As I have suspected in the past, some people can be singularly sneaky and underhanded in their discrimination against others. I'm not talking about racism or sexism, but superficial discrimination. It's something I've been facing for years in my search for employment, but this latest experience has me pissed, but not only that, it has me defeated.
I applied for a tour manager position with an education tour group of excellent repute a while back, and they were quick to offer me an interview spot. I have the qualifications and the experience, so I figured things were looking good. They asked that I bring a picture of myself to the interview, so I printed off my best picture and then braved the horrendous weather on Valentine's Day, in the middle of reading week, to go to their downtown offices and fill out a number of invasive question sheets and sit through a short interview. After the interview they said I would hear about the position within the next week, and I left feeling pretty good about the whole thing.
When a phone call, email or letter didn't show up the next week, I began to get a niggling suspicion that all was not well with my application. And sure enough, this evening when I got home from school, a letter from the tour company was waiting for me. It was a very thin letter, so I knew without even opening it what was inside.
I realized after reading the letter what had happened; it had happened before, what was different about this situation? They had asked for a picture and that should have been my first clue. It didn't matter how good my qualifications were or how much experience I had; I'm fat, and obviously didn't have the stamina or physical fitness to guide a group of pre-teens around a city for 3 or 4 days.
I just hate that. It takes a lot of physical strength and fitness to move around a body like mine for 20 years, and I haven't suffered for it like some other overweight people I know. My height is an advantage because it means my weight is distributed more evenly, but still, I have excellent endurance. So yes, I feel discriminated against, and they're small, petty people for feeling that way. My friends say it's their loss.
Well, guess what, kids! It's mine too.
-Laur
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2 comments:
ohhh laura that makes me SO SO MAD!!! i hate shallow judgemental people. try being brown and wearing a scarf and trying to get employment! same deal. it makes me very very angry. i wish people weren't so stupid. but they are. i can't believe they asked you for a picture!! i would have questioned that right off the bat. HONESTLY. im always so qualified for anything i apply to but same thing -- they take one look at me and decide they'd be better off without me. anywho. im sorry. oh and when i read "i'm fat" i was like WHAT? FAT? hahaha. you caught me so off guard - i didn't even notice that. see? some people don't care what you look like on the outside. some people.
there goes a rant of my own! i'm good for rants.
love you....keep smiling ok? we must defeat the shallow ones! :)
Laura,
as someone who knows the wonders of being a member of the fat community, I can tell you to keep fighting the good fight. Sometimes there are shallow people (usually the same ones who got away with being jerks to fat people in elementary school) but they are not all like that, just like not all people are racist, sexist, whatever. Try to keep an open mind, and DO NOT let yourself go into an interview with the idea that they will be prdjudiced against you, because that will cause you to not stand upright and be proud of who you are. Yes, you missed out. But you will find something else, and they will only suffer for not knowing you.
CHUB LOVE!!!!
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