Luxury Car Owner Throws Money On Female Attendant: Privilege Or Pride?

China reported a humiliating incident in which a motorist threw a few notes on the ground to pay a female employee at the gas station. The video of the incident has gone viral and fumed internet users.

According to the video, a luxury car owner reached a gas station in China to refuel the tank. The employee at the station who was a female immediately did her duty and filled the petrol in the car. However, when she asked for the payment, the car owner threw a few notes on the ground for her to collect. Although the employee collected, she broke down into tears when the car left.

This has enraged the internet and has garnered criticism for the car owner and sympathy for the attendant. Some sent out love and hugs for the attendant while others demanded strict actions against the car owner.

The incident not only shows the poor behaviour of a haughty person but also the underrepresentation of not-so-rich workers. It shows how privilege is often misused to show its greatness over underprivileged and marginalised groups. This behaviour is not new or restricted to this video. In our daily lives also we witness such behaviours.

For example, I have seen a high-caste woman throwing a bottle of water towards a lower-caste worker who was thirsty. The woman didn’t want to get in touch with the worker or come near their shadow. Moreover, we often come across cases in which people are not allowed to come near certain wells or gardens or seths just because they belong to a marginalised section.

Car Owner Throws Money On Female Attendant At Gas Station

Why do people misuse their privilege? Why don’t people understand that privilege comes with the responsibility of empowering and helping marginalised groups?

It cannot be ignored that the incident in question raises concerns about gender discrimination too. The fact that the attendant was a female explains a lot about the behaviour of the car owner. The attendant was doubly discriminated against for her employment status and gender. For the car owner, the attendant not only belonged to the lower class but a subjugated gender too.

This is not an isolated incident of people disrespecting female workers. We have often come across cases in which passengers humiliate female crew in the plane. Many air hostesses complain about misbehaviour, humiliation and harassment during work.

It is ubiquitous for people to misbehave and disrespect working women. We all have encountered incidents in which a working woman is shamed for leaving her primary duty as a domestic caregiver and choosing her ‘hobby’. Moreover, women are also ridiculed for trying to brush shoulders with men by stepping into a male-dominated field of employment.

Why aren’t working women taken seriously? Why don’t people respect women for breaking glass ceilings and earning a living for themselves? Why are working women always undermined for belonging to a suppressed gender? Why does gender come before the hard work and sincerity of working women?

It is time we realise that the people who are suppressed for being a marginalised section are humans too. They weren’t born as a lower class but were converted into the same by the divisions created by society. Be it a lower caste or a suppressed gender, it is the society that divides people into hierarchies. No one chooses to be or is born with a marginalised identity. It is time we realise that each person is going through personal struggles and so it is just unkind to humiliate them.

As far as working women are concerned, the time is changing. Society needs to accept that women are now rising from the marginalised identity assigned to them and redefining their individuality. We need to respect women for not only breaking the glass ceiling but also for being as much important humans as men.

The views expressed are the author's own.

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