That’s just a wee bit old-fashioned. Hell, Harrison FORD has an earring. If Indiana Jones and Han Solo are losers, then what chance do the rest of us have?
About 7 years ago I dated a man with long hair. He was unable to get many jobs because of this. We wound up going to a wig store and bought him a wig.
The wig looked like Greg from the Brady Bunch. Every morning he or I would braid his hair, pin up and put on the wig. He worked there for a few months until another job opportunity came his way.
He went to see his boss before his last day and told him about his hair and asked if he could work his last day with his real hair. The boss agreed.
Turns out all the employees thought he had cancer and lost his hair and was wearing a bad wig. Everyone got a kick out of it and was relieved he was completely healthy and ok.
I do think its sex discrimination to keep men from wearing their hair long or wearing jewelry. Seems almost all businesses can run their business the way they want to though. One grocery store chain here will not let men have facial hair. I had one job at a car repair shop that required the men to tuck in their shirts.
Silly stuff, but you either gotta conform or get another job.
You also have to consider the industry in which the pierce-ee (male or female) is employed.
I work in a supermarket. If your job involves directly handling food (deli, bakery, meat, etc.) , you are not allowed to wear earrings, bracelets, or necklaces, period. It’s not just the powers that be’s ruling – it’s also a violation of the food safety code. If you’re female, you’re not even supposed to wear nail polish, on the off chance that one day it could flake off and land in whatever you’re preparing.
My store goes as far as allowing cashiers maximum 2 piercings in each ear (studs only),. For males, no facial hair, and hair must be cut above the collar. For all, no “punk” hair dyes/streaking.
When dealing with the public, image is, for better or worse, everything.
As far as I know, Minnesota is the only one.
And it isn’t even explicit in the law.
The Mn Human Rights Statute, (text here ), Chapter 363 A 03 Subd. 44: “Sexual orientation” means … having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one’s biological maleness or femaleness.
That phrase was intended to protect transgender people, or those preceived as transgender. But it has been used to challenge things like dress codes that specify different requirements for men and women.
That may* be stretching the law, and I’m not aware of any legal cases where this interpretation has been upheld in court. (Most employers back down when faced with a possible discrimination lawsuit, and the attendant bad publicity. And they know they will be faced with a question like “Please explain to the court why an earring interferes with an employee’s ability to deliver food to the customer’s table when the employee is a man, but not a female?”)
I’m pretty sure they are talking about colors that are not normally found on a human and worn for shock value.
“Broken window” theory. You show up with your tie undone and it looks sloppy. Other people show up dressed shabily. They leave their workstations a mess. Soon that sloppyness shows up in their work.
The question is “does it work?” In client-facing situations, you generally want to portray a non-controvertial image of competance. You don’t want things like earings or crazy hair or ‘I’m With Stupid->’ T-shirts to be a distraction. Also, morons are easily impressed by nice clothes.
For internal or back-office positions it’s less important bit I think it does improve performance. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge - once you start looking like accountants, you’ll start feeling like accountants and then soon, goddamnit, you’ll start acting like accountants. Putting on a suit or even buisness casual clothing puts you in a mindset that you are going to “work”. But after a certain point, the wrapper becomes less important than the contents.
My comments on the subject are more appropriate for Great Debates
I am sure msmith537 is correct on this, but it shows why even the simplest law/rule has to be 10 pages of fine print :rolleyes:
I don’t think these two things can be equated anymore, though. Weaves these days often have burgundy, gold, midnight blue, or deep violet type colors woven into them: these colors aren’t even vaugely “natural”, but they aren’t shocking, either: they can acutally be pretty elegant.
An exeception, at least in California, is that woman cannot be mandated to wear dresses/skirts instead of pants/slacks.
Haj
We had someone like that at my office, only I’m so bad at spotting that type of thing I can’t even tell if a guy is wearing a rug. Our boss had a barbecue at his place, and it was here he outed his hair, though I wasn’t there for the actual outing, or the conversation that ensued. But my god, it looked so much better than the wig. It was sort of like the way the actor who plays Harry Potter wears his when not in the role. Afterwards, he no longer wore the wig to the office, but put most of it in a long braid down his back, and the boss seemed OK with it.
Probably the thing I dislike most about strict dress codes is that they always do seem to be significantly more restrictive against men. Even under a strict corporate type dress code, women have a lot more freedom than men. But when you get down to the level of “business casual”, then it’s usually pretty fair between the genders.
Wait… so if we handle food, no one is supposed to be able to wear earrings? I’m a McEmployee.
But has it not been ever thus?
Hmm, maybe. But for women it is not uncommon for dress codes at banks, etc. to mandate the wearing of pantyhose on a daily basis. And women’s dress shoes are often extremely impractical, especially if heels are required. I’m sure a tie is uncomfortable, but up against pantyhose–no contest!
Also, for some jobs women are required to wear make-up, which means a daily application of potential skin-irritating, pore clogging paint.
I’d agree that women generally have more variety, but the expectations for men seem much more in line with what they are expected to do during the day–conduct business.
This reminds me of when I served in the US Marine Corps Reserve in the mid 70s. Some judge somewhere ruled that requiring reservists to get haircuts for once a month reserve drills was too much of an imposition so we were allowed to wear short hair wigs. It looked really strange.
I work for Greggs (UK company, sells sandwiches, cream cakes, and pasties of varying temperatures), and we’re required to wear no makeup or jewellery and to keep our hair back at all times. It’s up to the store managers to enforce this, and so the adherance to policy varies from branch to branch. You might just have a relaxed manager.
The ‘no earrings, etc’ rule is either part of Health and Safety regulations or something that all employers stipulate. I’d cite, but I cannot for the life of me seem to find the perfect Google.
That may be more of a safety thing than a stupid dress code. Places with machinery often require shirt tails to be tucked. On the other hand, some of them require that neckties be removed around machinery.
I don’t know… the McDonald’s dress code specifically allow females to wear one pair of earrings. Maybe reform to the McDresscode is in order.
Could we first consider reform to the McD menu?
People call other people “loser” because they can’t think of anything else to call them. Besides, it makes one feel so self-elevated.
To the OP;
We"re going through a bad, tight-assed, conservative time right now. They’re really feeling their oats. Be patient, cover the piercing, and it (the bad time) will pass. Just make rude gestures at your boss behind his/her back.
Heh, I can attest to that. One of my sideline jobs is I sub-contract a LOT of work out to the local hanymen-painters here in Dallas.
Now let me tell ya’ I hardly know shit when it comes to handyman type work. But how do I get these jobs you may ask? Because when I show up to bid a job, I always show up wearing a suit and tie. I also make sure I’m clean shaven and smell good too.
This is proven (at least in my world) that a good appreance will take you loads furnther than if you were to show up at a job to bid it wearing tattered clothes and unshaven or wearing some beaten up old baseball cap. Which is what most these guys I sub to do.