Joke at my expense at networking event

[Reubensway]

I am self employed and attend various business/network events, this morning I went to one I hadn’t attended before but had heard positive things about.

There was about 25/30 people there, and it is essentially ‘chaired’ by one man. After I have my presentation about my business, he made a comment about where I am from (Liverpool). He said that anyone with their purses or wallets in front of them on the table should hide them immediately, to some muffled laughter from a few others.

Am I being unreasonable to expect professional standards as opposed to stereotypical jokes? I won’t return to this particular meeting.

Yes if you claim not to understand the joke and ask them to explain you can make things very awkward for them. I often do that with snide remarks. Love it.

So what did you say in response OP?

But not in a professional setting. This just isn’t acceptable at business events. OP would have been humiliated and it completely undermined her goal to meet industry contacts and secure new business.

Fellow Scouser here.
“Old in his ways, isn’t he?” exposes him as outdated, cliched and misogynistic. Put it in written feedback.
He put you down because he’s jealous of you.
In response to any man who denigrates me I always think of what they most don’t want to hear then say it. See it, say it, sort it à la Merseyrail!

Exactly. Love your username by the way ❤

Exactly. Great people, little thin on skin.

oops, sorry, I meant to quote @KittyWilkinson who has an awesome username.
I'm afraid I totally disagree with you. We're not thin-skinned. We can take a ribbing in the right setting. What he did was low and unprofessional. I'm with Kitty. Up the washhouse!

Nope, I'd be annoyed too. One joke maybe lands with friends, but doing it to a guest you've just met at a business event is pretty amateur stuff. I'd skip that group and move on.

I can only comment on my experiences and stuff I've witnessed online. But I didn't meet everyone in or from the city and I am open to changing my mind. The people I met were very kind, they looked after the people, the person, not the man. I liked them.

Maybe it was a bit much, especially if the presenter hadn't met OP before or didn't know her very well. He would have been nicer to put her at ease. But I still think that in general we need the ability to pull each others leg gently.

I would have said, and have done so before.

You must be a Sun reader I've never met one before!

Yes you guessed a fellow scouser 😊

YANBU.

I'd be tempted to send feedback along the lines of "I had heard many positive things about these events. Sadly this proved to be misleading when one of the chairs chose to resort to crude, outdated and offensive comments about me when broadcasting to the room. I will not be endorsing or patronising this organisation or event in future. I am disappointed that my positive views of you and your organisation did not match the reality on this occasion. Please remove my name and company from your mailing list and any future correspondence."

🥱 You should have told him that he forgot to say, "Mind your hubcaps, pal?"

I would, but then I’m an American so I’m used to defending myself against English insults.

Absolutely shocking, happened to me once, put my hand in my bag, got my phone out and said "its for you, its the 80s, they want their joke back"

What a dickhead.
Definitely feedback to organisers

It's not about being thin-skinned. The remark was made by a senior professional in a work environment, in front of other delegates who did not know the OP and who were likely to be guided by what he said in their treatment of the OP, and for the purpose of laughter at the OP's expense. This took it beyond the level of "harmless banter".

Yes, I'm coming around to thinking that the speaker didn't know OP well and it was probably an ill judged joke at a time OP was maybe a bit nervous. I still think we all need to be a little more thick skinned but it would likely have been better had he left it out.

Oh the irony….

The fact is that he's shown himself up. People who believe these stereotypes will go along with it and those that don't, will think the less of him.

I used to hear this all the time (thankfully I wfh now) along with 'jokes' about finding your car with no tires, comments about 'self-pity city', and other things that I wont repeat, all in professional settings, all in the name of bantz mate. I have alternatively raised the issue later or commented there and then that the first time I heard that joke it wasn't funny. It became very tired very old and very stale very quickly.

Not sure why as pp put, I should have to gracefully accept being the butt of the jokes by virtue of the city I was born in.

I would raise it with the organisers if possible.

Wouldn’t bother me as all he did was make himself look like a complete and utter tit

if I heard that the only person I would judge and it would be reflect badly was him

I’m a scouser and I’m so sick of this.
Make a complaint.
What an odious man.

Outdated? Was it ever accurate?

Shock and surprise, probably.

Liverpuddlians are just about the nicest people you’ll meet. That man was an idiot and wholly unprofessional.