Piercings at work

pixiestix11

So ive been working at the same retail type job for over a year now and seeing as there was nothing in my contract about piercings I decided to get a nostril piercing a few months ago,I made sure that the jewelry was simple ,dainty and to be honest barely noticeable. My manager never commented on it but recently a more senior member of the company was working with me and didn't respond well. I was repeatedly called "unprofessional" yet he he made multiple attempts to physically remove the piercing from my face and would make upsetting comments about it. Naturally I was very distressed so to make him stop.I got a clear retainer bar which he was happier with. However,I feel like changing jewelry constantly will irrigate my piercing and its a painful process to boot. Should I just wear the retainer while he is working ? lets say he came to my workplace outside of his working hours and I was wearing my normal jewelry ,would.he have grpunds.for dismissal?

njjj

I'm sorry to stop by and to say that i am not a fan of piercing and i am not a fan of any sort of Jewellery, this might seem odd to some, i know

njjj

If i were you though, i would ask the bothered manager for clarity

pixiestix11

njjj wrote: »

If i were you though, i would ask the bothered manager for clarity

Oh he made himself very clear ,he was insistent on me removing the piercing and said it "defaced (my) beautiful face" =/

njjj

pixiestix11 wrote: »

Oh he made himself very clear ,he was insistent on me removing the piercing and said it "defaced (my) beautiful face" =/

Oh, then, maybe it is personal to him, i mean, he probably doesn't like it on his own.
This said, you didn't mention what your work type look like, so you can't really get the appropriate public opinions

Pawwed Rig

In what way did he make 'multiple attempts to physically remove it'?

pixiestix11

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

In what way did he make 'multiple attempts to physically remove it'?

As in putting his hand /holding a.tweezer up to my face. Im.not sure if he.was jokeing or what but it certainly didn't feel like it

pixiestix11

njjj wrote: »

Oh, then, maybe it is personal to him, i mean, he probably doesn't like it on his own.
This said, you didn't mention what your work type look like, so you can't really get the appropriate public opinions

Not sure what you mean by "work type"but ive.worked for other companies in the same industry and they actually specify in the contract that nostril studs.are allowed,my current place of employment meerly requires we wear the appropriate uniform and mentions nothing.else abour personal appearance

njjj

pixiestix11 wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by "work type"but ive.worked for other companies in the same industry and they actually specify in the contract that nostril studs.are allowed,my current place of employment meerly requires we wear the appropriate uniform and mentions nothing.else abour personal appearance

I was actually referring to your kind of profession and whether the studd would have any impact. But having given it a thorough consideration, and recalling my own observations, i don't think it is a problem to most (if not all) industries: i just think (like i said earlier) that the issue might just be that this particular manager doesn't fancy it; and by his own word, it doesn't look good on your "beautiful face": beautiful face has nothing to do with profession except personal admiration.

childsplay

What does your contract say about dress codes and physical appearance. If it doesn't stipulate that piercings are not permitted then ld say that your okay.

pixiestix11

childsplay wrote: »

What does your contract say about dress codes and physical appearance. If it doesn't stipulate that piercings are not permitted then ld say that your okay.

It says nothing about appearance ,it meerly says we must wear black pants,black shoes and.the top provided to us.

Eoin

childsplay wrote: »

What does your contract say about dress codes and physical appearance. If it doesn't stipulate that piercings are not permitted then ld say that your okay.

It would be pretty unusual for any sort of dress code to be specified in a contract. Policies and contractual terms are usually different documents.

pixiestix11

Eoin wrote: »

It would be pretty unusual for any sort of dress code to be specified in a contract. Policies and contractual terms are usually different documents.

I received one document to sign and it included everything from dress code to hours,I kept a copy and I still have it. (Its a pretty small company)

_Brian

Is Noone else worried that a senior manager tried to physically remove this from the employee with tweezers??
This isn't appropriate behaviour in any way and I'd have been making a complaint immediately.

I'm not a fan of tattoos or piercings either, but you can't go interfering physically with staff that's open to a complaint and possible legal case.

childsplay

_Brian wrote:

Is Noone else worried that a senior manager tried to physically remove this from the employee with tweezers?? This isn't appropriate behaviour in any way and I'd have been making a complaint immediately.

Was he flirting the OP or was he being serious? Either way l agree with Brian. Totally inappropriate.

splendid101

From the little information you've given in this thread, it sounds like you've a good case for harassment and the manager should be the one worrying, not you. A manager should be telling you something doesn't look good on your "beautiful face".

If it is against company policy, this should be clearly stated, it shouldn't be down to guesswork.

njjj

_Brian wrote: »

Is Noone else worried that a senior manager tried to physically remove this from the employee with tweezers??
This isn't appropriate behaviour in any way and I'd have been making a complaint immediately.

I'm not a fan of tattoos or piercings either, but you can't go interfering physically with staff that's open to a complaint and possible legal case.

Seconded, i share these opinions

njjj

splendid101 wrote: »

From the little information you've given in this thread, it sounds like you've a good case for harassment and the manager should be the one worrying, not you. A manager should be telling you something doesn't look good on your "beautiful face".

If it is against company policy, this should be clearly stated, it shouldn't be down to guesswork.

Well said

Gremlinertia

pixiestix11 wrote: »

As in putting his hand /holding a.tweezer up to my face. Im.not sure if he.was jokeing or what but it certainly didn't feel like it

That's incredibly inappropriate and while i know nothing about the retail sector specifically i would consider it borderline harassment however i will defer to others for the actual terms. But. Wow.

davo10

njjj wrote: »

Well said

Crikey, a manager tells a girl her face is to beautiful to have something as tacky as a piercing on it, and that's "harassment"? I think you guys need to settle down a bit.

From my reading of the op's description, he didn't actually try to remove it, he held a tweezers up and simulated removing it, I suspect this was light hearted.

njjj

Gremlinertia wrote: »

That's incredibly inappropriate and while i know nothing about the retail sector specifically i would consider it borderline harassment however i will defer to others for the actual terms. But. Wow.

Whatever gave you the opinion that she works in the retail sector?

Emmadilema123

I feel like this might be an older man who might see himself as a kind of dad figure to younger staff. I had a job when I was 14 and the boss was very much like that. He reminded me of my dad and maybe some of the stuff he said could have been deemed inappropriate but I genuinely believe it came from a caring place and dusted it off. He would often offer advice to all of us. Pretty young workforce. Mainly teenagers.

njjj

Emmadilema123 wrote: »

I feel like this might be an older man who might see himself as a kind of dad figure to younger staff. I had a job when I was 14 and the boss was very much like that. He reminded me of my dad and maybe some of the stuff he said could have been deemed inappropriate but I genuinely believe it came from a caring place and dusted it off. He would often offer advice to all of us. Pretty young workforce. Mainly teenagers.

You started working at 14, you must be very rich by now, waoh!

davo10

Emmadilema123 wrote: »

I feel like this might be an older man who might see himself as a kind of dad figure to younger staff. I had a job when I was 14 and the boss was very much like that. He reminded me of my dad and maybe some of the stuff he said could have been deemed inappropriate but I genuinely believe it came from a caring place and dusted it off. He would often offer advice to all of us. Pretty young workforce. Mainly teenagers.

I had exactly the same experience when I was a teenager, I worked on a building site and the foreman used to shake his fists at the young fellas when they did something stupid, it didn't mean he was going to punch us, he was telling us "don't do something that stupid again". Was that harassment or bullying? Apparently some on this thread would say it was, it wasn't.

selastich2

If you get a piercing through your nose, you are going to get comments. I remember all sorts of jokes about how many times the subsidy had been drawn on me and whether the EU knew. This is not harassment, it's people being people. Don't get a look at me thing in your face if you don't want people to comment.

rawn

pixiestix11 wrote:

So ive been working at the same retail type job for over a year now...

njjj wrote:

Whatever gave you the opinion that she works in the retail sector?

Literally the first line of the OP

Emmadilema123

njjj wrote: »

You started working at 14, you must be very rich by now, waoh!

I am! :-D

Grab All Association

njjj wrote: »

You started working at 14, you must be very rich by now, waoh!

She's 123 years old now

Gremlinertia

njjj wrote: »

Whatever gave you the opinion that she works in the retail sector?

The very first few words of the initial post gave me a clue..

pixiestix11

selastich2 wrote: »

If you get a piercing through your nose, you are going to get comments. I remember all sorts of jokes about how many times the subsidy had been drawn on me and whether the EU knew. This is not harassment, it's people being people. Don't get a look at me thing in your face if you don't want people to comment.

Sorry now but what makes you think I got the piercing for attention? I.got it because I like the way it looks,and I think.it suits my face,furthermore it's not really anyones place tocl comment on anyone elses.appearance.

pixiestix11

pixiestix11 wrote: »

Sorry now but what makes you think I got the piercing for attention? I.got it because I like the way it looks,and I think.it suits my face,furthermore it's not really anyones place tocl comment on anyone elses.appearance.

I daresay if your employer had asked you not to wear the piercing and you continue to do so then they have every right to comment on it.

He's asked you not to wear it, joked about removing it and yet you continue to do so. Where do you honestly see this going. Only going to end one way methinks.

selastich2

pixiestix11 wrote: »

...furthermore it's not really anyones place tocl comment on anyone elses.appearance.

It most certainly can be, especially when in a customer facing role. What gave you that idea?

Emmadilema123

Grab All Association wrote: »

She's 123 years old now

123 and a quarter :-P

rawn

selastich2 wrote:

It most certainly can be, especially when in a customer facing role. What gave you that idea?

I would think that if an employer did not want facial piercings on any of their staff then they would say so in their dress code.

rawn

rawn wrote: »

I would think that if an employer did not want facial piercings on any of their staff then they would say so in their dress code.

Telling the employee directly would also count would it not?

selastich2

staff sitting there, unconsciously playing with things in their nose is appealing to no one.


Backroom work or a big blue plaster over it would be the choices I'd be giving you as a manager if you refuse to remove it.

Emmadilema123

I remember a girl in work got pulled aside because her skirt was too short even though she had leggings on under it. I was thinking why don't they go after the girl at the next pod with the leggings minus the skirt because I can actually see her vagina. Issues can arise outside what is stipulated in the dress code and sometimes in work you just have to do what your told whether you like it or not!

pixiestix11

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I daresay if your employer had asked you not to wear the piercing and you continue to do so then they have every right to comment on it.

He's asked you not to wear it, joked about removing it and yet you continue to do so. Where do you honestly see this going. Only going to end one way methinks.

Im.going to continue to wear it.because changing it is bloody painful and could cause irritation which may lead to raised scarring etc . Besides that it have not signed anything which would suggest piercings are not allowed.if they did not want employees to wear piercings they should have specified in my terms of employment,im.not going to risk my piercing ,which I paid money for , closing up or scarring up badly just because he personally doesn't like it.

rawn

Deleted User wrote:

Telling the employee directly would also count would it not?

He's telling the employee that he personally doesn't like it, not the company.

rawn

rawn wrote: »

He's telling the employee that he personally doesn't like it, not the company.

It's a senior manager in the company, I'd be paying attention to repeated requests to remove it if I wanted to keep my job.
Would you say the same about facial tattoo for example, there's nothing in the contract about that either.
We all have opinions and could go back and forth all day, so I'll leave it at this.

Op, your choice is your choice, I'd have no issues with piercings myself, have some large tattoos myself that I keep covered in work situations where it's not professional to have them on display. Just think about whether youre willing to risk your job over taking this stand.

Best of luck however you proceed.

uck51js9zml2yt

njjj wrote: »

Whatever gave you the opinion that she works in the retail sector?

First line of the OP is a giveaway

davo10

pixiestix11 wrote: »

Im.going to continue to wear it.because changing it is bloody painful and could cause irritation which may lead to raised scarring etc . Besides that it have not signed anything which would suggest piercings are not allowed.if they did not want employees to wear piercings they should have specified in my terms of employment,im.not going to risk my piercing ,which I paid money for , closing up or scarring up badly just because he personally doesn't like it.

You will be job hunting soon, probably best to take it out before going to interviews.

bluestrattos

pixiestix11 wrote: »

Im.going to continue to wear it.because changing it is bloody painful and could cause irritation which may lead to raised scarring etc . Besides that it have not signed anything which would suggest piercings are not allowed.if they did not want employees to wear piercings they should have specified in my terms of employment,im.not going to risk my piercing ,which I paid money for , closing up or scarring up badly just because he personally doesn't like it.

Employment contracts don't have dozens of pages for no reason.

An employment contract starts with basic standard rules based in the legislation. Everything else is added due to lack of common sense.
Is like that stupid signs and labels, that reads "don't put toddlers in the washing machine"! The manufacturer thought that common sense would prevail, guess what, it didn't.
Same thing goes with your terms of employment, may not be there now, but soon enough it will be added and HR will notify everyone.

This company used to have a casual Friday policy. Guess what? One day someone went too casual. Outcome? Management and HR notification, another bullet point in the terms of employment about attire, and no more casual Fridays. Recently that changed, and the company decided to give it another ago.

Not saying you can't have a piercing but don't be surprised if you're moved to a different position, and everyone will have an updated terms of employment where the company will make recommendation regarding piercing or tattoos for that matter.

pixiestix11

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's a senior manager in the company, I'd be paying attention to repeated requests to remove it if I wanted to keep my job.
Would you say the same about facial tattoo for example, there's nothing in the contract about that either.
We all have opinions and could go back and forth all day, so I'll leave it at this.

Op, your choice is your choice, I'd have no issues with piercings myself, have some large tattoos myself that I keep covered in work situations where it's not professional to have them on display. Just think about whether youre willing to risk your job over taking this stand.

Best of luck however you proceed.

I appreciate your post,but I'm leaving in two months anyway.,I'm covering 3 people's holidays and working 6 day weeks. My main manager isnt around for the next few weeks and he doesnt mind it . They usually take over a month to find new staff so really and truely they dont have the time or resources to fire me . I will probably switch it when I need to ,for instance whenever the other manager is working. Just not every day .

pixiestix11

bluestrattos wrote: »

Employment contracts don't have dozens of pages for no reason.

An employment contract starts with basic standard rules based in the legislation. Everything else is added due to lack of common sense.
Is like that stupid signs and labels, that reads "don't put toddlers in the washing machine"! The manufacturer thought that common sense would prevail, guess what, it didn't.
Same thing goes with your terms of employment, may not be there now, but soon enough it will be added and HR will notify everyone.

This company used to have a casual Friday policy. Guess what? One day someone went too casual. Outcome? Management and HR notification, another bullet point in the terms of employment about attire, and no more casual Fridays. Recently that changed, and the company decided to give it another ago.

Not saying you can't have a piercing but don't be surprised if you're moved to a different position, and everyone will have an updated terms of employment where the company will make recommendation regarding piercing or tattoos for that matter.

My contract was a single page , really small company and generally easy going too. Doubt im the first person to have a piercing there and I really doubt ill be the last.,the wrong person just happened to see it

somefeen

Don't take it out.

And if anyone has any problems tell them its the 21st century, people have nose studs.

Cannot stand the arrogance of employers thinking they can dictate what you do with your body for no good reason. You are employed to do a job. How you look shouldn't come into it.

davo10

somefeen wrote: »

Don't take it out.

And if anyone has any problems tell them its the 21st century, people have nose studs.

Cannot stand the arrogance of employers thinking they can dictate what you do with your body for no good reason. You are employed to do a job. How you look shouldn't come into it.

How you look shouldn't come into it?

You call it arrogance, others call it presenting a certain image for your business, and as long as the employer pays the wages and doesn't discriminate, then your choice is clear, conform to that image or look for a job which allows you to look whatever way you want.

Emmadilema123

I imagine the people here who encourage someone to take a stand and risk their job for something as trivial as a piercing aren't people who have families to support.

I wonder OP claim SW if job is lost. Will they tell SW the real reason why they have lost their job when asked?

I'm not 123 I must admit but I reckon it's a pretty juvenile thing to do to risk your job for piercing imo. It's not sending a great message to your boss either.

When somebody gives you a job, they are giving you an opportunity over others and it shouldn't be taken for granted.

And just FYI I am not anti piercing/body mod. I had holes punched all over myself as a teen.

somefeen

davo10 wrote: »

How you look shouldn't come into it?

You call it arrogance, others call it presenting a certain image for your business, and as long as the employer pays the wages and doesn't discriminate, then your choice is clear, conform to that image or look for a job which allows you to look whatever way you want.

So in other words. These people pay you money and you should bow down to petty demands?

I have no doubt the OP or anyone else if faced with the choice of the peircing or the job would chose the job. But the fact that it can even be an issue is disgusting to me. They know work is hard to come by so they can push people like this.

Presenting a certain image should involve no more than wearing the uniform and not stinking of BO.
If they don't want people with nose studs doing the job then how much further is this going behind closed doors? We dont want people with certain accents, we dont want people with disfigurerments. All to present the right image.
It really really pisses me off. Unless there is a genuine H&S reason for it then they should get a grip

uck51js9zml2yt

Piercing can be seen as a hygiene or snagging risk, as can long sleeves/ loose clothing and as a result banned.
I hope you don't need a reference from this manager.

Mrs OBumble

somefeen wrote: »

Cannot stand the arrogance of employers thinking they can dictate what you do with your body for no good reason. You are employed to do a job. How you look shouldn't come into it.

The OP is working in retail.

Unless it's some kind of specialist retail where a grunge look is an advantage, then anything out of the ordinary is not likely to be well received.

If you want a job where how you look doesn't matter, then choose one that's not in-person customer facing. Where you are face-to-face with customers, then how you look 100% does matter. And yes, that sometimes means having and maintaining a beautiful face, shapely figure etc.