Hair

[Will-Mun]

Okay, so if you have been keeping up with me, I am trying to get a job at the local Hess Station (gas station)... I have met with some success, this guy wants to hire me. BUT, he says that I will need to cut my hair according to the dress code.

I have not had a haircut in over five years, my hair is very long... I really don't want to cut my hair, because I hate hair cuts. But this is the only place I've found that may hire me...


I am just so aggervated at this, that companies and coperations want employees to look and dress a certain way, a man's hair cannot be passed his shoulders, must be clean shaven, blah blah blah.

It just seems so insulting, employers don't want human employees, they want clean cut and battery powered drones...

This sucks...

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, my husband got to a point where he refused to work for anyone who was hung up on hair length.

It's not that he was in love with his hair (he wasn't...in fact, he considered getting it cut because he wanted to several times, and eventually did. ). It was that he didn't want to work with someone hung up on something that insignificant. He figured if someone wasnt' smart enough to hire him based on merit and work ethic and history, then they weren't good enough to work for.

See, it works both ways.

This philosophy has served him very well. I guess you kind of have to weigh in your own situation, of course. But it's something to think about.

[draftermatt]

I agree with RK. (if she doesn't mind me calling her that).

Dress codes I don't mind, general appearnce things I don't mind, but other than that is none of their business. If I grow out my goat tee in winter I don't want to hear the complaints. Now I personally won't get a tatoo on my forearms because I don't think it would bode well for me in business meetings, I have no problem with people who have them.

[Will-Mun]

I agree with both of you. The length of my hair has nothing to do with my ability to sling Cigarettes, Coffee, and Lotto tickets... But the people at Hess seem to disagree.

It's not even that I'm attached to my hair, I just... don't cut it out of sheer lazyness, and happen to look better with long hair as oppose to short. It's the concept of altering my appearence for a job.

I could completely understand if this was a bit more of a... classy... establishment. Like a bank or something. But come on, this is a GAS station, they're lucky I shower daily...

But unfortunatly I really don't have a choice. This place wants to hire me... And I need a job, I'm at the end of my... No, I've RUN OUT of Rope. I am flat broke, and my bill collectors are staring at my thumbs with evil intents.

I probably will get it cut. I just don't like the idea of being shoved into a proper 'Male Employee' mold. Little too 1984 for my taste.

-Signs up for his Skull Barcode.-

[marlovino]

sooooo.......

is it cousin it hair or magic microphone style hair.






Seriously, if its like the latter wear one of the 'dew rags' (a tasteful color of course) under a baseball cap(w/ the company logo on it). If its the former, tie it in a tight pony tail and 'tuck' it in your shirt and wear a baseball cap.



The only reason very long hair should be an issue is either there is machinery that it could get caught in or they have very low ceiling fans.

[Will-Mun]

I have no idea what 'Magic Microphone' hair is...

But really, I tie it back in a ponytail at all times. It's not in my face. But thats not the issue. This is CORPERATE Policy.

"No employee's (male) hair should pass beyond the collar"

So essetially men can not have hair longer than shoulder length. The manager doesn't seem to have a problem, he just doesn't want to hire me, only to have to fire me if someone from corperate walks in and sees me...

[marlovino]

I have no idea what 'Magic Microphone' hair is...

Its something like this.

[marlovino]

forgot to ask, if they have no policy on women having long hair couldn't they get sued for discrimination?

[Rapscallion]

It would make an interesting case for sexual discrimination. However, that needs funds to pursue.

Rapscallion

[MadMike]

I agree: If it has no bearing on how you do your job, it should be none of their damn business. Would they rather have a long-haired guy who is a hard worker, honest, and friendly to the customers; or would they rather have a short-haired guy who calls off every other day, steals cash, and is rude to the customers? Some of these companies seriously have their priorities out of whack. I guess you can have either long hair or a dick, but not both. Guess you have to cut one of them off...

This is kind of a sore point for me, because I have long hair myself, which wasn't a problem at my job until we got a new manager who was a dick about that kind of thing. Before he started, even some of the guys in management positions had long hair. Most of them cut their hair as soon as they found out he had a problem with it, but I refused to. For some reason, he'd never say anything to me, at least not to my face. My nice supervisor would tell me the things he said, but I'm too stubborn to budge.

His excuse was that long hair on males was "unprofessional." Well, if his idea of "Professional" is screaming at the employees and threatening their jobs over things that are not their fault and beyond their control, like network or power outages, is professional, then I am proud to be unprofessional.

Eventually, after pissing off people left and right for about five years, he managed to piss off someone higher up in the company himself, and was moved into some shit job in another department where he could do no harm, and then eventually quit. According to the rumor mill, he was given an ultimatum of "Either quit or be fired."

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I had a music manager/keyholder back when I first started at BN who had really long, thick, curly hair, halfway down his back. Most girls would kill for this guy's hair. It would be an absolute crime to make him cut his hair. (Luckily BN doesn't seem to care about such things.)

I hate that companies can dictate the style of your hair. As long as you keep it neat and clean, and pull it back if necessary, they shouldn't be able to say anything about it.

Never heard of a gas station having such a strict dress code, but then there's only one Hess that I know of in my immediate vicinity and I never go there.

[ArenaBoy]

I've had long hair every now and then but if there is one thing I will never do with it is listen to some idiot tell me to cut it because they don't like it. I've been in trouble at work for it because it's unprofessional. To me it reeks of a narrow mind and a person who has some problems. This subject usually gets me in a steam and drives me insane.

[Rapscallion]

I've just had my yearly shear, and it's been the talk of the town.

"Oooh! You've had a hair cut!"

"Yes, both of them, in fact..."

Rapscallion

[Gurndigarn]

Council for the defense steps forward...


I'm probably going to side with your prospective company on this one. In most parts of the english-speaking world, long hair is one of the ways many males express rebellion; that they have a 'tude and they want everyone to know it; and other non-conformist viewpoints. I'm not saying that every male with long hair has that attitude (from personal experience), nor am I judging you or anyone else with long hair-- but one of the facts of life is that people who think they're rebels and non-conformists tend to dress like other people who think they're rebels and non-conformists.

Just one of life's ironies.

So, assuming that you don't live in an area where long hair has become the social standard, I'm going to back the company.

Part of a retail job is projecting an image: not just for the little old ladies who grew up before the 60s, but also for the 18-year-old skanks trying to buy booze before they're legally eligible. It's easier to project the serious "I will not give in" image that makes it easier to deal with the various Young Idiots With Attitudes if you don't look like someone who's willing to bend the rules yourself.

I've seen this working at arcades. The ones that projected a more clean-cut, "we're serious about this" image tended to have the better clientelle (and as a result, fewer issues with vandalism, theft, and other problems) than those who had a more casual approach.

[Knightmare]

Will, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. You have no more rope. This company wants to hire you. The answer is easy.

Get your hair cut.

I was in the same boat as you a year ago. No job, no income.. but then I got a job interview at a major grocery chain. Not my top pick for employment, but they wanted me. The only condition was I had to shave the chin fuzz. I've had a goatee for about 12 years now (still do!) and was willing to do almost anything to get a job.
Luckily for me (Ha! I can't believe I'm saying that now), the company I work for now called me, interviewed and hired me the day after my interview with the grocery chain.
So I didn't have to shave the goat after all.

But I would have.

It's hair. It grows back.

Most of the time.