Career Lessons from Rudolph

The Reject: A fictional short-short story

Slob Chic: A fictional short-short story

Better Than the Prom? A fictional short-short story

The Pretty One: A fictional short-short story

Mr. Glass: A fictional short-short story after the song, Mr. Cellophane.

Quirk: A fictional short-short story

Give...and Give...and Give...Sigh

Fluffy: a short-short story

Looking: A short-short story

Tits Tommy: A short-short story from my book, Soloists

The Stud: A short-short story about the ill-effects of being good-looking

From the beginning, he reaped the benefits of his attractive face: “What a cute baby!” Although average in intelligence and personality, from kindergarten on, he was ever in the “in” group. When hormones kicked in, the benefit grew. Without effort, girls would twirl their hair, tilt their head, and hold out their budding breasts.

In interviews for college, his interviewers fell prey to the well-documented bias toward good-looking people and he was admitted to surprisingly august institutions—with a bigger discount (colleges prefer to call it “scholarship”) from the inflated sticker price.

His unearned interviewing edge extended to job interviews. Before even graduating from college, he got three offers for well-paying sales positions—Alas, we are more likely to buy from a Pretty Person. One offer was in pharma sales. His job would be to convince doctors to prescribe more of the company’s drugs. Another was to sell enterprise suites: complicated software the purpose of which is to get more customers to part from their money. The third offer was to sell medical devices. Because they require shorter time than do drugs to get FDA approval and the profit margins are eye-opening, many entrepreneurs wanting to capitalize on the aging Boomers, develop devices.

He accepted the medical-device job because it had the highest income potential, even though he was to sell only to SMBs. (Our ever longer entitles, emblematic of our ever more complex society, encourages more abbreviations. In this case, Small to Medium-Sized Businesses distilled to SMBs.)
Now, he could woo women not just with his pretty face but with a luxury-affording income. So he received myriad expressions of romantic interest, subtle and otherwise. For example, there was the FedEx box from a stranger. When he opened it, a card lay atop the tissue paper that concealed its contents. It read, “Love Kit.” He pulled back the tissue and there was a sexy nightgown. Beneath that was an 8x10 of an alluring woman wearing it. Beneath was her phone number.

Through his 30s, his looks kept aloft his lifestyle of luxury and women despite his otherwise unexceptional self.

But time waits for no one and as his face aged, his 40s saw a decline in sales and romantic interest. For example, in earlier years, in walking down the street, beautiful women who were staring ahead to avoid unwanted attention, would often bore into his eyes with a melting smile. Now, the women stay eyes-front  He had become invisible.

Having been able to skate on his luxuriant hair and symmetrical features, he had made little effort to develop himself. So his personality and sales skills remained in arrested development. Consistent with a person who had always tried to buy his way into happiness, he deliberated between a facelift and investing in psychotherapy and an MBA in marketing. Natch, he chose the facelift.

Ugly: A Short-Short Story about Looks

There’s no honest way to get around it: Josh was an ugly child. He was born with deformed, asymmetrical forehead and cheekbones. My PsychologyToday.com article today is a short-short story about him.

Glass Man: A short-short story about lookism, loneliness, and reclusiveness

As my PsychologyToday.com contribution today, I've posted a short-short story about an unattractive man's unusual responses to being lonely.

A Bomb: A short-short story about suppressed anger.

I offer a short-short story on suppressed anger as my PsychologyToday.com contribution today

On Being Unattractive: Upsides, Downsides, and Compensating

Lookism is the last ism that goes unpunished. My PsychologyToday.com article today explores the upsides and downsides of having an unattractive face and what you might do about it.

The Danger of Relying on Your Looks

In our lookist society, many people get away with relying on their looks. But, per this short-short story that is my PsychologyToday.com article today, it's risky.

Kill That Slug? A Fable

In this part of my PsychologyToday.com series of short fables, I tell of a slug and whether to kill it. 

Declare Your Independence from That Which Shackles You

We may not be in chains but we're all shackled in one way or another. Might Independence Day be the time to shed one or more of your restraints?  I describe some of the the most common in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

A Man Is Pushed into Reclusiveness Because He's Unattractive

On my PsychologyToday.com blog, I've been posting composite stories of reclusive people. Today's is about a man moved to a reclusive life because of his appearance.