RAWR. I am SO FED UP with the stupid conservative “oh my god that’s a piercing/tattoo” element of almost any place of employment. I’m not even very extreme in the body mods area, and it still pisses me off.
Just switched jobs and of course it’s the usual no tats showing only two earrings per ear…and this job considers itself to be fashion forward!! What, you’d rather have me walking around with holes in my earlobes??
I know this isn’t everybody’s bag. I’m just tired of having to rearrange my life and the way I like to be just because some out of touch corporate fucko thinks it’s too drastic to have more than two piercings in an ear at one time.
So how many tats/piercings do you have?
Are you serious about this? You understand the way capitalism works. Surely you didn’t think any serious business owner would risk alienating his customers so that you could express yourself. Surely, before you went and got tattooed you took a couple of seconds to consider your future employment prospects. I don’t completely mean to flame you, but I just don’t understand where you are coming from. I have tattoos and my tongue is pierced, but I would never show them on a job interview (I’m a Math teacher).
I have to second Doogie on this one. Look at it another way too. From an employer’s point of view, at equal qualification, the more ‘standard’ always wins. Are you sure you went to the right type of store (for your style)? If you can’t change the niche, go to another niche that’s more suitable. Shouldn’t be an issue if you find the one that fits with your attitude and look.
I would take one that fits my attitude…if it weren’t for paying the damn bills :/- god I hate being practical!!
Eight piercings- ears and navel, and one small tat on the back. Can’t get anything else at the moment.
I should also add that I’m not in the field I want to work in…
And that I did take the placement of my stuff into consideration. I can look perfectly businesslike when I need to. Not totally stupid 
just aggravated!!
Eight piercings? Whoah! Seems to me everybody has some ‘bodyfications’ nowadays. Having none, it almost makes me smile…if the trend goes on, I’ll be a living paradox…attracting attention while doing absolutely nothing special (bodification wise) to get it. LOL. Trends kills themselves so quickly nowadays. =0)
You need to be careful about any kind of body mod. Most of times, employers do not want to hire you. That’s just a fact of life, believe it or not.
I don’t do multiple piercings and tats for that reason. You probably noticed that my taste in clothes tend to be rather boring, too! 
solojobber
It’s sucky that you couldn’t find a babysitter! Hopefully you’ll get to participate next time. And how did you get $200 certificate for Sweetwater? I heard some good things about, and it sounds like Mike Mahler is going to be in the McLean, VA area, so perhaps it’ll be cool to meet and invite him.
Goldberg
2 Hours huh? How fast do you drive?
BTW – Why are you going for the ART treatment? Anything serious? If I remember correctly, you posted that cool picture of your girlfriend standing on your hand or something.
Your degrees sound so much more interesting than mine. My degrees sound boring. What school do you go to?
Dan C-
See, that’s my whole basis for aggravation. You should be able to do what you want! Not pierce, pierce, whatever. Nobody would dream of discriminating on the basis of sexual preference or gender these days (or at least not openly). I just get pissy about a culture that is supposedly so open minded and still so strait laced about things.
And yes, I’m young. But dammit, I graduated cum laude, I’ve never been rated less than excellent on reviews…
I don’t think I should be penalized for how I like to look.
Plus, I have several friends who are from different cultures which are much more comfortable with body piercings who work in very high up corporate positions in America. No problem there.
sigh
I hate humanity sometimes. It’s like with my last boyfriend, who wasn’t the same race. Found out just how many people I knew who technically said “race doesn’t matter” who suddenly got very antsy.
Stella - you got the right thread? haha
xracergs sent me that pic of the t-cell meeting - looks like you guys had fun. Next one I’d like to try and go too.
As for the body mods - if they are tastefully done and shown during your time, then by all means. Even better if you have a job that promotes that sort of thing. But in today’s corporate America, we’re just not ready for that yet.
-Hogan-
“I graduated cum laude…”
You know, that STILL sounds dirty to me.
Yes, Corporate life sucks but the bottom line is that when you are better than everyone else who does what you do, you become the standard…eventually.
Take it from a 225 pound, 6’2 Bald, Mean looking fucker with a Goatee who has bucked “The Man” right up to the top…now I AM “THE MAN” and all of those little, weak pukes that thought all that was holding them back was finding the right tie are gone…and forgotten.
To thine own self be true…
O.K all done sharing…
“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
~ Sir Winston Churchill
Elveneyes, not to start anything here, but you DO see the problem inherent in your argument, right? I mean, you CAN do what you want. No problem. But others can also do what THEY want, and that might include not hiring people with bodymods, or not shopping at a place that has bodymodded (?) people working as clerks, etc.
The fact is that your outward appearance is going to have an effect on the people around you. I own a language school in Japan. I employ westerners to teach English to Japanese people. These westerners basically have to be either black or white. They can’t be asian-American or anything like that. Why? Because the Japanese people won’t come to study with someone who looks Japanese. They simply don’t believe that a person like that speaks English as well as someone like me (your average white guy).
Fair? Nope. Real? Oh yeah. So what am I supposed to do? Lose business sticking to the idea that I should hire people based solely on their qualifications? I can’t see how that would help anything or anyone.
Whoever employs you, depending on the industry, may face precisely the same question. And if s/he does, you’re going to lose out. It’s just that simple. And I think it’s unfair of you, actually, to expect that someone should hire you - together with your personal choice of bodymods, etc. - in the face of potential loss of business.
Again, not trying to start an argument. Just giving you the corporate perspective.
hogan,
Don’t get me started. I’m pissed off cuz I had so many technical problems w/ the forum. Crap. That reply was to go to the DC T-cell thread, and I dunno how it ended up here.
Adn do join the next meeting
Elveneyes. The way I see it, bodyfications, contrarely to gender and background, is something that is chosen. If I was an employer, I know would have a negative bias, having unfortunately experienced a high correllation between bodifications and a ‘fuck you (too) attitude’, which I would perceive as a time-bomb for my clientele. Therefore, I would have trouble with the ‘insuring a house on fire’ equivalent, by granting a job. Like I said, all other things being equal, I’d take the more conservative candidate. But since everybody is different, that scenario will almost always never apply. At least I am conscious of it, ehehe. Of course your mileage may differ. Express yourself all you want. Just be aware that being a live ‘banner’ for your attitude has its price too. But you already know that. ;0)
It’s not just piercings. You have to look presentable for the jobs. For a lifeguard or someone selling beer at the stadium…anything goes
For most office positions, tattoos and strange piercings(eyebrows, nose,…) don’t cut it. Same with clothes…Yes wear a bra and don’t wear pants so low that your thong sticks out. These standards apply accross sex and race. You have to fit into the position you want or run your own business.
Char-dawg :>>Again, not trying to start an argument. Just giving you the corporate perspective.
Oh yeah. I do KNOW the corporate perspective. I’m just expressing my extreme annoyance with it hehe.
Times always change I guess…I remember my grandmother telling me that when she was a bank teller in the 40s that they would make the women kneel on the floor in the mornings and if their skirts didn’t touch the ground they had to change.