I got this in an interview. It was for a job at a local news station.

I was asked what church I attended and when I said I wasn't religious, the guy interviewing me said, "That's disappointing. I'm not sure if that fits with out culture."

He also asked me who would be watching my child was I was at work. By this time I was pissed and I answered with my own question, "I will answer that question if you can say honestly that you asked every male candidate with children the same question."

I don't know about now, but at the time, both of these questions were illegal in Georgia.

I ended up getting the job, but he was right. I did not fit into the culture. I ended up working there for four years. They wanted me to publish a Christian newsletter out of the newsroom and many other journalistically unethical tasks.

But, the final straw was when I found out they were as equally discriminatory against men as they were women. Here's the story, since I'm supposed to be working now and I'm procrastinating.

I dated a coworker named Chris. Another woman started working there named Andrea. The whole time we were dating, Andrea actively and aggressively pursued Chris. I'm not the jealous or drama type, so, there was no conflict between me and Andrea, I just ignored her.

Chris and I broke up for unrelated reasons.

At that point, she took things to a new level. She sat on his desk and parted her legs to show him she had on no underwear. Chris reported it to HR. The woman taking the report laughed at him. She kept saying, "Are you sure you want to file this? All the upper management will see it." I'll stop here and say that our upper management were a group very stereotypical former frat-bros. Good 'ol boys, we call them. The HR woman was basically saying, "They'll laugh at you." He dropped the claim.

Chris and I remained friends and hung out often. He complained about Andrea and worried she would get him fired with all her obsessive bullshit. She became angry sometimes after he rejected her.

One night we were at his house playing Scrabble and she came over and started banging on the door. She was screaming and demanding he let her in so they could "talk". He repeatedly told her (through the door) to go away. She threw her slurpee on his door and left.

This stuff went on for a while until he couldn't take it anymore and yelled at her in the parking lot. At that point, she lodged her own complaint against him.

And they fired him! They pointed out that he'd lifted his claim and it his word against hers.

So, I went in to tell the boss what I'd witnessed. I'd stayed out of it and frankly, I didn't want to get involved even then, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

My boss said, "Well, you dated him so you're just jealous." I didn't like the assumption that I'm a liar because "bitches be crazy". Some bitches do be crazy. Some guys are crazy. But, I'd done nothing to make them think this about me. It's been 20+ years and still remember his exact words, "Where there's smoke there's fire. I know how women are about these things."

Motherfucker.

So, then I did go full-on crazy bitch. I had one of those Jerry McGuire moments and quit on the spot. I even called my boss a douche.

I learned a lesson that I've carried with me ever since then. Well, many lessons, actually, but mostly that sexism hurts both genders. I think about this often. You can expect me, as a woman, to stay home with the kids and that's sexist against women. But, it also hurts the man who wants to stay home with his kids and can't because the flipside to the stigma applies.

Anyway, I quit in a blaze of glory. Best thing I ever did. What a shithole. I went on to get my grad degree and teach journalism ethics, so, it worked out. :)