I wonder if it was a very poor joke? Or attempt at one? Sometimes when people are uncomfortable (or they put their foot in their mouth), they compensate in strange ways.

I had a situation the other night that I thought was wonderful. We had a LOT of equipment to load and a short time span to do it in. I was provided five females to load 6300 lbs worth of heavy boxes and bags and I had doubts about the whole thing. (Bad me, I know.) I had even vented to a co-worker a bit thinking that we were ill-prepared to do the job that we had to do.

When the equipment manager (and equipment) arrived, the manager looked at the crew and said "no offense but this stuff is heavy. Don't you have any males to load it?" I apologized and said this is what we had and we would make the most of it.

This group of women loaded the plane in as quick as I've ever seen it done. The equipment is bulky (along with being heavy) and is difficult to fit in the space provided. The equipment manager was astounded. I was laughing.

I told them after the fact that we had doubts. The lead ramp person said she gets that a lot and that it's mostly women out on the ramp. They were all smiling (the equipment manager gave them shirts he was so impressed) and said they had "girl power".

I guess everyone can be prone to stereotyping. I didn't think they could do it but I am SO glad they surprised me. I am also glad they were tolerant with our doubts and I think a lot of lessons were learned.