This is really a “two-fer,” as in “two-for-one.” Here’s the bonus bias:
I visited the gloomy medical office in which I get my monthly blood analysis—I think I’ve mentioned here that the only decoration in the waiting room is a photograph of gravestones. This time I learned that the sad, monosyllabic tech who had manned the office alone for years finally had hired an assistant, and it would be she who would be sticking a needle in that prominent vein in my right arm.
As I went into the blood-letting area, I greeted her, said hello, introduced myself, cheerfully said that I was looking forward to her expertise, and basically tried to be cordial and friendly to a new acquaintance. The youngish African American woman wouldn’t answer, smile, or look me in the face; she just grimly went about her business. She did it well, too: I barely felt the needle, which is more than I can say for her boss’s performance at least 50% of the time.
However, I resent the sullen freeze-out conduct from service providers, clerks and those in similar jobs, and maybe this is my bigoted imagination, but I seem to get this treatment from young black women more often than not. It is the result of poor training, poor manners, and a rotten attitude. My current house guest, who is much younger than I, says this is a Gen Z thing, “pretending to be autistic.” I don’t care what it is: it makes life and society less pleasant, and there is no excuse for it. In the past, there have been instances where I have forced the issue and confronted such jerks, but I sure wasn’t going to try that approach with a woman about to plunge a needle into me.
Now on to the main bias…
The rude tech also was wearing the longest, thickest, fakest looking false eyelashes I have ever seen in my life. I’ve been checking the web about this phenomenon: it’s apparently part of current “black culture,” so no white person is supposed to question it, because to do so is racist. Whatever. We are doing black women no favors by being afraid to point out that this werewolf look is unprofessional, unattractive, makes women of any race look like not just hookers, but cheap hookers, and is a career handicap.
True, a tech in a back office can dress up in a mushroom suit if she wants, but I wouldn’t hire any woman wearing those lashes for a job requiring her to represent me and my company, even if the woman had the charisma of Gladys Knight. My instant reaction to a woman in eyelashes that would make Bambi self-conscious is to assume that she is not too bright, has bad taste, is inclined to blindly follow fads, and therefore untrustworthy. My conclusions about establishments that hire such woman are also uncomplimentary.
Yes, it’s a bias, just like my bias against young black men a while back who wore their pants slightly above their knees. And, as in that ridiculous case, the bias is absolutely justified.
Ethics Alarms 
I look at all these kinds of cultural fashion trend choices as a form of adolescent minded rebellion to what overall society considers “normal”. They want people to look at them, and then when people like me look at them they get offended. I’ve had some really “interesting” conversations with fashion fools after they say something like “what are you looking at” to me, it’s actually kinda fun explaining how foolish they are.
Note: the sagging pants down to the knees nonsense came out of prisons where belts are banned for safety reasons and uniforms are kind of one size fits all and grossly oversized for many inmates. I think it’s an absurd way of wearing pants, these people are constantly having to pulling up their pants so they don’t drop to the floor, it makes them look like imbeciles.
It makes them look like convicted felons. Query: Is that a look anyone would want to aspire to?
Young Bill asked, “Is that a look anyone would want to aspire to?”
I suppose role models can come in all shapes and sizes.
“I suppose role models can come in all shapes and sizes.” (bolds mine)
Heh; Gillette found out the hard way that trying to install a role model through a WOKE LENS doesn’t always go according to plan.
PWS
MY bias is “nose rings.” Actually, any kind of facial piericing. My focus is on the abominable device. What, who ever wears one says, is never heard.
I share this one too.
Nose rings typically give me the impression of gilding the lily, which is baffling but I can usually ignore it. Long fingernails, though, tend to disturb me. They strike me as creepy and impractical, and I keep picturing all the things they could catch on. I would very much like that ancient fashion meme to die.
As someone who spends many hours a day, at work and at home, pounding a keyboard, I cannot fathom having superlong fingernails.
It keeps you from being able to use your phone or a keyboard normally, since most times a screen won’t respond to the nails unless you get some flesh with it.
My sister has long — but not absurd — fingernails and she has problems.
Long fingernails, all the rage, are unethical.
They prevent people from being useful right at moments when your mere presence at an event obligates you to assist someone.
I’ve also see someone with long fingernails spill something and ask someone else to clean up the the mess they created because their long fingernails prevented them from even being able to get the objects off the floor.
I am mystified by the septum rings. I asked one young woman if she liked being led around by the nose. The implication was lost in her.
jvb
Nose rings are for cows and classically they are for slaves. Alas, in a way, that’s what they are still for if you think about it long enough.
My experience tracks with yours exactly. I have experienced this same issue, and everything goes together. It’s gotten to the point that when an African American woman who “fits the vibe” actually doesn’t act like that, it surprises me because of how uncommon it is.
I’ve wondered if its racism on their part against white men who they can tell are probably conservative. I don’t know though. The eyelashes look awful, and they are distracting. It just makes me not even want to try to talk to them anymore.
well she’d be right because the white older man ran home and made an entire post about how she looked like a black hooker
False. I wrote that she looked like a cheap hooker, because she did. That she was black was incidental.
The eyelashes aren’t racial. It’s the eyelashes combined with a certain demographic with certain terrible attitudes.
It’s the same thing as liberal white women with nose rings.
Men who have a cocky walk and wear a cowboy hat, boots, and a belt with jeans and a flannel like shirt tucked in also have a vibe.
Personality, demeanor, and fashion do tell you something about a person.
I hate the gross eyelashes too but that’s because I’m biased. But describe a woman who was new to the job, stayed focused instead of chatting you up (not part of her job, she’s not a flight attendant), and performed her job better than her experienced boss. That’s your evidence for a rotten attitude and poor judgment. Yes, appearance affects patient trust, your specific claim is that she looks like a cheap hooker and that signals she’s untrustworthy and not too bright. And then you say she performed better than the person who trained her. The thing you said would undermine trust didn’t undermine trust. You watched it not undermine trust in real time!
Doing her only job well isn’t enough, she has to smile at you. Technical excellence doesn’t count. But again, her job is the blood draw, small talk. And she delivered better than her boss. You can’t use her performance to prove she handled the needle well and then set it aside when judging her character. Your bias didn’t add up in reality..
“Doing her only job well isn’t enough, she has to smile at you.” Damn right. That’s what interaction in a social situation requires. If someone smiles and says hello, you respond. Your (amazing) position enables rudeness, social isolation and incivility. If a black person smiled and said hello and I ignored them and avoided their gaze, I would be engaging in a “micro-aggression” that would be presumed to be racist. As long as you do your job technically well, you can be rude and unresponsive while doing it? What a great theory…and a terrible one.
Ethical social interaction norms requires being minimally polite to strangers. Who brought you up, wolves????
Jack,
You really ought to let black people evolve culturally. White people have. Don’t you remember the 80/90s when there was an unspoken war against gravity? White women would have big poofy bangs held up high in the air by hairspray.
Evolve is fine. Devolving is not.
A lot of people are nervous when being poked with needles so it is the tech’s job to make the patient feel at ease. If she is the same around small children, then she must have a lot of crying children that the children’s parents have to deal with. But if she can be friendly around children , then there is no reason that she can’t be friendly around adults also.
Her boss was pretty stoic, but at least he wasn’t rude. In my years of having blood drawn, almost all of the nurses and techs were friendly and kind, because that’s how you are supposed to be when you have a job that involves interacting with people. Waiters, teachers, bank tellers, plumbers, receptionists, police officers, doctors, lawyers…I don’t know where Ben gets the idea that job skills and social obligations stop stop with the technical details of the task, but wherever it is, it’s not a good place to live.
It is possible she’s nervous, so just focused on the task. Perhaps she’ll be more friendly when more experienced and confident.
Don’t love the cheap hooker look.
I dunno. The caterpillar eyelash thing is irrelevant to me. It’s a beauty thing that goes right overt head. If the blood drawer vampire had 3 inch eyelashes, I don’t care. I just hope the lab tech does a good job and is pleasant.
jvb
Question: does nothing anyone puts on their face or head cause you to make judgments about them? Huge inflated lips? Ridiculous fake wigs? Snake tattoos?
Yes. Facial piercings (lips, cheeks, eyebrows, chins, etc.) and facial/neck tattooes give me the creeps. I don’t get them at all. I make judgment calls about them all the time. I don’t get the caterpillar eyelashes but they don’t cause me great consternation.
jvb
*Overly* doing anything to your appearance is a subtle lie about yourself you tell to the world and, therefore, is unethical.