We all know that a cute girl can wink her way into getting a discount or a free service. And if beautiful people also have the upper hand in the entertainment industry (Jason Castro, of American Idol, proved that VERY clearly as he couldn’t sing a lick but made it to the top friggin 4! And David Cook suddenly got real popular when he ditched that original comb-over contraption on his head and got the sexy rocker look (although he does have talent)).
But seriously, if you are a better looking lawyer will you have more success on your cases?
Will more patients come to you if you look like Christian Troy from Nip/Tuck?
Further if a company has to downsize, and they have two employees with equal talent, are they going to kick out the Brad Pitt look alike or the Oscar the Grouch looking dude? I’m betting on the latter. Is it that better looks means a more positive environment (I know that sounds horrendous but I’m simply playing devil’s advocate here) or more customers?
But seriously, if you’ve got an intelligent worker who produces well but looks like Bill Gates you’d be a fool to fire him over the dumb bell Pam Anderson look alike.
But we simply can’t make light of the situation. People who aren’t defined as what our society would deem attractive don’t have it easy and now to think that they might be placed more at risk for their jobs is even more disheartening.
I admit, some days I might come to work looking a little tired or have a bad hair day but no one wants to think that their looks might mean the end of their job.
I had a coworker who was told by the boss one day that she had to come to work looking better because her hard to control hair looked sloppy. Well at least she could fix that. But what if it was something harder or more expensive to fix? Who needs the added stress?
Will more patients come to you if you look like Christian Troy from Nip/Tuck?
Further if a company has to downsize, and they have two employees with equal talent, are they going to kick out the Brad Pitt look alike or the Oscar the Grouch looking dude? I’m betting on the latter. Is it that better looks means a more positive environment (I know that sounds horrendous but I’m simply playing devil’s advocate here) or more customers?
But seriously, if you’ve got an intelligent worker who produces well but looks like Bill Gates you’d be a fool to fire him over the dumb bell Pam Anderson look alike.
But we simply can’t make light of the situation. People who aren’t defined as what our society would deem attractive don’t have it easy and now to think that they might be placed more at risk for their jobs is even more disheartening.
I admit, some days I might come to work looking a little tired or have a bad hair day but no one wants to think that their looks might mean the end of their job.
I had a coworker who was told by the boss one day that she had to come to work looking better because her hard to control hair looked sloppy. Well at least she could fix that. But what if it was something harder or more expensive to fix? Who needs the added stress?
2 comments:
Well, back in my undergrad days, when I was studying psych., I remember that a lot of research had been conducted on this subject, and what they found was that due to the halo effect, more attractive people are assumed to have a host of other positive qualities, from intelligence to wealth to popularity, etc., etc. So beautiful people definitely benefit from the biased perceptions of others. Sad but true.
Really incisive post, btw!
I'm going to go with yes. I've seen sexy people underwrite the shit out of a dental case.
Okay, I'm just kidding... but I agree that there is an altered perception of beautiful people and what is afforded to them -- though I cannot deliver any statistical evidence to either support or refute that notion.
But who are we kidding? We know how it usually goes...
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