# Being overweight and getting a job. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707 "2010-10-28T22:12:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/61 "2010-10-29T21:42:53Z")
What are you talking about? The fat is the evidence. I’m not being based, I’m just observing the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/62 "2010-10-30T00:21:20Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > What are you talking about? The fat is the evidence. I’m not being based, I’m just observing the evidence. Oh? Im fat, and I used to telecommute, and was always mentioned as a ‘self starter’ and ‘highly motivated’ and ‘works independently’ in all my work reviews. Many of the other women I used to work with were also fat or pudgy, and were dedicated employees that also were allowed to telecommute as they were also excellent workers. You need an attitude adjustment. You can not judge a person by their looks. What is next, you are going to whip out the phrenology manual to see if we are all criminals as well? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/63 "2010-10-30T00:42:55Z")
When I grew unhappy in my previous job, one of the things that kept me there longer than I really wanted to, was the feeling that my weight was a significant detriment to finding another one. It didn’t turn out that way, however, I interviewed and was offered the position, and took the weekend to decide if I’d take it. I did. At the previous office job, there was a significantly overweight woman (probably 300+ at roughly my height of 5 foot something) who worked there, and she was “laid off”. That was complete bullshit. She was fired, and fired for being fat, and not fitting in with the image that management wanted. (Everyone that the new management hired looked like a Barbie doll or were friends of management. And who looked like club girls.) Discrimination against fat people is real. But to assume, Rand Rover, that we’re all lazy? That is also complete bullshit. I work harder than the person who I support secretarily. I work, he surfs the web. I work, he chats up the admin staff. I work, he signs his name to what I produce. I work, he goes out and buys groceries, lottery tickets or Dairy Queen milkshakes. I am very proud of my work ethic, and strive for excellence every single day. I’m fat; I am not _lazy_. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/64 "2010-10-30T00:45:41Z")
Also I leg press 265 pounds, which is the same weight as my bodybuilder, personal trainer husband uses. And my next workout brings it up to 270. I’m fat, but I’m not lazy, and I am _rather strong_. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/65 "2010-10-30T01:26:14Z")
Well, I don’t know who you two think you are arguing against, but it’s not me. I never said all fat people are lazy procrastinators, just that those who are morbidly obese are more likely to be. If I had a choice of hiring two similarly qualified people, one of whom was morbidly obese, I’d hire the other one. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/66 "2010-10-30T01:30:44Z")
You’re not going to convince RR to revise his poorly-thought-out biases, though it’s a noble effort. I work in an inbound call center and like half the people here are fat chicks. There are also a significant number of disabled folks, and a couple who are disabled because they’re obese. It’s a really great work environment, IMO. Work is steady, people are nice, benefits are good, plenty of paid time off. You can take a day off without feeling guilty for letting anyone down since we have almost 100 reps that are all trained for the same skills. Call center jobs are great for heavy women. The job is usually female-dominated anyway (at least in customer service, maybe sales would be different), and they don’t care what you look like as long as you can type while sitting and listening. Perhaps if she has the voice of a strident harpy, she would have a more difficult interview, but weight wouldn’t prejudice any of my managers against you in an interview here. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/67 "2010-10-30T01:45:07Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > You’re not going to convince RR to revise his poorly-thought-out biases, though it’s a noble effort. How am I biased? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/68 "2010-10-30T01:51:03Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I’m still trying to figure out why your Dad doesn’t think someone who is morbidly obese wouldn’t stand out in Arkansas. I’ve lived my entire life in the South, and I don’t know, nor do I have regular contact with, anyone who is that fat. Because my dad thinks everyone in the South is an overweight Tea Party member who spends all their time hunting and/or fishing. If they are white, they’re probably in the KKK, as well. If you weren’t like that, you’d have left the South and come here to California, where we’re sooooooo enlightened and special omg you have no idea! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/69 "2010-10-30T02:29:36Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > How am I biased? > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I never said all fat people are lazy procrastinators, just that those who are morbidly obese are more likely to be. [citation needed] ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/70 "2010-10-30T02:35:57Z")
Right. I’m making a determination of a person’s likely future behavior based on available evidence of their past behavior. That’s not “bias.” ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/71 "2010-10-30T02:42:16Z")
You’re assuming that laziness and procrastination are causally linked with obesity. I have anecdotal evidence of thin lazy procrastinators and hardworking, motivated fatties (which is just as useless as yours, being anecdotal, but being unbiased myself I don’t draw \*\*any \*\*conclusions about the motivation of a person based on their body size). Isn’t a big part of the LSAT finding where a faulty argument breaks down? I’d think you should be good at finding the fatal flaw in your argument… if it wasn’t your argument, maybe. Either cite a source to back up the “fact” that laziness and procrastination causes obesity, or simply admit you’re biased. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/72 "2010-10-30T02:58:44Z")
It’s a self-evident proposition. A person who is morbidly obese was at some point only obese, and then only very overweight, and overweight, and slightly pudgy, and perfectly fine. They chose not to do anything about the problem as it grew and grew (and grew). Of course there are rare exceptions–people who have some medical issue that makes weight gain absolutely beyond their control. Do you have any evidence that a majority (or even a large plurality) of morbidly obese people gained all that weight through circumstances completely beyond their control? ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/73 "2010-10-30T03:07:37Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > This really should read “here’s a person who isn’t willing to work hard to meet a goal _I think she should have_.”… This is true, it _is_ a goal that I think she should have. I’m not sure where you work, but my boss sets most of my goals for me, so someone who is willing to work hard toward the goals that I want them to have is exactly what I’m looking for in an employee. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/74 "2010-10-30T03:15:23Z")
Her weight is very likely an issue with some employers but unlikely with all employers. There could be a host of reasons, especially how she comes across in interviews. She shouldn’t give up on the temp agency. She should call them every single week to remind them she is available and interested. Having worked behind the scenes at one of these places, I know they can play games with people who don’t seem excited about being a temp or who piss them off for one reason or another. If she keeps calling, someone there will find her some work. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/75 "2010-10-30T03:26:05Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > It’s a self-evident proposition. A person who is morbidly obese was at some point only obese, and then only very overweight, and overweight, and slightly pudgy, and perfectly fine. They chose not to do anything about the problem as it grew and grew (and grew). Of course there are rare exceptions–people who have some medical issue that makes weight gain absolutely beyond their control. > > Do you have any evidence that a majority (or even a large plurality) of morbidly obese people gained all that weight through circumstances completely beyond their control? I didn’t make an assertion that requires science to back it up. You did. There is nothing self-evident regarding a causal link between motivation and body size, not least because you are completely failing to take into consideration the number of non-obese people who are lazy and unmotivated. In fact, frequently science points out things that appear self-evident to many people, which end up being conflation of correlation with causality, or flatout mistaken assumptions/biases. Your argument needs work, counselor. (also not everyone sees weight gain as a problem that needs to be fixed–outside the scope of this thread for sure, but still something for you to consider) ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/76 "2010-10-30T03:35:15Z")
OK. You can be obtuse if you want to, no skin off my ass, but my position is perfectly logical. Being morbidly obese is unhealthy, so it’s a bad thing. The way to get morbidly obese is to eat more calories than you burn. If you see yourself getting morbidly obese and don’t do anything about it, then that generally shows that you are willing to let a bad thing happen and not do anything about it. A person that would do that is not the type of person I want to hire (but YMMV, and that’s perfectly OK). ---
**Author:** ![Gruntled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Gruntled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gruntled)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/77 "2010-10-30T03:39:40Z")
Weighing in (lol) as another employer here, I would not hire an obese person. I think they are lazy, blame others for their problems and will cost my company money. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/78 "2010-10-30T03:50:32Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > OK. You can be obtuse if you want to, no skin off my ass, but my position is perfectly logical. Being morbidly obese is unhealthy, so it’s a bad thing. The way to get morbidly obese is to eat more calories than you burn. If you see yourself getting morbidly obese and don’t do anything about it, then that generally shows that you are willing to let a bad thing happen and not do anything about it. A person that would do that is not the type of person I want to hire (but YMMV, and that’s perfectly OK). You’re also failing to address when obesity starts in childhood. Depending on the parent, a child has very little or no power over what food their parents make available. Therefore a child cannot be held responsible for the “problem” as such. And a 25 year old who has been ostracized for being fat since early childhood is going to have a much harder time shedding pounds (both psychologically and physiologically) than a 25 year old who grew up thin and just gained weight since college. I hope I’ve helped you see why you are biased. Even so, I wouldn’t expect you to admit it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/79 "2010-10-30T03:52:25Z")
If you’re morbidly obese, you have a serious mental problem. I cannot afford to hire someone with a serious mental problem. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707/80 "2010-10-30T03:54:03Z")
I understand about fat kids–but they should get their shit together once they get old enough to make their own food choices. You can keep calling me “biased” if you want to, I don’t care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-overweight-and-getting-a-job/558707.md?page=5)