How good do you look?

[LadyJeanne]

But, then we're qualifying job performance. Assuming all candidates are sufficiently skilled to perform the job... who do you accept?

Honestly? It really wouldn't matter. The food quality, location, and the friends I'm going with are all much more important than what the staff looks like.

But I know that's not your point. You want me to say, all other things being equal, I'd go to the place with the good looking people. Sorry. I just don't think that way.

 

[Kyle Beguiled]

But I know that's not your point. You want me to say, all other things being equal, I'd go to the place with the good looking people. Sorry. I just don't think that way.

With gas prices these days, show me to the closest restaurant.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

I can see why EEOC laws are necessary and why they don't believe anti-discrimination laws will really help much when people are judged by appearance.

Appearance is as much a thing of concern as how one dresses in a work-place environment and whether someone can articulate themselves well. Not all jobs require those traits, I can think of several that would have little use for them at all, but many jobs and businesses succeed or fail on a thousand tiny fronts that have to be won or lost at the end of the day. Losing a customer because someone is rude to them (somewhat controllable), because someone smells very bad (somewhat controllable), because someone dresses sloppily and unprofessionally (somewhat controllable), because someone has extremely poor personal appearance (somewhat controllable)... it's not mean-ness, but you're right, it is judgement.

Employers HAVE to judge when hiring. That is the very nature of the process. The better managers are the ones with better judgement.

I'm surprised you weren't sued after explaining to someone you weren't hiring him because he was fat.

I've never done that, so no suprise is really necessary. I've hired someone because I believed they could cope physically with the demands of the job, but I've never NOT hired someone because they were fat. An important (and not arbitrary) distinction I wish more people who apply for work would realize is that it's not that I owe you shit. I don't owe you a job. I don't decide to "not give" you a job. I have a job that I need filled with the best possible candidate. If you are turned down, it's not because I took away your job, it's because there was someone that could do the job better.

And there's no such thing as a healthy tan.

I very much disagree. Not medically, but socially... there is such a thing as a healthy tan.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Honestly? It really wouldn't matter. The food quality, location, and the friends I'm going with are all much more important than what the staff looks like.

But I know that's not your point. You want me to say, all other things being equal, I'd go to the place with the good looking people. Sorry. I just don't think that way.

Unfortunately, as a small business entrepreneur in America, I have to think that way if I want to take Human Resources seriously, and I have to take Human Resources seriously if I'm going to make a profit or lose money.

A great thing that you aren't image conscious, I haven't the luxury of counting on the rest of the people being so.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I'd argue that it depends on the business. There are some businesses where attractive staff help; there are others where they can be something of a detriment. People have different images of bankers than waitresses, or of doctors than hairdressers. Too, people don't always look for the same thing. Young folk looking for a night of excitement might well aim for a place with flashy, stylish waitstaff. Older people looking for a quiet evening are just as likely to avoid it. Market segmentation is an interesting thing; I think that the most important thing that it teaches one is that there is no "Holy Grail" of commercial success.

Shanglan

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . People have different images of bankers than waitresses. . .

Right.

Bankers can run about goosing the tellers and all that happens is a few cents more white-out is required.

If waitresses were to do that to the cooks there would be a hellacious bill, for the broken crockery, to be paid.

 

[BlackShanglan]

You've certainly made a career in banking sound a great deal more appealing.

 

[kendo1]

What a pretty horse

 

[kendo1]

What a pretty horse
And with brains too

 

[Boxlicker101]

Right.

Bankers can run about goosing the tellers and all that happens is a few cents more white-out is required.

If waitresses were to do that to the cooks there would be a hellacious bill, for the broken crockery, to be paid.

Actually, I suspect that restaurant managers goose waitresses a lot more than bank managers goose tellers.

If the cook is a man, he might actually enjoy being goosed by an attractive waitress, as long as he was't carrying something heavy at the time.

If I were hiring somebody for a job not involving public contact and an applicant came in perfectly coifed, groomed and clad with a tan like Zonker Harris, I would probably not hire him or her. I would figure that this was a vain person, probably lies around a lot to have a tan like that, and would worry too much about appearance and not enough about work.

Just my most recent two cents worth.

 

[BlackShanglan]

What a pretty horse
And with brains too

Goodness, I am absurdly flattered.

What a trenchantly perceptive human. I respect that in a man.

Shanglan

 

[kendo1]

Personally,I'll always hire a pretty face...it's good for sales
Helps if they have brains too
Two legs rather than four

 

[DrFreud]

But I know that's not your point. You want me to say, all other things being equal, I'd go to the place with the good looking people. Sorry. I just don't think that way.

Then you're not a good statistical sample of the population. But the snake kinda suggested that

DrF

 

[BlackShanglan]

Then you're not a good statistical sample of the population.

Genius never is.

 

[DrFreud]

Genius never is.

Of course. I meant to imply that LJ is quite special and that studies don't always reflect your personal experiences since they only deal with statistical data.

DrF

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Genius never is.

Neither is idiocy or midgets.

 

[Liar]

Neither is idiocy

You've never tried working in a tech support, have you?

 

[BlackShanglan]

You've never tried working in a tech support, have you?

*laugh*

 

[Poussin]

.....

 

[LadyJeanne]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who's the fairest of them all?
The banker, the salesman, the techie, the cook?
It matters, we know, how deep you look.
The view that's there before your eyes,
a surface skimmed and summarized?
The view that's found alive within,
a mind revealed beneath the skin?
What do you choose?
What will you see?
What might you lose
if you don't see me?



Shanglan and Dr Freud:

 

[DrFreud]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who's the fairest of them all?
The banker, the salesman, the techie, the cook?
It matters, we know, how deep you look.
The view that's there before your eyes,
a surface skimmed and summarized?
The view that's found alive within,
a mind revealed beneath the skin?
What do you choose?
What will you see?
What might you lose
if you don't see me?



Shanglan and Dr Freud:

* shudders in awe *


DrF

 

[Dar~]

obviously damned good, b/c I get paid in sweet 3 year old I love yous and baby smiles.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

The assumption here is that good looking people feel self-confident, while unattractive people have inferiority complexes. In the real world, this is not necessarily the case.

An attractive person can be made to feel self-conscious by the reactions of other people to their appearance, and unattractiveness is not proof against developing a pleasing personality.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The assumption here is that good looking people feel self-confident, while unattractive people have inferiority complexes. In the real world, this is not necessarily the case.

An attractive person can be made to feel self-conscious by the reactions of other people to their appearance, and unattractiveness is not proof against developing a pleasing personality.

This is true; looks are not always the most important thing but, they can be a distinct asset. In some things, like a centerfold model, looks are the only thing.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

This is true; looks are not always the most important thing but, they can be a distinct asset. In some things, like a centerfold model, looks are the only thing.

Sometimes, even then, there is less than meets the eye.