I got my first job in IT in the mid ’90s working a help desk while taking a break from university. I quickly found that I had a knack for IT, and became the lead technician on staff.
An integral part of the work involved providing phone support for field technicians servicing our equipment. On more than one occasion male field technicians would flat out refuse to work with me because I am a woman.
At the time I was very young and naive (not very woke) and so I could handle this with more humor than I would nowadays. What I did at the time was transfer them to the dimmest man on our staff, let them waste 60-90 minutes of their time, and then quickly help them when their call eventually made it’s way back to me.
I wonder if any of them learned anything from the experience.