Slashdot Mirror
Body Modifications Still Hinder IT Professionals?
thedeletekey writes "The Detroit News recently ran an article about body modifications in the workplace. This got me thinking; do body modifications such as tattoos and piercings still hinder IT professionals in the workplace? Or is this a thing of the past, as these types of personal changes have become more common in recent years. In my experience, I've found both stringent dress codes requiring business casual attire, and no visible body modifications, to no dress code at all. What has the rest of the IT world found to be common?"
Dress code at a company I worked at was "business casual", with no reference to ink at all.
Then one day one of our desk-side techs (who really was a nice guy, by the way), got a complaint reported by a user. It was a little old lady who litterally was scared of the tech because of the ink on his arms. (a guitar, if memory serves) Instantly a new dress code went into place stating no visible tatoos. He was banished to long sleeves for the rest of his time at the company.
The moral: In a consulting company it ain't the boss who sets dress code. The client does.
-MrLogic
I agree with you whole heartedly. Reading over the posts related to this story is a mixture of amusing and sad.
The amount of posters that are trying their hardest to insist (mostly anonymously) that if someone has a piercing or a tattoo they are a freak and a loser.
I have quite a few tattoos, all in heavy blacks. I have piercings (tongue, ear cartlidge, and had some chest ones) as well as scarification and some branding. Admittedly, assides from my ears and my tongue, all of it sits neatly under my shirt and suit at work. But, both my CEO and CTO have seen them and not been concerned one bit. Heck, I have had them for the last 4 jobs and none of my superiors have blinked an eyelid. Only time I was asked explicitly to cover them up was when I was doing some contracting work for a private Catholic funded hospital. And even then, due to doing a cable inspection for them, I had to crawl around under desks and in a data room, so ended up rolling my sleaves up. No one there minded.
Mind you, that said, my body art is for me. I don't do it to impress anyone (hence why 99% of sits under my clothes).
And frankly I think people need to chill and (especially the people on slashdot) realise that by demanding others are freaks for having body art they risk being the same as the people that call them freaks for using linux / bsd / beos etc.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie...."
Nimheil
I prefer to think of it as body modifications providing important hiring visual queues for IT managers.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I brought it up because "decent human being" is so imprecise. Were it "decent Western(tm) human being" I wouldn't have female-dogged.
I love these guys who think they're rebelling...
/one/ piece).
My kid went through this when she was about 13, I talked to her about it and she told me it was how she and her friends expressed their individuality.
I asked her if they were sitting around one day and someone said "Hey, let's all be different...together". She thought about that for about two weeks and figured out that she was better off deciding for herself how to be an individual.
BTW, before anyone decides they know who I am, I've got tattoos that were old enough to drink in the last century (and I prolly got 60 hrs in on
Ah, I miss the '70's. Harley's were cheap, weed was free and only dirtbags had tattoos...and you could trust them with your money or your guns or anything else, except your old lady.
I had to go to the piercer to get new balls and have her put them back in.
Although I agree. I have dreads and both ears pierced, and I got three jobs offered to me for this summer. So I don't think it's really much of an issue.
- A
Here is some good info. This covers both tattoos and piercings.
Disconnect and self-destruct, one bullet at a time.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
I worked at a startup company where we had a stunningly beautiful intern who wore tight knit tops, no bra and no need for one though she was quite well endowed, and had a variety of nipple piercing jewelry (changed daily.)
It really lowered the productivity of some of my coworkers and most of them could not look her in the eye when they talked to her.
It was no problem for me; I've been hanging around with pierced S&M folks since the early 80s! Been there. Done that.
Dog is my co-pilot.
I thought we'd be over it by now. I think diversity ought to be something to be encouraged rather than discouraged so I'm dismayed when a corperation talks diversity but means race.
Shaving your facial hair isn't a matter of maturity it's a matter of culture. Many cultures (Amish, Sikhs, and more) have rules dictating this. I fail to see how the body mod scene fails to qualify as a distinct culture, yet people enjoy discriminating against them and calling them names despite having met maybe 2 of said people and making a judgement call in the first 5 minutes of having met them. Personally, I have no tattoos or piercings but I don't have any disrespect for those who do.
Business is about making money, not wearing long pants and a tie.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
I have NO piercings and NO tats. But I'm a long haired white guy.
I've had job issues based on my hair alone. The most recent was when the little cocksucker (sorry, I don't have enough middle fingers for my former employer.) that became my boss who started calling me "Jesus" and having one of his lackeys follow suit. Yes, because I wasn't showing up to work with polo shirts & boat shoes, I became the one to poke fun at. (These people were all hired well after I was.)
So if you're worried about piercings causing you problems, the answer is "yes, they'll cause problems. So will the tattoos."
While I do not have a problem with most of your outlook...
... large tatoos of cartoon characters, like Daffy Duck or Tom & Jerry (also equally negative indicators when worn on ties IMO - with some exceptions).
Having the name of your wife/kids/football team (or something of similar significance) tattooed on your arm, I'd consider quite reasonable and not count that as a sign of poor judgement.
followed later by...
However, this would not be the case for anyone who I observed who had something overtly tasteless like
So, a sporting team is fine and a cartoon is not for what reason? Don't get me wrong, yeah, I agree that a football team could have a special significance if you're on the fucking team but don't be one of these dolts who hands me this shit that because they were born in Buttfuck Egypt they need to worship the Buttfuck Egypt football club and anyone else from Buttfuck Egypt who don't kiss the ass of someone on the Buttfuck Egypt team is nothing but a sack of shit.
Being the fan of a bunch of men running a leather ball over a pasture is no more advanced than watching cartoons with a similure fandom.
I'll never understand that about sports fans, they watch some jackasses on a field playing a game and think it's a fine persuit to remember stats and discuss gameplay like they're coaches but if someone goes out and does something like playing video games or treating fixing the lawn mower like an engineering project then suddenly you're a geek? WTF is wrong with people?
If it sounds like a heavy handed rant, I'm sorry. It just seems something is mighty wrong with this "logic" and surprising that it came up on someplace like slashdot. But than again, a lot of illogic goes on around here.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.