Underestimated once again by a sexist old car guy
Long story short, my husband and I were storing a motor for his aunt and she found someone that wanted to buy it today. My husband is out of town so she brought her BIL to help get it loaded. I work with my husband in our garage a lot so I was fully capable of doing it myself, but I appreciated an extra set of hands. That is until BIL decided he would run the whole show and not listen to my input. My husband warned me that his family thinks women are a lesser species so I was mentally prepared for this to happen.
He wanted to use a lift chain instead of the lift plate I prepared, but the bolts he brought were too short. So I went to put the lift plate on and he snatched the bolts from me. I let him get them finger tight then pulled a ratchet out of my pocket and tightened them all the way. I thought I noticed a look of disbelief. Then he didn't extend the boom on the cherry picker. I told him they wouldn't have enough reach to get the motor in the bed of the truck but he said it would be fine. Guess who had to set the motor back down to extend the boom and needed me to show him how? Aunt and I exchanged smirks and she made a comment about how he should've listened to the owner of the tools.
I could tell he was flustered by now. The buyer helped me take the engine cradle off and BIL jumped in when he tried to hand me the impact for my side. I told him to wait to put it away when he was done because I wanted to put the bolts and washers back on. He threw up his hands and asked where I was putting the bolts when there's no engine anymore. I showed him the threaded holes for storing the bolts on the frame. BIL murmured something and walked away.
I made sure to give him an extra firm handshake with direct eye contact when he left. Should I have said "thanks, champ"?
Posted Mar 14, 2026, 12:26 AM UTC