First impressions we make of players and people in general

Well today I have had the joy of contemplating replacing my wife's car as the poor thing I think is about to have terminal gear box failure.
It has been an interesting experience going through car dealers and getting quotes on new car. Now I generally dress comfortably on my days off generally in jeans and T shirts and the razor is optional for the day.
It is quite amusing on how people in these places react to you when you are on about buying a vehicle worth a fair amount of cash. In certain places I got the impression that some of the sales people didn't give me a lot of time as I wasn't in a shirt and tie.
I also have a friend who to be honest is worse than me and could be described as a bit of a slob when he is wandering about and he has noticed the same thing when shopping for large items i.e. being given little attention by sales people as they tend to view that you cant afford the product.

It is interesting that these impressions they form are quite wrong I run a high turnover business unit at my work and my friend earns a very high salary as an IT contractor in the city. We know what we can afford and only go looking for it if its within our budgets.
The upshot of this is at least one person has lost the opportunity to sell a high priced car to my friend due to his attitude when my friend first entered the dealership before a word was spoken.

This got me thinking about how players in WOW can be judged i.e. for grouping for instances or raids. People demand EPIC achievements all the time just to run heroic VH or will kick anyone with the shred of green gear on them as unworthy.
But hold hard a minute group leader could this so called noob possibly be an alt of one of the top guilds on the server having a break or quiet time away from their hectic raiding schedule. This person due to their knowledge of game and super human play style could be able to pump out 4K dps from low gear.
Or could this person be you guilds next great tank / healer i.e someone who can play like god himself but just needs to prove themselves in a group.
I think recently there appears to be too much judgement on initial appearance of players and the perceived skill of them based on the gear they are wearing / achievements done.

So next time there is a group being formed will the leader be the person missing out on that diamond in the rough or the possibility of being looked on favourably by the leet guild on the server. Or will they take a chance and be pleasantly surprised/possibly amazed.

Zetter