Morlocks and Eloi

Let's face it, statistically, not everyone can be above-average in the looks department. Some of us have to do a lot of work just to avoid looking like a creepy serial killer on a daily basis.

Those of us who are attractive, though, will make more money over a career than those of us who are fugs.

FOCUS: What advantages do you see the attractive folks in your life getting?

ALT FOCUS: Does anybody buck the trend? Is the Sr. VP at your company a troll with a private jet and a hot Cougar wife?

 

FOCUS: I see them getting (and breaking up with) girlfriends, kids, marriage, etc.. I still think I'm better off, since I'm not particularly fond of people in general, although a job would be beneficial.

ALT. FOCUS: Bernie Ecclestone. If you're a shark like him, it doesn't matter what you look like - you WILL make more money than other people. Guy's worth over 1 Billion (yes, with a B) pounds, and still looks like THAT.

EDIT - Also ALT. FOCUS: Ozzy. Besides Black Sabbath and his own group making him plenty of money, he (and his wife, and son) started his own rock/metal festival and has made packets bringing new bands to the forefront, despite looking like that. Oh, and biting the heads off bats and doves while blazed.

EDIT #2: I think it should also be noted that, in some industries, it doesn't matter what the fuck you look like. If you're VERY good at it, you will make money doing it, whatever "it" is, whether its making music, trading commodities, etc.

 

Bullshit Frylock, everyone knows that attractive women get fired for being too hot and that the evil, sexist corporations discriminate against them.

Focus: Besides the obvious free drinks and preferential treatment, at my old company I saw a promotion that HAD to be based on looks. This girl was promoted from call center to HR after being with the company for less than a year. Let's see the list

- She had way less experience than most of her coworkers that applied for the position
- She did have a college degree, but it was a bullshit one and most of the other people in her department had one too.
- She wasn't that hard working, she wasn't bad or anything, but no better than average.
- Because of being there for less than a year, strings had to be pulled to put in the transfer (company policy).

Now don't get me wrong, I actually like her and she is perfectly capable of doing the job (but really, who can't do HR?), but I absolutely guarantee she would still be in the call center right now if she wasn't one of the hottest girls in the building. To be fair though, I probably would have hired her over those other trolls too.

Alt-Focus: Two of my best friends went to the same college and got the same degree, one is 6'4" extremely good looking and very athletic. The other is 5'8" ish, balding and has more back hair than anyone I've ever seen. Friend one has already been fired from one job and laid off from another in less than five years, his girlfriend also probably weighs more than I do. Friend two is extremely successful and has a hot girlfriend.

 

Mostly, the attractive people (females) are just god damned full of themselves and absolutely love getting other people to do things for them that they wouldn't do for others, or even for themselves, one trait that I absolutely cannot stand in people. And they don't even have to be all that attractive for it, either. But on the anti-focus, this is from one of those lists of "people you meet in college"...

Now, there's a girl like this in my class. She's not from a small town, but somehow she's extremely hot, wears yoga clothing all the time (God bless her soul for that) and is humble and nice to a fault. If you're working in a group with her, she is by far the hardest working member of it. If people are getting lunch, she offers to run across the street and grab something for everyone. Meanwhile, me and my buddy talk but nothing of doing things to her that might - nay, would - shock and offend her but for which she would, no doubt, forgive us. I have no intention of cheating on my girlfriend or otherwise leaving her, but if this girl propositioned me, I'm honestly not sure I'd be capable of saying no. I don't know how or why it happened, but damn.

 

Ozzy didn't always look like that; when he was young he was actually a pretty good-looking guy (although not the most masculine-looking guy ever). But you can take anybody who's good looking and throw that many chemicals at him over decades and screw it up.

Aww, it's OK Durbanite. Spud Webb is my basketball role-model too.

I don't know...I mean, there are certainly plenty of examples of people who have succeeded despite their looks (and perhaps not having it easy because of their looks actually made them work harder). But do you think if you asked them if they wanted to switch bodies with Johnny Depp or Denzel Washington they wouldn't do it?

 

In my experience, the advantages are much more for attractive women than men. In other words, ugly dudes have about even chance over good looking dudes (outside of modeling/acting); but, hot chicks can succeed much more easily than ugly women. But, I've also found it to be a matter of whether or not the girl is willing use that to her advantage. (And I don't mean sleeping her way to the top - just a general awareness that part of her skill set is her looks and that that's okay.)

Money (and power, but mostly money) will always trump ugliness. Again, more so with men than women, though.

And, I mean ugly, not fat. Fat people have it harder than ugly people, but you can lose weight. Ugly is harder to overcome.

 

Here's the real question - how much success comes to the more attractive when they're more confident and thus project themselves better to employers?

 

I agree that the level of attractiveness matters more with women trying to get jobs than it does with men, most likely because it's usually men who are hiring.

In my experience so far, though, looks definitely matter but not necessarily in a level of hot way. It's more about looking the part, and has a lot to do with what city/area you're looking for work in. With New York (and I'm assuming L.A and Miami) it's difficult to get any part-time job without also moonlighting as a model. 90% of ads for retail or restaurants or hotels or whatever ask that you submit a headshot along with your resume. So I've barely bothered applying for part-time just-in-it-for-the-money jobs because besides being terrible at those jobs and having a crap resume for them, I know they're going to pass me over anyway for some Lara Stone look-alike. (Meanwhile, my friend from college, who I had never seen work a day except for dealing drugs, moved here and immediately got a few jobs at restaurants and is a background actor for Gossip Girl because he looks like James Dean and James Franco's secret love child.)
Then, on the other hand, my success rate with interviews in Boston was pretty good and I honestly chalk that up to the fact that I always wore a dress to the interview while the rest of the city lives in jeans and I stood out.

But with career-level jobs, it's definitely true that you have to fit the image of an editor or an agent or a gallery owner or whatever in order to be considered. I don't think that looks would be chosen over talent and experience, but if there were two people with equal qualifications and one was more attractive and/or had more of the look that company was going for, without a doubt the latter would be chosen for the job.

 

It all depends on the situation. But I agree with those who have spoken to the fact that alot of successful people may benefit from the door being opened a bit by their looks but then use their personality/confidence/force of will predicated on that appearance to take advantage. My mom is a super outgoing, bubbly sort of personality and I've had enough people in my 25 years tell me what an attractive lady my mom is (90% of the time I put my hands over my ears and yelled until they stopped) and I've seen it in action. Usually in situations where there is some sort of restriction or barrier which isn't for safety or hard protocol, more thats just the way it is. Park in this loading spot for 5 min? Sure. You need a ticket to get in, I just want to run in and give this to my daughter? No problem. Etc... Not huge deals, but some of the frigid bitches, blessed with extreme physical attractiveness, that Ive known still wouldnt be able to do it despite looking like models.

ANTI-FOCUS: At my most recent company, I had a friend who was discriminated against pretty much specifically cause she was young and pretty. She worked hard and did her job well, but often times, the product she was in charge of sales and marketing for was incomplete or not in a position where she could do anything with it. That didn't stop our GM or our fucking bookkeeper from blaming everything on her and treating her pretty horribly. The fact that she was 27, blond, and pretty may have something to do with it considering they are both in their 50s, one is obese and the other is twice-divorced and pretty bitter. Thank god I left that place.

 

I work in a heavily female dominated field. Not just radiology per se but most supporting staff in the hospital setting (nursing, respiratory, various secretaries) are mostly women. In my experience, being a man has had its advantages when interacting with others around the hospital. I think I'm decent looking and I feel it has helped me with evaluations and other disciplinary type things.

For example, a fellow x-ray student of mine got in a disproportionate amount of trouble for wearing an under shirt under her scrubs that wasn't white. White was the official and only accepted color of our uniforms. She wore a grey undershirt and got sent home, written up and the program director was contacted. I routinely wore navy and black undershirts and I never once heard anything. This particular clinical instructor would also flirt with me. In this sense, I feel that being a guy who I assume was found to be good looking by someone in a position of authority, worked to my benefit. My evaluation grades were always higher and nicer comments written about me when I really did nothing special or out of the ordinary.

Cute nurses always go out of their way a little more for me to help with a patient when I hear female students complaining about the same nurse being a bitch to her and totally unhelpful.

No complaints here, but I see how its completely unfair.

I've seen the hottest women run to their cars crying after a terrible of day of "mistreatment". They didn't like being yelled at for being lazy.

Something that was very prevalent when I was in x-ray school were the hot chicks slacking off big time and getting away with it. Male clinical instructors loved the hotties and female ones hated them. I think its the natural order of things.

 

Obviously, in the restaurant business, hot chicks will have it easier than a fat guy like me in some respects. They'll get considered for jobs more readily, guys will tip them tons, and most male co-workers will scramble to do anything to help them out- AT FIRST. Once someone has been at a restaurant for awhile, if they ain't worth shit, then they either get tossed on their ass, or they get better.

Where I work now, we have very few hot chicks. You would think that a country club's food & beverage department would have tons of hot babes, but not at my place. Apparently, it's an unwritten rule that the wives won't allow hot chicks around so the husbands don't stray. This actually makes it easier for me. The husbands love me because I'm good at my job, I'll shoot the shit with them, and they know their wives won't try to make a play for me. The wives love me because I'm good at my job, I'm a man, and I'm always professional with them. Win win for me!

 

In terms of financial success on a case by case basis in most industries these studies are borderline worthless. Of course, if you throw everything else out the window, there's bound to be that trend. It's probably more significant now since the work force is more diverse. Still, no two candidates are ever 'equal' in the application process and most of the people I meet who make hiring decisions seem much more interested in merit and experience than looks. [Unless you show up to an interview looking like a fucking slob] I thought this part of the article was interesting, not just because it's so counterintuitive, but they kind of threw it out there and then talked almost exclusively about women.

I wish they gave some info on what their sample size was, what jobs these people had, and how the study was conducted. And what do you mean after adjusting for all the other factors? Ok, things like college degrees - inherent connections - location - IQ - etc, but what exactly does adjusting mean? Did they measure self esteem? How competitive each individual was? I doubt it.

Maybe I can't really judge any of this since I've only been working at a career job for 4 months. At the least where I work there doesn't seem to be a correlation. For every attractive person in upper management there's a troll, and it seems to be relatively the same at all levels. If the trend was rule 1, then rule 2 seems to be that there is exceptions. My sisters got all the looks in my family and they land modeling jobs that pay what I make in a week for half a day's work. When my youngest sister was a hostess one old dude would tip her $100-200 every time he went in. I also noticed that in my short stint as an insurance agent nearly all the women who were hired (about 8 men were hired for every 1 girl) tended to be above average. I think it was more significant there because men were doing all the hiring and in face to face sales attraction is a more important than in an average job. Still, that all seems slight and circumstantial. Honestly, the only reason I'd want to be better looking is so that I could more easily fuck hot people. Beyond that, I don't think it would change my level of success much.

 

"Avoid" it? I don't understand.

Alt Focus: If you're a serial killer, looking like a serial killer is a perk, as it causes your victims to panic and scream a lot more after they gradually stir to realize they're tied to a chair that's hanging from a giant rope spiderweb in your own torch-lit torture chamber. It wouldn't have nearly as much effect if you looked like Pamela Anderson in a skin-tight milf-maid outfit.

 

I cant remember if this was posted here...but something is truly f'd about this

 

Speaking of serial killers, that woman is frightening.

 

Me either. I like a quiet workplace. Make eye contact, lick your own chin once, and see who asks to borrow your stapler then. Fucking nobody, that's who.

 

Good point, but blending in with the people that feel emotion has its perks, too. For one thing you can sneak up on people easier, and wearing a hip-hop coat with big pockets won't show the bulge of the chloroform rag.

Focus:
The better looking you are, the better life you have. That's the way it goes. Good looking guys don't have a shitty high school life. The prettiest girls have a great high school life up until the slightly less better looking ones' tidal wave of jealous rage spill over and they jump her in the parking lot. But, let's face it: popularity comes down to three things- money, looks or power. There is also charisma but that can't obtained nearly as easy, just ask Joe Francis. But if you are good looking and your parents aren't Jesus Freaks that hold you prisoner long enough for your mind to be completely warped then chances are everything is easier for you. Unless you're the villain in an 80's teen comedy, then you're goin' DOWWWWWWWN.

 

I think a big point of the article was that it matters less how much natural beauty you have and more how you present yourself. Which, if you think about it, makes sense. If you see two people at a job interview: one very pretty but wearing a shirt with a stain on it, wrinkled pants, and hair that looks like it hasn't been brushed; the other is more plain, but is wearing a clean-pressed suit and has nice make-up and hair, who do you think will have the advantage (if both are fairly equally qualified)? Looking decent is akin to looking professional in many industries.

I agree that there are perks to being gorgeous (and especially charismatic), but, for most of us, the advantage comes from how well we can put ourselves together.

 

I fail to see your point. She is hired.