quite fat and covered in tattoos

The dangers of using the word "fat" have been highlighted after the boss of shipping line Stena Line was lambasted for referring to British employees as just that! Calling them both "fat" and also "tattooed" has got him in big trouble from the British RMT union who said that his comments were offensive. Despite the fact that Mr. Pim de Lange apologized for his comments saying that they were taken out of context, Mr. Todd who heads the union said that a fuller apology was called for.

It appears that Mr. de Lange was quoted when he gave an interview to a Dutch newspaper in which he spoke about the problem of finding British workers who were young enough and fit enough to do the job. He was actually quoted as describing British workers as "quite fat and covered in tattoos", which let's face it is probably exactly as most of them are!!

Nevertheless the RMT has demanded a "full retraction" and a "full apology" to all British seafarers. Tensions are running high between the company and the union especially as workers from the Philippines are taking the jobs of British workers because they are paid considerably less and they work harder too.

It is cases like this which show how obesity causes lost productivity. If the British workers were as fit and healthy as the Filipinos they would probably be getting all of the jobs and reading between the lines it appears that Mr de Lange knows that employing overweight British workers actually costs the company not only more in monetary terms but also because of reduced productivity.

It is a statistical fact that overweight employees are more likely to clock in sick and many employers know this. While it might seem to be very unfair there's no doubt that it is more difficult to get jobs in many industries if you are overweight.

There is a very negative perception surrounding people with a weight problem that they are lazier and less intelligent than normal weight individuals and research projects have shown that women suffer from this discrimination more so than men.

Losing weight therefore could be the best career decision you ever made!