In thinking my manager is hugely insensitive for wearing these things into work?

[Mandarinthyme]

Our department head is very young and glamorous and is fairly new to the company. We know her salary range as it was stated alongside the job advert (a six figure salary whilst the rest of the team are lucky to earn a quarter of that). Every day she swans in to the office like she’s dressed for the catwalk, different designer handbags (the very obvious types - think Gucci, LV etc), Rolex watch, Cartier bracelets, designer belts and shoes. Not to mention the perfect nails, hair and everything else that we just cannot afford these days.

Meanwhile our large team is underpaid and overworked. The recent financial climate means many of us are struggling to heat our homes, worrying about mortgage/rental price hikes and generally having to really cut back. We are all office based and this is something we talk about frequently in conversation, so she’s completely aware of this. She’s previously had the cheek to say that we are all feeling the pinch given the financial situation, which is an absolute insult when she rubs her wealth in our faces 5 days a week.

AIBU in feeling completely incensed by this and wondering how on earth she can think it’s appropriate?! The whole team are upset with this and considering raising it with HR.

Backed up by countless studies showing that men collaborate better and mixed sex teams still collaborate better than women working with other women.

It's her human rights to wear what she wants so long as the dress code is okay. You are behaving like a bunch of bullies.

Countless studies....by men?
Sounds like sexist nonsense to me.
Women have been socialised to cooperate more than men, and do so in most work and social situations.
I suggest this ghastly workplace is an anomaly.
It's like nowhere I've ever worked.

Please go to HR - then they can rightly do you for bullying the poor woman. As many PP have said, you have no idea what her circumstances are. I’ve worked in many places where people have had a much higher budget than me - I haven’t wasted my time thinking about it. Instead I channelled my energy in working hard & moving up the ladder so I could afford to buy things I liked too. You should try it!

You’ll get a shock if you ever look in a rural school car park. One of my colleagues is a farmer’s wife and wouldn’t be able to get to her front door for six months of the year if she didn’t drive a 4x4. Stupid judgemental nonsense.

Yes but is the view on Pistonheads or whatever woman-scaredy place Galaktoboureko ventures from. His high opinion on his driving ability is terribly informing.

Hear hear

Vroom vroom

"petty drama" and "bitching" have been well worn insults to put women down and diminish their authority in the workplace.
As well you know. So stop with the "hear hear" nonsense because it's not 1973 and there are countless successful professional teams of women globally. Which men know, but many find hard to accept.

Don't tell me what to think.

Honestly, if I saw someone being that "obvious", I would assume it was fake. I don't know anyone who really has money who would be buying a load of logo stuff.

Wonder how much time OP and her colleagues spend bitching when they should be working? Think I'd be careful about that tbh

Oh, you don't need to be told anything.
Most men completely understand the issues unless they're stuck in the past.

What on earth are you on about. I've worked with enough bitches in my time to know I would have rather worked with men. Your attitude sums it up.

Indeed. A woman with an opinion.

Yes and not liking a fellow woman having a different opinion to yours. Talk about uptight.

There's a reason she is more successful than you and your colleagues.......see if you can work it out

and no, its nothing to do with her work attire 🙄

Careful now ... It's getting silly.

Yes you're unreasonable. Understand that people dress for success. Work hard and can spend money on what they want and wear what they want when they want to. Want a salary you can buy this stuff on then work for it

I've just googled "men collaborate better than women work " and the first page doesn't show a single study to support this. Although men Arte blood good at getting the credit.

www.theladders.com/career-advice/men-or-women-this-study-found-out-who-is-better-at-collaboration
www.linkedin.com/pulse/women-more-collaborative-men-competitive-david-shindler
hbr.org/2018/07/in-collaborative-work-cultures-women-carry-more-of-the-weight
www.chicagobooth.edu/review/teamwork-counts-more-men-women
www.researchgate.net/publication/228196582_The_Role_of_Gender_in_Team_Collaboration_and_Performance
www.oreilly.com/library/view/leadership-in-action/9781604915136/c1-1.html

Should I stop wearing my wedding ring be a tae another colleague is recently divorced? Should tell my colleague to put away pictures if they’re children because I can’t have kids? Where does it stop?

No. You are conflating normal behaviour with an ostentatious display.

Define normal behaviour ..in this context!

@BashfulClam don't joke. On another parenting website I was on people liked to post pictures of their wedding days. I didn't but I sometimes said it was a nice dress or something.

There were snipes from people who wanted to get married but whose men wouldn't propose, saying these women were rubbing their noses in it. There were quite a few angry and tearful rows and in the end the brides just stopped