I understand why restaurants wouldn't want to hire waitresses who are, well, fat. I could say plus-sized, or zaftig, or Reubenesque, or one of those other euphemisms, but we know what we're talking about here. Fat is fat. They don't want to hire fat people because a) They don't want you to be thinking about what you could look like if you eat/order a bunch of their food, and b) They don't want you knocking over people's plates with your big butt.
But what if you just need a job and you happen to be, well, zaftig? It's not like half the population can't relate! A good many of the people eating out are obese themselves, so what does it matter? We're all friends, right? Apparently not. In case you haven't guessed, I'm pretty large myself, and have been applying for waittressing jobs. I was hired at one place, and worked for 2 days and did a great job, I thought! The customers liked me, and I made about $50 in tips! But then the owner seemed to have a change of heart, and didn't want me to come back... hmmm. Since then I've been applying to everything I can find, but no bites. They sound interested on the phone, but when they meet me, there's some obvious disappointment. I'm not ugly, I don't think, but the extra weight makes people look right through me. It's not like I didn't know that we live in a very visual, thin-obsessed society. But I keep hoping that someone will look past the fat girl and just see the girl who just wants to work hard and make some money.
To be fair, I only have teaching jobs on my resume, and the other aspect of this is that I think some places see me as overqualified, and even if I tell them I want to work part-time during the school year (which is true), they seem to think I will leave when school starts. But if they were interested over the phone, when I show up, I see the disappointment in their eyes and I leave feeling incredibly foolish.
So the obvious question is, "Well why don't you just lose weight?" Yeah. I know. But when you've got no money to go out, and you're worried about how you're going to make the next mortgage payment or any payment for that matter, and you like to eat, food becomes one of your few comforts. I feel like I've had to give up most other things, and I'm not going to give up food. But maybe enough's enough. I wish I were more accepted for what I look like now, but it's not like I'm happy being overweight. So maybe I can find some other comforts to keep me going. Like exercise! In the meantime, the search for a job continues.
