How often do you assume a woman is picked for a Customer Facing job on her looks, not Competence?

Question

Whether it is a front desk receptionist at a commercial premises, a travel agency, or an in-flight waitress - when the person doing the job is an attractive woman, how often do you think to yourself that she has been employed because of her looks, not her competence?

Answer 1

I will tell you what I had a few fast food jobs and on a couple of occasions managers would point blank say you are a pretty girl so you can be on register. and I hated being on register. I wanted to be in back making sandwiches. there were women in the back that made sandwiches but they tended to be I guess you could say less feminine ? maybe?

was I chosen to do register because I was considered a pretty girl.

was the girl on sandwiches chosen for that because she was not considered pretty. for all they and I knew she could have run circles around me on cash register.

was there the assumption that because I was "a pretty girl" that I would be incapable of making sandwiches."

so to answer you question yes I think that does happen.

Answer 2

I would say all child free individuals and couples face intrinsic discrimination is society. I am Australian and we recently had a general election for a new federal government. During the campaigning prior to the election, the politicians on both sides were frantically trying to out do each other in promoting tax breaks and special payments and services for families and mothers with babies. Of course this was no different from any other election in the past. The point is that single people subsidize the children of others through higher taxation. Govermental policies regard the needs of adults with children to be more important that that of childless adults. Nobody tries to entice the vote of the childless adults, they are not considered a legitimate demographic and even to suggest they are is often regarded as something perverse. Politicians have even said they are unashamedly pro-family biased in their policies and this is simply an admission they are discriminatory (but in a legal manner since there are no policies to protect single people as a demographic). I am childless by choice. I believe that our world has far too many people and a lot of people who demand the right to children are basically selfish. If they believe in children so much, why not adopt rather than give the overburdened planet (and single taxpayers) another mouth to freed?

Answer 3

If you look at adverts for 'front of house' type jobs, they almost always emphasise 'good presentation and grooming'.



First impressions are very important in business, and people want to know their valued customers are being received by someone with high standards of personal grooming.



As for 'good' looks, that's a little tougher ~ for one thing, there just aren't that many outstandingly good looking people around.



I mean, most people are nice enough looking, but movie-star type beauty is rare and those folks can usually get a better job than receptionist.



Mostly you'll find the public presentation type jobs are done by people who are OK looking, young-ish and very good with their grooming and personal presentation skills, rather than just good looking.



The dumb receptionist is a bit of a furphy, imo ~ you wouldn't last long as a receptionist in *most* places if you are an idiot, it can be fairly stressful and demanding.



And air hostess is a tough job ~ on your feet for up to eight hours at a time, dealing with cranky people who may also be scared, bored and demanding ... and it's not exactly 'glamorous' cleaning the toilets and splitting beers for rugby teams. You have to be fairly tough, AND well groomed.



Cheers! :-)

Answer 4

If she's got a pretty face and doing an incompetent job then, of course, I assume she was hired for her 'front desk' kind of face. If she is doing the job well, then I'd chalk it up to her getting the job on merit. The 'up front' person needs to have a friendly, out going personality first and foremost. When they do---male and female alike---then you tend to look past the exterior surface and see the personality first.

Answer 5

I've never really thought about that, but I would hope that she wasn't picked for her looks. Do customers really care what the person behind the desk looks like, as long as they just make the damn reservations?

Answer 6

Frequently, probably, however it works the same for men. Look at all the male news reporters on cable news...they are all Ken-dolls.



I once asked a bartender friend of mine why so many bartenders in upscale places are attractive men. He told me it's a marketing ploy. If you have good-looking female bartenders, men come in, but they pay attention only to the bartender and they spend only a moderate amount. If you have good-looking male bartenders, single women come in to stare at the bartenders, and men come in to stare at the women staring at the bartenders, thus expanding your paying customer base twice over.

Answer 7

The only time I think that is when her lack of competence shows.

Answer 8

In normal business jobs, I don't think looks make any difference. If your talking about nite clubs, bars and strip joints, of course it will make a difference.

Answer 9

Every time she is good looking. I know for a fact that that restaurant hostesses are pretty consistently good-looking for that very reason.

Answer 10

75 percent of the time

Answer 11

I think they value the friendliness in the tone of their voices, and the warmth of their smile more than their sex or looks.

Answer 12

my bosses hire for skill level and personality, but i know they also look for a person who is presentable. my boss has told me jokingly that he hired me because i am a cute girl with a good personality...and oh yeah, i had over three years of experience in the field i applied for.

Answer 13

Ummm...

Rhetorical question Twilight?

Answer 14

i think it happens all the time. did i think about that everytime i was face to face with an attractive c.s. rep? no. but i likely will now, lol.