to ask if your appearance is deceiving.....

[thelastshadowpuppet]

One of our customers came in last week and as he was waiting for his order we got chatting and it turns out he is an amazing opera singer. Looking at him you'd never think it. Think older gent, builder type.

Over the weekend I was somewhere that had a piano so I sat down and played something. Someone commented and said to me that they weren't surprised I could play the piano as I just looked like someone who could.

Is there something about your appearance that would give something away about you or not.

Not a judgy thread, please don't turn this into a bun fight.

Just a fun thread........hopefully.

I'm quite a senior nurse , people are always shocked on meeting me to find I have a broad Scots accent and swear like a trooper

Apparently in emails .. I don't sound Scottish and I never write " well that was shit wasn't it"

People regularly assume I'm poor and not very accomplished. I look 'foreign', a bit younger than I am, and dress very casually (jeans, hoodies, Converse), which to some people is taken as poor. I've been treated like shit by some estate agents during viewings, who just assumed I was a timewaster and couldn't afford to buy a flat.

I find it weird and amusing, because lots of people who dress 'smartly' are in very low paid jobs. I had to wear suits or office wear in crappy 17K a year admin roles and hotel receptionist roles. The more my salary goes up, the less I'm required to dress up for work.

I was a rock/blues singer for many years, rode motorbikes, drank heavily, crazy hair colours, piercings, tattoos etc..

Now I’m a SAHM, blonde hair, fat, married mum of 3 DC with a mortgage and go camping for fun 😅No one would/could ever tell I’m heavily into 80s metal and can sing my arse off in a grubby pub and drink grown men under the table until 6am

No bunfights
just amazed people think this way, that appearance means anything major

reading with interest as I think I will benefit from understanding how most people think

guess I'm an alien who looks human 😂

I see your not degree and raise you PhD. Along with my non maternal ways and my non sugar imbibing habit I also give the impression I have a PhD.

I'm just a walking fraud!

Neither do I

To give an idea without posting an actual picture, I was thinking I most look like that women from Benefit Street and she's from Birmingham. But having now googled her, her surname is Kelly

That I have a master's degree

That I have professional qualifications in wine - I look and sound far too common/up for a laugh, and it doesn't fit with my line of work at all. I like this particularly when a braying bloke tries to mansplain stuff to me assuming I am at an event with someone or for the first time and I bite back (nicely). I also have a radio show on local radio about wine. Again, this is nothing to do with my day job.

Not sure how I come across, but dress wise, I prefer builder type of military type but plain rather than camo, clothes with the cargo trouses, and the military type body vest with all the pockets for equipment.
I have a side satchel with my tablets notebooks, camera,
then I have a trolley on wheels or a builder's tool caddy to carry my equipment in.
I prefer that method so where ever I'm needed I have my main essentials with me.

Apparently I look like a vegetarian. I'm not though.

Unfortunately I look like someone who makes good cake.

@Imsittinginthekitchensink - I've had exactly this. I was at a food festival type thing and when I was ordering some food from one of the stands the guy said 'I take it you want the vegetarian option' (I forget what it was). I confirmed that I did and asked how he knew and he said 'you look like a vegetarian'. I had no idea how to take this. Still don't 😆.

Just seen I'm not the only one!

My partner is an amazing sax player, he's a bit of a gym freak builder type and was quite a chavvy teenager 🙈

my family didn't believe me when I told them! It's his secret talent. He's a bit of a silent moody type so doesn't play to an audience but I love hearing him play at home

People always seem really surprised when they see my husband for the first time. Apparently I "don't look like some who'd be married to a ginger".

People have told me on several occasions that I have piano playing fingers. Can't play a note. I can play the guitar (a bit) though 🤷‍♀️

Day to day I don't wear any makeup, I just don't have the energy or inclination so I'm often barefaced at work/school run or whatever.

In my spare time I'm actually quite a successful (still very small) beauty blogger!

You definitely wouldn't think it too look at me 😂

my grandma is 74, sweet, just a normal looking older lady, was a primary school teacher, everyone gets a shock when she takes off her coat/jumper and she is covered in tattoos(which she still gets), and you wouldn’t think it to look at her but she goes to metal concerts in the mosh pits and everything, her last one was 2 weeks ago, she is amazing 😁😂

People are surprised by my alternative music taste as I look very ‘normal’ sweet but that’s about the only thing 😁

I was told on the phone by a patient that I had the same name as his ex wife. I said oh dear , to which he said 'no you dont sound anything like her , you're lovely .....she's got a skinhead and is covered in tattoos and body piercings .......... he had just perfectly described my exact appearance!! I obviously look nothing like my voice ( if that makes sense ) also wondering who my doppelgänger with the same name is !

Me too. Even weirder (and I hope not outing), is that I work in a field very related to your username. Spooky! Although...maybe not, when you think about it. Plant-based and all that!

Also knew a very elderly gentleman through work and although he was very beautifully spoken and clearly intelligent I didn't realise how amazing he was until I had to visit him at home- he had the most beautiful and eccentric home full of photos of his extensive achievements in amateur dramatics and actually created the first performing arts centre in our area decades ago for underprivileged kids. He had also been part of many high end productions and had met loads of famous people. I could chat to him for hours and really loved hearing his outrageous stories!

People quite often mistake my ethnicity (for a different origin within the same broad category rather than a completely different race, insofar as race has strict boundaries), partly because of my looks and partly because of the languages I speak. I find it a bit bemusing because my looks are not unsual for the ethnicity I actually am, and it's not particularly rare to be fluent in languages you only started in school.

In line with the veggie/not veggie comments from pp, people often expect me to be veggie/vegan, but I don't think that's purely appearance based, it's probably a combination of what they know of my clothing style, political leanings etc.

I live in London now, where being religious is quite normal, but when I lived in other places both in the UK and abroad, people were often surprised that I am fairly devoutly practising. I think they equate Christianity with older people.

My husband is 6ft 3, bald head, goatee, big built ex rugby player, looks like a bouncer.
He has a very calming voice & before he had to medically retire worked with very challenging adults & loved every minute of it. If we was out & one of his clients saw him they would rush over to him for a hug.
He really is a case of never judging a book by its cover!

I dont fit my professional role at all, I've got pink hair, wear DMs to the office (nice ones though not the manky old ones!), and a tattoo that is sometimes visible.

Thank god times have moved on and it's not so bloody corporate. I'm not getting back into a suit and heels for anyone! In fact some / even a majority of the ones coming through have never had to endure the corporate dress ridiculousness, I can't seem starting to either/

Oooo and my DH is a big 6foot6 burly bloke, wouldn’t think looking at him buts he’s an amazing violin player and used to work in orchestras.

Oh and another one, you wouldn't think I was a gym goer by looking at me, not exactly skinny, but I love weightlifting and strength training. A lot of the younger men always look slightly embarrassed when I up the weights after them.