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Body Modifications Still Hinder IT Professionals?

Posted by timothy on from the placeholders-are-an-option dept.

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?"

7 of 1,461 comments (clear)

  1. It's up to the clients, really by MrLogic17 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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

  2. Re:prudes by darkewolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  3. Re:No biggie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love these guys who think they're rebelling...

    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 /one/ piece).

    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.

  4. Re:No biggie by Raynach · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Although CBRs are hard as crap to remove. I took mine out once when we had a CS Undergraduate Student Board corporate panel, and managed to lose a ball getting them back in.

    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
  5. Re:No biggie by cbrocious · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here is some good info. This covers both tattoos and piercings.

    --
    Disconnect and self-destruct, one bullet at a time.
  6. Tats and piercings are for pussies and poseur. by multiplexo · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Go for extreme body modification. Have something amputated. For what it's worth the people at my company don't seem to have a problem with me wearing shorts, which show off the lovely piece of titanium and carbon fiber that replaced my left leg below the knee after a motorcycle accident two years ago. In fact many of them were surprised by it, which I chalk up to the good work of my physical therapists in teaching me how to walk again and my prosthetist in building really good legs.

    --
    cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
  7. Nipple rings on females can be a problem... by Archeopteryx · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.