Airline Manager Demands Coffee From Female Tech, Gets Instant Karma

Working in IT in the early 90s was tough, but being the first woman in IT at an international airline meant dealing with relentless, aggressive misogyny on a daily basis.

One woman, tasked with delivering high-value equipment across the airport’s hangars, finally reached her breaking point when a group of maintenance men demanded she fetch them coffee on a silver platter.

But the moment a manager joined in the mockery, calling her “sweety” and making a crude remark, she hatched a brilliant plan to shut the sexism down—a plan that involved a rare, expensive laptop and a four-month delay.

Now, read the full story:

This act of workplace genius is a perfect demonstration of leveraging institutional bureaucracy against everyday cruelty. In the early 90s, when women in STEM were statistically tiny minorities, fighting back against sexism often meant risking your career.

OP, however, understood the specific power she wielded: she controlled the equipment delivery sign-off process.

By making a simple but legally binding bureaucratic move—returning the unsigned-for laptop—she weaponized the company’s own rules. This wasn’t petty; it was strategically brilliant. The manager’s power was based on status and gender, while OP’s power was based on procedure and necessary technical access.

The story highlights the relentless “misogyny tax” paid by women entering male-dominated fields like early IT and engineering. They had to fight to be seen as professionals, not assistants or targets for harassment. The manager’s comment—”Got your period, sweety?”—is a classic example of using gendered insults to dismiss a professional’s justified anger.

Although the numbers are changing, the tech industry still struggles significantly with retention. A recent report published in Harvard Business Review found that 41% of women working in technology eventually leave the field, compared to just 17% of men. The primary cited reasons include workplace environment, isolation, and persistent subtle (and not-so-subtle) sexism.

The OP’s manager understood this dynamic and chose to support his employee rather than the sexist customer. This management support is often the critical difference between a woman leaving a field or surviving long enough to effect change. His willingness to deliberately “delay” the reorder for months sent a clear message that disrespecting the IT staff would have immediate, tangible, and painful consequences.

This was less about technical support and more about social engineering. The manager learned that being a jerk wasn’t worth the four-month wait for his precious Windows 3.11 machine.

Check out how the community responded:

The entire community stood and saluted OP for her genius act of petty, administrative revenge.

The technical crowd appreciated the sweet nature of the delay, particularly the context of 1990s tech bureaucracy.

Many were thrilled that OP’s manager provided the necessary support and ensured the jerk learned his lesson.

This woman didn’t just make a point; she made a policy change stick. She proved that in the early days of corporate computing, the person controlling the tech delivery was the real power player, regardless of what the old boys in suits thought.

The satisfaction of delivering that long-awaited laptop to a humbled, respectful manager four months later must have been the best kind of workplace win.

What is the best act of workplace revenge you have ever witnessed? What subtle power do you wield in your job?