Fat Discrimination at Work

A friend of mine told me about a conversation he overheard between two managers at his work last week. They were discussing the hiring of a new staff member and said that although the candidate was qualified and seemed like a good job match, they didn't want to hire him because of he was overweight. They assumed he would be lazy because he was overweight and instead of hiring the qualified applicant they instead decided to re-advertise the position and look for someone else.

It sounds outrageous and unbelievable, but I had a similar situation myself when I was at my heaviest weight of 128.5 kilos. I applied for my dream job at my dream company, and I was asked in for two extensive interviews. They rang all of my referees and from all accounts they seemed to like me. They then rang me to tell me that I didn't get the job and had decided to go with another candidate. I was really disappointed but thought it seemed fair enough, obviously there was someone more qualified then me.

It wasn't until a week later that one of my referees called me because she wanted to tell me about the call she had from my potential employer. They had asked her about my weight and if it would affect me in the job. Keep in mind this was for your typical desk job and didn't require any physical work. They apparently went on to ask her further questions about my weight and said they were concerned by how it would affect me in the job role. My referee thought I should know and in a way I am glad that she told me.

I was humiliated and felt like I didn't deserve a good job. I was so down about the situation that I stopped applying for my dream job and instead got myself a job in a mindless call centre (at a much hated company) where I was abused by customers all day. In my mind, I felt that this was the kind of job I deserved and I didn't feel like I could or should get anything better.

I have people try to tell me that there isn't such thing as fat discrimination and that it is all in my head. They say that people will treat you how you ask to be treated or that it is just a matter of confidence. This is true in some cases, but not always. I have too many examples to even get into the amount of times I have been treated like either a total moron or a sloth because people assume I am fat and stupid or fat and lazy. Further to this there are many other times where I have been openly ridiculed and abused or completely ignored because of my weight.

I now have a great job where I am judged by my abilities rather then my appearance, but yet I still struggle day to day to believe that I deserve this job. It is important to me that I am always first at work and last to leave and that I rarely take breaks. I guess in a way I feel that I have to prove to myself and my colleagues that, while I am fat, I am not stupid and lazy.