"Follicular restrictions"

BBC News asks, "Should men in uniform be forced to shave?" Since this is an issue, supposedly, of work place safety and an assumption of the work place identity, some argue that men should shave. However, religious and cultural requirements are butting heads with no-beard policies.

In addition, policies are not applied uniformly. Some policies state if the commanding officer says, it's ok, well then it is ok--which, of course, will only last as long as the commanding officer does or for how long the bearded serviceman stays in the unit.

So, shave or don't shave? And who should get the dispensation to keep facial hair?

Can you work in those shoes?

Another article devoted to women's attire in the workplace, complete with a cleavage appropriate measuring device and some requisite fat-ist, ageist hate from a Gen-Y mean girl:

"If I want to flaunt what I’ve got, I’ll do it, and I don’t care if some old-fashioned or overweight female employees can’t handle it."

Fashion advice for women in the workplace usually sounds like a soft audition for the Taliban: showing skin is not respectful so cover yourself from collar bones, writes and ankles--like Maggie on the Simpsons; the microwaves from your unbound mermaid hair will tempt men; and your boobs look like the slot from a credit card reader. Personally, I find this advice to be obnoxious and unrealistic:

• Have you seen what they sell in clothing stores? What are my choices? It's belly button or nipples, even in some business attire. I guess they think we all work in banks.
• Why don't men get this fashion and body control advice? How about: tuck in your pelvis when you're talking to clients, or I can see your nipple rings through that dress shirt, or quit touching yourself and buy some boxers that fit already?
• Get your [figurative] hands off of my shirt--if I can work in what I wear and it is clean, unwrinkled and no holes, does it really matter?

So the real question is: can I work in what I wear? Honestly, if I need to climb under desks to fix the mouse, if I have to play Wii tennis with the seniors gaming group, or my car may break down in freezing winter weather while I visit all of the partner libraries in my district, why can't I wear jeans and a sweater? Why can't I wear flip flops if my feet are clean and well-groomed? When did wardrobe become short hand for how capable I am at my job, especially when I am dressing to deal with the job? Shouldn't I get points for pragmatism? Instead, the stereotype for my career is "dowdy" which according to this article is just as dangerous to a salary increase as "sexy".

And yes, whenever I read these articles I am extremely grateful to work in libraries where I have seen blue hair, pierced lips, permanent tattoos on necks, jeans and shirts that don't enclose collar bones--and they let us work with children! We haven't broken the flip flop barrier yet but I hold out hope.

Did my tattoos cost me the job offer?

When people are applying for work, especially in a conservative workplace, they may be concerned that their permanent body art--tattoos, piercings--may keep them from getting a job offer. This is especially painful (hah!) when the person got permanent body art that no longer expresses who they are--the new conservatism is a better fit. But do tattoos and piercing really keep someone from getting a job offer?

Body of Work (will need a free sign on to access the article), an article from Workforce Management, looks at tattooing and piercing in the workplace, including the following issues:

• do companies include body art in their dress code?
• do professionals feel that they have not gotten a job because of their body art, or
• have they covered up their body art during the interview process?

I can't speak for all libraries, but most of the ones that I know of are not conservative, and I have seen staff with permanent body mods, but I wonder if any prospective librarian applicant feels they didn't get a job because the person doing the hiring could not see a person with a tattoo sleeve delivering story time? There does seem to be a definite vibe in this article that if you work with the public, that body modifications are not acceptable--though I wonder if they feel the same about breast implants?

In hard to find positions it is more difficult to restrict or discriminate against body art, though not everyone wants to join the military or become a doctor. And many people, including bosses and HR personnel, have body art themselves:

According to a 2010 Pew Research Center study, 12 percent of the 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed have at least one tattoo and 26 percent sport two or more. About 7 percent have six or more tattoos. Generation X is fond of body ink, too. About one-third of those between 30 and 45 said they have at least one tattoo. Only 15 percent of baby boomers between 46 and 64 have one.

With the large number of Boomers, that 15% is a significant percentage, which may even indicate that more Boomers than Ys, definitely than Xs, have tattoos. So the mature professional who is interviewing you whose shirt is crinkling with starch, may have several tattoos up his sleeve.

The article also suggests that there is more acceptance for tattoos if they are tasteful (which can cover a broad range of tacky to tasty and is very much in the eye of the beholder) and do not include any profanity or desecration of religious symbols. If your tattoos fall into those categories, I don't think the tattoo or the piercing is keeping you from employment.

Cleavage career guides

I have a weird tag for some of the business/career books that I come across that are written for women, but seem to have more to do with how much cleavage we show (toe or otherwise) than our skills and capabilities. Reading these books make me all nostalgic for the day the the boys discovered bra straps and a new way to bully girls. Next up, slut shaming, in which all participate.

I want to say no one depends on their boobs to get ahead, but Pamela Anderson springs to mind. And not all boobs (or biceps, for that matter) mesmerize equally: there is usually some cunning and social engineering involved on the part of the person attached to the sexy flesh.


Some of these books may have some good advice interspersed with Wonder Bra and cosmetic surgery ads. So, I call them cleavage career guides and let you make up your own mind.

Recently, there was a some chatter about a tip sheet that was supposed distributed within Citibank, adopted from a book called Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office. Jezebel spurned it. Cynical Girl (former Punk Rock HR) wrote a sorta defense of Citibank and the book.

The problem is this: masculine and feminine behaviors are perceptions, which means they exist in our minds, either as we project them or receive them. This doesn't mean that we turn off our biological sex, but people project some of their perceptions on to us and we roleplay back. These behaviors are also dependent on culture. You might think you are a feminine cheesecake in North America, but you may seem pretty beefy beyond these borders.

My hearty handshake and aggressive humor do not make me a male--but some people perceive these behaviors as masculine. If they are really smart, they will skip the category. The brisk handshaking does come with bored hair twirling.

Do we really need rules about how to behave and where to put our eyeballs? Sometimes, because we are creatures that need rules. But they should be applied fairly to individuals, not to categories.

I'll see your necktie and raise you a pair of control tops

No more pantyhose, no more neckties. I actually like Ben Stein--as a comedian, not as a conservative. (I'm like most liberals: we claimed Funny Hill.) Anyway, if you can give up neckties--which get caught in file drawers, shredders, anything with a vice, clamp, flap, shut, bam, boom-- and have more to do with sumptuary laws than egalitarianism can we cease fire on the panty hose?

Men, sizing matters

Again, a do's and don'ts of workplace fashion focused strongly on (young) women. Complete with slide show including cleavage. Ok, I agree that people could dress a little more professionally. (Not that I will, but you know about advice: love to give it, don't follow it.) But I hate how most of this advice is focused on women. Men, too, take liberties with the dress code: it just happens that their faux pas usually have to do with improper sizing while they are still within the dress code confines. How about these:

• The fuzzy-bear belly. Yes, men with muffin tops and popped buttons showing up for work. Or growing increasingly deshabille as the day goes on. These are the guys who aren't allowed to be skins on the court.
• Chafe-y underwear so they're always rearranging their clappers. Or that scissors move when they slouch down in the chair and think no one is watching. YUCK. Just buy some knickers that fit already.
• Tight clothing.You need a size thirty-six waist. You are not the same size you were in college, get over it.
• Overhanging gut that ate the belt. Steve McQueen is looking for you and he has a fire extinguisher.
• No waist man. Pants hiked up to the armpits and scary camel toe. If your nipples are that cold, put on a sweater.
• I don't want to see your ankles. Ever. Your legs have stopped growing, just measure and commit. (That Nicolas Sarkozy thing was an April Fool's Day joke.)
• Plumber's crack. Need I say more?

Clearly, if you actually listened to the adage, measure twice, cut once, we'd have some better dressed men and perfectly fitted baseboards. Beyond sizing, but purely fashion stricken

• Track pants. Jay Z wants you to get out of his closet.
• Ungroomed facial hair. Yes, you, the one that ate that soup for lunch. Or was it yesterday's lunch?
• Men wear flip-flops, too. A far greater crime: brown sandals with black socks. Or mismatched tube socks. So shut up about it.

Feel the love? Now you know why women hate fashion do's and don'ts.

Should you dress "younger"?

I like the guy who gives a nod to confidence. I would also go with common sense, but you can fake it til you make it. Notice that they are pretty hard on older women and their appearance: sometimes it is hard to dress "appropriately" when stores don't sell anything appropriate.

Dress to code

I have great sympathy for the men who received hate messages and were asked to apologize about comments they made in a recent WSJ article about dress codes in the workplace--panty hose and skirt lengths, specifically. I think that if they were setting appropriate standards for their workplace, based on professional needs, and heck, it is their organization that is represented, I think they should have some say in what their employees wear to work--especially if they meet with clients. (original blog post about article)

That said, I can see why women would be perturbed about men still worrying about the temptation rays that come off of their bodies. First, it's a bit creepy. Second, I don't think fashion will curb the problem: for some people, knowing that their favorite gender to mack on is close by, they are just going to dream about a snack.

I also think that dress codes remain antiquated because people don't know what their workers do. For example, librarians climb around under desks, sprint with people to the stacks, they are occasionally asked to wipe up unmentionable goo, and sometimes sparkles, or they have to jump counters or haul heavy boxes. Not all of them, but I have had to do each of those things at least once a week while in the library proper. A skirt and heels won't do it--regardless of how many Jennifer Garner style CIA agents do it on TV, with a little kick boxing on the side.

So please, take a look at your dress code, not in terms of current fashion, because that is too volatile, but look at a dress code in terms of duties and what is safe or not. (Some scary pictures; the scariest one I ever saw was one my cousin showed me about an office worker who lost her finger when her wedding band was caught in a file drawer.)

Punctured

Ah, interview time: time to fluff out your hair, iron your underwear and carry your Tide stain stick concealed. But is it also the time to take out your piercings or cover your body art?

Because body art is usually voluntary, there are limited protections for possessors of body art.

• Cover Up the Body Art, from Job Dig
• Tattoos & Body Piercing: Avoiding Employment Discrimination Claims, appeared in New Hampshire Business Review, October 2004, By Andrea K. Johnstone and Laurel A. Van Buskirk
• A Piercing Question in the Workplace, from the OC Register. I like how they suggest that a low unemployment rate can mean more tolerance toward body modification, since I think that is a valid issue to consider.
  
• And check out some of the links about the US military policies in regards to body art/modification.
  

I don't know if anyone can definitively say that a voluntary body modification would be the straw that broke the library job offer. But there are a few ways you can deal with this issue:

• Check to see if there is a dress code policy for the organization that you are applying to. Piercings, as well as other art and modifications, may be listed in this policy.
  
• Search in your local newspaper for stories about body modification and the workplace, looking for local decisions or statements (some of these stories may not be local, but may still be useful).
  
• Check the websites for state or provincial guidelines in regards to dress codes and see if there are statements about body art or modifications (this could be important if you are relocating for work from a more tolerant to less body art tolerant clime).
  
• Prepare a copy of this research showing with omissions or insertions, just in case, whether you are interviewing for a position or have decided to come in and impress your colleagues with your pain tolerance on Monday morning.

IMHO: constantly talking about people's piercings and other assorted body art and referring to them with a winky-nudge-nudge about how discreet/discrete (in both senses) they are and how the possessors of such strange magic cannot be talked about as if they were, well, people, makes me nuts. Quit looking at shallow, surface differences and actually look at the person's abilities. I guess because the piercing is voluntary some people in charge of hiring--and library patrons, too--just don't want to be bothered with looking past the surface. However, this is one group that should be capable of looking past the cover, or at least be willing to read the blurb on the back.

Yes, I too have my moments: I really want to ask those guys with metal doughnuts in their lobes if walking into the wind makes them hear bells. But I hope that I wouldn't turn anyone down for a public service position--nor relegate them to a back room--if they had any piercings or body art. Though I might change my mind about a really ill-advised facial Nazi swastika. And if someone can tell me about the chiming, I really want to know.

Hose or no hose?

Since I'm talking about appearance, I came across this article on WSJ about hosiery and dress codes. I think I would still wear panty hose to an interview (or really nice socks ;->) but I will be bare-legged during the summer under my skirts.

I got to be honest: I hate hose, it's a waste. It can be cute, but I wear them as frequently as I will wear nail polish.

This one is strong in the scent

Since I take the train to work, I have gotten a good whiff of people, not to mention some of the memorable trips snuggled right into people's armpits. I have to say that though I am not a fan of BO, excessive perfume is just a killer. I walked on the deck this morning and took a deep breath of some sweetly toxic miasma and prayed I would find a seat in another car. I couldn't imagine being trapped in a room with the person and being able to think anything but, you smell funny.

If you are going on a interview, ease up on the scent. Both men and women, since men can get a bit exuberant with the spray bottle, too. Despite what you believe about allergies to scent--there is a yes/no argument about how affecting perfume is and if scent allergies really exist--if I believe that your perfume is aggravating or will give me an asthma attack, I'm not thinking kind thoughts about you. Small room, huge smell? I'm not going to be thinking about what you are saying, just when can I escape. You should also be aware that there are some workplaces that are going scent free.

And no one likes to talk about smell: it is a basic, animal sense and our reaction is instinctual and sometimes hard to control. Who wants to say to someone, you smell...odd? Doesn't seem nice, does it? But if a scent, too much of good or bad thing, is too over-powering, it could leave the wrong impression.

And I am not saying, don't wear any perfume; I'm saying, moderation is a good idea. Think about it: you go to the perfume counter and you smell a wide variety of scents. You don't like all of them, but someone will buy the others that aren't to your taste. Imagine that you have purchased and worn the scent that makes your interviewer's back teeth ache. Yeah, you aren't buying either.

So, for one day at least, spray once and step in.