Girl vs. Refrigerator

Let me be Julia Sugarbaker for a moment....

Over the last week, my refrigerator has slowly stopped working.  Really it's just the refrigerator part - the freezer section is working fine.  But the refrigerator part is barely cold now.  I've called the complex maintenance people and yesterday afternoon, Mr. Maintenance Man showed up.  Oy vey.

Mr. Maintenance Man proceeded to tell me that I clearly had done something wrong since the refrigerator was only 6 months old.  The thing is, I've been in my apartment almost a year and when I moved in, I was told the refrigerator was a year or two old and said as much to Mr. Maintenance Man.  Also, I owned my own refrigerator for many years and never had any problems. And finally,  I've had other problems with this stupid appliance since day one (the ice maker leaks and the maintenance people have attempted to fix it no fewer than 5 times). He most definitely didn't like me pointing these things out and proceeded to tell me again that I had done something wrong.  I asked what he thought I'd done and here are the possibilities of what I may have done (in his opinion):
1.  overpacked the freezer (it wasn't, by the way)
2. mistakenly left the freezer door open (????? The last time I checked, I wasn't five years old and didn't just, ooops, forget to close the freezer door)
3.  messed with the knob controlling the temperature of the appliance and therefore causing the temperature to go haywire  (because at 38 years old, I like to sit and play with the knobs on the refrigerator...)

His solution?  Turn off the refrigerator and let it completely thaw/defrost and then turn it back it on and the refrigerator should magically start working again.  This is crap, of course, but I figured why not humor him so at the very least I could point out how very mistaken he was later on down the road.  I did what he suggested and of course, no magic took place (what did take place was throwing out everything in my refrigerator and buying new groceries).  I will be pointing out the mistake of his crappy suggestion later on today....

Here is the real problem.  Mr. Maintenance Man is one of those men....the short kind with the Napoleon complex and the attitude that no woman could possibly be intelligent or have a valid opinion.  I don't throw out the accusation of sexism lightly but this little man was blatantly and swaggeringly sexist.  It came off of him in waves.  He all but patronizingly patted me on the head and called me little lady.

In everyday life, I believe in being considerate and polite.  I believe in treating people with respect and being ladylike and appropriate. But everyone has limits.  And being treated as less than intelligent based on gender alone is where my limit is.  Anyway, by the end of our little tete-a-tete, he clearly didn't like me and I most decidedly didn't like him and it ended with us glaring at each other across my counter top. 

I am again left wondering (for the millionth time in my life) what it is about being female that makes me seem less than intelligent?  Why do women have to work overtime to prove that our problem/opinion/issue/thoughts are valid just because of our gender and that we aren't over-exaggerating?  What is it about a penis that creates immediate validation?  It's just an appendage for Pete's sake. And let's be honest here...it's not even an appendage that, on average, uses a lot of common sense either.

Don't get me wrong, though. I really like men - for so many reasons and on so many levels. I've met plenty of men over the years - plenty of strong, decent men - who prefer strong, intelligent women.  Those men represent where the bar should be set.   I both like and admire those kind of men.  They're easy to be around.  Who doesn't love a man who is easy to be around?  Furthermore, who doesn't love a man who loves you being strong and intelligent?  Nothing is more attractive than that - sign me up for that kind of man!

Here is where I admit something I'm not always proud of.  When I was married and I encountered this sort of attitude, I would just turn it over to my ex and he would deal with the sexist schmuck of the moment. You eventually get tired of fighting the battle to be taken seriously; it's tedious and tiresome.  When the opportunity arose to not fight the battle for a while, I admit I often turned it over to my ex.  Consequently, I had forgotten how difficult it could be to take care of problems and issues as a single female and I am now beyond irked.

The ironic thing about sexism is that it comes across as prissy and high maintenance.  Seriously.  The first thing I think when I'm around sexist men is how personally weak they appear.  No strong, secure man gets so intimidated by someone that they talk down to them or denigrate them.  Sexist men are the ones who whine when things don't go their way or become belligerent when they hear something they don't want to hear. Sexist men are overgrown children. 

I know I'm ranting now but I can already picture the week ahead and I don't relish the fight I'm facing.  I shouldn't have to spend the coming days trying to convince someone that a working refrigerator is necessary in this day and age.  I spend enough on rent each month that it should be a given that fixing my refrigerator is a must.  Now to convince the prissy little maintenance man of this obvious fact.....
 
Here endeth my Julia Sugarbaker moment.

On a side note - the temperature setting on my washer just broke.  I kid you not.