An Even Keel-Marylou's

Wow, you’ve got to be kidding me. That was my first reaction when I read the article about the hiring practices of Marylou’s, which are being investigated by the Federal Government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. My shock was over the ridiculousness of the investigation.

   Let me state that I am not a coffee drinker and have been in Marylou’s maybe 2 or 3 times. I had heard someone state at one point in the past how Marylou’s always hires pretty young girls. I have heard the same comment numerous times now since the articles about the investigation came out. I never thought anything about the workers at Marylou’s or thought of it as being part of a hiring plan. That being said; so what if that is who they choose to hire? I say this after giving the issue a lot of thought. Let me explain:

   I read in the Herald, an article where the head of the EEOC Robert Sanders was defending his agencies decision to look into Mary Lou’s hiring practices. It turns out that no one ever complained to the EEOC, they took it upon themselves to start the investigation on their own because according to Sanders “it may never have occurred to you that you were turned down because of your age, or because of your race, or because of your sex.”

   I guess that means the EEOC should decide what books we read because it may not occur to us that we should be offended by a certain book. Maybe they should decide who should be President because we are not smart enough to do that on our own. Well actually, the Electoral College was setup for that reason.

   Law enforcement needs a search warrant to search private property but the EEOC can just jump right in and mess with a person’s business just because they feel like it, with out reasonable cause, without a single complaint.

   In the Herald article it was stated that the EEOC interviewed people who had applied at Marylou’s and were not hired. They invited two applicants, 42 and 55 years old to be the lead defendants in their complaint against Marylou’s.

   Here’s my problem with this whole case. I don’t see Marylou’s hiring practices as being discriminatory based on age, sex or race. I see their hiring practices as being part of their marketing plan. They hire pretty young women to serve their products. Who else does that? Hooters, magazine covers, movies, TV shows, the hostesses at many restaurants, TV personalities on the newscasts, weather, sports, cosmetic models and the list goes on.

   Pretty young women are that, pretty young women and pretty young women help sell products and make businesses more attractive to their customers. They have been used for decades for that purpose by many different types of businesses.

   At the other end of the spectrum you have seniors promoting products such as AARP, Colonial Life, Assisted Living Centers and many other “senior” related products/services. Maybe those companies should be investigated by the EEOC for their hiring practices.

   Not everyone is eligible for every job despite what the EEOC thinks. The EEOC should stick to looking at real discrimination, where a person is turned down for a position that is available to all, but not offered to all because of their race, age or sex. In the case of Marylou’s, it does not appear the positions are available to all, they are available to who they feel can best make their business a success.

   It never occurred to me to apply to the “Chippendales” when I was seeking work, I don’t fit their profile. Nor would I think of applying to Hooters. Some woman and men may not fit Mary Lou’s hiring profile and that is just fine. Marylou’s should be free to hire who they feel is the best fit for their business, who they feel will help make their business as successful as possible, that is free enterprise.

   If the EEOC has nothing better to do than to act like “Big Brother” and create cases where none exists, then this is another Federal bureaucracy running amok and whose effectiveness has come to an end. Want to downsize the government, let’s start with the EEOC.