Optus’s website has always been one of the worst in existence, but we never knew it was sexist. But apparently it was, with a glitch not only refusing females to use the title ‘Dr’, but doing so with a message that clearly stated the title didn’t match the gender. UPDATE: The glitch apparently blocks both male and female doctors.
Doctor Rachel Cook discovered the glitch on the Optus rewards website and took the issue to Twitter. Naturally, wild online outrage ensued, Optus offered a formal apology and tweaked the message, although didn’t actually change the fact that women can’t register as Doctors.
I’m sure Optus will fix this issue in the very near future, but it’s interesting that something like this could even happen.
So if you’re a female Doctor hoping to sign up for Optus’ Rewards program, maybe give it a few days…
UPDATE: Optus sent us this statement about the glitch:
Clare Gill, General Manager, Corporate and Government Affairs said:
· Following a system upgrade to our rewards platform, an unforeseen technical coding issue is generating an error message when the title ‘Dr’ is entered during the registration process.
· The issue is not gender specific.
· Optus apologises if this has caused any inconvenience or offence, this was never our intention.
· We are working to have the issue resolved as a matter of urgency.
[Optus via Courier Mail]
Dan Miller
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:39 PMOnce when renewing my contract through Optus I put my address in and it told me that that street dose not exist.
Mr Odd
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 6:31 AMYeah, like their coverage ;)
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:39 PMMy biggest question is: How much of a self-important douche does one need to be to require themselves to be listed as a “Dr” instead of Mr or Mrs/Ms?
Get over yourself!!
That is all.
Chris
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:51 PMdude, if you’re a doctor you’ve worked hard as shit to get where you are! I’d be wanting to let everyone know that I’m a doctor had I done well over a decade at university!
Dave Lord
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 6:49 PMHey, I’m NOT a doctor, but I have also worked “hard as shit” to have a successful career. Where is my vanity title option? Why should doctors get special recognition for their choice of occupation?
Sadly, some people’s lives are defined by what they do for a job.
LucasF
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 9:54 PMHow hard? Did you work hard enough at high school to get the required score? Then spend 6 years studying medicine (and not getting paid for it) and then time doing a residency and up to another 10 years to complete a specialty??? Have you held peoples lives in your hands?
I am not a Dr either, but it seems like you are the one who needs to get over yourself (or the self you are not?]. Dr’s hold a position of importance in the community, work hard to get there, do a hard job, and deserve some respect.
That is all.
scott
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:42 PM+1
That is all.
Matt
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 10:43 AMLord douche of troll has a nice ring to it…want that one?
Jubbing
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 6:23 AMOh shut up.
Trjn
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:55 PMThe form asks for a title and if someone has earned the right to have “Dr” as an honorific, then it is the correct title for them to use in this form.
That’s not being self-important.
At my old work there was a client who was in our database who had “Royal Prince” (or some variation) as his title. Considering he was a non-direct descendant of a (no longer ruling) European royal family, that would be considered self-important.
This is just being correct.
Warren
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:09 PMActually if a Doctor is very good they usually go back and call themselves Mr (or Mrs) again, my surgeon introduced himself as Mr and I then found this out. Perhaps Optus just assume that all female Dr’s should be called Mrs. If this was social networking the system wouldn’t allow two males to be linked as ‘married’ and btw… Mandatory fields are marked with a ‘*’ – Yeah, like ALL of them!
MrTaco
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:47 PMActually, I’m pretty sure I’ve read a thing about surgeons actually being titled Mr/Mrs/Miss, not Dr. Something about harking back to the days when the local barber often doubled as a surgeon, or something like that.
Vebi
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:45 PMCorrect. Surgeons in Australia are called Mr due to their origins as the barbers. As far as I know, no other physicians (okay, so surgeons aren’t technically physicians) call themselves Mr.
LucasF
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 9:56 PMI have only observed this phenomenon in Melbourne. But yes, surgeons here usually are referred to as Mr and not Dr.
Cardiackevin
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:29 PMUsing the “Dr” title can work against you. As a doctor and self-important douche myself, I usually reserve it for professional use and prefer “Mr” for personal use, especially when I’m booking flights (“Dr, can you please help with the passenger in seat 37C?), and when dealing with tradesmen, who I’ve noticed like to add what I call the “Dr tax” to their quotes, once they find out what I do…
Having said that, my Optus bills come addressed to “Dr”.
felicitous blue
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:27 PMSpot on.
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:47 PMThanks, this was my point. I wasn’t calling all Doctors douches, just this one who went rampant publicly over such an insignificant point.
Dr. Dre
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:42 PMPleassseee……
NONDR
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 9:03 PMStooge! If your a DR why not put DR
dork
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 2:55 PMYou’re saying people who have PhD’s or a doctor of medicine are douches if they prefer to use their correct title?
Sounds like you’re the churlish baby who is too thick to get a PhD.
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:44 PMNo, I am saying people who make a big fuss and cry on Twitter about not being able to call themselves Doctor on a TELEPHONE bill are douches.
And before you go getting all high and mighty on me, I actually do work in a life-saving field and often am put in life threatening positions to save other people.
scott
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:57 PMBouncer?
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:03 PMNice try.
Daniel Timmons
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:26 PMBut have you ever opened up someone’s chest, pried the ribs apart and then chemically stopped the heart for a period of time while stitching a vein taken from their leg to their cardiac arteries and then putting it all back together and have the patient live at the end of it all?? I saw a guy do this. It was AWESOME, something I will never forget.
And sure, in this modern society title might not mean much. But I think that for what they do, a title is the least of what they deserve.
Having said that he was a mister, because he had become a surgical consultant… but the point still stands.
RickJames
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:02 PMSeems like a small glitch. I’d be curious to see if a female CAN list as ‘Mr.’ as though the exception is in the wrong place.
cleverclogs
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:03 PMTall poppy syndrome much LyndonL?
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:37 PMNot even slightly. All respect to Doctors who are good at their job (mind you good Doctors are becoming few and far between lately in my experience – mind you that can be said about all trades since peoples care factor is in the toilet in modern Australia), and I’ll gladly address them as Dr in the clinic. I don’t see how it is relevant to call them Doctor out in the public space though.
It’s like a pilot for example: They may be addressed as Captain on the flight deck, but does he need to be addressed as Captain in public? No.
My issue with this is that they are so upset about not being able to call themselves Dr (Yes, I get that the main problem was with sexism) on a freaking telephone form where it holds no relevance. HENCE get over yourself :)
scott
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:51 PMSo now you’re a judge of a good doctor LyndonL? Yet you choose to appropriate the respect they’re entitled if they choose when you think it is fitting? I think you should leave that determination to those of suitable intelligence.
By the way, unless you are aware of how Optus’ systems use title attribute, you should leave commenting on that alone to. … its needed for the Optus doctor discount obviously…
LyndonL
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:10 PMYes I am a judge of a good doctor. I have had at least 2 people undergo surgeries lately in which one nearly lost their life due to malpractice (yes lawsuit is underway). Are you saying you don’t have the competence to assess someone who is performing a certain task?
And if it’s a billing issue, then she could quite happily have picked up a telephone and called them to sort out the problem. Going LIVE ON TWITTER is the issue here, and is what I take offence to.
The world has lost touch with what’s important and it’s sad. The article the other week about the kids who were on Facebook saying “Fuck you Mom I want an iPhone” is imo in the same pot.
I’m really surprised everyone is attacking me and thinking her actions are justified. Astonished really, and my faith in Australia is waining by the day.
Van77
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 1:32 PMDidn’t you know that Australia is a nation of opinionated bullies? And the very worst bullies are the institutionalised feminasties. Any smell of a possible offence against their sensibilities and they will come down on you like the black plague. But it looks like the doctor fan club runs a close second.
HoRuS
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:27 PMObviously you aren’t a good ‘JUDGE’ of anything with your closed minded brain of yours. I dont think LyndonL was judging doctors in general but the status needed to be put on a phone bill. Wouldn’t someone ‘suitably intelligent’ understand that?
I have a PhD in accounting i dont go putting Dr on my bill lol
Van77
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 12:44 AMLooks like there are a few snooty doctors and doctor suckholes who can’t handle a bit of backchat. Of course doctors are worthy of respect. Dr Jayant Patel for a start – he earnt his title, to be sure. Then there’s Dr Phil, a global ambassador for the medical profession if there ever was one. And finally there’s Dr Evil who once said “I didn’t spend five years at evil medical school to be called ‘Mr’, thank you very much!”
light487
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:10 PMIt’s the database/variable settings. It’s not something purposefully (though someone might have thought it would be funny I gues) went in a refused to allow females to register as doctors.. it’s just a, as the article says, glitch.. a mismatch of database variables.. nothing more. To take offense/exception to this in such a way that this, supposeduly educated, individual did is really what I find exceptional.
And yes.. if someone spent 7+ years at university to “earn” the right to call themselves a Doctor, they should have the same right to choose that option.
TonyInTsv
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:25 PMThat will be thanks to the influence of Optus’ Singaporean owners.
mavx4
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:10 PMok……..what does that have to do with anything?
care to elaborate?
Troy
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:26 PMHa, thats just gold. Telstra’s siebel system has the option of choosing an igloo as an address, amongst a huge list of other things that I can’t remember.
Andy
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 3:59 PMWorst websites in existence? Have you seen the one for the South Australian branch of One Nation?
http://sa.onenation.com.au/
Johnny P
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:05 PMDefinitely on the crap end of quality websites. Most porn sites look better than that
Adam
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:13 PMWhy did I just click that!! my eyes are bleeding!
billy
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:26 PMomg !!! what !! did a 5 tr old kid make that site, nooooooooooo even a 5 yr old could do better ..omg hahahahahahahahaha
lol@that
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:04 PMhahahaha…really? So geocities circa 1997. Jesus
smurfydog
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:19 PMThat was painful! Hillarious, but painful.
Michael
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:59 PMThe entire One Nation site is like that. Made with FrontPage. I was expecting a MIDI to start playing.
BenS
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:46 PMThe worst thing is the “updated 13th December 2011″. WTF?! #epicfail
Sicarius123
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:46 PMI bet she didn’t try ticking Male to see if it worked before having a feminazi whinge on the internet.
InformedGamer
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:52 PMAs I commented on News.com.au – The bug occurs on both males and females with the Dr title. Talk about jumping the gun
Kroo
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:40 PMThe Optus website has always been a dog to navigate and if you use multiple services with them, you can’t use a single ID to login to view accounts or bills. I scream just thinking about. Their mobile service has become a dog too. Get your act together Optus. Shape up or ship out!
az
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:53 PMso why not update the title now that the bug is recognised as occurring for both genders?
MattW
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:10 PMIf they are hooking up the title and gender fields, why do they ask for both?
LucasF
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:03 PMGood Point!!!
Over It
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 7:18 PMThis is a very small mistake – I’ve worked for Telcos in the past, this is a very small and simple error to make, I’m sure if the customer called up Optus they would have been able to put the correct title in.
This issue is about as significant as someone not shaving before going to their regular desk job!
Graham
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 8:42 PMBig deal. Mountain out of a microscopic molehill.
Ramone
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 8:45 PMAfter 14 years with Optus I made a ( now known as a very bad ) decision to move to Telstra . Little did I realize that the Taliban where well and truly alive in Australia . Telstra is actually shorthand for Taliban . They are woeful . A disgrace . Bringers of much unhappiness to anyone who use it . They , Telstra are total utter rubbish . Thank God the Federal Gillard Government change the Consumer protection laws in Australia on January 1 st 2011 regarding goods and services . I will be using such protection against the Telstra Taliban in the very near future . Stuff Telstra .. They are total utter Rubbish .
LucasF
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:01 PMI work with databases and other related stuff, and I struggle to see how this could happen. There are NO gender specific jobs that I can think of so it wouldn’t even be worthwhile coding the validation between gender and occupation. Meanwhile I see no other fields on the screen shot above of tje form that could have a similar type of validation. So what is there to be mismatched??? Unless its a 3rd party product I assume some coder at optus and to write that validation message !?!?!? Very odd.
zac
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 10:52 PMProbably to do with titles such as “Mr” and “Mrs”
Stupid but unlikely to be intentional.
Drew
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 12:14 AMThis comment has been deemed inappropriate and has been deleted