Clawing to escape the belly of the beast here in Hollywood. To commiserate, email my name assistantatlas at yahoo.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

On Hiring Hollywood Assistants, Flamers Edition: 6.13

Most offices go through assistants like Kleenex in Hollywood, and ours is no exception. So we're almost constantly hiring, it seems.

I told you a bit about that process previously.

Today, our office manager (let's call her Jeanette) and my friend/immediate supervisor (Sarah) interviewed this dude we'll call Richard Simmons.

Now to get right to the point, let's just say that Richard was (and is) what you might call a 'flaming.'

Look I'm obviously gay-friendly. Maybe even super-gay-friendly.

But I'm telling you, I met him for just 10 seconds and I think it's probably an objective fact: dude was REALLY gay. (hence the pseudonym, Richard Simmons)

Now I was under the impression that my co-workers were super gay-friendly. Both Sarah and Jeanette said they would "love to have a gay in the office."

But they just weren't sure about Richard Simmons.

Jeanette maintained that his voice would get annoying hour after hour, though Sarah maintained we'd sound "progressive" with his voice answering our phones.

Jeanette didn't think the Big Boss would like him. Sarah pointed out that the Big Boss, a standard-issue alpha male who needs to dominate his tribe of employees, wouldn't be threatened by him.

Jeanette just couldn't see him fitting in. Sarah, sadly, didn't have a good response.

My protestations that he should have a chance if he was the best-qualified person we could find fell on deaf ears. As my protestations generally do. After all, they said, his voice, demeanor and personality are all part of the qualifications, right?

But this guy basically didn't get hired, not because he's gay, but because he was flamingly gay.

It makes you wonder ... did the stereotype of gay men as hairdressers and interior designers happen because they're just 'naturally good' at that sort of thing? Or did that Plymouth Rock of gay jobs land on them?

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5 Comments:

Blogger Stephanie said...

Seriously ... Where in the world is Atlas? It's been two months to the day since your last post.

Come on man, bring the funnies! ;)

12:22 PM

 
Blogger Jesse Whittle-Utter said...

If I were going to decline someone's job application because they were gay, which is illegal, I wouldn't go blogging about it afterwards.

2:28 PM

 
Blogger Stephanie said...

I figured that maybe if I showed you my BOOBIES, that might make you post again. Let's see if this works! :-P

10:46 AM

 
Anonymous FlamerGaymer said...

I think it is both--some of us ARE effeminate and cannot hide it, no matter how hard we try. And so, at places where our aptitude and gayness IS accepted, it became a no-brainer to go for those jobs. It is sad, because we are capable of so much more! Unfortunately, as you exposed what we already knew, the choice is made for us without even giving us a chance.

9:56 AM

 
Blogger Halk Eğitim said...

I think it is both some of us are effeminate and cannot hide it, no matter how hard we try. Yeşilçam Arsivler zerrin dogan zafir sebaya bakın...

9:41 AM

 

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