Wednesday 17 December 2008

Stupid Woman Rant

I’m sorry in advance for my tirade, but this story makes my blood boil, but I’m not on the side of the ‘full-time homemaker’. I’m not anti stay at home mums, or mums, or full time homemakers, I’m anti these two particular women for being so stupid and making all women look ridiculous by association.

“I couldn't believe it. It was like being back in the '50s. “

Honey, you don’t have a job, that’s why you didn't get the phone contract. You have no proof of income, as your husband is paying the bills (yes, even if you are the one who physically pays them), so what did you expect the poor rep in the store to do?

"Being a mum is a full-time job and it's a very hard job - the hardest job you can have - because if you get it wrong, the ramifications for everyone are enormous," Ms Fair said.

Being a full time Mum is hard, blah blah blah we all know that, but it doesn't demonstrate any financial capacity to pay off a 24mth phone contract if you have no income.

As for you Ms. Eva Cox of the Women's Electoral Lobby, the company should not be ashamed. Calling for a boycott of Vodafone is ridiculous.

To give you some perspective on why this has made me so mad, I don't work for Vodafone, in fact I work for a competitor.

We have to do Trade Practices Act - Consumer Protection compliance training every single year (even those in non customer facing roles) specifically to ensure we do not sell/develop/market dodgy products to customers or make them sign up for things they couldn’t reasonably be expected to understand (selling to persons who are mentally disabled, or deliberately misleading customers with Marketing offers, or not ensuring customers capacity to pay at point of sale).

It’s just as likely that we’d see this same woman on ACA or Today Tonight wailing we had sold her a phone and we’re the big meanies because we’re expecting her to actually pay her bills and she’s just a stay at home Mum.

You know you've seen those stories before.

As an independent woman this sort of thing infuriates me, the sense of righteous indignation for something that is completely unreasonable is what sends us back to the ‘50s, not Vodafone.

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11 comments:

  1. I agree with everything you said.

    HAD. TO. LAUGH @ this:

    "They said their computers just don't allow it," she said.

    So Little Britain! - "computer says noooo".

    Maybe the husband should be paying the wife a wage?

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  2. UD - I know right? I love that the computer did in fact say No. Paying her a wage is probably a good idea!

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  3. theres always the option to buy the phone outright!

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  4. exactly louise, use the $1000+ money she would have got for each kid she's staying home to look after that KRudd gave her!

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  5. That is ridiculous. That whole entire article makes MY blood boil. UGH!!!!

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  6. That's so strange. I never actually thought about it that way before.

    Maybe it's different here in the states. A lot of our bills at home are in my name, but I have no personal income, but we're married so what's his is mine and vice versa.

    But if I were to go and try to buy a car or a house, I would need my husband to go with me because I don't have the $$$ to back it up. But I wouldn't question that. It makes sense!

    This is the kind of behavior that makes me roll my eyes.

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  7. Oh, I SO agree with you about this! I (accidentally) saw her and her husband on Today Tonight moaning that 'child rearing IS a job'. NOT the point! The point is that in our credit system THE HUSBAND IS NOT LIABLE FOR HER DEBTS unless he signs (or co-signs) the credit agreement. Gah! Of course the article mentioned nothing at all about that, because that would have been reasonable!

    Also, I have been meaning to say hello. I found you via Get Rich Slowly and devoured your archives. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago, I got myself out of GBP35K of debt (some from living the high live, some sexually transmitted alas) and what you write about is so inspiring. So keep it up, and more please, actually!

    nicky

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  8. Ooh, sorry, also meant to mention: I'm now back living in Melbourne. As you were.

    Nicky

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  9. I read this article yesterday, and I feel the same way. I'm very pro stay at home mom/wife, (I was one until I recently started working from home) but if you have no income, no one is going to take a credit risk with you. Why can't that woman grasp that? So silly.

    BTW, I found you through entre cards, hello!

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  10. I'm writing from the states but if her husband was on the contract would they pull his credit as well? I'm not sure how you guys do it. My wife works from home and is an amazing woman who also takes care of our 3 year old daughter. I have much respect for women who are home in any capicity taking care of children. But, that woman sounds pretty silly. If you have no income it might lead someone to think that it may be hard to get a phone. Just a thought. There's no insurance for stupidity nowadays, unfortunately.
    Jerry
    www.leads4insurance.com

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