I had to share with you an experience that recently happened to me.  I was attending my son’s parent/teacher night at his high school a week ago.  Okay, so not the best feedback I was hoping for, but hey that’s a whole other story.    Anyways, I was chatting with one of his teachers and the subject of occupations came up.  I explained that I was a VA and a College Instructor. 

Well you know how some people are really not great at hiding their reactions of disbelief?  This was one of them.  Apparently the fact that I was a College Instructor was a little bit of a shock for this particular teacher.   Yes, I have my nose pierced and a few tattoos on display; however is it really that unbelievable that someone such as me could teach at a higher education level?    I didn’t think so, until I saw her reaction.

Okay maybe I’ve been so immersed in my virtual surroundings that I have forgotten that physical appearance still garners some reaction from people.  I guess for me, working in a virtual world the appearance of others has never really played a huge role.  Not having that face to face interaction with most people that I communicate with on a daily basis allows me to focus on other things oppose to whether or not based on their looks they are qualified to do what they do.

I’m not sure what a College Instructor is suppose to look like, but apparently to this person, I really didn’t fit the bill and I’m okay with that.  The problem doesn’t lie with me but her perception of what I was supposed to be. 

“Looks can be deceiving.” We hear that saying all the time, but it didn’t really hit home for me until I was on that side.   It was one of those “really, we still do this?”  kind of moments for me, one that I wanted to share with you.