Once upon a time in a rainy kingdom far, far away on Ye West Coast, I was a Godiva girl. No, not the riding-a-horse-naked-through-town kind (can you imagine the chafing?) but the chocolate-pimping kind. My day job was as a professor but due to my directional dyslexia I ran a stop sign and totaled my car thus necessitating a night job. I didn’t want anything that required brain power and it also needed to be temporary because I was only sticking it out until I got my car fixed.
I considered it divine intervention when I saw the help wanted sign on a jaunt through the mall. A short interview with the manager (Do you like chocolate? Can you work nights? Can you smile for three hours while a woman tries to decide between a champagne truffle and a raspberry star while her toddler licks the entire display case from top to bottom?) and by that evening I was wearing a black apron with gold lettering and a name tag that said Sharon – the closest they could get to Charlotte without actually having to make me a name tag.
My first night was awesome. They paid me to sample every single chocolate Godiva makes. At the time I believe it was over 60 items. The down side is that you have to do it all at once so I ended up just taking one tiny bite of each $26.50/lb confection and then – yes – throwing the rest away. The rest of the night wasn’t as exciting but other than doling out a few little gold boxes and learning how to tie the signature Godiva bow – which has come in handy many a Christmas let me tell you – all I had to do was chat with the other night salesperson.
Like any minimum wage job, there was a revolving cast of characters so entertaining that I should probably write a book just about them, but it occurred to me after the second week straight of listening to Odes to Eminem that one thing would make this job totally perfect: my best friend Tasha.
Tasha had an infectious laugh, a rapier wit and, best of all, the ability to make fun of someone in such a nice way that they totally ended up laughing right along with her. And she needed a job. Perfect! I told my manager, a woman who still wore a black velvet mock turtleneck and quoted Reality Bites despite it being well into the new millennium, and she agreed to interview Tash. Seeing as Tasha was smart, cute, funny and hygienic, I figured we’d be snacking on samples and playing Spot the Tranny by the next evening.
So I was dumbfounded when Tasha told me she didn’t get the job. I knew my manager was desperate for night-shift workers. I knew there was no way Tasha had blown the interview. So what happened?
I didn’t want to believe her when she told me the reason, calmly, as if it hadn’t bothered her at all. You see, Tasha was fat. Not gargantuan but definitely well into the plus sizes. I was incredulous. Surely they wouldn’t say “Sorry, you can’t work here you’re too fat.” I mean, wouldn’t the mere utterance of that phrase cause lawyers to descend on our fake foliage like a pack of locusts? She explained to me that my manager just said the job had been filled but that she was sure the real reason was her weight.
Never one to hold my tongue, and let’s be honest, not caring about the job anyhow, I confronted my manager at my next shift.
Me: So who’d you hire for the night shift?
Turtleneck Girl: Oh, I haven’t found anyone yet.
Me: What about Tasha?
TG: Oh, you know, she wasn’t right for here.
Me: Why not?
TG: I just don’t think she’d fit in.
Me: How would she not fit in?
TG: Well… I don’t think the aprons would fit her. (Hello! Aprons have got to be the most one-size-fits-all item of clothing ever invented!) And this is a pretty small store and sometimes there’s a lot of people jammed in here.
Me: You think she wouldn’t fit in the store?!
TG: Plus, we’ve got this whole company image to adhere to and you know….
Other Worker Guy: (leaning in and whispering) Look sweetie, people don’t want to buy chocolate from a fat girl. They want to have the illusion that they can eat the chocolate and still look like us. If there’s a fat girl behind the counter reality smacks them right in the face. You can kiss your sales good-bye.
My manager went back to fixing the register tape and the other worker went back to stacking little gold boxes and I lost my innocence.
I should have quit on the spot, on principle. But I didn’t. I got my car fixed and quit a few months later and Tasha and I never spoke of the incident again. But to this day, every time I pass a Godiva store I peek in, looking for overweight salespeople. I’ve never seen one yet.
I’m curious: does it matter to you if the person selling you pricey chocolate (or clothing or any other luxury item) is overweight? Have you ever noticed a preponderance of skinny people in retail? Have you ever experienced discrimination based on your looks?
I'm in psychology – you'd be shocked at what else we find out about people. It matters in a lot of ways. Attractiveness definately does. Remember a certain hotel chain "princess" rolling on a car with a bathing suit eating a cheeseburger. Skinny, attractive, sexy…it all sells.
I tell you, being in this degree doesn't help you become less synical about people. Also doesn't help a chubby girl get over her issues. That's why I don't study social psychology. Otherwise I'd probably only leave the house to go to my shrink appointment.
I totally believe it. When I was applying for Elementary School teaching jobs, I was told by the teacher who got me an interview to wear a juvenile dress and my hair up in a pony tail with a big bow – the bigger the better, she said. She told me not to look businesslike, but to be "cutsie" because that's the kind of girls the district liked to hire. I don't see any correlation between bows and classroom management skills or teaching qualifications, but apparently they do. And I had the same problem as Tasha – I would find Principals so desperate for teachers, they were complaining on the 5 o’ clock news, but they wouldn’t even accept my resume when I delivered it because I didn’t look the part.
Didn't you study psychology?
I've never been blatently discriminated against. I may be blissfully unaware though. Totally ok with the unaware part!
To be perfectly honest, I don't always noticed what the person at the cash register looks like. Unless, of course, it's one of those clothing stores where they have to wear what the store sells. And then sometimes I'll notice because I want to see how they put their outfit together or if I think it would look good on me. But, even then, I've seen all sizes of people. Even some who didn't really fit into the clothes the store was selling. But as long as my sales person is polite, clean, and speaks decent English, I don't particularly care if they weigh 80 or 480 pounds.
To be perfectly honest, I don't always noticed what the person at the cash register looks like. Unless, of course, it's one of those clothing stores where they have to wear what the store sells. And then sometimes I'll notice because I want to see how they put their outfit together or if I think it would look good on me. But, even then, I've seen all sizes of people. Even some who didn't really fit into the clothes the store was selling. But as long as my sales person is polite, clean, and speaks decent English, I don't particularly care if they weigh 80 or 480 pounds.
To be perfectly honest, I don't always noticed what the person at the cash register looks like. Unless, of course, it's one of those clothing stores where they have to wear what the store sells. And then sometimes I'll notice because I want to see how they put their outfit together or if I think it would look good on me. But, even then, I've seen all sizes of people. Even some who didn't really fit into the clothes the store was selling. But as long as my sales person is polite, clean, and speaks decent English, I don't particularly care if they weigh 80 or 480 pounds.
To be perfectly honest, I don't always noticed what the person at the cash register looks like. Unless, of course, it's one of those clothing stores where they have to wear what the store sells. And then sometimes I'll notice because I want to see how they put their outfit together or if I think it would look good on me. But, even then, I've seen all sizes of people. Even some who didn't really fit into the clothes the store was selling. But as long as my sales person is polite, clean, and speaks decent English, I don't particularly care if they weigh 80 or 480 pounds.
I totally believe that there is discrimination in looks, weight, religion and more. I have seen plenty of shows showing this too. It is sad but true. Yes, I have experienced discrimination not only based on my looks but my religion as well. It can be an "ugly" world out there. Unfortunately some of these acts left long term scars on me that I still fight to get past.
I know several stores who only hire people who are gorgeous. In fact, a few very very good looking friends of mine had been approached by the particular store because they were "gorgeous and would fit in perfectly."
Honestly, I am plus-sized and used to work at a bakery. I could see some of the skinny girls who came in look around at all the goodies and then look me up and down and buy the least fattening thing (hahaha, like that happens in a bakery!) available, while making "fun" of all the frosting, etc. Well, hate to burst their bubble, but I got fat BEFORE the bakery!
So yes, I do think people judge others based on their size, and it goes every single way.
I am a cashier and they have Godiva chocolates at the registers and my managers frequently ask us to try and up-sell these items. It's interesting because I am overweight and I often sell to customers that are also overweight and they treat it like a secret that I'm in on. The reasoning seems to be, "You are chubby, so you must know exactly which chocolate bar or item is the best."
We don't get tastings and I very rarely buy these items, but I think they feel that because of my size I have more "experience" with these items. It doesn't bother me too much because I will just direct them toward the items I have tried and liked, but I find that my thin counterparts don't get the same kind of questions as often. So perhaps Godiva has it wrong.
Maybe hiring an overweight person to sell chocolate will ruin the fantasy aspect, or maybe it would make the seller more approachable. I think it just depends on who you are selling to.
With that said, I do think their unwritten rules for hiring are pretty awful!
I didn't notice any discrimination when I was heavy, but I do notice that people are friendlier to me now, and I don't think it's merely because I have more self-confidence.
I'm not an impulse buyer. I know ahead of time what I'm planning to buy, so the weight of sales people doesn't matter to me at all. But I have noticed that See's Candy hires a preponderance of heavier, and older, women, just like the picture of Mary See on the logo.
Honestly, I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out, but now that I think about it, I am realizing a pattern.
That said, I shop at grocery stores (a mix of sizes), GNC/supplement places, and only rarely make a trip to the mall to pick up workout clothes, so my sample size is small and not representative of the general population.
I really do believe in the partial-truth of the theory that some women get fat as a barrier against people (men especially). Trying to control the kind of attention we get also plays a big role in anorexia/bulemia-type eating disorders, from what I've read. Setting marketing policies based on what's known about how we react to people's looks is admittedly icky, but I think very common.
I have no doubt my own weight fluctuations have affected my perceived employability at different times. Having lost 35 pounds since this time last year and finally being at a "normal" BMI (for the first time in 16 years), I totally expect my interviews will go better, even though I don't work in a field now where "image" is so important. But I will be seen as more attractive, and that will improve my chances. Sad, but true.
My first reaction was shock at the harsh treatment that was given to her. Personally, the weight of the saleslady has no bearing on whether I purchase chocolate or not. I buy chocolate because it's my comfort food, not because it will keep me fit or help me lose weight.
One of the things I've noticed over the years at my fitness center is the fitness of the floor instructors. Initially everyone of them were very fit. Now we have a more accurate representation of real people. I think the club's owner feels that this way the members feel more comfortable at the center.
Eh… I'm certain that kind of employment discrimination against heavy people happens all the time at various kinds of stores — food, clothing, whatever — and at other places of employment too. But what's funny is that isn't the average sized American woman a size 14 (or so they say)? And what's the cut-off line for "unacceptably fat"? A size 14? A size 16? A Size 24? On that note, can a person be too black for a job? Too foreign? Too gay? Too male? Too female? Permitting discrimination based on size is not something most people consider serious,however it opens the door to other kinds of discrimination that society at large DOES consider serious and offensive. Allowing employers to determine if your physical appearence is "right" for their business is dangerous, imo.
… which isn't to say that if a person shows up to a job interview in filthy clothes, unprofessional or inappropriate attire or looks like they haven't showered in 3 months the employers can't make judgments based on those aspects of physical appearance. But I do think letting potential bosses judge candidate based on physical attributes they cannot control (or easily control) such as race, gender, size, is dangerous.
I am afraid I have a reverse bias–every once in a while I get vibes from very slender waiters/counter people that they are above what they are purveying. NOT good marketing.
This is why I don't buy Godiva anymore. I will, however, stop in See's. (I miss my grandma!)
Well, no more Godiva for me! That is just wrong, psychology of marketing or not.
We judge so much on first appearances. It IS interesting, though, as sad as it is, how something like that will affect our consumerism choices.
I wish I could say I was surprised by this, but . . . not so much. Angered, yes. Surprised, no.
Though I won't be eating Godiva anymore, either. Wonder if Ghirardelli is the same way?
Let's start with the easy response: I've never cared for Godiva chocolates to begin with anyway.
Part 2: I've never really noticed the person selling me the chocolate. I don't mean that as a slight to salespersons, but when I'm buying chocolate I'm usually thinking about eating the chocolate, not who's selling it to me.
Part 3: Preponderance of skinny people? Referencing above, I'm usually the typical male, meaning I know what I want when I walk into a store, I buy it, I leave. Shopping whether for groceries or for clothes or anything else is a chore. So, again, not really noticing the people ringing me up or selling me something. The one thing I will tell you that I've noticed is the abundance of retirees selling me stuff, and that just makes me a little bit sad that they have to work instead of enjoying retirement.
Part 4: Discriminated on for looks? Not for a job, but definitely felt that rejection from the opposite sex. Women, huh? Just kidding. About the slight to women I just made; that was the joke. Not the rejection; that part's true. And thank you so much for bringing it up. :^)
In college I had a group of cute skinny friends who worked at the Bon. They kept pestering me to get a job there. The day I went in to drop off my resume (required-I naively didn't stop to think why) it rained. I had to walk 4 blocks from the bus stop during which a passing car splashed a huge mud puddle on me. Big sloppy mess I was (in an oversized raincoat borrowed from my roommate's boyfriend), I still went in and gave them my resume. Even with my friends pitching for me, I got no interview and the "found someone else."
A couple months later I went back and re-applied as my current employer had gone bankrupt. (No rain and in a cute sun-dress) I had barely gotten home when the store manager called to set up an interview for the next day. Lucky for me I also had an interview for a waitress job, which I got and declined the Bon job. I loved giving them the "no thanks, I found something better!"
I actually like food made by someone who is larger…I believe they actually eat it.
Super skinny people hocking any food makes me suspicious…
I can't believe they actually told you that was the reason…
I do believe that's illegal and discrimination. But proving that in a way that could actually benefit her would be a nightmare. I can see that being a factor if they had two equal candidates and one position, but I can't believe they'd pass her over and stay screwed staffwise.
I can't say that I really pay attention to the physical shape of my salesperson. As long as they are: helpful, clean, and don't look like they came from mars, I can't say I notice. For specialty shops, maybe? I might take running shoe advice from someone that looks like they run, but since everyone can indulge in chocolate and be knowledgable…/shrug.
On a side note, I always had a rotating set of friends that worked in the same mall as I did at the candy shop (one would get the next one a job, then move on, etc). I can pinpoint a lot of my high school and freshman 15 weight gain as directly related to 1/2 – 1 lb of "spilled" candy every time we both were working the same hours. /sigh
YIKES!
I'm not overly fat but I definitely have more curves than most (at least my fat is in all the right places, though it's starting to creep up on my tummy too). I never tried applying to food/chocolate stores, but I have applied to clothing stores, and it was the same thing each time. The manager would said thanks when I hand in my resume and look at me funny, and never call. One even told me 'Hon, I'm not sure you should be applying in this type of store. You know, you have to wear our stuff to work… I'm not sure it's your style'. And the ironic part is was a store I shop in, even if I buy the biggest size they carry. I'm the biggest normal size but I'm not yet a plus size! My sister looks a lot like me but is thin as a toothpick and she gets jobs in that type of store easy.
On the other hand when I was 40 lbs lighter I did get a job where my looks tipped the scale in my favour (not food or clothes related); turned out the owner of the shop was a total perv, a guy in his 60s that hired only cute young blonds and an occasional brunette to fill in the staff. That was a mixed blessing – good for my then low self-esteem but scary when he would sit outside the store and 'supervise' us for hours. Thankfully he never made a move and he and his wife had to sell the store not long after I was hired.
There is definitely a bias against fat people in retail jobs, but I don't mind as much now since I can apply to jobs that value my brain rather than my looks (I'm a lab technician in biology until I finish my B.Sc., and I'd like to do research later). I admit this is a big problem for anyone who needs this type of job – we've all been there at point or another since it's the most accessible jobs.
Hmmmmm, I can't say I've really noticed this phenomenon…I'm usually more focused on the chocolate rather than the sales people.
It doesn't really surprise me much though. As a society, we are so quick to judge.
Not surprised, but rather disgusted.
No matter what size I've been, sales staff appearance has never influenced my purchase in a chocolate store. Maybe because I'm usually in that mode of wanting to buy something specific, not browsing, so I don't notice it as much. (Although I would probably be taken aback if the person was obviously filthy or something. 🙂 Then again, I've generally gone for the See's rather than Godiva…dragonmama's observation is interesting, because when I read this post last night, I remember thinking, "Gee, I don't recall See's discriminating against overweight people." But perhaps there is a reverse bias?
this sounds like one of your "best of" posts … but i wanted to comment anyway because i thought of you the other day at the mall. i was walking past godiva and yes, saw an overweight woman working there.
I passed by a See's Candy store a couple of hours ago, so I peeked in to check out the employees. Just one person: a woman probably in her sixties, maybe 30 pounds overweight.
I am a bigger girl as you know Charlotte and I was definately not small as a high schooler. I worked at Mrs. Fields as a size 12/14 and nobody had a problem with it, but I guess cookies are not the same as million dollar chocolate…
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