The Height Issue

So imagine yourself in this situation:

You are well tailored, dressed to kill, shoes nicely polished. Every strand of hair is tucked in place and gelled so that, that miserable strand of stray hair would not dare think about flying out. You’ve rehearsed every question you think will be asked of you concerning the job you’ve applied for, and then you step into the room.
 
You greet your interviewers and the interview seems to be going fine. You’ve answered all the questions to the best of your abilities, smiled and showed off the pearly whites. Then somewhere in the middle of the wonderful talk, one member of the panel of four asks
“Do you believe that your height will be a problem?”
 
Screech.
Hold the breaks. 

You think, “My height? What does that have to do with anything?”

Maybe it was your naivety but that was one question you evidently were not prepared for and you are now definitely placed on the spot.

Well, that is what happened to me during one of my interviews.

I felt dumb for a moment or two just thinking about my height. Well, that and the three inches that made up my shoes. Audibly I asked 
“My height?”

My eyes are opened wide like Bambi staring into the headlights. My mind went blank and most likely I must have blurted out some dumb answer because I received a wonderful email mere days later informing me that I was not accepted and that I could try again next year.

Bummer….

Before I go on any further, I believe that in truth and in fact my height was never an issue for this job. I believe that what was being tested was my ability to think on the spot, something that I failed, thanks to my little dumb moment. However, that question and that point in my life have stuck with me up to this day. 

Currently I am employed in a television production company where I am the shortest in my department and I do take pride in saying that. I am one of the persons in charge of putting up the sets and I do a damn good job at that, if I do say so myself.

The secret to my success stools.

On those wooden contraptions, I’m taller than the tallest person at work. I just wish that the stools were a little bit more mobile, so I wouldn’t have to climb down and climb back up for everything. I also get the guys to help me out a whole lot. After all who can refuse a cute short girl?  ^.~

Other than that, I guess in a sense I want to prove someplace in the back of my mind that as a short woman I am just as able as anyone a few inches taller than myself. I knew that short people are capable of anything, check out Napoleon or even the people of China and Japan, the shortest people in the world but they build the tallest sky scrapers and not to mention come up with some of the wackiest inventions. 
Maybe these are all exaggerations but then again maybe we don’t have to go so far. Check out the shortest peoples in your homes, companies or maybe even you. They’ve done a whole lot considering the fact that they are ‘height impaired.’

I’m not ranting about being short, since I believe that since that day I have had a better appreciation for my height. Sure in a busy day on a busy road somebody would bounce into me and say
“Sorry I did not see you there Miss,” simply because their peripheral vision is let’s say a few inches or a foot or more higher than mine or when I have to climb unto the bottom shelf in the grocery to get that particular item on the top shelf. I guess that these are a few challenges that have to be overcome.

As a short person, I have a number of unique and well used characteristics; one of them is my mouth. I’ve been told that it does more than compensate for my height. Another is my ability to work hard and even my physical strength. My colleges don’t have to see me but when a set have been put up and things are in place, they know that ‘Maria Was Here.’

I must say that I am thankful for that interview, and for that strange and out of place question that was put before me. I have definitely become more self conscious but I have also become more self appreciative of my height.  I might not be the 5’6 or 6 foot model that walks down the walkway with legs that run miles, but I’m the short cute chick who knows that if those ‘leggers’ can do that, damn well I can do the same, but I refuse to ^.~.

By the way I have not attempted the interview again, but it is something that I am surely still interested in. Maybe when I get around it and or somebody asks me that question, “Do you believe that your height will be a problem?” I will surely have a more confident answer to give them; in fact I can refer them to my blog.