Brad & Dellwen are seeking "Male Help." Women get offended.

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Brittany Hunt was walking along Magazine Street after work when she saw the sign.

The words were written in black and green marker on a plain white shopping bag hanging inside the door of a shop, big block letters jumping out at passers-by: "MALE HELP WANTED."

Hunt stopped. She took some photos, shrugged it off and kept walking. But the words stuck with her.

The sign was discriminatory against women and there was a good chance it was illegal, too, she thought.

"It's their prerogative to hire a man," Hunt said. "It's just the blatant advertising of it in a discriminatory way that I think is hostile to all women."

Charles Wendell, an owner at Brad & Dellwen Flag Party at the corner of Jackson Avenue and Magazine Street, who posted the sign about a week ago, said he has every right to advertise for a male employee.

He and his partner, Brad Stewerwald, opened their flag, kite and gift shop a decade ago and currently have no employees.

Now both men are in their 70s and need help with day-to-day tasks, from lifting heavy boxes filled with merchandise to climbing ladders to hang new flags from the ceiling and fix things around the shop. It is hard work and requires physical strength, he said.

"We feel like it's a man's job," Wendell said. "I don't feel like it's a woman's job."

Hunt posted a picture of the sign on her Facebook account Tuesday after approaching Wendell to ask if he could remove the sign and replace it with a gender-neutral call for help. Hunt said she was told to leave the store after a short, "aggressive" conversation.

Wendell said Hunt was "arrogant" in her approach. The store is doing nothing wrong, he said.

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