Shut Out of Hockey Talk

Once again, the Vancouver Canucks have made it to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This means, that aside from the usually weather chatter in the office with both customers and coworkers, hockey talk is the order of the day.

Every day.

You might assume that this in itself would be annoying to me. But no, I actually quite enjoy hockey. While I freely admit that the most I watch hockey is during the Olympics and during playoffs, this doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I can explain the offside rule. I know what is and what isn’t an Icing call.

But when I raise my voice to share my opinions on the calls from the previous night’s game, or the chances of a certain player stepping up, or the relative merits of different league goalies, I am most often met with a blank stare, then quickly edged out of the conversation so that the guys can continue talking in their own sports-filled world.

I don’t suggest that it is everyone, or that it is necessarily done on purpose, but it irks me. It irks me that customers bring up hockey with the guys, and only mention the weather to me, and that when I attempt to join into their conversations my thoughts are discounted. And while I admit that many of my thoughts are plucked from the twitter streams of more knowledgable hockey fans, why then are my same remarks ignored, while those are praised?

We face enough prejudices in the actions of customers every day, whether it’s older clients assuming that the men are ‘the manager’ or being referred to as ‘dearie’ or being told that I’m impressive for being ‘both cute & smart’. I’d like to face less of it from people I see, and work with, every day.

I am a girl. And I have opinions on hockey. I am a Canucks fan and I would like to talk hockey with you.

Don’t shut me out.