Unprofessionalism + Sexism = I don't think so.

Series of e-mails from a one-man tech operation employed by two of our clients is posted below.

Me:
"(Name of tech guy),
Our password is not working for Generic Dial-In Software for Company X. Please fix.
(My name)"

Him:
"(IP Address)
Password = (password)"


Nothing else, that was his whole e-mail. No hello, no goodbye, which is fine, we're all busy people. Turns out we had the wrong IP address. So, next round of e-mails:

Me:
"Good to know."

Him:
"We need to talk re this

I AM NOT GOING to BE SASSED BY SOME 25ISH rude woman

Please let talk"

End series. Hmmm... I guess I should have written good to know thanks, or explained that we had the wrong IP address, but I forgot that he's very sensitive, and I honestly didn't think I had offended him in any way, I didn't see how he could misconstrue a 3-word sentence.

We've had some problems with him before, where we changed something on our client's server desktop...our own software, which we've been doing for years, and he freaked out and changed our password and log-in information for our client's computer. And sent angry e-mails saying we needed to talk, and had to go through him when we made any "major changes." So, we graciously complied, even though changing someone's access codes and sending angry e-mails is unprofessional, and immaturely spiteful.

From then on, we sent him e-mails notifying him every time we updated Company X's version of our software. After the first of this type of e-mail, he became angry and sent a more polite but still mispelled e-mail asking us to warn him before we made any "major changes." His terminology, not ours. This one I understand, since he was having problems with their server. But, really, then the client should check with him before calling us and asking us to make changes. We were playing by his rules, while still serving our client.

The most recent e-mails happened today and yesterday, and I honestly don't know where he gets off implying that a young woman should not dare to reply to him with anything but abject terror of his prowess. I treated him with the same, if not more, respect that he has shown me, and have always been polite to him on the phone, in person, or in e-mails (I thought).

I don't need this. My mom is in the hospital (again), working through a blood clot two months after her leg surgery, which I haven't told my boss or coworkers, and I have other things to do at work besides kowtow to someone who seems to be coming unhinged. The spelling errors, the implication that young women are beneath him mentally or socially, and the odd half-capital, half-lowercase text suggests he wrote this e-mail without thinking of the ramifications, without censuring his keyboard, and without thought to how it would make him seem.

I have been instructed by my boss not to reply to him. I will be perfectly civil to him should he call, and will explain my reason for writing "Good to know", which I believe set him off. As a businesswoman and employee, I am taking it in stride. As a woman and a person, I am angry as hell.
Oh, and, by the way, I'm 23.