So I was hired in the past week as a customer service representative for the catering department of a specialty grocery store. It was actually exciting to be hired for this role because it was for a whole new department in an already existing chain of stores and there was a lot of potential for opportunities. I had a couple of phone and Zoom interviews that went well, and they went on to ask me to come in for a trial day to see if I like it, which is standard.
I go in today for my trial day, get brought up to HR, fill out all the onboarding paperwork. The HR woman gets on the phone and is letting the catering manager know I'm there. She holds the phone away from her face, turns to me and says, “do you have a nose piercing?” I say yes. She says ok you're going to have to take that out, I'm like ok… instantly my mind starts racing. I've had this nose piercing for 20 years, have held way higher level jobs, I'm 37 years old and not once have I ever been asked to take out my piercing. This particular piercing is tough to get in and out, and it's also pretty much part of my look. It's a tasteful diamond stud nose piercing.
So she tells me this, gets back on the phone and goes, “yeah I told her.” I instantly felt like I was in jail. I'm huge on fashion and personal style, and I don't even mind a uniform because I will make it look fabulous, but for me that was a deal breaker.
So I through the motions and had her bring me to the catering manager, while I thought about what I wanted to do with this situation. Should I take out my piercing? Should I walk out? What do I do?
I get to the catering manager and she introduces herself, I go to put my stuff down and take a seat. She says you need to take out your nose piercing, I say this isn't going to work out. She asks if it's because of the piercing, I say yes, I'm not even sure if I'm keeping this job, it's a trial day. I grab my stuff and walk out.
I should mention a few things about this:
I totally don't care if your business has this policy. It should be made known though if that's what is enforced.
I only had phone and Zoom interviews, if they are such sticklers on appearance, why didn't they meet me in person?
The uniform was mentioned but never no piercings. Seems pretty important to mention.
I ultimately feel like they wasted my time.
So yeah I walked out of a job because they wanted me to take out my nose piercing. What year is this? 1985? That was quite the curveball.