Estate agents and any dress code

What has their slimness to do with their ability to sell houses?

Doodledog

What has their slimness to do with their ability to sell houses?

Nothing.

I personally value slimness, knowing slim may not be possible for all people all of the time (illnesses etc).

The post was about what appeals to some. The "not just rolled out of bed look" being mentioned as not appearing very professional.

If I were to rate estate agents on looks - I'd select slim, trim people in jeans and white shirts, jackets, mules/loafers. I live in the country. However, I tend to rate estate agents on their work attitude and knowledge, not sartorially.

Gosh. How someone overweight with pale skin, curly/wavy hair, no make up, an 'uninteresting face' and a bohemian style of dress can be deemed incapable of selling houses is beyond me. All a man has to do is put on a suit, however, and his selling skills aren't questioned. We haven't come far, have we?

Disappointing to see people, in this instance estate agents, judged on their physical proportions and specific dress code, no, we haven’t come far have we Doodledog

Doodledog

Gosh. How someone overweight with pale skin, curly/wavy hair, no make up, an 'uninteresting face' and a bohemian style of dress can be deemed incapable of selling houses is beyond me. All a man has to do is put on a suit, however, and his selling skills aren't questioned. We haven't come far, have we?

You understand my point.

I believe if I rate agents I want one who does the job well, has a good attitude. I don't care if they are a professional, a good solicitor and surveyor will sort the details, or have with all my/our purchases.

However, we all find different looks appealing - shallow, I admit. I prefer slim, trim athletic type build, lots of thick hair (I happen to have fine thin hair), no facial hair, no tats - I'm equally picky for women and men!

Doodledog

Gosh. How someone overweight with pale skin, curly/wavy hair, no make up, an 'uninteresting face' and a bohemian style of dress can be deemed incapable of selling houses is beyond me. All a man has to do is put on a suit, however, and his selling skills aren't questioned. We haven't come far, have we?

Heavy boots and an untidy pre-raphaelite hairdo (long hair and tight curling, no make up and a pale uninteresting face

When in a hole M0nica it is generally considered wise to stop digging.
The pre-Raphaelites clearly rated pale skin and a certain type of hair do.
Boots or trainers with a dress are far from uncommon.

Let’s face it, how she was dressed was not to your taste - that’s probably a generational thing. It doesn’t necessarily do to apply septuagenarian or octogenarian standards to younger people.
I trust she was not so rude as to judge you on your appearance?

It’s so very sad when someone feels entitled to ‘dish it out’ but clearly can’t cope with any perceived criticism aimed at them.
The use of blusher was clearly mentioned by this person, hence my mention of its use. 🤣

I can cope with criticism, but I am sure I did not say I was wearing blusher that day, In fact I cannot remember saying anything about what I was wearing at all.

Last time we had an Estate Agent round they sent a young man who was dressed a Cross between Rupert Bear and a Dandy, nice enough and very polite but admitted he had no idea how much our house was worth!

Look back my friends. I rest my case. This woman can criticise but can’t take it. Not impressed 😉

How have I 'not taken criticism.'

I was interested to read in one of the papers today that Gareth Southgate, the English Football Manager, is deliberately changing the way he dresses at work. Out go the snappy suits, instead he will dress more casually (but no less expensively). He says. Whenever you put something on you are making a statement, I am conscious of that now

Which is exactly the point that I have been making from the beginning.

How have you not taken criticism you ask.
You have responded in a defensive way to pretty much every comment that did not agree with your point of view.

And why is doing that being defensive?

Ok I give up!
You are clearly not capable, or maybe not willing to see the error of your ways and accept that some of your comments were judgemental and unfair.

To be fair, M0nica, asking why 'responding in a defensive way. . .' is being defensive does seem rather, erm, defensive .

The thing is, if everyone judged EAs' professionalism by their clothing to the point where they went elsewhere if a company's representatives looked too downmarket, the agents would be being told to dress up, which clearly they were not in the case of the company you used.

Maybe, however, at a time when money is tight and house prices are disproportionately high people would react against paying large commissions to people who can clearly afford to spend a lot of money on their work outfits? Visible signs that agents are making a lot of money from hard-pressed clients might not go down well.

It's tricky, as clothing needs to signify respect for the client (so no food stains, missing buttons and worn-down heels), show that the company is successful (so nothing too cheap), but not flaunt that success to the people who are paying their wages, so made-to-measure cashmere might not be appropriate - the agents are working for the clients, and shouldn't make them feel inferior, however subtly. As most agents will cater for a range of clients, getting all of that right will be a balancing act.

I wasn't clear. I was asking why responding to someone's comments meant I was being defensive.

GN is a discussion forum which means we all post our own views and also post how we agree/disagree with other people's views and why.

That is all I have ever done. If that is being defensive, then anyone who has ever responded to a thread on GN other than posting that they agree with the OP was being defensive.

Don't come too near one or two of the hospitals in Greater Manchester then...(I mean, stay away if you can anyway)...at least one has changed it's dress code recently and now thinks it's perfectly acceptable to have so many tattoos Ray Bradbury would question it. I've seen plenty of clinical staff with enough rings in places that haven't seen daylight for a very long time to make me shudder, not to mention absurdly long eyelashes like the ones on those creepy ma-ma dolls I remember from childhood. It's just a matter of time before one of those bits ends up being left in a surgical patient or swallowed by an unsuspecting medical patient....

Why can see you rings in private areas of somebodys body?

Best to swerve hospitals. Assault by eyelash is the least of it.

To be fair, M0nica, asking why 'responding in a defensive way. . .' is being defensive does seem rather, erm, defensive

Why shouldn't someone be defensive if they feel their view is worth defending? The people who don't like what they term defensiveness can just not comment instead of implying the so-called defensive person is doing something wrong.

Defending a viewpoint is perfectly rational. Accusing someone of being defensive is attacking the person rather than the argument. Play the ball not the man.

I was joking, really. I didn't mean to cause offence, anyway. The only comment on this thread that I've found offensive was the one about slim people - the others are (IMO) a bit pompous and snobbish, but no more than usual on GN.

I wasn't accusing anyone of anything - my comment about defensiveness was as I said - someone asking why responding defensively is defensive. It struck me as amusing, is all. It was one comment on a post that tried to take the heat out of the increasingly heated debate. I don't care what EAs wear, but I find semiotics interesting and tried to explore that angle in my post. If this post is me being defensive, so be it, but get your facts right?

Some of you probably wouldn't be impressed by our new solicitor. We were recommended to her by a friend and when we met her some months ago I must admit my jaw must have dropped a bit. She was wearing a short kilt style skirt, black tights, biker boots and a very large sloppy jumper. No makeup and quite untidy looking hair - but it's always possible she styled it that way deliberately. She also has tattoos around every finger on one hand. She's absolutely brilliant - listens to what I say, answers my questions, she's organised and does what she says she's going to do. She's actually the most impressive solicitor I have ever had to deal with, although there haven't been that many and all house sale related. I guess she gets away with it because it's her own partnership. She's also quite pregnant so I don't suppose she'll be around for long, which is the story of my life when it comes to people we're very impressed with.

Dear God.

Germanshepherdsmum

Dear God.

😄😄

Doodledog

I was joking, really. I didn't mean to cause offence, anyway. The only comment on this thread that I've found offensive was the one about slim people - the others are (IMO) a bit pompous and snobbish, but no more than usual on GN.

I wasn't accusing anyone of anything - my comment about defensiveness was as I said - someone asking why responding defensively is defensive. It struck me as amusing, is all. It was one comment on a post that tried to take the heat out of the increasingly heated debate. I don't care what EAs wear, but I find semiotics interesting and tried to explore that angle in my post. If this post is me being defensive, so be it, but get your facts right?

Please accept my apology. I mentioned slim as a physical attribute I find good - I suppose as opposed to the 'just rolled out of bed, rumpled look'. I initially posted I supposed it was the agents attitude.

Then I foolishly peeked at how people in a successful Paris agency look/ dress/ appear - not at all city 'professional' - more as we do out in the country, but decidedly slim. Daft post on my part.

I admit to being shallow, but it never stops me from doing business with the people who work for me/us in the way I/we wish.

I surely didn't attempt fat shaming, it was a comment, in a post, seemingly about appearance. I typically keep my shallow thoughts inside my head - I'll try harder when typing on GN.

I am a size 16 - not morbidly obese - but some people are, for various reasons not all to do with gluttony or sloth, and it is hurtful for many of us who are overweight to know that people see us in this way. I can't do anything about my weight, which is thyroid-related although I shouldn't feel the need to explain.

All the same, I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't have set out to be hurtful, so of course I accept your apology.