The scary woman

I enjoy reading Ms Shenton's articles on My Paper. She normally talks about a variety of people-related topics - ranging from romantic relationship issues; colleagues' office politics; misunderstandings between friends and family, etc. Basically, the stuff she writes about are simple day-to-day matters, which one can relate to quite easily, and at the same time, the things that make life so interesting. (incidentally, she writes in Chinese, and I'd wanted to write this blog article in chinese too, but am just too lazy to, it being much quicker for me to type in English)

Her article today was about working with female co-workers/bosses. And she related a common "complaint" from her male friends that the worst kind of females to work with fall under 3 categories:

1) Extra aggressive & driven woman-powerhouse
2) Married woman
3) Old & Single woman

Note: Actually, for a while I was thinking, "doesn't that include almost ALL types of women?". Then I realised - no, the only ones left (out of the above 3 classifications) are the single, YOUNG females. Haha... I'm a guy, so it's easy for me to nod in understanding and appreciation.

Anyway, the reasons provided to "justify" the above 3 'undesirable' types of female co-workers are:
1) woman-powerhouse: this is self explanatory, since a super aggressive woman boss can virtually squash the male ego to a pulp, and then drive the men straight to hell with her unrelenting work demands and targets.

2) Married woman: the reason suggested by the guys (read: Ms Shenton's male friends) is that this category is "out-of-the-market". No chance, so not much interest.

3) Old & Single woman: (this one I have to agree) is typically emotional a little less-than-stable. Capable of weird antics and can sometimes be ultra-sensitive to every little remark that people make, so forget about joking around this one.
* Oh, btw - those guys who have been with the NUS guitar ensemble for a while will distinctly remember a classic example of a person who clearly falls under this category. No names please... if you know, then you know =P

Personally, I am comfortable working with the first 2 groups of women. I can respect a capable and driven (even aggressive) female, and would have little trouble working under this kind of boss. Married women? Actually I find them easier to talk to sometimes, since they tend to be more mature and are generally better listeners. Also, we can trade children stories! haha. But this 3rd group....

I guess we all know of co-workers (of both gender) who are distinctly difficult to work with and who are at times too unpredictably emotional to be around with. But given the general inclination of women to be more "in touch" with their feelings and emotions and what-have-you, I'd dare say that women will more likely fall into this group.

Scary....