One of the fundamental lessons we learn as we go through kindergarten, primary school and high school is to not judge a book by its cover. We all have done it and continue to still do it to a more or lesser extent whether it be by the looks of someone or actually by the cover of a book. There’s a lot to be said about stereotyping someone before actually getting to know them and their story which brings me to the reason I have written this post.

I have been looking around at apartments and units out of sheer interest to see what you can get for your money and to see where one day I might like to live. As a result, I have been scoping around locally having a geez in places that are open for inspection. Today I went to an apartment in Narrabeen in a muscle tee, boardies and thongs to have a look.

A few couples older than me walked in first and the real estate agent was quick to jump in and get their names, numbers and status (in terms of purchasing or researching). I was having a look around the place expecting the agent to come up and ask me for my details. I walked into the living room where he was standing not to even be given the respect of eye contact as the white walls and roof seemed to be far more entertaining than the possibility of a twenty-one year old prospective buyer (I know I’m not buying but he didn’t know that). As I was leaving I walked near him, again being refused eye contact, and said “thanks mate” of which I received a reply that consisted of brief eye contact and a straight lipped expression.

My point of all this is that I could have just inherited a billion dollars or won the lottery or have just received a massive return on the floating of UK’s Royal Mail yesterday (bumped up 38% in the first day after IPO). The agent didn’t know my story and had no idea who I was but because of what I was wearing, the fact I came in alone and didn’t fit his stereotype of what a buyer should look like in his opinion, I wasn’t worth the energy.

The thing about encounters like this is that people in general, especially myself, have pretty long lasting memories so to the agent who rudely ignored me today, you will never be receiving any of my money or business in the future because you stupidly judged a book by its cover.