Expressing yourself is not part of your job

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Tuesday, March 15, 2005 | Mike Seate

[Willie Green]

The kid at the checkout counter obviously had other career plans.

His arms were covered with thick, black Celtic tattoos, designed like the crosses you might see atop ancient gravestones in the British isles. On his index finger, he wore a long, chrome implement of some sort, an articulated armored glove that looked like either a prop from an all-night Dungeons and Dragons tournament or a leftover from Stevie Nicks' fall collection.

As he began pulling items on the electronic conveyor belt toward the scanner at his cash register, he absent-mindedly poked me in the wrist with his miniature lance, looking up at me sheepishly as he half-mumbled an apology.

"Yo, junior," I addressed him. "Could you maybe save your amateur proctology school training and all its fabulous tools until maybe after you've finished checking out our groceries?"

[Bluegrass Conservative]

But an employer has an interest in expecting his/her employees to dress a certain way and present themselves in a professional way. Many employers have dress codes and rules about jewelry and hair for employees who will be interacting with customers and representing the business. You may not care about how someone looks, but if the employer does, he/she can make those rules.

I can fully understand the point about an employer making his/her employees live up to a certain dress code standard. That wasn't my point at all. I'm saying that this guy, as a consumer, shouldn't really care if his checkout clerk is decked out in goth gear, just as long as the guy did his job well.

[Armedanddangerous]

"That's funny, I don't care who you are.."


Git er Done bump......

[trisham]

[RushCrush]

Flair- ROTFLMAO!!!

(did you get the memo regarding the tps reports?)

[Frapster]

If that is his picture with the article, I do.

lol - I thought the same thing.

[Gabz]

The owner of one of the local places I frequent recently got a tatoo of a tiger..............on her back. the artwork is absolutly magnificent, but I just don't see the purpose..........nobody can see it, so why bother with all the pain and discomfort.

I've never understood the lure of tatoos - especially on women.

[DaoPian]

I think part of doing certain public customer service jobs well includes being somewhat withing the middle of the Bell Curve.

[Gingersnap]

I have recently begun seeing 30ish types with I thought was a horrific enlarged pore condition. Turns out, those are just the holes where the piercings were. You can take the jewelry out but the holes stay forever!

I am even now dreading summer as hordes of beefy 30-somethings unveil their distorted and now fading tats for everyone to enjoy.

[4everontheRight]

You need to give me back my stapler

[Paradox]

I've never understood the lure of tatoos - especially on women.

This is simple, they think it makes them sexy. Women want to be sexy. Ergo, the tatoos.

The older I get, the simpler human behaviour becomes. Men want sex, women want men to want them for sex. Tada, human behaviour in a nutshell. All else can be derived from that nugget.

[4everontheRight]

"did you get the memo regarding the tps reports?"


I'm cleaning fish on top of them right now! Ha!

[anonymous_user]

Day-aamm!! I was picturing some "tough behind the keyboard" pressroom weenie.

Still, that's a pretty snappy comeback that most people would think of about 3-days later. Kudos to him if he can dish it out in real time. The world needs more folks like him.

[VRWCisme]

While you're down here, if you could just take care of the roach problem, that would be greeeeat.

[Miss Marple]

One of the many reasons I quit patronizing local bookstores and went to Amazon is that I was constantly confronted with clerks who had pierced eyebrows, tongues, noses, etc.

I have an aversion to that stuff...it makes me queasy to see it. When my daughter got her ears pierced, I couldn't even help her insert the earrings.

I did a lot of business locally, but they have lost me as a customer until non-pierced people start manning the stores.

And I won't even talk about tattoos, insulting political buttons, bizarre hair, bad attitudes, etc. etc.

[TigerTale]

Unless he's thinking of LARPers holding a literal tournament, which isn't very likely because most people can't afford a horse.

LOL

[DustyMoment]

The guys had to wear long sleeves and the girls with the ankle tats had to wear dark stockings to cover them.

Isn't it interesting how quickly those little indiscretions become a liability?

[trisham]

Mine.

[VRWCisme]

"women want men to want them for sex. Tada, human behaviour in a nutshell. All else can be derived from that nugget."

Women also want chocolate. A lot of female behavior flows from that motivation (which releases, as does sex, so they are similar motivations in a way.)

[international american]

Tatoos on women are the #1 turn off for me.

[Jackson57]

Uh, you seem to be missing the point that the guy, as the consumer, felt that the cashier WASN'T doing his job well.