Do people judge people at work by the car they drive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once saw a job candidate pull up in a beater of a car. To me, at age 40 or older, that’s a sign that you are bad with money or extremely frugal. Neither is a quality I want in a worker. I passed on her.

Why would you not want a worker who is frugal? That strikes me as the sign of a responsible, reliable person. I’d certainly rather have a worker who is frugal than one who is a spendthrift who live beyond his/her means.

Because they will probably stuff their work bag with office pencils and toilet paper...frugal for themselves does not necessarily mean frugal for the company.

Interesting.

[Anonymous]

I drive a very average car (10 yo toyota) but admit to taking a pen or sharpie or a couple batteries or some snacks from work.
There is no policy against it though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once saw a job candidate pull up in a beater of a car. To me, at age 40 or older, that’s a sign that you are bad with money or extremely frugal. Neither is a quality I want in a worker. I passed on her.

Why would you not want a worker who is frugal? That strikes me as the sign of a responsible, reliable person. I’d certainly rather have a worker who is frugal than one who is a spendthrift who live beyond his/her means.

Because they will probably stuff their work bag with office pencils and toilet paper...frugal for themselves does not necessarily mean frugal for the company.

I see some interesting "logic" on DCUM, but this is definitely up there. Out of curiosity, what field do you work in where frugality is equated with dishonesty?

I drive a 15-year-old car. It has fewer than 75K miles on it and is in good enough shape for commuting (no rust, mismatched doors, dents, etc.) and less stressful when someone bangs their door into it or, as has now happened twice, backs into me. We have a special needs kid who was floundering in public school, so my new car fund went to $40K/year special-needs private school, which has made such an incredible difference for the kid that I will drive that car another five years, if it makes it, to keep them there. My husband has the newer vehicle with the more current safety features because he drives the kids around more. Of course, I'm unlikely to discuss my personal financial philosophy or my children (much less their health concerns) with an interviewer.

And, prepare to be shocked, I don't steal from my employer (you know who does? the corner-office guy who makes several times more than I do and drives a Porsche - guess we're all supposed to pretend that we don't see him loading up his Whole Foods reusable bag with paper products from the supply room), and I'm pretty good with my money and have an outstanding credit rating (which you'd find out if your background check included it, I guess).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely think so, but it depends on the profession. The main car I judge is the Prius though. If you drive one, we can never be friends.

I've driven Priuses since they very first came out in the early 2000s. I really don't get people who don't choose their car based on environmental impact (and, no, they aren't worse for the environment because of the batteries. That's nonsense that's been debunked repeatedly -- https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/does-hybrid-car-production-waste-offset-hybrid-benefits.htm). I admit, I totally judge people who drive gas guzzling cars that they don't need for their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I once saw a job candidate pull up in a beater of a car. To me, at age 40 or older, that’s a sign that you are bad with money or extremely frugal. Neither is a quality I want in a worker. I passed on her.

Why would you not want a worker who is frugal? That strikes me as the sign of a responsible, reliable person. I’d certainly rather have a worker who is frugal than one who is a spendthrift who live beyond his/her means.

Because they will probably stuff their work bag with office pencils and toilet paper...frugal for themselves does not necessarily mean frugal for the company.

I see some interesting "logic" on DCUM, but this is definitely up there. Out of curiosity, what field do you work in where frugality is equated with dishonesty?

I drive a 15-year-old car. It has fewer than 75K miles on it and is in good enough shape for commuting (no rust, mismatched doors, dents, etc.) and less stressful when someone bangs their door into it or, as has now happened twice, backs into me. We have a special needs kid who was floundering in public school, so my new car fund went to $40K/year special-needs private school, which has made such an incredible difference for the kid that I will drive that car another five years, if it makes it, to keep them there. My husband has the newer vehicle with the more current safety features because he drives the kids around more. Of course, I'm unlikely to discuss my personal financial philosophy or my children (much less their health concerns) with an interviewer.

And, prepare to be shocked, I don't steal from my employer (you know who does? the corner-office guy who makes several times more than I do and drives a Porsche - guess we're all supposed to pretend that we don't see him loading up his Whole Foods reusable bag with paper products from the supply room), and I'm pretty good with my money and have an outstanding credit rating (which you'd find out if your background check included it, I guess).

Hide your kids and hide your wives, here comes the $15M NW w/ a 2003 Honda brigade!

[Anonymous]

I am in biglaw, and within a 10-office radius of my office, people I know of one Honda, one Cadillac, one Maserati, two who metro, and two who bike every day.

There are three who make close to or over a $1m each year - the Maserati, and one who bikes, and one who metros.

Point being, making assumptions about people based on what they drive is the height of idiocy.

[Anonymous]

My spouse drove their first Toyota for nearly 12 years. Small black sedan and parts of it were held together literally with Gorilla Tape.

They had a difficult parking garage space, and the car always got dented and scratched.

Spouse is / was very attractive and made over $750K per year. Just was not an important issue since it was just transportation and still worked.

Only upgraded once kid carpools started.