Sadly, women tend to get treated worse in society and especially in business. Oftentimes, people feel more confident talking down to a woman or being ruder than they would with a male, which is why a female business owner on TikTok has admitted that she created a fake male assistant to deal with particularly difficult customers. TikToker Jandra Sutton‘s admission is sad but makes total sense to me!
@jandralee #stitch with @general.caronobi Tell me you have email anxiety without telling me you have email anxiety. #smallbusinesstips_ #femaleentrepreneur #fyp
- This is not at all surprising. Using a stitch of another user who asked why millennial women who have to write emails to people don’t adopt a male alter ego, Jandra revealed that she actually does have one and has been allowing “Matt” to deal with tough stuff for a while now.
- The fake assistant doesn’t just deal with difficult customers. As Jandra explained, your fake assistant can come in handy to deal with all kinds of tricky situations that you’d rather not have to put up with, especially if you’re a small business owner. “If you’re a small business owner and want to take this advice one step further, I saw this trick on Twitter and I loved it. Basically, you just create a Gmail alias for your “male assistant” – my assistant’s name is Matt, named such because he is not a doormat, unlike myself,” she explained. “He handles any negotiations or difficult conversations that I don’t want to handle personally and he’s very good at his job.”
- Plenty of women were into the idea. A lot of commenters praised Jandra for her innovative approach and said they were inspired to try it for themselves to see if it made life easier. (And not going to lie, I just made my own assistant’s fake Gmail address to try too!) “Oh shoot I’m hiring an assistant today!” one person said. Another added: “My cat’s name is Remy and he’s about to start earning his keep.”
- It’s smart but also kind of sad. As one person mentioned, having to create a male alter ego to make interactions with customers and even other professionals easier is “both brilliant and depressing” because while it works, women should simply be treated as equals at all times. If only life worked that way.
