Do store sales clerks discriminate against obese customers?
While sales personnel did not overtly discriminate against obese shoppers, they did discriminate in more subtle interpersonal ways. Sales people treat overweight customers with more respect if they think they are trying to control their weight. A study by Rice University researchers showed that while sales personnel did not overtly discriminate against obese shoppers, they did discriminate in more subtle interpersonal ways, such as avoiding eye contact, rudeness, or hurrying the sale. However, the researchers found that those attitudes were mitigated by whether sales personnel thought the customer was concerned about her size and working to lose weight. “Sales clerks expressed less prejudice when women who appeared obese were attempting to control their weight through diet and exercise than when they did not, said Eden King, a doctoral candidate in industrial and organizational psychology at Rice. They also found a bottom line effect to this kind of biased behavior that should grab the
