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London receptionist sent home without pay for refusing to wear heels

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Comments

  • #32
    HensVassal
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,569 ✭✭✭HensVassal


    In fairness a two inch heel isn't going to cripple her.
    Corporate receptionists are supposed to give off an air of power and flat shoes just don't convey that. I've worked in many companies with many women and I can tell you that a lot of them wore heels that were in no way "sexy" but they did give them an air of professionalism and authority. The girls who wore flat shoes looked dowdy and meek.


  • #33
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,030 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    She would have spent most of the 9 hours behind a desk, so that's a lie for a start. It seems like a very stupid thing to do, for the next 10 years a google search will show here setting up a widespread protest on her first day of a job.


  • #34
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    She was a temp who was supplied by an agency. Doesn't matter if she is right or wrong, you don't turn up on your first day and kick up a fuss. She (quite rightly), will probably be managed out of the place.

    Silly cow.


  • #35
    stoplooklisten
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,492 ✭✭✭stoplooklisten


    court shoes is what the dowdy nuns always told us was appropriate


  • #36
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,801 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    Yeah but a dame's gams and rump tend to look smokin in a pair of killer heels...am I right sweet cheeks?


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  • #37
    darkpagandeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,461 ✭✭✭✭darkpagandeath


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    Are ties painful to wear and do they have the potential to cause permanent damage?

    Yes if they get caught in machinery.


  • #38
    LizT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,089 ✭✭✭✭LizT


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    She was a temp who was supplied by an agency. Doesn't matter if she is right or wrong, you don't turn up on your first day and kick up a fuss. She (quite rightly), will probably be managed out of the place.

    Silly cow.

    They told her to go and buy some heels and return wearing them. I'd kick up a fuss about that too. As long as she was dressed appropriately and her shoes were professional looking, there should have been no issue.


  • #39
    qo2cj1dsne8y4k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭qo2cj1dsne8y4k


    Look if it's the dress code it's the dress code. If you're front of house/office you need to look presentable. And that means sucking it up and getting on with things


  • #40
    blue note
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,908 ✭✭✭blue note


    LizT wrote: »
    They told her to go and buy some heels and return wearing them. I'd kick up a fuss about that too. As long as she was dressed appropriately and her shoes were professional looking, there should have been no issue.

    Appropriately by whose standards? Yours? Or the company's?

    Personally I think it's a stupid rule. But I don't think it's sexist and I think a company should have the right to have a dress code.


  • #41
    alchemist33
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,969 ✭✭✭✭alchemist33


    LexieOnRale wrote: »
    Look if it's the dress code it's the dress code. If you're front of house/office you need to look presentable. And that means sucking it up and getting on with things

    And that's what makes it so silly. They've decided heels equals presentable and flat shoes are not presentable, which is just plain stupid.


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  • #42
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,129 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    Cuddlesworth wrote: »
    She would have spent most of the 9 hours behind a desk, so that's a lie for a start. It seems like a very stupid thing to do, for the next 10 years a google search will show here setting up a widespread protest on her first day of a job.

    She says she would be greeting visitors and escorting them to where they needed to be.
    HensVassal wrote: »
    In fairness a two inch heel isn't going to cripple her.
    Corporate receptionists are supposed to give off an air of power and flat shoes just don't convey that. I've worked in many companies with many women and I can tell you that a lot of them wore heels that were in no way "sexy" but they did give them an air of professionalism and authority. The girls who wore flat shoes looked dowdy and meek.

    It might. Some people can't wear heels of any height without experiencing pain. Why do heels convey a sense of power? Is it because of the extra height or something? I wasn't aware that receptionists are expected to be amazon like! Maybe short men need to wear them too at work in that case?


  • #43
    blue note
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,908 ✭✭✭blue note


    alchemist33 wrote: »
    And that's what makes it so silly. They've decided heels equals presentable and flat shoes are not presentable, which is just plain stupid.

    I think the Swiss Guards uniform is stupid. I'm not going to sign a petition supporting someone who arrived for work and refused to wear it or a petition asking them to change it.


  • #44
    silverharp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,853 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    I'd imagine she will miss out on a few second interviews in the future as she will be googleable going forward. if you are being paid to represent a company a particular way suck it up or put a suggestion in the suggestion box if you must but its highly unprofessional to turn something very minor into a cause.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • #45
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    LizT wrote: »
    They told her to go and buy some heels and return wearing them. I'd kick up a fuss about that too. As long as she was dressed appropriately and her shoes were professional looking, there should have been no issue.

    The fact is, an agency employee, on her first day, caused uproar as she did not want to go with the dress code of the employer she was seconded to. She played the womans rights card.

    She deserves to be ****ed out the door.


  • #46
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    Let her go for a job in BA or EI and refuse to wear the expected uniform. "Men don't have to wear skirts, or nylons" P45 would be given double quick and rightly so.


  • #47
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    Why do heels convey a sense of power? Is it because of the extra height or something? I wasn't aware that receptionists are expected to be amazon like! Maybe short men need to wear them too at work in that case?


    Funny you should say that. Have you ever seen the program Dog the Bounty Hunter? He is a short arse (like me), and wears built in platform heels to make him look amazon like!


  • #48
    stoplooklisten
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,492 ✭✭✭stoplooklisten


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    Funny you should say that. Have you ever seen the program Dog the Bounty Hunter? He is a short arse (like me), and wears built in platform heels to make him look amazon like!

    Tree-riffic?


  • #49
    qo2cj1dsne8y4k
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭qo2cj1dsne8y4k


    alchemist33 wrote: »
    And that's what makes it so silly. They've decided heels equals presentable and flat shoes are not presentable, which is just plain stupid.


    They don't look as presentable or as polished as a pair of heels. they're casual wear.


  • #50
    The Randy Riverbeast
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,770 ✭✭✭The Randy Riverbeast


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    Let her go for a job in BA or EI and refuse to wear the expected uniform. "Men don't have to wear skirts, or nylons" P45 would be given double quick and rightly so.

    I doubt engineers Ireland will be too fussy. Probably in shock from having a woman present.


  • #51
    c68zapdsm5i1ru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,709 ✭✭✭c68zapdsm5i1ru


    HensVassal wrote: »
    In fairness a two inch heel isn't going to cripple her.
    Corporate receptionists are supposed to give off an air of power and flat shoes just don't convey that. I've worked in many companies with many women and I can tell you that a lot of them wore heels that were in no way "sexy" but they did give them an air of professionalism and authority. The girls who wore flat shoes looked dowdy and meek.

    I don't agree with that. They're supposed to be polite, pleasant and helpful, not give off an air of power.

    I've no problem with uniforms and dress codes, but there are often good reasons why someone doesn't wear shoes with heels including back and knee problems. Specifying no trainers, flip flops etc would be fine. But insisting that female employees wear heels is unfair.


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  • #52
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    Tinley Drab Self-defense wrote: »
    I don't agree with that. They're supposed to be polite, pleasant and helpful, not give off an air of power.

    I've no problem with uniforms and dress codes, but there are often good reasons why someone doesn't wear shoes with heels including back and knee problems. Specifying no trainers, flip flops etc would be fine. But insisting that female employees wear heels is unfair.

    Is this lady claiming an inability to wear them? or is she just being thick and refusing?


  • #53
    PopePalpatine
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,222 ✭✭✭✭PopePalpatine


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    Is this lady claiming an inability to wear them? or is she just being thick and refusing?

    Wow, so edgy brah.


  • #54
    maudgonner
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    Is this lady claiming an inability to wear them? or is she just being thick and refusing?

    There' a quote in the OP:
    "I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just won't be able to do that in heels," she told the BBC.


  • #55
    The_Valeyard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,452 ✭✭✭✭The_Valeyard


    ceadaoin. wrote: »
    Are ties painful to wear and do they have the potential to cause permanent damage?

    Gremlins II


  • #56
    c68zapdsm5i1ru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,709 ✭✭✭c68zapdsm5i1ru


    ScouseMouse wrote: »
    Is this lady claiming an inability to wear them? or is she just being thick and refusing?

    People shouldn't have to claim an inability to wear them. It should be understood that many women don't wear them because they exacerbate various problems.
    High heels are not for everyone. My sister never wears them as she just find them really uncomfortable and can't balance properly in them


  • #57
    GLaDOS
    Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 23,257 Mod ✭✭✭✭GLaDOS


    Good for her I say, her job performance is in no way undermined by wearing flats.

    Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test



  • #58
    darkpagandeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,461 ✭✭✭✭darkpagandeath


    ScienceNerd wrote: »
    Good for her I say, her job performance is in no way undermined by wearing flats.

    Neither is it if she wore a tracksuit.


  • #59
    ScouseMouse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,070 ✭✭✭ScouseMouse


    ScienceNerd wrote: »
    Good for her I say, her job performance is in no way undermined by wearing flats.

    Agreed. But I dont remember seeing this was connected to her performance. I thought is was connected to dress code expectations.

    As a temporary, agency staff, she has probably destroyed her professional future. Is she trying to be a martyr for females or something?


  • #60
    beach_walker
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 976 ✭✭✭beach_walker


    darkpagandeath wrote: »
    Neither is it if she wore a tracksuit.

    Or her pjs.

    I knew that shopping in them would be the start, a decade or two down the line we'll all be wearing pjs all the time.


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  • #61
    Jawgap
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,296 ✭✭✭✭Jawgap


    Suggest changing the thread title to wannabe actor creates fuss to enhance profile ;)


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