Working in the service industry can leave you feeling empty, you are only there for the enjoyment of others, they could give two shits about you but when they do it is only to fill their own interests. Most of the time people will ask what you do, as if working at a restaurant does not qualify you for their respect unless you have some other sort of life that goes on outside of what you are doing. Whether it be going to school or having a day job, the fact of the matter is that many people will not find you to be a person with which they can respect unless they know that you are not just planning on being a waitress for the rest of your life.
One of my coworkers was talking about this a few weeks ago, its something that I have thought about for a while, but for her its so surprising the different response that she gets. She’s planning on going into the peace core after college but works at a rape crisis center while in school and working as a bartender. The fact that people will not even act like she is worth their time until they ask what she does, and then they will not only respect her but will treat her completely different. What makes it so that people feel that someone is not worthy of their respect is beyond me but while looking at this from a different view I saw many of the same aspects happens to overweight people.
For some reason people feel that being worthy as a person when your overweight can only happen if they find out that you are trying in some way to lose the excess weight. Being active and trying to be happy with who you are is not enough, unless you can and will fit into the mold of what society wants. It’s sad that we will shun others who do not fit into what as a society we have deemed to be worthy, not only based upon what we look like but down to the job that we hold and what we want from life.
Fat Body Politics 
It’s sad that people look down on those who hold what are considered “low class” jobs. What they aren’t taking into consideration is that someone has to do those jobs. Personally, I avoid the automated check-out lines in stores because I prefer interacting with a real live person. I don’t go to automats to eat because I prefer having waitstaff who relay changes in my order to the cook/chef. I’ve held some of those jobs in the past, and I can guarantee you that people who hold those jobs for a long time deserve all the respect you can give them. They have to put up with so much crap from so many self-centered people, and do so at lower wages than what they should be getting.The same goes for fat people. If people think they deserve respect just for the fact of being human, then every person on earth, no matter what their size, deserves that same respect. We’re all human, no matter if we’re thin or fat or in-between. And I can say with confidence that this world would be a much poorer place in which to live without the contributions of fat artists/musicians/inventors/etc.