Isn't equality supposed to be equal?

When I first started at Toys R Us the best department, the one everyone wanted to be in, was Ticket. Ticket was named because of how product was sold, it was on a ticket system. It included Big Ticket, items that were too large to keep on the sales floor, stuff like bikes, swing sets, above ground pools. It also included Security Ticket, stuff too expensive to be stolen, things like video games, high-end Barbies, v-tech computers, whatever. They had different hours, a smaller department, never had to deal with seasonal employees, first to get overtime, and rarely had to run register. About a month into my tenure there I was moved there and worked there off and on until it changed.

The front page of the employee guide for Ticket include the job expectations, stuff that was different than regular TRU, stuff like you must pass a background check, take car seat safety class, and lift a 50 lb bike on a ladder. It said it right there, on the front page of the guide. Before you can do anything in the department you see that you must be able to lift 50lbs while on a ladder.

There was this girl in the department for my first two years, an okay person on most days. She was very much into equality, at least to the point that she brought it up all the time. "You know Store Director X we don't have enough women building bikes", stuff like that. That is all good and probably has a place. However every year during Christmas season she would be the Department Head of the Big Ticket section and I'd be in the Security Ticket section. One of the closing jobs of Big Ticket was to refill the bike rack. Every single time she closed she would throw a fit, not ask for help filling the rack, but throw a fit. "I'm a woman, a man should be filling the bike rack," similar statements like that over and over again. Equality works when it is convenient I guess.

There is a person at my current office who makes "women get the shaft" comments all the time as well. Again I don't mind if you the conversation is that "women get the shaft", they probably do, I mean we deal with NASCAR companies, it is the south. But today I almost lost my temper. Jdub and I had to ship things for WW Chicago and Gen Con Indy. It was about 10 to 12 boxes, most normal size, under 15 lbs, but still 12 boxes. One of the boxes was pretty big and weighed about 80 lbs and another one probably 40 lbs. So Jdub and I prepare them to be shipped and have them set up for the UPS person.

Our UPS person is now a small woman and apparently has been for a few weeks. Well the Equal Rights for Women person absolutely flipped out. "I can't believe you left all that for that little woman", "you're a man you should have come up and helped her", "it is too hot to do that to a poor woman", and something else while I was walking away. The UPS driver knows that they can pick up packages weighing up to 125 lbs, I know this because anything bigger than that and we have to call them. The UPS drivers know it rains, snows, gets hot, cold, other various things that make life suck. They know this before they take the job as UPS driver but UPS drivers also make really good money. Again the pay doesn't matter because they know the job before they take it.

Again I guess equality is only important when it is good for you.