Appearances

[HeyWayne]

What are you trying to say?
*allows hand to hang limply from wrist while flicking an imaginary lock of hair over his his ear*

Queen!....

[Snadger]

The annoying thing is, and especially with these televised election debates, it could be appearances that win the election and allow you to have your hand on the nuclear button rather than the parties manifesto!

[dogsbody]

There was afamous TV advert filmed from 3 angles, a skinhead, an old lady and gang of youths in a car. Not until all were put into perspective was the true picture revealed. People should not be judged by what they look like or appear to be doing , rather by who they are and the acts they may perform.

Pay it forward........

[lizzylemon]

I fee for you and your son as it's a truly frustrating situation to be in and like a lot of grapes on here, I speak from experience.

I went through a grunge 'tankgirl' stage and shaved my head (just one of many times tbh). During that time I got beat up by an older 'respectable' looking woman. When I complained to the police, the officer took one look at me and said it must be 6 of one, and half a dozen of the other. Never mind that I don't believe in violence, nor once raised my hand to her and wouldn't got out at night for 4 months after the event.

I've also been branded gay and a slag (different people, same era) because for many years I hung out with boys, prefering beer drinking and silliness to make-up and fashion and also I wasn't a stereo typical 'girl' as I had short hair, tattoos and piercings.

I even over heard one young girl (who I thought looked a bit menacing) whisper to her mate about me "keep out of her way, she well 'ard and she carries a knife" walking down our local high street one evening and I was in my late 20s at that point.

WTF!

In the end I just ended up laughing about it all and that so many people seemed to take such an interest in my life, which is far from glam and certainly not worth random strangers wild suppositions!

People judge whatever you do, or however you look. Walk tall and break the mould as often as possible

[OllieMartin]

I think we have a deputy olliecentric eulogy minister on our hands, Ollie!

Deputy? She may take your job if you don't keep the compliments coming

[Jeanied]

Sorry, Boss * hangs head in shame.
It's been a bad month - * said in very small voice...

[CaroltheCarrot]

my son looks like a complete thug,skinhead tattoos motorbike,etc etc but in my opinion is the nicest,albeit .thickest lad you could hope to meet,regulary shops for the elderly folk on our street and always clears their pats in the winter.
youngest one looks like all american preppie and couldnt give a toss about anyone

[zebedee]

I think it's because of my job that I have to show that I respect people right from the start and treat them with the dignity they deserve for being a human being. I have met, and still do meet some really 'wierd' looking people, and genuinely find that they add to life. For goodness sake, don't lets all end up looking the same. Pink har, turquoise coat, go for it, tattoo's - what the hell! Trousers hanging half way down your ass? It's your ass. I hate generalisations - all skinheads are thugs (I have a grade 1 and keep it that way), all long haired teenagers are junkies, all bikers are rampaging Hell's Angels (I was one of them, too).


Okay, rant over!

[jackie j]

One of my son's dresses like that he is 28 now and in his teens was a ' Goth ' he died his hair black, wore black clothes the works, he also suffered what at the time they said were panic attacks and often his friends would call and tell me he was in an ambulance on his way to hospital, I would rush off to meet him and the reaction of the doctors was awful. They questioned him on what drugs did he take, he didnt even smoke that came much later. He had no needle marks nothing. He would do anything for anybody, and dare anyone beat up old ladies, his grannie was the love of his life. He is the softest bloke I know but comes across hard, he cried when his kitten dissapeared recently for a few days.
In the last couple of years he has been diagnosed with epilepsy, not panic attacks as first thought.

[lindyloo]

jeans hanging down around the arse?? gotta admit, although i dont judge by it, imo, its downright nasty to view, espec. when its bending over!

[enrich100]

I have people judge me too, but the only time it's shown is the occasions when I've been asked if I'm gay, I just laugh and assume it's because I've looked after the way I look (rather than that I might look like a pervy old man!)
Last time I was in a gay club (yes I know, but there are lots of heterosexuals in there too, and it's actually a really good night!) a girl came over to me and asked, "Can he have your number", pointing to a male friend of hers. I replied, "Sorry, I'm not gay", to which she said, "There's no way you're not gay!".
Can't help but laugh!

Back in my single days I went out with a couple of friends to a nightclub in a local town. whislt we were there I had a bloke come over to me and try to buy me a drink and chat me up, which I kindly refused and explained that I was not gay, one of my other friends who was on the dance floor managed to have his bum pinched and by a man who then started to try chatting him up, as we explained our experiences in the car on the way back home I told my friends that obviously I attract a better class of homosexual than my friends did, at least mine offered to buy me a drink before getting physical. It was quite interesting how different our opinions of what happened were, my friend admitted he didn't know what to do and "almost knocked their block off" whislt I thought how difficult it must be for a gay person to find a partner in a rural town

A couple of years later I was out in Shefield with a friend who was a student nurse, she took me and her brother around to see the local night life, she thought it would be it would be funny if we ended up at a gay bar but not tell us, I have to say It was one of the best bars out of the lot, in a normal bar if you spilt someones drink it can cause a fight, in the gay bar it seemed that people had to leave their testosterone at the door no one wanted to fight, I found out that night that obviously I was then past it as a gay icon as not one person chatted me up or asked to buy me a drink but my friends brother had several people giving him attention, I think I knew then that my looks were starting to fade and In the words of Little Britain I was not meant to be the only gay in the village

you should take what that girl said as a complement at least you still obviously have your looks

[OllieMartin]

^ My thinking precisely!

As you say, I find most of the bars and clubs in Hull a little pretentious (yes, pretentious...in Hull!). Often the women seem to assume that if you talk to them at the bar you're trying to chat them up and people just don't mingle.
At the one main gay club in Hull everyone is everyone's friend and provided you're not homophobic it's really easy to have a great time even if you lose your friends (or go on your own I suppose though I've never gone that far, people really would talk!)

[zebedee]

To the Executive Board of Ollietopia. May I have the privilege of asking if you have a position for Head Physioterrorist, as I am uniquely experienced in this filed?

[OllieMartin]

To the Executive Board of Ollietopia. May I have the privilege of asking if you have a position for Head Physioterrorist, as I am uniquely experienced in this filed?

How does that work? Do you get people on a massage table and then hijack their calf muscles?

[SueA]

Don't argue with him Ollie, he's a skinhead, Hell's Angel, terrorist!
Have to admit I'm sometimes a bit wary of anyone who looks a bit menacing in any way but I'm always prepared to be pleasantly surprised. I tend to dress in lots of different styles, sometimes a bit like a biker, sometimes very demure, often too young for my age & people do make assumptions about your opinions, background etc, from your appearance. My O.H. & me were approached by a slightly drunken young guy in a bar the other week who'd been having a bet with his mates about how old we were & what we used to be, he thought we used to be punks ( nope, although I did like Blondie & the Stranglers, 'soft punk'!) & were younger than we are!