Madame President? - Part Two
This is Part Two of my series on Madame President? Right after I wrote the 1st Chapter, Tucker did an interview and said that he believes female leaders are more bloodthirsty and murderous than men. The timing couldn’t be better.
TUCKER: "One thing I've learned just from this whole last five years is that female leaders are not what I thought they were. When I was a kid in the 70s, you used to hear feminists say, give a woman a chance, you know, it'll be a more peaceful world, which is not a crazy idea.
I mean, all the women in my life are peaceful and loving. And so I kind of thought that's probably true, actually, you know, men fight wars and all that, women don't.
But then we wind up with all these female leaders who are the most warlike and bloodthirsty and just can't wait to murder people. They just can't wait. You can see it. Look at women like Hillary Clinton, Victoria Nuland, Susan Rice and Liz Cheney - they are all warlike."
This is a perfect example of why I think women need to have a conversation about what it really means to be a leader. Because I don't think we've got it figured out yet. And pretending that we do is a recipe for disaster. This is why I’m writing this article and telling you my life experience. To help us all do just that.
After my abortion, I started working harder at a new advertising agency - which was a much larger firm than my first job. I was hired by the Media Director because of my experience with the Telmar system - that I mentioned earlier.
At that time I was pretty much the only person in the Twin Cities who was trained on the Telmar system - so I had that going for me.
My boss was a male this time - a tiny Arabic man named Ahmed. He was recently hired by the agency owners (Larry & Leonard) from a large, famous New York advertising agency and was allegedly brought to Minneapolis to help make the Twin Cities more sophisticated and turn it into a hub for advertising agencies.
There were NO men in the media department except for Ahmed - the Director. There were 2 female supervisors (Becky & Bonnie) and I was just a research lackey.
Ahmed asked me to attend a Telmar conference in New York and I was thrilled. I had never been to New York and never even flown on a commercial plane. Ahmed told me that he planned to be in New York BEFORE the conference and AFTER the conference because he was meeting with people from his OLD firm in New York to seek their advice and counsel.
Ahmed also told me that he had booked me at the conference already - and had asked the HR department to take care of my air travel and hotel reservations, at the Waldorf Astoria, where he was staying and where the conference was being held. The head of HR, a female, said it was taken care of and gave me my plane tickets. Ahmed said I should take a cab from the airport to the hotel and he would help me get checked in. I was 22 years old and had been married a very short time.
When I got to New York, the cab driver seemed to take forever to get to the hotel but we finally did arrive. I was excited and nervous at the same time.
When I got to the hotel, Ahmed was waiting in the lobby with a weird grin on his face. He pulled me aside and said “There has been a mix up. There are no hotel rooms left for you. They are overbooked. I’m so sorry. But, don’t worry, you can have MY hotel room AFTER I leave. Let’s go out to dinner and I’ll show you around New York and then I will leave tonight to go back to Minneapolis and all will be well.”
I was shocked and didn’t know what to say so I just followed his lead. I knew no one in New York but my boss, Ahmed, and this was obviously in the days before cell phones. I don’t think I even carried a credit card with me.
Ahmed quickly took my bag and we went to the elevator. We got to HIS room and there was one king bed and the room looked clean and empty. He put my bag on the floor and we left immediately for dinner.
We walked around Times Square and Ahmed pointed out several landmarks to me. It was obvious he knew New York quite well. Then, he took my arm and led me into a restaurant for dinner that he said had just opened, he frequented often and he loved.
We were seated and it was something I’d never seen before - there were transvestites dancing and swinging, people doing drugs openly and other forms of “adult entertainment” and glitter falling from the ceiling. I guess today you’d call that “disco hedonism.” I just thought it was gross.
I was feeling sick and went to the bathroom to decide what to do. I think I called my husband from a pay phone but I don’t really remember. I do remember thinking that I just need to get through this and all will be well.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and Ahmed suggested we go to a movie. I just wanted to go to sleep but he was in charge so I followed his lead. He pulled me into a dark theater and it was a porn movie. There were a handful of creepy men in the seats and Ahmed led us into a row in the middle. I watched for a minute and then left and went to the lobby. I didn’t go back in. I thought about calling somebody but I had no change left and I didn’t know what to say even if I did. Ahmed came out after about 5 minutes and asked me what was wrong. I told him I didn’t like this and wanted to leave. So, we left and walked back to the hotel.
We got to the room and I asked Ahmed if he was already packed and ready to go. He said no, there is a change of plans. He said he was unable to leave that night because his plane was delayed so he had to stay over one more night.
There was a little wet bar in the room and in the sink there were two bottles of champagne cooling in a bed of ice. I asked Ahmed where this came from. He said: “I ordered it for us.” Then, I knew the whole thing was a set up.
I said - where are you going to sleep? He said - don’t worry about that now - and then he went into the bathroom to “freshen up.”
He came out of the bathroom wearing baby blue satin pajamas, I kid you not. He was shorter than I was and I knew I could take him. I sat in a chair in the corner with legs crossed and he brought me a glass of champagne and even tried to make a toast. I was not amused.
I said, “What are you doing? Aren’t you married? You came to my wedding!”
Ahmed said “Yes, I’m married but nobody knows what happens behind closed doors. We are away and we can play. In my culture, this is acceptable.”
I said, “Ahmed, I have no desire to play with you and if you put one finger on me I swear I will break your neck. I don’t care if you’re my boss or not.” I was dead serious.
He looked sweaty and confused. I ended up sleeping in the chair and, when I awoke early the next morning, he was gone.
I went to the conference but I don’t really remember it. Then I flew home. I told my husband what happened and he wanted to confront Ahmed but I told him I would handle it myself.
When I got back to work, Ahmed pretended like it never happened. I worked late many nights so one night, a few days later, after Ahmed left for the day, I went into his office and rifled through his files. I found a copy of the expense report he had submitted for the trip - which showed that he lied.
He said he went to dinner and the movies with some men from his old advertising firm in New York. A lie. He claimed two rooms at the hotel - one for me and one for him. Another lie.
I made of copy of that expense report and wrote a long letter to the owners of the agency (Larry & Leonard) and told them the entire story. Leonard called me into his office and Ahmed was sitting there looking sheepish.
Leonard said: “Peggy, I’m very sorry you had to go through that. Ahmed, please apologize to Peggy and promise you’ll never do that again.”
Ahmed said: “Peggy, I’m very sorry. I will not do that again.”
I replied: “So, that’s it? What’s next?”
Leonard said: “Well, it’s up to you. I’m not sure if you feel you can still keep working for Ahmed - but we’d like to keep you at the agency - so you can transfer to another department if you like. That’s the best we can do.”
I said: “Let me think about it. I’ll get back to you.”
I contacted an attorney and told them my story and he said: “That agency is very well-respected, so is that Director. If you tell your story to the world you will never work in advertising again. You may win the battle, but you will lose the war.”
Not only that, but NONE of the women that I worked for or that ran the HR department (who knew the truth) would go to bat for me - they were too scared. They averted their eyes and pretended it didn’t happen.
So, once again I learned that men are often driven by lust and will do stupid and destructive things - but women will often NOT defend other women or protect them when given the opportunity. This is a very bad sign for female leadership.
Another strange thing is, I have learned, that as a biological woman, I sought affirmation from men for my physical appearance but wanted to be FIRST respected for my mind. Those two concepts often collide in the modern world (particularly in the workplace) and the result can create anger and disappointment in women. Not to mention the fact that an entire generation of women in America had to navigate the emotional scars of rampant abortion - post-Roe.
Is this another reason for what Tucker was talking about and why so many women have become rage filled and murderous and unwilling to protect one another? I think it’s another piece of the puzzle.
A few months later I had lunch with a man named Marc who called on me and who ran the sales department for a local radio station. I told him my story and he said, “Peg, you don’t need that garbage. You’re smart and hard-working. Come work for me and sell radio time.”
I did. The job was closer to home and my salary went up three times. Was that job without its own problems? NOPE. Did I learn something from it? YES.
Madame President? - Part One
Madame President? - Part Two
Madame President? - Part Three
Madame President? - Part Four
Madame President? - Part Five
My work is free and supported by your generous donations. Thank you to all who have donated in the past. I truly appreciate your generosity!
If you like my work, you can fund me by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack, donate by credit card here or you can send me a check to Peggy Tierney, PO Box 242, Spooner, Wisconsin 54801. Or just send me a note or a card! I love hearing from you.