From here:
An Edmonton woman is fighting for the right to proudly display her facial piercings without fear of professional punishment.
Kendra Behringer has pierced her ears, eyebrows and lips in an act of “self-expression.”
However, she believes her appearance has cost her jobs, something she hopes to change by launching a petition slamming workplace discrimination against tattooed and pierced employees.
If Behringer is successful – something that wouldn’t surprise me – she may open up a new opportunity for Christians who have been harassed for wearing a cross at work. Punch a hole in your eyebrow, stick the cross in it and you will be OK.
I’m sure that if there are theological implications to wearing an eyebrow cross, Rowan Williams – who may already have several for all we know – would be only too happy to elucidate them; I know, I know, writing “elucidate” and “Rowan Williams” in the same sentence is the essence of oxymoron.
Thing is though, in twenty years the _bosses_ will have all kinds of interesting piercings. The culture has definitely moved in that direction, and it’ll take a while before it rolls some of that back.
The fifties are gone for a good long while, I think.
Just one more example of how “it’s all about ME!”. Never mind that while you are on the job that you are a representative of your employer. Never mind that your appearance directly effects customers’ perceptions of your employer. None of that matters, because “it’s all about ME!”
Not all jobs have an interface with the public. Indeed a great many don’t.
It is true that many jobs do not “interface” with customers (not all of whom are members of the public). However the article is vague. It does not mention which employers she has lost jobs from. So the allegation that she makes is also vague.
But what of other possibilities? Such as:
not interviewing well
not getting along with co-workers
not following instructions from her supervisor
showing up for work late, leaving early, taking too long on breaks
poor work performance (many errors)
etc.
Seems that the CBC has done a rather poor job of reporting (again) by giving us only one side of the story, and not doing a full investigation.
Yes, piercings and tattoos are a personal choice and I go along with that.
Please don’t ask me to accept it.
In my experience as a technical manager and as a property manger I have found that the greater the number ‘tats’ visible & above the neckline as well as visible (facial) piercings (It’s ME, I come FIRST!!!!) – the greater the level of defiance from that individual.
Go ahead – be ‘yourself’ – but that prevailing attitude just seems to ooze all over every aspect of interaction with others. They become ‘moderate level workers’ and that’s it . . . do I want them meeting our clients? Nope.
Apply to work in call centers – where the public doesn’t have to see & deal with those who dislike themselves enough to disfigure their bodies.
My own tattoos are invisible if I wear a t-shirt. I do have an earring. As does, to mention the first person that comes to mind, Harrison Ford. He’s done all right for himself.
So I’m the only one who’s realised that the next generation of employers will sport tattoos and piercings? It’s already happening. I work at a large government corporation and some of our younger upper managers have tattoos that snake out of their shirt collar a bit.
Also: interface. English is not my first language — neither is it a language that I speak in real life all that often — and sometimes I come up with a weird or inappropriate usage. My apologies.
Hello Bargum,
I think you are confirming what I was suggesting. That perhaps it is not her tattoos and piercings that are the problem. Perhaps the problem is her attitude. And of course that attitude includes the belief that there is nothing wrong with her, so the problem must be with others. And as it is that others are the ones with the problem she shall try to force those others to change to suit her.
Certainly not the type of person that I would like to have work for me.
A gentleman on another blog commented that she ‘was better looking in a burqua), or words to that effect. Perceptive.