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Nov 4, 2009 12:23 am US/Eastern
Good Looks Becoming Requirement In Restaurant Biz
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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It's no secret that South Florida has some of the hottest bartenders, hostesses, and servers around.
"Everyone out here tends to be a lot prettier than where I am from," says Boston native Jake Beachaine.
New York City native Sara Vila noticed it too, though she's not impressed.
"I have seen some glamorous beautiful bodies behind the bar, but they need to work on their attitude," said Vila.
Nashville native Justin Graham admits a pretty hostess outside a restaurant on Lincoln Road makes him more likely to eat there.
"Guys are suckers for stuff like that," said Graham.
But Coconut Grove resident Mark Banow says the desire for hotter, fitter, and younger employees has kept him at his computer for the last six months, struggling to find a bar or restaurant job. And he thinks about it every time he sees those young employees.
"I look at them and I'm like they have a job, I wish I had a job. I really do."
Banow is in his 40s, and considers himself somewhat average looking. He has spent his life in the restaurant business, as a fine dining waiter and manager.
On two recent job interviews at Miami Beach restaurants, Banow realized even multiple years of experience isn't enough.
"At the end of the interview he said I have great qualifications he was very impressed with the way I spoke, with the accomplishments I've had in my life, that I would be an asset to any employer, but I didn't have the "South Beach look," explained Banow. "When I walked out of the second interview, I was almost in tears. I mean what does somebody have to go through to get a job waiting tables?"
Banow says he's interviewed for dozens of restaurant jobs and has been denied every time. It's not getting easier.
"I don't look like Fabio, I don't look like Ricky Martin, but I've been in the restaurant business all my life, I'm a certified sommelier, I'd be an asset to just about anybody."
It appears to be getting worse because Banow says now he can't even get in the door to do an interview. He says many establishments advertising jobs on Craigslist require a photo before even giving applicants a phone call.
CBS4 reporter Natalia Zea looked through Craigslist to see for herself.
On one afternoon alone, she found dozens of ads posting jobs at bars and restaurants that call for pictures. One ad even asked for a photo to get a job as a hot dog vendor.
The requirements go way past being professional and positive. To work at many places in South Florida apparently you have to be good looking, sexy, and as one luxury Miami Beach hotel advertised, they are only looking for employees who are "female, under 35 and gorgeous."
Managers at a bar in Pompano Beach want to make sure "your body is as hot as your face", and they require pictures of both, but don't worry, they don't care if you have experience.
Banow won't send in pictures to these places out of pride and concern.
"It's extremely unfair, I think it's disgusting. It's a shame that we're approaching the year 2010 and people are still discriminating against people," said Banow.
Even if you feel it's wrong that bars and restaurants can deny you a job based purely on your looks, legally it's not discrimination.
Former South Florida judge turned TV personality Judge David Young says attractiveness is not a protected class under discrimination laws.
"If you discriminate against someone because of their gender, that's a problem, if you discriminate against someone because of the color of their skin, that's a problem. But how they look, that's not been recognized by the courts," Young explained.
Judge Young says private businesses legally have the right to be picky.
"If they want to hire someone who looks, you know has the body of Britney Spears, you can do that."
Banow is trying to stay positive. He's looking forward to the day he finds a job to prove how valuable he is, inside and out.
"Everybody's beautiful, I don't care if you just got off a raft in Key Biscayne or you were born in Boca Raton, everybody's beautiful you know? It's just the way you look at them."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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