Alright- one more life lesson and I'm done for a little while... Maybe a few hours anyway.
I came across another article on Yahoo! (can you tell I read a lot of Yahoo!?) about how If You Don't Lose Weight, Your Finances Will.
Interesting take on the economics of being in thinner, better shape.
I recently lost my job and in the weeks leading to the said departure- things had wound-down completely- and I had lots of time to bullshit with my soon-to-be-departed co-workers. Some, I'll attest are "friends," though- in the work setting- the term "friends" becomes the seven-letter f-word if there ever was one.
A lot of these people I had known for years, a decade- and I knew them when they were younger, and thinner. Myself, maybe included too.
One friend, an old manager/boss- had a daily case of verbal diarrhea. If you so-much as stopped by his desk, and it was hard not to- the Bloomberg machine was on his desk... he's give you his daily pearl of wisdom... For better or worse.
Sometimes the shit he had to say was amusing, often times- you had to try to figure it out, or swear that you weren't going to talk to the guy ever again. Doing so was not only insulting- but it could get you fired...
Anyway- he told me "you need to lose some weight... you're going to be looking for a job and people don't want to hire overweight people... lose ten pounds. (So and So..) is out of work over a year- he can't find a job- nobody wants to hire him- he's too fat to fit in the chairs...." And went along his business- which like the Man With the Yellow Hat involves a lot of monkey business...
(Now- do I need to lose weight?- that's subjective. Do I want to lose weight?- that's well, (an) objective.. I mean, I try... I try more than my mentioned "friend;" so, I was a little put-off by the advice. And just weeks prior- had had complimented me how, pending losing my job, I was "looking good physically to meet new employers," but whatever... this guy is truly sick...)
But it's true- in the twisted, biased, twisted (did I mention twisted?) world in which we live, and work- I've found that tall and skinny does better than short and not as skinny- or not as good-looking- as subjective and relative as that may be!?
Economics, health aside- my experiences in corporate America (and they've been horrible, trust me) have seen the tall and beautiful grab the brass ring easier than the norm. I mean, they can reach farther, better; they're taller, right? And people (some under-sexed types anyway) want them around the room, or desk, or corner office- or wherever you work- if just for ornamentation.
I love AMC's Mad Men- and this one episode finds my hero, Don Draper, in Palm Springs- with a cocky, nomadic group of European jet-setters (think '60's beatniks with lots of money instead of coffee) that offer Don to join them in their lair of luxury because, to quote the father "he's good looking" and "he doesn't say much."
(Watch below... this clip was taken from the episode- and The Car Guy Gets It will have you note- the improper use of the W113 230 SL Pagota- this is a car that didn't debut for at least another year of when this show is taking place- 1962.)
My "friend," as twisted as his advice was, well I can almost understand it. His boss, (my boss too) led a department of bullshit in a way that was 1) biased 2) a relic of another time 3) mismanaged. So mismanaged that he lost his job- that everyone (in my circle of "friends") knows it and why and 4) his days are over as he once knew them. Serves him right. He was into a lot of things- being good looking and not saying much one of them.
So- being biased towards tall, skinny, beautiful, white, black, purple, or whatever is deemed "ideal"- is counterproductive in the workplace- plain and simple.
My old boss- while he succeeded in trying to screw most everyone, wound-up screwing himself- looking out for "little head number one," and chopping "big head number two" in the process...
"Nothing lasts forever," looks, size, power, job, whatever.
Which is all the more reason to hit the gym... and ornamentation (ugly, pretty, skinny or fat) only goes so far.
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