Frustrating Reality

Since when did a sit-down job like that of an analyst necessitate a height advantage? I seriously thought that in jobs like this, where one's essential duty is to use his/her brain, fair competition among applicants is the norm. I thought that since the job requires a person to sit most of the time, read paperworks, and analyze possible effects of whatever was read, there is no need for that person to look his/her most gigantic best. Apparently I'm wrong!

Pardon the frustration but I just got declined by Meralco for this very reason... I'm too short. I measured 5'2'' by their wall of height statistics. I was unceremoniously told that my application will no longer be processed because I didn't measure up to their index. Damn! Whatever happened to my credentials? The funny thing is when I first went there to apply, I was readily interviewed and measured by another individual. After looking at my stats, she continued with my interview and even offered that I become a teller. Well, she saw my hesitation (no offense but it's not in my league to become a teller) and offered me another choice-- to take an exam for the position of an analyst (now that's more like it). So I was scheduled for the exam.

Two days later, I took the exam. After that, we were all told to call by friday next week to know the results. Of course, I obediently called them friday. I was told that the person processing my papers was on leave and that someone else was now processing my documents. Fine. So I called her up. She then informed me that I passed the exam. She asked if I could go to their office monday for yet another interview. Sure.

So here I was this morning, dressed like a young executive, I went to her office. The first thing she told me after I gave her the updated resume was to go to the wall of physiological statistics. I informed her that I have already done that part before. She persisted. What the heck, I'll probably get the same results anyway considering that I was measured only a week before so why not humor her. So I got measured again. She got them and wrote them down on my resume. Then she told me that I no longer have the chance to be part of their company because I did not measure up. I asked her what the problem was. Was it my weight? No. It was my height.

Had it been the weight, there wouldn't have been much of a problem because there is something that I can do about it... but my height?! Even if I gulp down a gallon of growee, I will no longer grow an inch vertically. Only a 500,000-peso growth hormone injection can resolve my problem. Unfortunately, I don't have that much money on hand... hell.

Realizing that I was already being rejected not because I'm a dimwit, I asked her what the job description of an analyst is. She answered. Ok, a desk job. But I'm not qualified because I'm too short. So I asked her flat out, isn't this discrimination? She answered of course not, the company had the right to determine the qualifications for the jobs. I said of course, but I wasn't applying to become a line man or a driver or some other "skilled jobs" where height, or other physical aspects for that matter, are of monumental import. This was a desk job. I was more than qualified intellectually and emotionally to handle the challenges that will come my way working for them. Still, rules were rules. So I asked her, how is it that the other person, the one on leave, let me take the exam despite her knowing my physical stats? If she deemed me ok then, how am I refused now? She answered that maybe the person was not cognizant of the requirements for the position. That's when I realized that I was speaking to a complete nitwit. Didn't she realize that what she was telling me was that her colleague was an incompetent idiot? When you belong to the HR department, you have to be knowledgeable of all the requirements of every position in the company. That's how you evaluate who to hire! She then tried to placate me (though I never lost my cool) by saying that things might just change coz the upper beings might change their minds about this requirement. Look, girl, I graduated with honors from the top university in the country in one of their most challenging courses. In other words, don't treat me like the idiot that you are coz I'm not (just to clarify, these are my thoughts... as I said I kept my cool). What kind of bullshit was she spurting anyway? If I were to believe her (like me believing in the existence of the white elephant), my beliefs would be that her bosses, the heads of Meralco, were a fickle lot. Since I didn't want to talk to the female bozo anymore, I just said fine, smiled, thanked her for her time, and went out.

My first thought after getting out was "what a stupid clown... oh how redundant!" Then, my thoughts drifted to my initial perception of the matter... that it was discrimination, which made it illegal. Thus my trip to this internet shop. First order of business-- www.chanrobles.com. I needed to look at the bill of rights and the labor provisions. To my dismay, there was no provision in our esteemed constitution that guaranteed for a fair competition setting with respect to labor in the corporate arena. Sure there was stuff about labor but nothing on non-discrimination in labor practice. Perhaps, the drafters of the constitution overlooked this malpractice in the labor industry. How do we get to ensure that each and every Filipino will get employed if even the learned and the capable are discriminated against on grounds as paltry as height?

Maybe I'm just embittered because I wasn't born to become 6'2" upon reaching adulthood... but I'd rather be an itelligent hobbit than a gigantic doofus... like that stupid clown earlier... oh how redundant.