When was living in Orlando I was head of grounds keeping at a large motel. The motel owners let me do orginal music show in the large ballroom of the motel. The style of music was referred as alternative rock at the time. There was a big show coming up and I needed some strong backs to help me set up the room. A friend that worked at the front desk of the motel said she knew some people that could help me. They were living in the weekly rooms with a construction company. So I agreed to hire them.
The next day a woman and man showed up. The woman couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall, if that. She looked like a person that had a tough life and was street wise. She was noticably confident. The man on the other was average in appearance and size. So I thought I would find something easy for the woman to do and use the man for the heavy lifting. I had the woman straighten out the bar area. The man and I started moving some of the platforms but the man couldn't seem to listen to basic instructions. He wasn't very motivated to work. It wasn't going well at all. And I was starting to loose my patience.
The woman came over and ask me to let her help. But the platforms were pretty heavy so I thought they would be too heavy for the woman. She assured me that she was very strong and was used to pushing heavy wheelbarrows around on construction sites. I still wasn't sure so apparently she decided to give me a demonstration of her physical strength. She wrap her arms around my waist and picked me up and carried me for longer than was necessary to prove how strong she was.
After lunch I let the man go home and hired the woman for as long as she wanted to work. She was one of the toughest people that I have ever met. She followed instructions well but also made suggestions if she knew a trick to make something easier. This was a handy person to have around. One of the best workers I have ever met. Or a worthy business partner.
I met her husband a few days after I hired her. He was very short as well. But he was also incredibly strong. The way he carried himself made him look like a mean person that would fight at the drop of a hat. He had tattoos all over him and looked like a thug. I was afraid of him at first. He turned out to be one of the most loyal and kind hearted friends I ever had. I invited them as guest to all of the show I participated in.
That couple definitely taught me that you can't judge a book by it's cover. But I learned more than that. It changed the way I looked at women in the work place forever. There was no longer any reason for me not to assume that a woman could do anything a man could do. In fact women often proved to more cooperative and reliable than many men.