Social Issues,Economy & LaborNOV 15, 2023

Client “Feels Uncomfortable” With Female Electrician Doing Her Job, Dismisses Her

Working in a male-dominated profession as a woman is always a challenge. A lot of people assume you cannot do the job as well as a man could, even though it's complete nonsense.

One of these discrimination stories recently was told by TikTok user Lex Abreu. In her video she talked about how another woman fired her because "she didn't feel comfortable." Instead, the TikToker's brother, who is far from her professional level in electrical work, was hired. Horrendous!

More info: TikTok

Last month a TikTok user told a story about how she was discriminated against in her job as an electrician just because she's a woman and the video went viral

Image credits: @lexi_abreu

"You guys think it's so easy being a female in a male-dominated industry"

"You think that we get all the perks and things are handed to us and life is easy. And I have a nice little story time for you about that. That just happened to me just now.

So, I went to a customer's house planning to change her panel, standard 200 amp panel change as the replacement. Her basement got filled with water, and it went inside of her panel and ended up rusting out a lot of stuff. So, she just needs a nice little panel change. And so, I was gonna go do that. You guys know that's, like, one of my specialties - panel changes, right?

So, I get there."

Image credits: OPPO Find X5 Pro (not the actual photo)

"And she looks at me and she's like 'Is somebody else coming?'"

"And I'm like 'No.' And she's like, 'It's just you?' And I was like 'Yeah, I'm here to change your panel. Is everything, like, okay?' And she was like 'No offense, but is there, like, somebody else that can do it?' And I was like 'What do you mean?' And she's like 'I don't know, the gentleman that came out to do the estimate, you know, explained to me that this was, like, very involved. And it was very complicated.' And I was like 'Yeah, absolutely. Like, it is complicated. But for somebody who does this on a daily basis, it's totally standard. And I've done a million like these.' And she's like, 'You've done a million?' And I'm like 'Not a million. But you know, I've done my fair share, like, I've probably done at least two to three this month alone.'

And she was like 'Can I give your office a call? I'm really sorry. I just don't feel comfortable.' And I was like, 'Sure, like, no problem.' And she called the office and she's like 'I've been waiting for months. And I, you know, just I'm spending a lot of money doing this. And I just don't feel comfortable. Is there somebody else that can do it?' So I'm like 'My brother is also an electrician, and he also does these installs. But he's 19 years old. And he's an apprentice. But he does these as well if you want him.' She's like 'Great. When is he available?'

No, you didn't."

Image credits: @lexi_abreu

"I get this all of the time. Especially from older women"

"And I understand that back then it was definitely, like, different, like women didn't do that. But it's 2023. And I'm coming to your house. That means I'm fully capable of doing.

She's like 'My entire house runs on this panel. This is like such a big deal.' Ma'am, I'm aware, I do this. I literally do this for a living. Are you serious?

So, whatever, I was like 'I will get in contact with my brother and see when he can come out and do this. I'm sorry.' Like, she's like 'No, I'm not, no hard feelings. I just like, I need to make sure that it's, like, fully done well, and that there's no issues.' And I'm just like, if you don't stop f****** talking, I'm gonna- whatever.

So, the moral of the story is, not only does the average… Not every female because there are females that definitely take advantage of being in a male-dominated industry and take advantage of being a woman in that industry."

Image credits: Fatih Yurtman (not the actual photo)

"The ones that are actually interested in being in the male-dominated industry and want to be taken seriously, we work harder than the average male to show that we are capable"

"And you know, don't get ridiculed for doing exactly what a man does in the male-dominated industry. But we also take bullshit like this. Like, really lady? Our company is fully licensed and insured. Even if I was a dumb girl that didn't know what she was doing and did your panel, it would be fully insured. And if there were any issues, somebody would come and fix it. Did you really? Did you really have to say that? Really?"

Image credits: @lexi_abreu

You can watch the video here

The video was posted by TikTok user @LextheElectrician or just Lexi Abreu. She works as a commercial and residential electrician and most of her videos focus on this topic. With this kind of content, she managed to collect over 900K followers and over 17M likes.

TikTok isn’t the only place where Lexi is active. She also posts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. However, her TikTok account has the most followers of all four.

Talking about her viral video, there’s an actual reason why the lady in the story was surprised to meet a female electrician at her doorstep. Apparently, out of all electricians in the United States, only 5.8% of them are women. But it still doesn't excuse the lady's treatment of Lexi.

There are two main reasons why there are so few women coming into the field of electricity work. First is the hostility of the field’s environment. The field essentially is made for men, so women must work with odds against them. They might get discriminated against by employers, customers (just like Lexi), and other people who come in contact with their work.

Another reason is gender stereotypes, and that nearly every environment in women’s lives discourages them from the electrician profession by depicting it as a masculine job. For example, little girls are not introduced to the idea of being an electrician. And when they figure out what they want to be, this profession doesn’t cross their minds.

So, let’s just say that we’re happy that Lexi doesn’t give up her dream job despite people being critical of her skills. The electricity field needs more passionate workers like Lexi, no matter what their gender is!

People in the comments under the video were shocked by how Lexi was treated. In fact, they were enraged by the lady's behavior! Some of them even stated that if they needed an electrician, they would hire Lexi specifically. Others just expressed how sorry they felt that the girl had to endure that.