see how fucked up this really is. This is exactly what women must feel when they are sexually harassed or worse--raped! Unfortunately, society has left its mark on us and we feel like putting the blame on ourselves rather than on the person who did this. It is beyond messed up and though I have always seen myself as a feminist, I thought twice about just an online survey! This is beyond fucked up. And perhaps, just because of that, maybe I will go on record about this to make sure this man does get fired so he never dares to speak to any other woman like that and bully them and harass them ever again. I feel sorry for his family, but maybe they need to know the truth.
I did. Last night, Hamed and I went into "Galpin Ford" a Ford Dealership to check out their cars. It's interesting because our plan had been to wait until next year to buy a new car but after speaking to the "Internet Consultant" on the phone, I thought, hey why don't we just check it out? And in the days leading up to our appointment with Ford, we were seriously considering buying a car within the next month! However, we had such a horrible experience with the agent at the dealership itself that we changed our mind about buying a Ford forever--at least from that store! I'm still furious at that man and the way he humiliated and embarrassed me. He really made me scared and the more I think about it, the more upset I feel.
You might be thinking...well wasn't your husband with you? Yes, he was. And he was also offended by this act. However, he only came to the U.S. 4 months ago and up until 4 months ago he lived his entire life in Iran. And unfortunately, things like this happens so often in Iran and women just keep silent about it and men (the good ones) think, we can't change the system, people are just like that so the best thing to do is to just not take it personally and move on. However, I grew up here. And I know for a fact after going through all the "Sexual Harassment" courses at different jobs, I know that it is not in fact okay that he treated me like that. In fact, not only can he get fired but the entire company can go into question and might have to pay for his actions--if I decide to go on record about this. I haven't done that yet. I don't know if I will. But here's what I wrote in the online "survey" they sent me this morning in my email:
The Internet consultant was very courteous and convinced me to consider buying a Ford car even though that was not my agenda at all when I checked the website. However, after visiting Galpin Ford itself, I have completely changed my mind and would never want to go back to that store as the man who managed our case was very rude. First of all, instead of "selling" the car that we were planning on getting in the first place, he kept downplaying it. Then, after showing us another model that we really liked and were considering, he kept on trying to stall us. I felt like he was getting paid by the hour that he spent with us so every time my husband and I wanted to go ahead to the office and talk numbers, he kept on trying to stall us more. Once we got to the office, he spent 10-15 minutes typing things onto the computer and making small talk with us. I'm not sure what he was doing as he was not transparent with what he was doing--maybe his own personal work? Then, he finally said, "Ok I will go and get the numbers for you." He first spent about 10 minutes at another office across from his then he left the building and disappeared. We waited for another 10-15 minutes. At this point, my husband and I were very agitated and tired and felt like we were not taken care of at all so we decided to leave. We made an effort to find someone to tell them we're leaving but no one seemed to care that we were unsatisfied or lost! So we went ahead to the parking and got in our car to leave when finally the agent appeared. Then, instead of being apologetic in some way for making us wait for so long, he was very very rude. He spoke threateningly telling us: "what do you think? this is 7-11 or something? that you can just get what you want really fast? buying a car is no joke. it takes time--you have to be willing to put the time." At this point, I felt very scared because he was coming very close to my face telling me this and I was just thankful that my husband was sitting right next to me in the car. Then my husband agreed to just go and look at the numbers. We went back into the office to look at the numbers. Again, he was very rude and I was trying not to talk so much or look him in the eye though at that point I was furious and scared. I just wanted to get out of there. Then, to make it all even worse, the agent kept on asking personal and unprofessional questions from my husband and I like where did you meet? when did you get married? oh so you brought your husband here from your country? you went to your country for a visit and came back with a husband huh? in a very misogynistic way. I was very embarrassed which is really messed up. I did not expect this kind of treatment--ever! I had a horrible experience and I never wish to go back there. I wish the man who was on the phone would have been the one to guide us through the process at Galpin Ford. Even if I do decide to buy a ford, ever, I would never go back to that store and get it from there. And I will make sure to tell anyone I can to never go there. I felt like I was harassed there.
The interesting part was the process of me writing this in the website. Two men's faces kept coming up in my mind--my dad and my husband. "What are you doing? it wasn't that bad! you could get him fired!" And it's just them. I kept thinking to myself, "was it that bad? maybe I was just imagining it? maybe it was my fault?" But then, now, after I'm writing about it in my blog, I just see how fucked up this really is. This is exactly what women must feel when they are sexually harassed or worse--raped! Unfortunately, society has left its mark on us and we feel like putting the blame on ourselves rather than on the person who did this. It is beyond messed up and though I have always seen myself as a feminist, I thought twice about just an online survey! This is beyond fucked up. And perhaps, just because of that, maybe I will go on record about this to make sure this man does get fired so he never dares to speak to any other woman like that and bully them and harass them ever again. I feel sorry for his family, but maybe they need to know the truth.
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