It's quite embarrassing at times that so many people have judged me based on my appearance. Because of my youthful appearance, some people mistakenly think I'm in my early to mid-20s when in fact I'm over 30. I recently had an experience with a young lad under the age of twenty.
I visited a site for a road assessment in a far-off location. My boss asked me to stand in for him at a road inspection because he owns a consulting company. Due to the poor roads, I wasn't able to find the spot in time, but eventually, I did.
When I arrived at the job site, I put on my reflective jacket and helmet to be seen. I couldn't find anyone there because it seemed like everyone had gone on break, so I waited next to the excavator machine for them to return from their break.
The first person to return to the location was a boy, who approached me and asked if I had come to complete my internship program at their business.
I initially thought I had heard something strange, did I just hear "intern"?
I asked him to repeat what he had said, and even though I was furious within, I was unable to respond immediately.
I responded with harsh remarks like, "Can't you see my face, do I appear like an intern in your eyes?"
Young man, I'm here for your site inspection, and I asked
further where is your site Engineer.
At this point, the boy asked for forgiveness after realizing he had incorrectly judged me based on my appearance. He apologized, saying that based on your appearance, he had mistakenly assumed that you were still a college student.
I accepted his apology and asked him to call the site engineer on my behalf; he did so.
When the site engineer arrived, he met with both of us there and made judgments about me. I assumed that we might have the same number of years of experience based on the way he looked. Unfortunately, it wasn't true.
I informed him that the consulting company had assigned me to inspect their site.
The site engineer asked me if I had recently completed my NYSC as we moved forward with the site inspection. And I responded, "Why did you think so? He said my look said it all.
I told him that I wasn't a recent graduate and had been practising for more than six years, the guy was surprised and couldn't believe it.
I showed him my service year project on my smartphone, and he was shocked.
Experience With An HR
I had a bad encounter with a company's HR last year after I came across a project proposal advertisement online. According to the job description, applicants must have at least five years of experience.
I went to their head office for the interview, and when the time came, we got started right away. However, as soon as I walked into the interview room, the HR shouted at the top of his lungs, "Can't you read in the job description that it was stated that applicants must have 5 years and above?
I was so embarrassed that I answered in a low voice, "Sir, I have over 6 years of experience and all the evidence is with me."
The HR and his crew were shocked, and they quickly instructed me to take my seat while they collected all of my credentials. They immediately apologized, saying they couldn't believe I wasn't a young boy because I appeared to be so young.
I think we should not judge someone by their look and watch before we talk because we might hurt the feelings of another person by accusing them wrongly.
Thank You All For Reading.