Sexism takes many forms. While there are more blatant types of discrimination based on sex—for example, a man claimed in a video last year that he was told not to hire women at his job—other examples of sexism can be significantly more subtle.
For example, men can assume women don’t know what they’re talking about when they actually may know more than the person criticizing them. Women may also be victims of ‘role incredulity,’ in which women are incorrectly assumed to be in a supporting role rather than a leadership role—e.g. a female pilot being mistaken for a flight attendant.
In some cases, women can also be infantilized, such as when a dealership called a TikToker’s father after the TikToker gave the business a one-star review.
Now, another user on TikTok has sparked a discussion with a similar story of casual sexism. In a video with over 103,000 views as of Sunday, TikTok user @chillybubble98 says she went to Best Buy to buy a Thunderbolt cable only to have an employee talk down to her.
“I’m like, ‘Can you please just unlock the Apple cabinet? Because all I need is a Thunderbolt cable,’” the TikToker recalls. “He’s like, ‘You mean USB-C?’”
“No! I’m asking for a Thunderbolt cable,” she continues. “I know that there’s, like, a million different types of USB-Cs, all of which have different bandwidth. I’m asking you for a Thunderbolt 3.”
@chillybubble98 like why do men always assume women dont know things
♬ original sound – m
“So I say, ‘It’s technically USB-C, but I’m looking for the Thunderbolt,’” she says. The man allegedly responded, “‘You know they only call it that because it’s Apple. All it does is just transmit data differently.’”
“Yes, assh*le, I know that and I don’t need a f*cking lecture,” the TikToker states. “Just unlock the f*cking cabinet! So frustrating—I feel like every time I go into Best Buy it’s the same f*cking bullsh*t.”
“Like why do men always assume women don’t know things,” she adds in the caption.
Needless to say, the TikToker is correct: there are significant differences between a random USB-C cable and a Thunderbolt cable.
“For the most part, they can do everything a USB-C port can, except faster,” writes Tom Brant for PC Mag about the differences between USB-C cables and Thunderbolt cables.
“A single [Thunderbolt] cable now provides four times the data and twice the video bandwidth of any other cable, while also supplying up to 100W of power,” notes MiniTool. “It’s unrivaled for new uses, such as 4K videos, single-cable docks with charging, external graphics, and built-in 10 GbE networking.”
In the comments section, users shared their own experiences dealing with casual sexism.
“I asked them to unlock the PSU cabinet once, I needed an 850,” a user recalled. “‘Do you know what this is for? Are you sure you need that one?’ SIR. OPEN. CASE.”
“It’s always best buy. this guy lectured me about the camera lens I was buying like I had done 0 research,” another shared. “I was like cool can I have my lens now?”
“I once asked about a camera, and left cause the dude started to tell me mirrorless and DSLR are the same,” remembered a third. “No sir they are not.”
A few offered their own rebuttals for dealing with such situations.
“Should have said ‘Do these fun little facts help you get the cabinet unlocked faster? No! aww man, be a lot cooler if it did,’” a commenter said.
“I like to just stare at them until they do what I asked,” a second explained.
“Whenever a man says something like that to me I say ‘Do you feel better now?’ And then continue on,” another TikToker suggested.
We’ve reached out to Best Buy via email and @chillybubble98 via TikTok comment.
