I travel every week for work, and find it quite uncomfortable sometimes going to the restuarant in the evening (as the only women ever in the hotel bar/restaurant).
This week, as i went to pay, a random person at the bar decided it was appropriate to ask my room number because it was funny for him and his drunk mate. I felt this would NEVER have happened to the other 20 men sat in the bar and considering i had my engagement ring on, found it highly disrespectful. It wasn’t chatting me up, it was just like “you’re a woman and we can have a laugh here”. He then continued watching as i had to tell the bar lady my room number to pay for my food- which then left me feeling uneasy that they now knew my room number.
Then, i go to get a taxi this morning and before i have even got in the taxi, the driver has called me “luv” twice. Again- would this happen to a man? What kind of manners is that? I said before he even switched the engine on “let’s make a rule here, if you want me to pay you for this journey you can stop calling me “luv” as it’s very patronising” . He apologised, but now i have to spend the whole taxi journey feeling uncomfortable.
Not many women agree to travel excessively like i do, and i can see why. I am refusing to be bound to my room 4 nights a week, and want to be able to get out, go to restaurants or in a taxi without either being harrassed or made to feel uncomfortable.