Sorry you are fat

In this society, other than racial and sexual discrimination, what do we have?

From http://news.omy.sg/News/Local%2BNews/Story/OMYStory200912091511-111440.html

6%胖哥胖妹　被雇主歧视

6%肥胖男女申诉在求职时曾被雇主歧视。

由新华茂（Pharmanex）保健公司针对745名年龄介于13至57岁的男女进行的调查发现，约6%肥胖男女申诉在求职时，曾被雇主歧视。针对这项调查，网络招聘公司JobsCentral总裁林德兴说，肥胖者被雇主歧视的事件在本地较罕见，雇主在聘请员工时，体重和身材不会是考虑因素，他们关注的是求职者的履历，例如工作经验、学历等。

“一些工作，例如酒店接待员，雇主可能就特别注重员工的形象，挑选员工的标准会比较苛刻。”

生活训练导师蔡筱芬也同意这一点，她说：“担任前线工作的员工就是公司的代言人，公司注重员工的外表是无可厚非的。”

While racial and sexual differences are increasingly being tolerated and stabilized nowadays, another kind of discrimination will start to kick in. In the modern society where personal image and appearance has become a greater concern, such prejudice might be inevitable. We all know the common stereotypes targetting fat people.

This kind of weight discrimination might be more applicable in service industry, where image takes on a greater importance. Most people judge by first impression anyway. And the very first impression that service personnel will give customers is none other than their outer appearance. Sometimes one can be forgiven for his/her mistakes because of his/her good looks. A useful asset eh?

"The heart is more important than looks", "Whether you are fat or slim, it doesn't matter as long as your attitude is good" - putting all these politically correct answers aside, we still cannot deny that appearance is particularly important in jobs where one has to face and interact with many people, and is under the limelight all the time, be it celebrities, service employees, and even teachers. Other than carrying out their jobs well, these people have to be wary of their personal image all the time, and make sure that they do not act in such a way that gives others a bad impression.

However, if you don't have good looks and appearance to start off with, you probably have to put in more effort to achieve similar impression as those who have.