It's a Woman's World

Working in an office full of women has taught me a few important things, some good and some bad:

1) Women cry. A lot. The nice thing is that if we spurt a few tears during the course of a very-stressful day, there's someone there to give you a hug and a tissue.
2) Women need to be constantly assured that they look good. This is an easy one, tell a coworker she's pretty or has a nice dress on, she'll cherish that nugget for the rest of the day. You know when she lugs out her shiny boots and struts around the office? She's fishing for a compliment, and you both will feel better if you just give it.
3) Women judge everything. The same way a woman likes to be told she looks great, she loves even more to unjustifiably, ceaselessly judge. It doesn't matter if your pants are too shiny or if you have bags under your eyes, she'll point it out, maybe even trying to hide it within a "compliment". "You look so tired," has got to be my favorite.
4) Women who are threatened by you will try the hardest to make you feel bad. (See #3.)
5) Women (the good ones, at least) have the ability to let you vent vehemently about work or personal issues, and then pretend it never happened. As long as they are trustworthy, your stories go into a vault, and then you can go back to normal. Women don't treat you like a crazy person after (like, ahem, men).
6) When you take just a little bit of time to get to know your female coworkers, they will turn into your Mama Bear and go to war for you. I don't know if this is actually true across the board, but I must say that I don't hate being "Mama Beared" by my colleagues.
7) It is important to give everyone on the team appropriate and regular praise. After all, they spend the majority of their time away from families who probably don't appreciate all the things they do at home; so why not make them feel good about what they do at work?
8) No matter what you do, or how nice you are, there will always be someone who doesn't like you. This can be hard to deal with, especially because women can be vicious. But, as Oscar Wilde said, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."