Too ugly to punt

I have blogged about being too pretty to work. Now someone has been told that they are too ugly to be able to work. It is understandable that in some line of work that looks are a nassary but there more that 90% of the time looks dose not matter and should not be taken into consideration and piloting a punt past the colleges of Cambridge isn’t the first thing springs to mind.

So student Ben Cronin, 20, was shocked to be turned down for work with a punt hire firm because he was not good looking enough.

I was with a group of university friends when two of us decided to enquire after punting jobs,’ he said. ‘A friend and I approached a sales guy standing on the bridge. He looked us up and down and replied in a bolshy manner, saying: “Sorry mate, you have to be good looking to do this job”.’

Mr Cronin, a student at Anglia Ruskin University, had been punting four times before. He said that after the man’s remarks, he and his friends abandoned their plan to rent one of the traditional boats that afternoon.

Mr Cronin made a complaint to punting company Scudamore’s, the largest operating on the River Cam. The firm said it had launched an investigation, but did not recognise the description of the staff member.

Ben described the venomous puntsman as being tall, dark-haired and 'built for the female population.'
Rob Ingersent, general manager of Scudamore's said: 'The alleged comment is not something we endorse, as we recruit purely on the basis of work criteria and individual merit.'