Sore but Certified

To start with, the certification guy was this old southerner, who clearly had a problem with women. I don't like being one of those gals that thinks that everyone's against me because I'm a girl, so I'm only saying this because I had a feeling this was the case but then my boss brought it up, entirely unprovoked.

I kindda got the feeling immediately. The guy, my boss, and myself were having an "opening meeting". And every time I asked the guy a question, he would answer, without looking at me at all, and one time he finished by gesturing toward my boss and saying (notice the quotes) " so to answer your question, Boss's Name..." I wasn't super insulted by it at the time. I just thought this guy doesn't like women, and I thought it was kindda funny. Glasses that made him look like a fish. And all of the body language and mannerisms of someone who mail ordered a wife. The kind of mannerisms that no one would find endearing and only women sold into his clutches would tolerate. Uber dweeb with something to prove.

Ever since I got to this job my primary role has been "operations development", meaning I was writing all of the Standard Operating Procedures and Quality Manuals and lab forms, etc. Basically, I set up the entire quality system at our company, and I did it following, from the point-of-view of someone who sits outside of the certification body, difficult as hell rules straight out of the Federal Registrar!

Part of the problem is that I was supposed to make a quality system based on the "guidance" of this certification body. But they (nor other certification bodies, as it turns out) never define the terms they use, and often times they uses the same term in about 3 different ways. The example that comes to mind is "demonstration of capability". This term means that our equipment is proven to measure we say it does. It also means that our analysts have demonstrated that they can perform our experiment in a statistically reproducible way. It also means that the laboratory has the infrastructure in place to handle incoming client samples.

So the guy says he wants to see our policy on demonstration of capability, and I ask, Are you interested in our policy on analyst DOC or the instrumentation? To which he rolls his eyes (in a VERY GRATUITOUS way) and repeats himself, raising his voice and getting in my face a little. Of course I have a problem in which I mimic behaviors, and this situation escalates for two more instances of his repeating himself. So I just pick one to show him. He reads it, and starts belittling me saying it wasn't what he wanted and he's never had such a hard time dealing with a laboratory and blah blah blah. And I say, It's not in my interest to give you a hard time. But it would be helpful if you could clarify a little more about what exactly you are interested in. Then I say, maybe if you show me your checklist so I can see what you're referring to I can save us all some time. (Of course I was trying to say diplomatic words, but I was saying them aggressively enough that it was making my boss, who was in the room at the time, nervous.)

So then after that day (Wednesday), my boss, our lab tech, and myself (the fourth of our crew was on his family vacation) went out for a few drinks, and my boss kept going on and on about how the guy really was out of line, which made me a little ok, but still really annoyed.

Anyway, the second day with the certification guy worked out fine. We refused to give him any coffee (he drank 16 cups within 4 hours the day before) and then he was a bit more personable toward me, at least.

In the end, we were certified, but I still don't know what lesson I should take away from all of this? Let people beat you up verbally and hope you get what you want out of the deal in the end? Even with all of my hard work paying off and getting our place certified, it still culminated into an emotional and disappointing end.