# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/61 "2010-07-05T04:56:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Oh, I can think of at least one Doper who regularly starts polls with even less connection to reallity. Now you’re just being silly - who would do something that strange? ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/62 "2010-07-05T05:00:09Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Yawn to the nth power. Of course the situation doesn’t mirror reality. That’s why he explicitly stated it was hypothetical, as in only in theory, not real. We have an active thread right now about what you would do, _hypothetically_, if a sentient tree ruined your car. “That’s absurd; a tree cannot smash up your car” is a silly response. We _know_ that already. Let’s make believe for five seconds, please. > > This poll is obviously stupid, but what’s even stupider is pretending like it can’t be answered because it’s too unrealistic, or because maybe the skinny guy has AIDS, or whatever else retarded bullshit. Can the tree type or file? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/63 "2010-07-05T07:16:37Z")
It all depends on if the other one is a Jew. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/64 "2010-07-05T07:46:09Z")
Is it illegal in your hypo to discriminate against obese people? Don’t fight the question, just answer it yes or no. If no, then hire normal weight due to less time out on sick leave and other costs. If yes, then flip a coin. Or, cage match to the death. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Electric\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/65 "2010-07-05T10:49:14Z")
I’d hire the fat one, because fatties gotta stick together. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/66 "2010-07-05T12:56:45Z")
Posting without reading thread: I’d hire the other person all other things being equal. They are intrinsically less of a health liability to company’s insurance. They are also less likely to have health problems that will result in missed days at work. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/67 "2010-07-05T13:10:44Z")
I begin negotiating with both, offering initially a salary of $1 a year plus benefits, with an expectation of working 60 hour weeks including Saturday. I hire whichever one settles for less. ---
**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 5, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/68 "2010-07-05T13:17:55Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > This poll is obviously stupid, but what’s even stupider is pretending like it can’t be answered because it’s too unrealistic, or because maybe the skinny guy has AIDS, or whatever else retarded bullshit. Crap, he’s got AIDS? That’s probably why he got TB, too. Maybe I should hire him so that he can get some health insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/69 "2010-07-05T13:24:04Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > You are responsible for hiring one person for an office job (i.e., so physical aptitude has no bearing on job requirements), and you have to choose between two people that are absolutely identical (don’t fight the hypo!) with the following sole exception: one is obese and the other is of average weight. Also, you must CHOOSE one or the other–you can’t flip a coin or ask someone else or anything like that. > > Which one do you choose and why? Couldn’t the head of the company down-size ‘The Decider’ & hire them both? New hires = lower salary, less accrued vacation time, benefits don’t kick in for 60 days and they are considered to be technically on probation for 6 months. Likely they’d Both be so grateful to have a job that there’d be little time for any “all things considered, lets justify my mean spirited derision of employee ‘X’ and all snicker while losing productivity” BS. From a company point of view, its pure win-win. C’mon, Rand, we’re running a company here. _Think outside the box…_ 😛 ---
**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 5, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/70 "2010-07-05T13:37:34Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > I begin negotiating with both, offering initially a salary of $1 a year plus benefits, with an expectation of working 60 hour weeks including Saturday. I hire whichever one settles for less. Neither of them would settle for less than the other one. Do you see why? ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/71 "2010-07-05T13:45:47Z")
I love Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar take on this: "Cæsar. Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights: Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much; such men are dangerous. Antony. Fear him not, Cæsar, he’s not dangerous: He is a noble Roman, and well given. Cæsar. Would he were fatter; but I fear him not: Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius." My daughters workplace are laying people off, although she’s a great worker she has had to take time off for playing on the national team, obviously this could work against her in the cold hard light of who’s next for the chop. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/72 "2010-07-05T13:53:05Z")
I’ll take the obese one please, we’ll have more in common! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/73 "2010-07-05T13:57:33Z")
Well, there’s obese and there’s OBESE. Quite a few people are medically obese and nonetheless not enormous (requiring special chairs, etc) or - especially with large-breasted women - really really fat or unhealthy. And then, it depends what the job is. You didn’t specify that. You said office-based, but a lot of office-based jobs have an at least partially customer-facing role. Then, if the person were severely obese and it were an industry that cared more about looks, I might perhaps prefer the skinny person - unless they were skinny like Gareth out of the British version of The Office. You know, the one who played a zombie in Pirates of the Caribbean without any need for make-up? If it, were, say, something like data entry, then I honestly wouldn’t know. I would probably dither until one of them got back in touch to see whether they’d got the job, then hire them. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/74 "2010-07-05T14:10:25Z")
Nobody is identical except weight. This is ridiculous. I honestly don’t understand what the point is in this question, but I wouldn’t know who I’d hire. I’m obese but I’m still a hard worker. I worked construction for a long time before I decided to stay home with my daughter a few years. I almost never took off work, I kept up with the skinny folks, and I was generally a jolly person to know. So maybe I’d consider that and hire the obese person. Of course I’ve been not-obese and worked just as hard. I don’t see how weight really matters once you get past the stereotypes. Now if it was someone who has to be wheeled in, with those giant sausage arms that look like they’re about to bust out of the casing, who talks about their ten-year goal to be the fattest person in the world, who can only wear those fuzzy slippers because no other shoes will go on them, well then I doubt I’d hire them over the one at a healthier weight. Then again I wouldn’t hire anyone super-skinny with sores on their faces and missing teeth, with eyes that dart around the room like they’re looking for something to steal. Is that what I’m supposed to do here? Look to both extremes? Or are we talking about some 50 pound difference? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/75 "2010-07-05T14:25:10Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Well, since nobody is going to give **Rand** the answeer he is looking for, I guess I will: The skinny person, because he/she will be easier on the eyes. I almost said this, but then I decided to give the job to the obese person, because given the stats we have about discrimination against the obese, that person will be at a disadvantage to finding work. So I would hire them in some act of obesity affirmative action, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/76 "2010-07-05T14:43:46Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Neither of them would settle for less than the other one. Do you see why? Because you made it up? ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/77 "2010-07-05T15:48:29Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Man, we’ve got some dedicated fighters of the hypothetical here. I mean, did a hypothetical kill some of your fathers or something? Awesome! I am using this when someone complains about my rambling. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/78 "2010-07-05T16:26:39Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Well, since nobody is going to give **Rand** the answeer he is looking for, I guess I will: The skinny person, because he/she will be easier on the eyes. Is that really an advantage? If they’re the same gender, she could be a real pain in the ass to work with. And if it’s a guy, there could be torrid romantic love triangles involved, which even if I’m not a leg of the triangle would cause workplace tension and become my problem if these people work under me. Can the fat one be a monk? A monk wouldn’t bring drama to the workplace. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/79 "2010-07-05T18:07:55Z")
Dude, just because someone is attractive doesn’t mean they’re gonna turn the office into Melrose Place. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481/80 "2010-07-05T18:16:30Z")
I’d hire the skinny person cuz I’m fat and I wouldn’t want to have to fight the new guy for the last piece of office birthday cake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hire-the-obese-person-or-the-other-one/545481.md?page=5)