"Hey, look who it is!"
I automatically look up from my morning pancakes to see where the voice is coming from and who it's directed to. The boisterous salutation was for me and I recognized the friendly smile immediately.
"Hey you!" I jump up from my seat, almost knocking over my coffee in the process. I give him a big hug. It was an old colleague of mine who I hadn't seen in over a year or two. We used to work on the same micro budget "passion projects" back in the day and when I moved on to bigger and better things, we didn't see much of each other anymore. I had missed him and it was great to know that he had made it out of the ultra-low budget world (read: ultra-shitty) and making better money. He deserved it. Plus, it's always nice to see a familiar face; especially one you've shared so many battle scars with.
It turns out that we're both day playing on this show today, and after a pretty fast paced and hectic morning, we sit together at lunch and catch up.
He fills me in on how his wife and kids are doing and I fill him in on what projects I've been working on. And then we start reminiscing about the companies we used to work for and eventually he fills me in on what happened to some of the guys we used to have on the crew after I had moved on.
"Well, [Juicer A] had to move back home to live with his parents. But [Juicer B] actually got lucky and started working on bigger things this past year," my old friend said, beaming. When I left his crew for better jobs a few years ago, he had said he was sad to see me go, but was oh-so-proud of me for "making it". I could see by the way he was beaming that he felt the same way about Juicer B."He's actually a Best Boy now."
"Yeah, I heard!" I had always liked Juicer B. "I saw him about a year ago when he called me for a one-day job. He hasn't called me since though."
"Yeah..." my old friend said with a weakened smile on his face. "Between you and me, he told me he won't hire you."
"What?" I was perplexed. Although we never work together anymore, Juicer B and I do run into each other occasionally and he always seemed to happy to see me; never failing to give me a huge hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek.
My friend goes on to explain that Juicer B had heard I started working for [Juicer X], a female Best Boy who, according to Juicer B, "only hires other girls." And seeing as how he'll never be in with the "chick clique," he won't hire anyone in that circle, including me.
After a thoughtful pause, my friend continues, "I guess it's a little bit like reverse sexism, isn't it?"
I nodded and explained to my lunch companion about what was so wrong with Juicer B's logic. I hadn't worked for Juicer X in a couple of years, and even then, there were definitely guys on that crew. Though there may be more women in this business now than ever before, staffing a competent all female crew is still next to impossible* and although there were a higher number of ladies in the department than usual when I was working for Juicer X, there were still plenty of guys on board. To top it off, most of the guys were regulars; I on the other hand, was a just a day player. Plus, I haven't worked for her in a couple of years because she won't hire me anymore (for reasons I'll save for another post). So the fact that Juicer B won't hire me because he thinks it's unfair that Juicer X won't hire him because he has a dick and will hire me instead because I don't is something I find completely preposterous.
Honestly, I was disappointed to hear this from Juicer B. I always thought he was the type to hire based on skill and ability; not based on what was (or wasn't) between my legs.
We finished our lunch and went back to work, but I couldn't stop thinking about Juicer B and his reason for not calling me anymore. In essence, he won't hire me because Juicer X does. But Juicer X doesn't.
Does this make sense to anyone?
If it is like reverse sexism, why is it that I'm still the one getting screwed...?
* A sizable crew, that is. If the entire department consists of two people, the challenge is a bit easier.
2 comments :
Funny, because I have always liked working with crews that have females in the G&E departments. They: don't BS as much; complain; pitch in without being asked; claim to know something they don't; share their knowledge (teach the less learned).
JD - I think in this case, it wasn't that he's adverse to having a female in his department. It's that he won't hire me because a female will simply because I'm a woman. It's petty and stupid, but there's show business for ya...
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