Pre-Judging and Predjudice

[lumberjim]

I sometimes feel like there are about 15 to 20 different types of people. body types. AND personality types. Everyone is different, obviously, and in significant enough degrees that you really can't base a decision about someone on what someone who LOOKED like them, or ACTED like them... did or said. Yet, I think that there is a mild corelation between body type and personality type. A person's appearance gives you clues about who you're about to meet, and you unconsciously narrow your field of expected traits to suit.

When I first came on here, I created mental images in my head when i imagined a person who's post i was reading.

maybe i'm nuts, but until i meet someone that i've talked to on the phone or online, i have a loose image of what that person looks like which i can only say is based on some other person iv'e met's voice similarity. or tone or diction, or "feel" from this kind of a forum. those of you who read this that have not seen my picture, may have a mental image of me. I imagined Elspode with slicked back hair, a pipe and a smoking jacket....oh, and a snidely type mustache. ZippyT looks exactly like i thought he would. in spode's case, i was WAY off, but then, i did get zippy right. Wolf, you looked like Lucy from peanuts!....

It's like when you're reading a book, and you "set" the characters in your mind's eye. they exist in a location from your memory, unless the author is going out of his way to paint the picture for you.

I pay attention to this, and it helps me in my work. I have a relatively small amount of time with a customer, and I'm expected to sell them something even though they've been warned by Dianne Sawyer, and their Uncle Lou, who got ripped off by some schmuck on a used car lot. You have to be able to "suss" people quickly, and approach from a direction that makes the customer comfortable. Sometimes, I'll curse intentionally with younger customers in order to "bond" with them, and let them trust me. With older customers, it's all "yes, sir" , " yes ma'am"

People are as different as snowflakes, yet they are made of the same stuff.

this all feels vaguely familiar ~ ~~creepy~~~