Multi-tasking failures

A few years ago studies came out proving that women were better at multi-tasking then men.  We compartmentalize.  This does not mean we can't multi-task, just that men work better when the start a project, finish it and move on to the next.  Women jumped on these studies using them to justify their superiority in certain areas.  Now, I'm not one to disregard these studies, I've seen women talk on the phone and perform data entry at the same time.  However, I will also add that their data entry numbers increased when they weren't talking on the phone.  What this tells me is that, while it's true women can multi-task better then men, the complexity of those tasks does come into play.  Would you want your heart surgeon making reservations for dinner while she's opening up your chest?  Of course, it doesn't have to be a heart surgeon, it could be a dentist.  Would you want your dentist making dinner reservations while she's filling one of your cavities?  Would you want your hair stylist making an appointment to take her dog to the Vet while she's cutting your hair?  Hell no!  Now I know there are some out there who are going to point out that these are professionals and it's totally unprofessional to talk on the phone when you're with a customer, or a client, or a patient.  So, let me phrase this differently.  Would you want the woman in the car behind you talking on the phone?  If you think there's nothing wrong with that, then you're an idiot.

I bring this up because twice yesterday women talking on the phone, while driving, demonstrated unsafe behavior.  I always take I81 over to my Mom's because it cuts the driving time in half.  Just past the Progress Road exit a middle aged woman pulled in behind me.  She got close.  How close?  So close I couldn't see the front of her car in my rear view mirror.  I could clearly see, however, that she was talking on the phone.  I don't like people sitting on my ass when I drive so I shifted into the left lane to let her pass.  To my surprise, she followed me.  That's when I realized in order for her to multi-task, to drive her car and talk on her phone at the same time, she needed to be really, really close to the car in front of her.  That way she could focus on her conversation and not her driving skills.  What would have happened if I had needed to slam on my brakes?  I have no doubt, at the speed I was driving, she would have died... for a phone call.

Fantasy bullshit

Four hours later I had to hit my brakes in order to keep from being hit by a young woman who turned right in front of me.  She too was talking on her phone.  I was going west on Cumberland Road and she was going east and she turned on to Altoona.  Maybe, had she used her turn signal, I would have had some indication she was going to turn.  Unfortunately there was no turn signal and I did have to hit my brakes, and she was talking on her phone.  

Now I have no doubt that were I to ask either of these women if they were good drivers both would assert that fact.  Just as I have no doubt they believe being women means they can drive and talk on the phone at the same time because they can multi-task.  This is horse shit.  The more complicated the tasks become, the more difficult it is to perform two or more at the same time.  The picture above demonstrates my point completely.  If that toddler were screaming and hitting her with his fists, there is no way she could talk on the phone, let alone reach for an egg to fry.  That picture is a fantasy women have been using to enable their limited capabilities.  

Of course there a men who drive cars and talk on their phones, too, and they are just as stupid, I just haven't run into any of them lately.