Earstretching.net

There have been a lot of conversations on this forum that have gone the path of "well if you want to eventually get a real job..." or "certain careers won't allow..." and "why are we so prejudiced against?" So I thought it would be nice to start a good thread dedicated to this discussion.

READ: I make some generalizations here and keep in mind that they are meant to be funny and hold your interest, NOT to offend or make you feel generalized

A lot of people find it convenient to blame their modifications as a reason for not getting a job. Let's think about this logically. If you were an employer, and someone came in for an interview, with 1" lobes with SS eyelets AND anyone ONE of the following: shirt untucked, old looking shoes, unkempt hair, clothes not quite fitting, no clean shave, no or poorly written resume, fruit loop eyes from one thing or another, bad breath, etc...would you hire them? Absolutely not. Because as an employer, you shouldn't hire someone with "regular ears" and any ONE of those things out of place. The one day of your life that you need to look fuckin' amazing is the day of a job interview. If you can't look presentable for ONE DAY, how are you supposed to look PASSABLE every day at work?

Keep in mind that when you walk into an interview with modifications, yes, you have a strike against you which means you have to make it up, not use it as a crutch and say that you can't get a job because of it.

I know for a fact that employers will sometimes SAY that it is because of your modifications because it's way easier to say "we have a no tattoo policy" than it is to say "you smell bad," "learn to comb your hair," or "you strike me as a complete idiot." It's happened to friends of mine dozens of times and I had to be the good friend and say things like "you were wearing THOSE pants? and THAT shirt? I wouldn't have hired you either."

The fact is that you can have stretched ears and still look presentable. The majority of expensive body jewelry is expensive for a reason. It looks nice. The $6 economy SS tunnels you bought online LOOK CHEAP. The same way that those SS "normal" posts with cubic zirconia that you got at the mall when you were 13 LOOK CHEAP. Every time I've ever gone out job hunting, the first thing I've done is bought new clothes. Even if you just grab a cheap pair of pants and a shirt from JC Penny or Macy's, it looks NEW in the interview and that's all that matters. Same thing with jewelry. Wear NICE jewelry. If you're going to wear ratty looking $2 plugs to an interview, you might as well match them with your "I just don't care today" sneakers (you know which ones I mean - the ones that you leave by the door to get the paper or walk the dog).

There's a subtle art to job interviews. You have to look like you're there for an interview, while simultaneously looking like you're comfortable and you just dress like that every day. Your jewelry is just another thing that you have to keep up with.

Remember that looking different and standing out is a GOOD THING. But, a nice pair of wood plugs say "I was at my uncle's vineyard over the weekend, sampling the merlot" while economy grade steel tunnels say "I was out with my boys last night, chugging PBR's behind the bowling alley." Similarly, the handsome gold watch your grandfather left you says "it's important to me that I'm on time for my appointments" while your Velcro-strapped Timex says "sometimes I like to pretend that I'm a secret agent."

People. Notice. Details.

I hope this was at least entertaining.

great read man, and well, sometimes you just look for work in a sector where they just don't pick it if you have any mods, like mines (jewelcrafting) but well you're right about everything you wrote here, so its a great read and good information, nice job!

I agree that stretched lobes can look very presentable, and if you're female it's very easy to get away with at least small stretches because most people don't know they're not "normal" earrings at a glance. However, some places have a no jewelry whatsoever policy, mostly for safety reasons. A lot of restaurants require rings, bracelets, earrings, etc. to be removed while on the job. Also, where I work, the rules are no piercings besides ears for women, no piercings for men, and no tattoos on anyone. I do wear visible jewelry in one nostril and no one sees my ears, but if I bent the rules much more than that they'd tell me to take something out.

Maybe at higher-paying, more sophisticated jobs managers will work with you about your body mods, and maybe some lucky people can find jobs that don't care while they're young. But the truth is, most places like restaurants, grocery stores, etc. either don't want jewelry falling out in the food (not that it's very likely) or they don't want someone with huge stretches scaring away old ladies. I've heard of customers calling stores and complaining about the appearance of employees. It's something people are gonna have to get over, but in our generation while most bosses are still middle-aged it's not going to be easy to change.

Thanks, Empathy! Appreciate the kind words.

Cora-
Earrings only on women? That's silly. Also, I'm a guy and I wear my hair down to around the middle of my back. It'll hide my plugs but the long hair isn't much better.

While I find the fear of jewelry falling into food irrational (so can hair, bodily fluids and general grime) I can at least sympathize with that...to some extent.

I think this generation is going to make a lot of changes, though. I can think of maybe one person in my life that has no piercings or tattoos at all. Then again, I'm an artist and musician so I basically only hang out with artists and musicians making me pretty biased in that regard.

Also, any boss that is going to sell you out because a customer called in and complained about your appearance isn't someone you want to work for anyway. At a recent job I was hosting kids' birthday parties (had to wear my hair back, piercings in full view) parents called in and complained all the time about my piercings as well as...THE ENTIRE REST OF THE STAFF (one of our co-workers was a piercer. Guess what we did when we got bored). Our management's view was "if you don't want your kids around people with piercings, then maybe you shouldn't live in New York."

Besides, I don't call in and complain that the person serving me doesn't have ENOUGH piercings

I find a lot of people do blame not getting a job on their jewelry. The same thing with dreads. An acquaintance (I wouldn't call him a friend) has long, unruly dreads down past his shoulders. He recently applied for an internship, and I saw him later in the day after his interview and he looked NICE. Blue collared shirt, nice slacks, and his hair was pulled up nice and neat into a bun sort of thing. He got the internship. I couldn't imagine anyone hiring him if he had showed up for an interview in his 'normal' attire.

Where i live i dont see alot of modified people, so when i was looking for work it was really really hard for me to get a job. People where i live don't quite understand it.

shellbournian wrote:Earrings only on women? That's silly. Also, I'm a guy and I wear my hair down to around the middle of my back. It'll hide my plugs but the long hair isn't much better.

I agree, it's very silly. But not everyone sees it that way.

I think this generation is going to make a lot of changes, though. I can think of maybe one person in my life that has no piercings or tattoos at all. Then again, I'm an artist and musician so I basically only hang out with artists and musicians making me pretty biased in that regard.

This generation may make changes when we become bosses and managers, but at this point in time older people are still our bosses and managers. As much as it sucks, we have to obey their rules or be broke. Not everyone hangs out with artists and musicians and not everyone's from an area where body mods are common; in my hometown the craziest things people really had were nose piercings and small tattoos. If you're a store manager and most of your customers are old people, you're going to be less likely to hire someone if they might look scary to old people. It's just how business works, even though it's unfair.

Also, any boss that is going to sell you out because a customer called in and complained about your appearance isn't someone you want to work for anyway.

Well, if you live in an area where you have a wide variety of places to work and can be selective about what kind of boss you want to work for, you're VERY lucky. Where I live, and in most other places, jobs are very hard to come by. Seeing a "now hiring" sign is rare, and seeing one in a place that'll allow tattoos and piercings is even rarer. I'm lucky because I've worked for the same company for about four years, but a lot of people have trouble finding and keeping work. And even if you are settled in at a job, there's the possibility of getting laid off and having to start from scratch/take the first job you can get your hands on.


I agree with you 100% that people need to be more accepting of body mods, and maybe that day will come. But for now all the baby-boomers of the '50s and '60s are still running the show in most companies and they just weren't raised around modified people. There's definitely hope, though; we're the first generation that piercings and tattoos have really been popular with so once all of us start graduating from college things might start to change.