# Hire the obese person or the other one? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481 "2010-07-04T02:56:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/21 "2010-07-04T06:29:21Z")
Whaa??? If two candidates are equal, beyond physical needs in the particular job, you choose the best fit for your team, in a decent interview. What’s yer catch here? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/22 "2010-07-04T06:44:33Z")
But it’s so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would hire the obese person, or the thin person? Now, a clever man would hire the obese person because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the obese person. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the thin person. I’ve not even made my decision yet. Because as everyone knows, more thin people are known to be criminals, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. Since criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the obese person. And you must have suspected I would have known thin people’s origin, so I can clearly not choose the thin person. You think I’m stalling? You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? You can be a pompous blowhard, which means your ego is exceptionally strong, so you could’ve hired the obese person, trusting on your strength to save you in an attack, so I can clearly not choose the thin person. But, you’ve also bested many before you with wit, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the danger as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the obese person. You may think I’m trying to trick you into giving away something and that it won’t work, but IT HAS WORKED! YOU’VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER IS! I choose… what in the world can that be? _clicks the radio button while you look away_ Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. First, let’s vote. _click_ You think I guessed wrong? You only think I guessed wrong! That’s what’s so funny! I switched radio buttons when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” - but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line”! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/23 "2010-07-04T06:45:00Z")
Does one of them have a goatee? Because I don’t want to hire the evil one. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/24 "2010-07-04T07:13:57Z")
Hire the fat one, who is less likely to look for another job. It’s harder for fat people to get hired, so s/he is probably going to stay with my company, and I don’t have to look for another worker in six months or a year. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/25 "2010-07-04T11:51:53Z")
What if the thin person is only thin because he recently had gastric bypass surgery? What if the complications start haunting him and he ends up having multiple ulcers and and several heart attacks that are, on some level, related to the gb surgery? (True story.) Also, what if the obese person is losing weight in a more traditional manner but just hasn’t reached their goal yet? What if they’re eating right and running (slow) laps around the track every night after work? ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/26 "2010-07-04T12:37:56Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#): > > What if the thin person is only thin because he recently had gastric bypass surgery? What if the complications start haunting him and he ends up having multiple ulcers and and several heart attacks that are, on some level, related to the gb surgery? (True story.) > > Also, what if the obese person is losing weight in a more traditional manner but just hasn’t reached their goal yet? What if they’re eating right and running (slow) laps around the track every night after work? It’s impossible to know given the bounds of the question so you would just have to play the percentages and determine which is the more likely, which is pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/27 "2010-07-04T12:41:38Z")
> [@elelle](#): > > Whaa??? If two candidates are equal, beyond physical needs in the particular job, you choose the best fit for your team, in a decent interview. Unless you have a really big office, I think the thin person would be the best fit. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/28 "2010-07-04T12:43:54Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Unless you have a really big office, I think the thin person would be the best fit. What if the obese person is obese because they’re a really good baker and they would bring in special treats once a week for everybody else? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/29 "2010-07-04T12:59:55Z")
Wait, I thought of another reason to hire the obese person. What if your type of business is high-risk and there’s a chance you might be robbed. Wouldn’t it be easier to hide behind the obese person? Or, if there’s a fire and you all have to evacuate the building down the stairs and you trip and fall and the your new employee is in front of you, which one would be a softer landing? 😃 Yes, I am being silly, but I’m tired, in general, (not directed specifically at the OP) of being convicted of the crime of obesity. Personally, I’m doing my best to not be obese anymore and I just hope that people would think outside of the (size 6) box when it comes to hiring, although I doubt that will actually be the case. So, I guess I’m saying that I think that the OP has posed a silly question and I don’t have enough information to answer it correctly. I honestly don’t know at this point in time which person I would pick. Maybe I would just flip a coin if it were allowed. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/30 "2010-07-04T13:03:50Z")
It really is a dumb hypothetical. “Given that they are all identical in all other ways, do you hire the person with freckles or without? No flipping a coin!” Well, fuck, I don’t know. Um, I guess the person with freckles because they will be more protective of their fair skin and will go out in the sun less therefore meaning they will spend more time in the office? This is a stupid question. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/31 "2010-07-04T13:06:21Z")
> [@moejoe](#): > > I hire the thin person, because right now I manage a not thin person and it’s a pain in the ass. > > There are things she is supposed to do (like go upstairs and post the mail every day, or go down the hall and put things in everyone’s inboxes, or get the heck up and go to the front desk and help the dang customer instead of asking them to come around to her desk) that she doesn’t do because it’s physically difficult for her. > > She also keeps everything she might ever need right there at her desk so she never has to get up. But they’re things that everyone else needs too and we just have to go use them at her desk. And if I have paperwork for her she wants me to bring it to her rather than just slip it in her inbox. > > And forget ever mentioning out loud that I’m feeling fat today. > le sigh. > > So I definitely hire the thin person. Yes because being a lazy ass who doesn’t do the job they’ve been hired for is endemic and exclusive to overweight people. It is silly to equate anti-fattism with racism but there is at least one similarity, the behaviour of one fatty is deemed by normies to somehow be indicative of the behaviour of all. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/32 "2010-07-04T13:20:49Z")
Man, we’ve got some dedicated fighters of the hypothetical here. I mean, did a hypothetical kill some of your fathers or something? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/33 "2010-07-04T13:21:37Z")
Yes, but only some of them. I still have a critical quorum of fathers remaining, thank goodness. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/34 "2010-07-04T13:23:01Z")
Here’s another angle: I’ve never met anyone who is perfect. The obese person has a big imperfection right out there for anyone to see. The other person may have many imperfections that aren’t noticeable at first, that might come out at some other time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/35 "2010-07-04T14:36:16Z")
Two absolutely identical candidates with the same education, same resume, same personality, same everything except one is fat? Fuck it, I’m going to hire the skinny guy. Why? Because being skinny is better than being fat and that is the only criteria with which the OP is letting me differentiate these two candidates. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/36 "2010-07-04T16:03:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Here’s another angle: I’ve never met anyone who is perfect. The obese person has a big imperfection right out there for anyone to see. The other person may have many imperfections that aren’t noticeable at first, that might come out at some other time. This is impossible. Do you see why? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/37 "2010-07-04T16:22:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Man, we’ve got some dedicated fighters of the hypothetical here. I mean, did a hypothetical kill some of your fathers or something? To be frank, it’s a pretty weak hypothetical. How can two people have such identical qualities that you can’t make a rational choice between them? My serious response to the OP would be to pick whichever applicant looks like he’ll do your job better. Because in a situation like this, your boss is probably already planning on replacing you with someone more competent on hiring practices. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/38 "2010-07-04T16:25:12Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Why? Because being skinny is better than being fat and that is the only criteria with which the OP is letting me differentiate these two candidates. Likewise - for the same reason, in the same circumstances, I’d choose a non-smoker, or a person with good skin/nails/teeth, because all these are indicators of healthy lifestyle choices… ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/39 "2010-07-04T16:37:36Z")
Hire the obese one. The rest of us will look super-slim by comparison. Simples. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/40 "2010-07-04T16:45:24Z")
I’m worried the skinny one has TB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481.md?page=3)