Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Short Filipino, Tall Filipino, Shortcomings

Filipinos love the game of basketball. Heck, my mom, my sister, my dad, my bros, cousins, uncles, aunts, seriously, make bets when it comes to basketball, especially in the finals. My bros love to play, including me of course. The four of us bros were fortunately blessed with at least 5'9" height so that we can be tall enough to jump for the rebound or at least do some blocks. Fortunately, we got our father's side of the genes because all the male cousins are at least that height.

Pinoys tend to be short. Sometimes I wish I was at least a six footer. Oh well, I've learned to live with my skin, my height. What's up with this height thing and the Pinoys though? I mean, in the US, there are studies that show that taller people make more money (and so do more beautiful people, but that is another blog altogether).

What's really funny is that Pinoys are one of the biggest discriminators (is that a word? heck, I like it) when it comes to height. What makes it hilarious is that short people make fun of shorter people. Short Pinoys making fun of even shorter Pinoys? What a backward country. Upside down maybe? What SHORTcoming! Pun intended.

I opened the classifieds in the Philippines one day, and what I saw got me all riled up. Some of the ads mentioned that an applicant, a Pinoy, must be at least 5'2" for women , for that position. Whoa!!! Did I read that right? Then I re-read the ad. Maybe it was for a flight attendant position? Flight attendants need to be a little taller to be able to perform their duties. Nope. Maybe it was for a play, and the character was about a giant? Nope. Maybe it was for picking mangoes and papayas, and no ladder was available. Nope.

It was for a damn office job. I read another. It was for a damn sales job. What the fuck? I don't normally swear, but what the fuck? OK, down emotions, let logic take over again. That basically eliminates 99 % of the female pool of applicants. Fine, fine, I'm exaggerating about that percentage, but the truth is, this is a blatant form of plain stupidity. What do they do at the interview? Measure your height?

"Please remove your high heels. Step here, with your back against the wall. Oh, and we need you to put down your hair as well."

Whoa! What the fuck!

I know, I get it. Taller women are more attractive, and thus are probably more able to sell. Or the taller secretary is a better view, better eye candy for the boss. Encourages employees to come to work when they see a pretty one.

Shit, even the president then would not qualify for such position.

Philippines, my Philippines. My backward Philippines. My short Philippines. Okay, back to logic. Why doesn't the media expose this? Where are the civil right organizations? Perhaps one of the qualifications for presidency should be height? How about skin color? How about weight?

My ad:

Wanted. Pinoys, male only. Must be at least 6 ft. Must be fair skinned. Must not have missing teeth. Must have light brown eyes. Must be at least 200 lbs. What the hell, this is getting ridiculous.

Who's going to challenge these institutions? I mean, it wasn't on one ad, it was in almost every ad. And must be female! Whoa! That's another subject or blog altogether. How about those ads that mention must be under 30. Holy moly macaroni! What the fuck. Okay, I'm done swearing, damn it! Rambling. Rambling. Stay on topic. Go back to height issue.

Or just end it here before my head explodes. Damn, why do I get so worked up over this. I'll just play basketball with my brothers later to blow off some steam.

12 comments:

Renz said...

And you haven't heard of the ones with religious and ethnic preferences yet! ;)

Anonymous said...

I am short, so your story about the classified ad makes me mad. Grrrrr! >:-(

exphiles said...

I don't know why you're so surprised when the resume you submit to employers are called "Bio-Data" that ask for your birthday, height, weight, eyes, sex, father, mother (as if the employer knows who they are), religion and others.

If you put your religion as Muslim, guess how many job offers you'll get? Zero!

I think the only way you'll get a job is if you answer "Yes, sir" on sex.

Anonymous said...

This is another living proof that people who have the looks, the height or any 'perceived', Cosmo-like beauty traits pave the way for greater opportunity. We live in an unfair world, I believe. It is a reality we all can't dismiss. Time to change our perception on things that are trivial and focus on things that really matter. Height shouldn't actually be a basis. If I'm the employer, I'd rather hire a person who actually has something inside his brain than what he looks like. Another great entry!

Anonymous said...

The height phenomenon could be explained by evolutionary biology wherein organisms trapped in an island tend to grow small or if they started out as large organisms, overtime they tend to shrink and even dwarfize their size. This happens because a smaller body build would require less resources like food, shelter and territory in order to survive on an island.

In contrast, Europeans and North Americans grow tall and big because they live on a large land mass, solid continents, more space, more resources to live off on. Thus they can afford to grow big.

Our preferences for the tall guy or gal was imbibed in us through almost 500 years of colonial occupation. From the Spanish up to the American occupation and its neo-colonialism today, we have been taught to think that being tall is good. The same goes on for our love of basketball.

Anonymous said...

Good insight jhay. Although we dominated basketball during its earlier years (read it from a basketball historical coffee table book) the world has caught up since and our great nation's passion dwindled. We are currently ranked number #65 in the world according to FIBA.

So back to the height issue. As I've mention on an earlier comment, Filipinos' s process for recruitment is bleak, surface level and of course discriminating. Do you know those "bio-data" forms? Once a credible company gets a copy of that it goes straight in the trash bin. (Yes because it meant that you didn't put any effort to sell yourself) If you're not from a respectable school you're resume is not a priority and is placed lower in the pile.

Height doesn't matter maybe size does but I think that's a different topic. ;)

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you. Even though you have the most impressive resume, if you're not "good-looking" or you lack the height, then you're just wasting your time.

Filipinos tend to over-look a person's skills and abilities. As long as they're good looking and very pleasing to look at, then you can be the next CEO of a company.

Anonymous said...

i saw this job ad from professional alliance consulting by trabaho.com is says

DRIVER

College graduate
Has at least experience in driving
Professional driver’s license

wow! that was one intelligent driverthey are looking for.

AIEPRO said...

Maybe it's a driver for an automobile with a portable office.

Well, yeah, you have to be an intelligent driver because it's so difficult to maneuver the car in the Phil.

I mean, I would never be able to do it. I'd get to stressed out.

My stupid degree won't probably even qualify me.

Abner M. Hornedo, M.D. said...

Welcome back to the real world man! Sad too say we filipinos are one of the, if not the greatest "discriminators" in the world!

Unsugarcoated Reviews said...

seeing those ads is really a "what-the-fuck moment"...

geez, as if we're applying to become supermodels or something...

it's really time for local companies to ditch those stupid hiring practices and start being truly professional...

Anonymous said...

This blog is nothing but pinoy bashing pure and simple and to think that probably the author/writer or whatever you pretend to be was once a filipino (probably born and raised in the philippines) then got petitioned and became a us citizen or worst ate too much mcdonalds, wendy's, kfc, krispy kreme and all that american junk food shit and now thinks he can change the world and start preaching other people on the "great american, white way"

IF YOU NOTICE all those companies making the ads are probably multinationals representing corporate AMERICA. and PLEASE do not ever think of coming back here and quiting your 'lucrative' and high paying job in the LAND OF A PLENTY. YOU WILL BE DISSAPOINTED ! The last thing that we pinoys need (THOSE WHO ARE PAYING TAXES) is another american who thinks he/she is GOD's gift to humanity.

ENOUGH SAID.