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April 9, 2005

Oh, Thanks For That

One of the reasons I turned down the job offer from my client company is because they don’t offer health insurance for dependants. What the heck is that about? 90% of the people in the office are young and single or if married, don’t have children. Is this their subtle way of discriminating against family oriented people? They describe themselves as a startup company and make the disclaimer that they work long hours (very long hours). It’s pretty clear they want employees who don’t have anything else to take priority over work.

I seriously don’t like what they’re insinuating. I also believe this ties into their opinion of my weight. In a quote from an article on Careerbuilder.com (by Kate Lorenz) an “executive recruiter for Pinnacle Partnership, says employers are ‘significantly less inclined’ to hire the overweight. ‘It has to do with an employer's perception of work ethic,’ he says. ‘Employers believe that if you were hard-working and ambitious you would stay in shape."

Without going into every detail I really feel this company reluctantly offered me the job, which hurt me because I have worked very hard for them over the past year. My weight hasn’t affected my work ethic at all.

Ok, all that wasn’t actually the original purpose of this post but I had to mention it when the thoughts crossed my mind. I really was just going to briefly mention my experience while looking into insurance options for my family. It always comes back to my frikin’ weight, I can hardly avoid it.

I spoke to a few insurance agents and found some pretty affordable plans, but the interview process sucked. A few asked if I smoke, that’s a given, and I don’t so I’m OK with that. The very next question, if not sometimes the first, was "what’s your weight?" UUUHHHGGG! When asked that question I always feel compelled to lie. (You guys, in fact, have been the only people I’m honest with.) So I did, I lied. I consistently said that I was 20lbs. lighter than I am and with that I still received the dreaded "Oohh, yeahhh, OK, well then you’re going to have to pay a little more for that." YEAH, TELL ME ABOUT IT, I pay every frikin’ day for it. One agent even said I was technically considered obese (oh, thanks for that, by the way, I hadn’t noticed, you’re very kind.)

Great! If I lose 20lbs I’m still obese! How’s that for a confidence booster and motivator? Thank goodness I’m still pretty young because that takes some weight (see there’s that pesky weight cropping up again) off the premiums. Because I happen to be feeling pretty good lately, I just laughed it all off. Now I’m working on a plan to sabotage the scale at the doctor’s office. Would magnets work?

Posted by hopeful @ April 9, 2005 11:41 AM