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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I Need Advice



Normally I would not post about my personal problems on this blog because this blog is meant only for my creative writing, but seeing as how my personal blog is currently in the middle of a blog party, and I really need to vent and see what my friends have to say, I am going to make an exception just this once. Some of you know that I am a curvy plus size young woman. My work history mainly includes waitressing. When I moved to Lubbock I thought I would have no problem whatsoever getting a job. I have experience, I'm good at my job, and I like waitressing. I have all the qualifications I would need, or so I thought. I've been living in my current house for about 3 months, which means I have another 3 months to go until my lease it up. The entire time I've lived here I have religiously searched the job ads and craigslist for jobs in my area. Every waitressing job that came up I went and applied for. I got several interviews that seemed like they went quite well, but when I would call back they would tell me the position had already been filled. When I would return to the establishment (or in one case when my cousin took my job) I noticed that the new girls were not good at their jobs, they were only concerned with flirting with the patrons, and they were all really skinny people. At first I thought "Okay, no big deal, maybe they just preferred to work with these girls rather than me because of personality differences," but then I slowly started realizing that after 3 months and a billion different interviews, there was no way that all of these people hated my personality. I called my dad rather distraught and here's how the conversation panned out.

Willow: Daddy I don't understand what's wrong with me. I've gone to so many different places and I just can't seem to win these people over. It's not like I'm not looking for a job; I just can't seem to get hired.

Daddy: Well honey, I know of at least 3 other women in Lubbock that are full figured like you who can't get jobs either.

Willow: What the hell... there's no way that four different women of the same body type with different personalities can't land a job.

So I started researching. Being from a small town, it never occurred to me that people would be severely discriminated against for their weight. But through my research I've found that weight discrimination is a huge problem in America. Washington D.C., San Fransisco, and another large town, have set down laws to protect larger people from weight discrimination, but as of right now those are the only places that have any such laws. It should be no different than disability, sex, race, religion, etc., but apparently America doesn't see it as a problem. Through much of my research I've heard of horrendous acts against larger people. One such case was a man that had joined a gym. He was asked to leave the gym, they dissolved his contract, and refunded his money, because the other patrons of the gym did not like seeing him and did not want to work out around him. It is common in public service, such as waitressing, for businesses to discriminate against weight because they don't want the public to see larger people. Some people believe that larger people should not be allowed to have health insurance because we quote "Use up more than our share."

I am a healthy person. I rarely see a doctor because I am rarely sick. My blood pressure is perfect. I actually had one doctor tell me that he wanted to use my blood pressure as the model for perfect blood pressure. I have never had diabetes and am not at a risk for it. I love salads and eat them regularly. I like to eat healthily. I have a gym membership. I am an active person, but because I weigh a little over 200 pounds and I stand 5"6' I am informed that I am obese. I cannot get a date because everyone around me chooses to get close to me to be able to meet my skinny friends. I cannot get a job because apparently America thinks I am ugly. Thankfully I can still get health insurance and buy my own car, and thankfully my landlord doesn't discriminate against weight. I don't know what to do, but something has to change. Daddy told me if I can't find a job, just to make my Pagan prayer beads and sell them on Etsy, but I have no idea if that would even be worth the money I would have to put into supplies. Things have to change. I know I am beautiful and I'm not obese. I am curvy there is a difference. I am able to do my job, I am able to keep up in a fast paced environment, and I would rather do my job than flirt with people. It just really hurts me that just because I am not a tiny stick, or a surgically engineered bimbo, I am considered socially unacceptable and ugly. What do I do?

3 comments:

  1. I've been having the same job luck for over a year now. For me, part is my lack of experience in retail (it being about 99% of the stupid job market here) but no one seems willing to train anymore...and being over weight myself, that thought has definitely occurred to me too.

    It seems to me these people need a damn good dose of reality...Sadly, I am unsure of exactly how to go about that. I've done a couple of job/money type spells in hopes something would come up and my way, but it's all a waiting game really. You are beautiful. I hope they can see it soon too.
    On a side note mentioning etsy, this is the main reason for me opening mine over the weekend...It'll be small to start to see how it goes, but I need something.

    Wish you all the luck girl! <3

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  2. I believe 'fat' doesn't make Americans (or anyone else) ugly, but stupidity & prejudice sure do :( Good Luck on the job hunt (& Etsy) babes!

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  3. You are a beautiful woman! We live in a backwards society. I wish I could offer some better words but I can just say... I feel you. We live in a culture that values excess, but when someone looks like they aren't starving themselves we shun them? Terrible! In other times and in other parts of the world, women strive to look just like you and they don't because they don't have enough to eat!
    In my experience an Etsy store is a lot of hard work, for a while we were selling my husband's hand crafted jewelry on there but they just weren't going... probably because we didn't have the time to spend promoting int, and/or we weren't willing to pay $70-80 for the "Secrets to Online Store Success" e-books. I bet if you don't already have another work commitment and were able to put time into it, it would work!

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