Thin privilege is taking the elevator to the second floor rather than taking it to the third floor and walking down a flight of stairs.

I worked at a University that had a very slow elevator in my building. Unless someone had an obvious disability or had something that would be cumbersome to carry up the stairs, anyone pressing the “2” on the display would be subject to death stares on the very slow trip between floors. One day I noticed one of the fat employees would get off on the third floor even though her office was on the second floor. She went right to the stairwell and walked down a flight of stairs, all to avoid the judgment of others.

What’s exceptionally sad about this is that many, many people took the elevator to the second floor. Most of the time the passengers were thin, able-bodied students (the able-bodied assessment is based on the team sports t-shirt that they would proudly wear or overheard conversations that detailed physical activities.) ALL of them got the death stares, but only the fat employee felt that she “deserved” them and made a work -around solution rather than holding the “I have every right to take the elevator” attitude that the other second-floor riders exhibited.