HMV force skirts on female staff, hair cuts for men and no tattoos

thebostoncrab

HMV are bringing in a new dress code for staff. Women must wear skirts, men can not have long hair, no tattoos on display and some piercing will no longer be allowed.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9629809/HMV-staff-must-hide-extreme-body-art-from-customers.html


Personally I think this is one of the most backward ideas I have ever heard. How a woman not wearing a skirt affects sales I fail to understand. I understand tattoos still have a mixed image to some, but a music shop is one of the few places that you'd expect to have no problem with body art.

I know they have no issues with some body mods as long as the person looks "smart", but that is not something that can be measured fully; one managers smart could be a no no for another.

Thoughts?

gerire

moving deckchairs on the titanic...

4zn76tysfajdxp

HMV should encourage people to get piercings and tattoos and dress like monsters. That's the kind of people who visit music shops these days ffs.

RacoonQueen

Skirt seems a bit impractical for the work involved. Lifting boxes, packing shelves etc...

Nichololas

Skirts, tattoos and long hair have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not I buy music (excluding 80s hair metal). But torrents have no dress code so w/e.

godtabh

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Skirt seems a bit impractical for the work involved. Lifting boxes, packing shelves etc...

but great if you are a peeping tom

Casillas

Wanted staff for music shop - must have no individuality, creative expression or any knowledge of the product being sold.

...*sigh*....

suicide_circus

Casillas wrote: »

Wanted staff for music shop - must have no individuality, creative expression or any knowledge of the product being sold.

...*sigh*....

tattoos and piercings are always clear indications of creativity and individuality, fact

mitosis

Seems right to me. I wouldn't want the public face of my company, the first point of contact, to be a tattoed, lank haired oik. On the skirts, I'd be more flexible - perhaps a nice frock would suffice.

reginald

Would be worse if they insisted men wore skirts and women had to shave their heads

DeltaWhite

I think it's a joke and it's very old fashioned. Half the staff in HMV local to me are long haired, covered in ink and I have ZERO problem with that... as for the whole women wearing skirts... sexist and ridiculous and if I was in that position I would tell them to fcuk off!

Mont

No one is forcing anyone to work in HMV so whatever.

Casillas

suicide_circus wrote: »

tattoos and piercings are always clear indications of creativity and individuality, fact

And having none indicates the same, right?

It's a discriminatory policy, simple as.

goat2

as a customer, i dont care whether the staff have tattoos or long hair or piercings,
but i do care that they are helpful,

OneArt

I agree with most of those outlines except for the skirts and long hair.

Blatantly sexist rules. What's so difficult about tying hair up?

endofrainbow

didn't the HSE try and introduce something similar a few weeks ago?

whatdoicare

I remember having to wear a skirt in Dunnes when I got my first job about fifteen years ago but even Dunnes got rid of that and everyone wears a black pants, skirts were practical and smart looking when women only worked part time on the check out. Seems very impractical nowadays now that women work full time and do equal amounts of work to the fellas TBH.
HMV are being a bit ridiculous and OTT.

ArthurG

Floor length skirts on the women could be quite classy in a Downton Abbey kinda way - might be targetting the older music customer, as god knows the kids have no money these days.

thebostoncrab

mitosis wrote: »

Seems right to me. I wouldn't want the public face of my company, the first point of contact, to be a tattoed, lank haired oik. On the skirts, I'd be more flexible - perhaps a nice frock would suffice.

If it followed the dress code as my work place it would be a much smarter move. Long hair and tattoos are ok, as long as you keep yourself looking tidy and clean and have nothing offensive as a visable tattoo. As a man with long hair and a large tattoo on my forearm I think it's the right attitude to have.

Conall Cernach

Someone should send the management of HMV a copy of the movie High Fidelity. If HMV staff were more like Jack Black I'd be inclined to shop there more.

They're not doing it for a laugh, presumeably they think improving the neatness and appearance of their staff will help business.

The same scruffy staff would be complaining if they lost their jobs that HMV took no measures to try and improve business.

Its a well known fact people with Tattoo's dont like music.

Mansized Wreath

HMV are ****ed anyway,nobody buys music nowadays.

Rigol

I thought they were home with the downies.

gobnaitolunacy

ArthurG wrote: »

Floor length skirts on the women could be quite classy in a Downton Abbey kinda way - might be targetting the older music customer, as god knows the kids have no money these days.

That reminds me, I need to pop in to get the latest 78 rpm records for my Victrola.

jamesjoyce1710

Nichololas wrote: »

Skirts, tattoos and long hair have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not I buy music (excluding 80s hair metal). But torrents have no dress code so w/e.

thief

jamesjoyce1710

Casillas wrote: »

Wanted staff for music shop - must have no individuality, creative expression or any knowledge of the product being sold.

...*sigh*....

pretty much sums up any high street music store do you not think?

Lyaiera

As long as the lady staff curtsy and the gentlemen staff doff their caps to me as I enter my local HM And V I shall continue to frequent this fine establishment. The lower class staff may avert their eyes and tug on their forelock.

Korvanica

HMV is really more a Movie/Gaming shop nowadays though... Music sections are shrinking and other sections are expanding...

phasers

Personally, I boycott any shop that employs women, never mind letting them wear trousers! Disgraceful carry on, they should be at home, wearing skirts and cooking things

krudler

I used to work for HMV and they were always adamant that as long as you wore the tshirt with the logo on it anything else was fair game, as long as you had no offensive tattoos or stuff taking the piss. Worked with loads of people with tattoos/piercings etc over the years and not a word was ever said to them. Having the women wear skirts is beyond stupid, there's lots of heavy lifting, climbing over stock getting in behind shelves when rearranging displays etc. Stupid move is stupid.

padd b1975

I think Eddie Rockets have the same policy.
All their female workers now wear skirts.

I like it.

kowloon

phasers wrote: »

Personally, I boycott any shop that employs women, never mind letting them wear trousers! Disgraceful carry on, they should be at home, wearing skirts and cooking things

By Jove, next they'll be demanding the vote!

Reg'stoy

I think the question should be; are you willing to cut your hair, wear a dress and cover up tattoos, to get a job. If not, don't apply!!

Some people shovel ****e or do worse to put food on the table, dressing as per your employers policies is no great hardship.

4zn76tysfajdxp

phasers wrote: »

Personally, I boycott any shop that employs women, never mind letting them wear trousers! Disgraceful carry on, they should be at home, wearing skirts and cooking things

kowloon wrote: »

By Jove, next they'll be demanding the vote!

As I always say: Ladies, if you can't stand the heat, get back to the kitchen.

Gbear

gerire wrote: »

moving deckchairs on the titanic...

There will be no bricks and mortar shops selling music, games or movies in 10 years time.

awec

I welcome it.

They should also be banned from referring to customers as "man" or "dude".

BlaasForRafa

Maeve Wonderful Mink wrote: »

As I always say: Ladies, if you can't stand the heat, get back to the kitchen.

well said!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPfPLeFlxWc

ash23

I wonder is this an attempt to cull some of their staff and avoid redundancy payments or the negative publicity around letting staff go.

Martyn1989

Does the oul lad with the blue 'raver' hair still work in the Henry St, Dublin, branch? What are they going to do with him? 'Back to the dungeon!!!!'

Lollipops23

That's insane- in my old work girls could choose between trousers or skirts, as long as they were in-line with what they deemed was acceptable.

FFS, it's a music shop (and dvd/games), what does them having tats or piercings have to do with anything at all? I'd hazard a guess that 99% of their clientele don't give a crap about their appearance, so long as they're easily identifiable as staff members.

I'd much rather a girl whose entire face was taken up with ink and rings who knew her stuff than some crew cut nice guy who hadn't a clue.

JustAddWater

in fairness any member of staff who wears flip flops needs to get lost back to OZ...

souleater3000

Im always in the HMV is stephans green, as its hte nearest one for me and none of these rules apply to them. Will this only come into force in england? You cant force someone to hide their tattoos and piercings, its apart of who they are FFS and haircuts? Thats just a joke altogether.

Bipolar Joe

Do you think this generation, the ones that are staff now, will end up being way cooler in regards to this sort of crap when they're behind a desk? The chain has to break at some point, right? Or will it always be some business school douche who thinks that appearance is more important than business ethic?

seven_eleven

Looks like they're going to be hiring to replace all the hundreds of staff with tattoo's long hair and females that the fired. As if their financial situation wasn't that bad in the first place?

The only thing they should have banned is those stupid gigantic old man hipster glasses!

Toby Take a Bow

ash23 wrote: »

I wonder is this an attempt to cull some of their staff and avoid redundancy payments or the negative publicity around letting staff go.

As far as I know, they're under the same management as when they closed loads of shops (as well as some Waterstones ones in Dublin) so I don't think they really care about negative publicity. I'd say it's to have more control over their 'brand', in this case the first point of contact for a customer. I'd say it'll have the opposite effect of the one desired: it will have a negative impact on the eagerness to help customers as, if you want a robot, that's what you'll get.

padi89

suicide_circus wrote: »

tattoos and piercings are always clear indications of creativity and individuality, fact

Nah every joe soap has one or both these days and majority are absolute sh1te, fact.

Looks like a thinly  veiled attempt to get rid of a lot of the staff and nit have to pay them anything. Boss of mine did a similar thing a few years back. Worked in a small music store where the dress code was wear what you want. The place did a decent trade and we specialised in rock, metal and punk and as such had loyal customers who every week would be in buying hard to come by stuff. One day the owner decided he wanted to get more involved so he started coming to the shop and sitting out back watching porn as he pretended to work.

He decided on a whim that we would get rid of a large section of the stock and put in mobile phone displays. We'd sold they got ages but it was never a big part as the profit on them was tiny. Lost good third of the CD shelving and over the homing weeks he made more and more changes. Got rid of the metal, punk and rock sections and instead concentrated on country and western, Irish music and pop. The profit margin on these were tiny and we'd often have to sell them at a loss. One day I got text at 10pm to say that I need to show in in black suit pants, a white shirt, black tie and black shoes for the next day. It went on to say I had to remove all piercings and was required to cut my hair and dye it black as at the time I had a blue Mohawk. Not owning any of the items of clothing he wanted and starting work at. 8:30am I compromised and wore black jeans, black runners and a black shirt. Refused to but my hair or dye it but I did replace some my piercings with more discreet ones. When he arrived in at work at 11 he screamed and roared an went absolutely crazy making such a scene that the people working next store came running in to see what was happening. I told him he could stuff his job and left. Few hours later I got a call begging me to come back, he didn't understand how the till or stick system worked and had to close the shop early to deal with other stuff. I told him I'd go back but needed to be paid up to the end of the week and all arrears paid. He agreed so I thought screw it nothing better to do and as I was going to college that year every cent counted. He still insisted on the dress code but relented on the hair and piercings. Anyways I worked there another two weeks before one day I got to work and found my key no longer worked, taped to the window behind the shutter was an envelope with a letter that simply read you're fired. Turns out that he had hired a friend of his to replace me. Getting no notice annoyed me and the guy was a tosser but I really didn't care . 

The store stayed up only a few weeks longer and afterward I discovered that when he fired me he'd hired a friend if his who was working for 4:50 an hour. The guy had maybe three words of English and between the two of them they knew nothing about music or the phones we sold. I'm pretty certain he'd planned to close the store and his insistence on the uniform was him hoping I'd quit or give him an excuse, why else send the text at 10pm the night before an 8:30 start. Loved how he had to come grovelling back and was really happy when the place closed. He's now facing serious legal trouble for his many under handed and illegal tricks including non payment of tax.

Reckon that HMV may be trying a similar tactic and hoping to shed a good percentage of their long term staff and save a fortune if/when the company goes belly up. Personally it would put me off shopping there as one thing I like about HMV is how most of the staff have a clue about the music and films they sell. Most customers don't care if the guy has a tattoo on his face as long as he knows what he's talking about.

seven_eleven

endofrainbow wrote: »

didn't the HSE try and introduce something similar a few weeks ago?

But thats completely understandable and I think most people wouldnt want their nurse, doctor, surgeon, healthcare assist or whatever to be displaying a big tattoo all up their arm, or having long greasy hair hanging down and not tied back. Its common decency and hygiene in the healthcare environment.
They didnt try to implement the skirt thing either. I don't think any women wear skirts in the HSE anymore.

But this is blood HMV, the place where people go to buy music, metal, dance, rap, all the things that they can express themselves with, love and dance to, and you would expect the staff to be fairly into the whole music thing too. This is just backwards. Although Im sure the new staff wont exactly be music ignorant either.

K.Flyer

Was in Pennys not so long ago and was served by very nice, well presented and knowledgable staff member, fully attired in Penny's uniform.

The fact that he had long(ish) hair and his tattoos were clearly visable made no difference to our shopping experience at all, good for you Pennys for hiring him.

I am seriously surprised that HMV are coming out with nonsense like this.

Martyn1989

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Do you think this generation, the ones that are staff now, will end up being way cooler in regards to this sort of crap when they're behind a desk? The chain has to break at some point, right? Or will it always be some business school douche who thinks that appearance is more important than business ethic?

I've thought about this before, I don't think it'll ever change, when your giving someone a job your taking a chance on them and the guy who takes out his ear ring and covers up the 666 he has tattoo'd on his forearm is always going to get the break over the guy that dosn't.