First Impressions

I know first impressions are important. My parents taught me that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but people often do so you should always look put together. As a teenager, I would retort with an eye roll knowing that this is true but not having the life experience to completely understand. Instinctively, I followed their instruction. I wear fairly conservative clothing, mostly have a smile on my face, always have brushed hair and teeth; overall, I would say I look put together and well composed. For the most part, people are very receptive to me. I am very good with first impressions. As an adult, I’ve realized that this is very beneficial.

Obviously, I’ve realized that people are judged by the clothes they wear. Where I am from, the girls in the plaid skirts and polo style shirts are the “rich” private school girls. The girls dressed in all black are the gothic girls. The boys in jeans, doc martins and real Polos are the preppy boys with rich Fathers. The boys in the baggy jeans, big white tennis shoes, silver or gold chains with earrings are the thug boys. As an adolescent people where judged by their clothes. As an adult it goes beyond clothes. Eye contact, fidgeting, confidence, car ornaments, jewelry, facial expressions and much more make up a first impression. For example, many interviewees come through my office each week. My boss introduces me to every one of them and often asks for my opinion. The first thing I notice is confidence. If they are confident yet friendly I usually like them immediately, but if they are confident and cocky I don’t like them. I don’t consider that their cockiness is due to insecurity. (However, my experience has told me that most often, they are just plain cocky)

I pride myself in making a good first impression and when I don’t have a good first impression of someone else I tend to write them off. At times this can be good but there are occasions when I may disregard someone who is simply a shy person or just having a bad day. Going forward I am going to try not to judge people by their cover. I am going to try to go beyond the first bad impression and give them a second chance. I will call them in for a second interview, try saying hi one more time to the rude receptionist, not refer to my an ex-coworker of my husband as ignorant because she thinks it is okay to call him at 9:00 at night for something that could have waited until the morning, and most importantly, I will try to not think of my SIL as a bitch because she never smiles and doesn’t participate in friendly banter – maybe she is insecure.

Even though I pledged not to judge people by their first impressions I am going to have to judge this driver. Anyone who hangs balls off of their hitch is not cool in my book! EW! I had to look at this for 20 minutes on my way to work.