Tattoos/Image in the workplace - your thoughts.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by 4orty9

I was just wondering why it seems that there are so many people who actively dislike people who are 'modified' I suppose.

I've always been extremely tolerant of people's natural differences, all the way to having friends who are transgendered or born with severe handicaps. It's just the way I was raised.

But when someone goes out of their way to deliberately do something unnatural to themselves, which permanently sets them apart from society as a whole, I think it's pretty normal and human to wonder what their problem is.

IOW, extreme tattoos and "in-yer-face" body mods are implicitly a rejection of the society around you, so why does it surprise you when people pick up on that rejection and reject you back?

I don't mean this in a hostile or obnoxious way, just trying to answer the question as honestly as I can about what I think the dynamics are. My generation separated ourselves from our parents' generation with long hair and beards and beads, etc., but those are all impermanent, mutable choices. Reversible choices. Face tattoos and aggressive body mods are in a whole different league.

[Aquitaine]

I treat others with respect regardless of their beliefs/looks/etc.

By your own admission you do not: you do not respect people who judge you because of your looks. Perhaps it's unfair of them to do so (and I happen to think that, in many cases, it is) but 'I don't like tattoos and I think less of people who have them' is no less a valid point of view than the reverse. This is not like 'All redheads are stupid' or anything having to do with innate qualities, which would set it apart from bigotry: it's a judgment on behavior, not on self. Perhaps for you it's an expression of self, but it's one you choose to undergo.

Just as some people will approve of your awesome art and think better of you because of your taste and artistic expression, some people will think the reverse. The world does not exist where this is not the case any more than, were you to go around saying 'I am a conservative Christian: do you share my beliefs?' would not engender exactly the same brand of polar reaction. Some high-fives, some frowns, and some total ambivalence.

The most you can ask for is open-mindedness, and that goes both ways. Like I said, for my line of work I'd hire you unless you were physically frightening in some way, which I doubt is the case. But if you were my child (and over 18) I'd respect your freedom to make your own choice but I wouldn't support it. That's just my taste, though. But thankfully you just asked about the workplace, so there, in my book, you're probably a lot more safe from having it influence people much than you would have been twenty years ago.

[Mojave82]

I work in a place with a dress code. You will never get past the initial interview with excessive tats.

[4orty9]

Aquitaine I appreciate your point of view. I agree, like I stated in my last post, I am intolerant of intolerant people, call me a hypocrite but I just don't understand why humans judge others so harshly. I don't even mind the judgement so much as it is merely the actions taken in stride of those beliefs that create an essence of animosity towards people that are 'unnatural' looking (in my experience) though this is not always the case (some people are generally accepting of altered appearances).

I understand the role appearance plays in society. I do not dye my hair or stretch my ears as cries of desperation. Earlobe stretching, tattooing, and other forms of body modification have been practiced in cultures around the world for years. I've had to delete so many sentences I've written because I could go off on tangents about this stuff all day! I digress, but again I just wanted to get some opinions on what people thought in regards to this topic. :]