The Young New Girl Curse

I have a baby face. I see twenty-two and others see twelve.

Having a baby face isn’t the worst thing in the world. Being able to take advantage of kid meals and youthful looks in the future almost makes it an asset. Looking really young is basically an invitation for strangers to make comments about your age, eligibility to work, and relationship status. Most of the time they know you are most likely older than you look, but they want the satisfaction of laughing and claiming that you will appreciate it when you get older. I have become a master of the polite smile and “I’m sure I will” that inevitably follows their comment. And you know what, I probably will appreciate looking fabulous when everyone else is falling apart, but right now I just want to look my age.

Sometimes I feel that people with a baby face are often treated like children even if it is unintentional. Before, I mostly experienced it at restaurants. I would be out at dinner with my family and the hostess would automatically grab a kid’s menu, my drink would be brought out in a kid’s cup, and my mother would be looked at for my order. Having this happen can be funny, but eventually it just gets old causing you to want to throw a tantrum and exclaim that you really are a grown-up!

Now I have a college degree, a husband, and a corporate full-time job. I want to be taken seriously! Having been part of the workforce for a little while, I have decided that the baby face + recent college graduate + female = The Young New Girl Curse. I am now the young new girl. I am not the newest or the youngest person to have been hired and yet I am still treated that way. It has been four months and a raise since I have been working this position. I don’t know everything, but I can definitely hold my own. It definitely doesn’t help that my company works primarily through online correspondence, so all others see is my picture. Oh look at that young new girl! Oh are you the young new girl? Sigh.

In the past month, I have really begun to feel confident in my position. I take on extra work and I go the extra mile to get the documents I need. Occasionally, I’ll mess up or get something wrong. I’m okay with this, because that is how I will learn for next time, yet I still have others offering to just do it for me. Do. It. For. Me. Like I am an incapable child. I know these people are just trying to be nice, but I can stand on my own two feet regardless of how young I look or what gender I am. I just want those around me to realize: It takes the possibility of drowning for the opportunity to swim.