Are You A Fattist?

[marcus]

I'd never employ a Kiwi mind.....bone idle!

 

One of my best friends is a Kiwi and he works, on average, 80 hours a week and has had the grand total of 5 days off this year. That's not in addition to weekends, that's total. He's made himself ill this year on more than one occasion from going in out of a sense of duty.

 

While I would by no means suggest that he is representative of his whole nationality, it's nonsense for you to generalise in the same fashion based on your presumably limited experience of working with Kiwis.

 

Are you being serious Ans?

Or is someone using your computer?

 

Surely you would see i spoke in jest, and to presume that iv'e never worked with a Kiwi is a bit wide of the mark 22 years in the NHS iv'e rubbed shoulders with a few, no differant than anyone else really.

[Mr. Sausages]

I was once turned down for a job because of my weight.

 

Being told that didn't put you off spending time in their company?

[theintelligentthug]

im a fattist. through and through.

 

no excuses.

[Survivor]

I was once turned down for a job because of my weight.

 

Being told that didn't put you off spending time in their company?

 

Well, it was only one of the partners - plus, it was in London and i needed the job to be honest.

[Dontlookbehindyou]

And was the partner thin or fat?

[Survivor]

And was the partner thin or fat?

 

he was slim, with a slight belly - but mainly he was a yuppie, and only 26 yrs old. The other partner was in his 50's and he was a fabulous man, ended up being a real father figure to me. Actually, it was him that told me about this one night when he took me out drinking, said he had never really agreed with it and was glad that I showed the little upstart how wrong he was not to hire me in the first place.

 

Now don't get me wrong, but i understand that image is sometimes everything to a company, but i do think not hiring someone on the basis of their size is ridiculous. Being overweight doesn't mean you are lazy or idle or slack in your job - might just be that way when it comes to your diet. And i know plenty of slim people who are lazy and quite frankly sh*t at their job, and less healthy than me. I find fattist people to be very closed minded and uninformed we are all different and that's what makes this world work.

[Dontlookbehindyou]

I agree with you totally.

[Tea&Biscuits]

This is a weird one really. Im overweight alhtough am loosing weight, have so far lost 2 stone now since last year and I am trying really hard, and to be honest my values about this issue are really changing. Ok its bad not to give a job to somone on the basis of the way they look, but i realised a long time ago, thats the way the world works more often than not - so I didnt want people looking at me like that, the fact that your appearance has to be mentioned cause your overweight is what would make me so mad and ashamed- it becomes an issue (and i would not want to live with that, and i no longer want to live with that)

 

 

I guess the bottom line is that due to fatness being a symbol of lazyness, gluttony that people stick those labels on you. I have noticed that since I have lost weight I have had very different reactions from people, freinds, collegues etc - maybe its because I feel so much better and have tonnes more confidence?? The fact that im not huffing an puffing up the stairs, or that I actually look more awake and alive might have something to do with it too!

Also the fact that there is such bad press about weight and health is that people are in many ways becoming less sympathetic an they think that fat people just sit at home all day eating crisps.

 

However if someone came to me for a job and they were extremely skinny I might also have reservations - simply because the "outside" of that person is telling me something if you know what i mean? Cant really explain it!

 

ALTHOUGH.....if I connected with that person on a level, it wouldnt really matter overall!

[Chinahand]

Two of the hardest working most intelligent people I know would definitely be called fatties.

 

One is fluent in multiple languages, has a great way of working with people and has a quick analytical brain.

 

The other is hard nosed, gets the job done no matter what and knows how to successfully manage people in a tough environment to get the best out of them ... though cos he's tough he's respected, but not really liked!

 

However I've also been driven mad by lazy incompetent people who have no drive and far too many extra pounds!

 

Of course specific examples tell you nothing about the general situation, but being fattist is all about first impressions and personal biases and so is as stupid as trying to guess whether a person is intelligent or lazy from the colour of their skin. I firmly believe that being a fatty has nothing to do with your intelligence, your drive, your sense of humour or your employability ... these things are just too complex.

 

My only beef with fatties is they risk dying 20 years earlier than a comparable thinny (as I've said before I've a fatty friend who I really care about who is really at risk of an early grave), plus being a fattie it is highly likely they will need thousands of pounds of extra health care and government support due to a condition which is strongly related to lifestyle ... sorry, but I really have seen nothing to change my ideas on this ... in the last 30 years obesity has exploded into a huge health problem ... hormones and genetics have nothing to do with this change: its lifestyle.

[Survivor]

Chinahand well said- agree with you mostly, couple of points i disagree with but that's more of a personal basis rather than a general one - but on the whole i reckon you're probably right

[Tea&Biscuits]

Chinahand I totally agree with what you said - and it is true, being overweight (unless of a medical condition) is a lifestyle. I will throw my hands up and say the reason I am/was 3 stone overweight is because I used to drink loads of booze, eat takeaway, eat chocolate and did no excersise....simple.

 

I do think that genetically some people are generally fatter/bigger/curvier than others however keeping your weight to a healthy level is all down to the individual.

 

An I also can see that the only reason an employer would think twice about employing an obese person was simply because of health risks, leading to time off ill (this may not be the case with many overweight people, but lets face it, overweight people are more at risk of bad health etc)

 

Last week I had a visit from a Professor from a USA University and I had to take him to meet people in the department and so on - the thing was he was obese, really large, and it was saddening to see him struggling to walk an wheezing, then he had to stop every now and then, cough and then the whole process would start again. Basicly it took us ages to get anywhere, and honestly you could just read the disgust on peoples faces when they saw him. In many ways his size outshadowed everything else about him, the fact that he is a leading Prof in cultural studies etc. In the end we had to catch taxis for really short distances an he also told me that he had to have 2 seats on the plane - now this woul disgruntle any employer sending staff overseas, the taxi expenses alone cost a small fortune. In many ways he seems to be a bad investment (as horrible as that sounds). It was also sad to see that when he left people were coming up to me going "OH MY GOD HE WAS GROSS" and not even asking who he was or what he did - I woul hate my body to control the way people thought about me....I also felt when I looked at him disgust, im sorry to admit it but I did, he looked like a walking heart attack an it was painful to watch him. This only made me more determined to loose any excess weight an look after myself, life is too precious to waste it on bein "cuddly" and pretending to be "happy with my weight"

[Lonan3]

I hold my hands up and say that I am extremely overweight, bordering on obese, and that it it's entirely my own fault rather than a 'natural' condition. Until I was in my early twenties, I was slim and athletic, taking part in so many and various sports that what I ate was never an issue - I simply burned the calories off without any trouble at all. Once I was married, with less time to devote to sports etc., and had settled into sedentary work, my eating habits didn't change and, as a result, I piled weight on.

From time to time I've made the effort to lose some, but the effort doesn't usually last for very long and it does become more difficult as one gets older to maintain even a reasonable fitness regime.

I'm not making excuses for my appearance - its all down to me - but I'm fortunate in being self-employed because, quite honestly, I think my appearance/age would make most employers think twice about taking me on.

I will still try to lose weight and get fitter (I have young children and would like to live long enough to see them grown up and settled), but my message to anyone who is young enough to get into shape is - go for it now! Make the most of the life you have, but don't become obsessed with it, because you also need to enjoy yourself.

[Speckled Frost]

I think health issues over fat people have to be a genuine concern for employers.

 

Surely fat people would generally suffer more problems such as bad backs and general illness?

[theintelligentthug]

its factually impossible to be "genetically" or "naturally fatter" than other people. fat is stored energy. that doesnt come from nowhere, it comes from the same place all of our energy comes from. our mouths.

 

like chinahand said, its not genetics, its lifestyle. top and bottom of it.

 

but besides that, i dont think its right to discriminate aginst someone because of size in regards to a job. unless of course that job is a gym instructor, or possibly a chef.

[Survivor]

I think health issues over fat people have to be a genuine concern for employers.

 

Surely fat people would generally suffer more problems such as bad backs and general illness?

 

not necessarily no. I'm seriously overweight, but my cholesterol is 3.9, which is excellent, my arteries are clear, and my blood pressure is low, and i'm relatively healthy, i'm just unfit as i don't exercise too much, that said tho, it doesn't take me long to get fit once i start. I know others that have had far more days off sick than me at work who are slim. Last year i had 3 off all due to colds and no relation to my weight at all.

 

You could say the same about everyone else really, smokers for example, may suffer from asthma, or bronchitis etc, what about youngsters who decide not to come in to work because they went out the night before and got plastered and can't be bothered get out of bed because of their hangover. Being overweight has no reflection on your ability to do your job, it doesn't affect your intelligence or common sense, so what's the problem? It's basically down to image as far as i can see and that is discrimination.