Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wardrobe Discrimination?


So, I have been in the middle of switching banks and so have been writing checks lately, right? Something I have not done for the past 12 years or so. I have also been working in a less formal environment and so been wearing more business-casual clothes lately. Over the past couple of weeks I have been fueling up my car at a certain gas station in Saratoga Springs and have found it interesting to be asked for my ID. Being a non-smoker, non-drinker, non-check writer, and generally not going to any type of rave or gathering where the clientele were over 21, I am not used to being carded, and it kind of irked me that I had to take out my wallet and prove who I was in order to use a check. This happened two different times over the past two weeks.

This week I needed to dress in my suit and go to my home office, so when I got out at the gas station, I followed procedure and wrote my check, handed it over and reached for my driver's license, and...nothing! The attendant walked off to process my check, with nary a thought of who I might be. There was no eyeing the picture, no hard, searching, squint into my eyes, nothing. I was not carded, and the thought came into my mind that it was because of my appearance; I looked like a clean cut businessman and of course that means I can be trusted.

I thought that this experience may have been an outlier, that it was just a fluke, a coincidence. Twice carded in plain clothes, once not carded in more formal attire...until it happened again. Two days later I was there again, same gas station, same scenario, I reach for the ID, and....rejected! The attendant is off running my check through some new fandangled contraption that makes it act like a debit card. Lucky me.

I thought that this certainly could be no coincidence. We're 2 for 4 here. Now, to level the field a bit, (I know what you are thinking), and no, the station attendant didn't just learn my name. I went to the station at four different times and was served by four different attendants.

Was I the recipient of wardrobe discrimination? Does that even exist? Do humans treat eachother differently and even have a different level of trust for people that are dressed more and less formally? I am certain that we do, but it has been many years since I have felt any type of discrimination or persecution, and so the feeling was new to me. Not since I was a white boy growing up in south Texas or a Mormon youth in inner city New Jersey had I felt any type of discrimination or prejudice, be it positive or negative.

I am fascinated by human beings and how we think, reason, and react to one another. I think that in another life I could have been quite happy as a researcher or even a psychologist. Maybe a high school drama teacher. It is absolutely fascinating to me that as humans we categorize, we prioritize, and we judge based on our own life-experience, which for any one person is going to be fairly limited.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Anybody know an outstanding designer?

The Audio Visual Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is seeking a experienced graphic designer. Primary focus on creating user interface design and motion design elements. Expert knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Animation experience in Flash and After Effects is a significant plus. A agency background will also be helpful. This position if for experienced designers with a strong portfolio, excellent leadership and communication skills.