sexist email phone call

i was sitting at a table and in the next room there was a meeting going on. all the higher-ups from my library were there (pc, cc, bw, etc.) and my auntie s was there, too. i could not hear them talking but could catch a glimpse of them through the open door that separated our two rooms.

i decided it would be a good idea to pick up the phone (a big clunky one like this) to call and get directions to pack forest for a library-related trip i'd be taking.

i called and a woman answered. i identified myself and asked for directions. the woman told me that the best way to get directions was to send an email. "you should send an email. or you could send one from your wife's account" she said. i wondered if she thought i was a man. "um, i don't have a wife" i said. and was then hit with what i felt was the blatant sexism in her email comment. "what does my gender have to do with having an email account?!" i demanded. i continued, "i want you to know that's the most sexist thing anyone has said to me all day!" i was furious. (i was making assumptions that she was making assumptions about my tech-savviness based on my gender. but i wasn't sure she knew which gender i was. still, i was mad.)

my aunt came out of the library meeting and told me that everyone had heard me and that maybe i should have waited to make the call and maybe i shouldn't have spoken so loudly. especially, she said, because on the drive to the meeting she had just been talking to pc about my upcoming trip to pack forest. i was angry at being told to keep quiet and not act angry when i was--but i also remember thinking that maybe she had a point.

looking back on this dream from my rational waking standpoint, i think i might have overreacted. i vow that in future dreams i will try to show more restraint.