i'm feeling like a rebel...

...and i really dislike my work dress code. i started work today cashiering at a grocery store, for which i'm required to wear black pants, a tucked-in white buttondown shirt with a collar, and a tie....and am not allowed to have my nose ring in. apparently i'm not entirely horrible looking in this outfit, but it's so not me that i'm thoroughly uncomfortable in it. i don't wear black ever (i really actually hate it- think it looks too formal/somber/etc)...and i'm not crazy about the whole being required to wear pants business either. guess i'm just frustrated about the whole deal, mostly because i looked in the mirror after work this evening and almost didn't recognize myself. it's just a job....why has this left me so frustrated and confused?

somehow i'm thinking this doesn't belong in fashion and crafts, but oh well...

 

because you are not able to be yourself for (probably) 5/7ths of the life you are living

i feel the same about my school uniform, but in the end its clothes, we arent meant to wear clothes anyway, so i feel now like it doesnt matter.

 

That's def. a sucky situation, i've had so many heinous uniforms in my life! It's always interesting to meet people you work with outside that environment though, b/c you get to see what they wear willingly after knowing them for months and seeing them in the same blase outfit. Sometimes it's suprising..
To counteract the unpleasantness of a uniform i generally try to add one signature or interesting peice, like a very stunning hair accessory or unique rings, something that makes me retain me. I also try to find very very sexy (but comfy) underwear to have underneath. That way when you get home, you can watch yourself peel off that horrible bland outfit and reveal the stunning womanhood underneath.

 

ah i can totally rlate. i stidy in a private girls college and we have a uniform. it totally SUCKS but that's the way it is. i hate the rules, but as i grew older, i guess i just had to deal with them (which blows bigtime). i just tried to jazz up my uniform by using funky accesories.

 

About that "not me feeling", I can somehoe relate to that. I don't have to wear a uniform, never had to, but I am a student teacher. In germany, they are pretty liberal, they don't have a dress code, but you are expected wear things, that you can be recognized as a "normal" person. I mean, I don't want to be "THE REBEL" so I kind of started my own style of neat, somewhat conservative in form, but hippie in color -style. Of course I kept my dreads and my nose ring, this has never been in question.

Right now, I have a sudden urge to -deconservatize my style, I want another piercing, want to dye my hair red or even orange, and since yesterday I wear a big ass nose stud, that has a bright blue stone. So, I have only about three weeks left, of this teaching session, so I won't be doing these tings "right now" cuz it would make me feel kinda unkomfy to Rebel so much.

I know that some students would love to see a teacher like that, but on the other hand, I am their teacher, not their friend. I consider them as partners in the "business of learning" but I am an authority I don't want to be part of their group. This is why I am waiting.

I am so glad I have another 4 years of uni left, so I can dress up the way I feel comphy without thinking of what others think....

 

Is this like a big coorperate type store like Kroger, or a local one? In my experiance, some employers really don't enforce the dress code. Last place I worked guys were only permitted 1 earring in one ear, supposed to wear jeans (for the kitchen), black shoes, baseball cap, always kept shaven and had hair combed. But several times I and/or other employees came in wearing earrings in both ears, wearing khakis or sweats or something else other than jeans, any color but black shoes, beanies or no hats at all (the hatless guy had his head shaved though...) but I wore my Phish beanie in a few times, and I never got a haircut the whole time I worked there. Another guy had long hair way past his shoulders when he got hired. And I often go several weeks without combing my hair. Also, without shaving for quie a while (looking all nice and scruffy before shaving again). We violated almost all the codes there, and the managers did too. In fact, they violated them all the time to. It was a more cooperate place.

That was a lot to type, and I didn't mean to ramble on that much, hahaha. But anyway, the whole point is to say, look at the other employees. It may not be enforced. Just because they went over it in Orientation doesn't mean it will be enforced. And if it is, I am sorry. Wearing uniforms if a big drag. I have experianced that, as well.

 

ohh they enforce it where i work. if your shirt even comes untucked in the back, one of the managers is out reprimanding you in record time.

at least they don't specify what color/type of shoes we have to wear....

 

mmm, that sounds like a drag. Oh well, it is only for a few hours a day though.

 

that's why i dont apply to places that require me to wear a uniform or dress "a certain way" When i do for any reason, have to be dressed a certain way, i be sure to wear all my jewlery just the same....at least that gives me some sort of comfort. It's just shitty because all these drunk pervy college guys hit on me all the time whereas they wouldn't have looked twice at me in my regular clothes.

 

yeah...i have tons of awesome dangly earrings and random necklaces..beads, hemp, pendants, etc that i can wear to work still. i actually did that my second day of work, and wore one of my pretty woven headwraps too. not sure how happy my manager was with that, but he couldn't say anything =)

 

really, they let you wear a head wrap??? That's lame; headwrap but no nose ring??? I always find out what kind of facial piercings i can have in the interview....i will never take out a piercing for a shitty part time company who's paying me a wage i can't even live off of. The one thing my work doesn't allow are bandanas, and probably head wraps (i wouldn't know, i can't sport a wrap and none of the squares i work with would ever consider it so it's never been brought up). This bothers me a bit as my hair is always falling in my face when im working, and bandanas work wonders at keeping most of it out of my face when i want it to.

 

that sucks.
do they say what KIND of black pants? maybe you could get some flowing palazzo pants (?), or something? i'm not a fashion person, but i can see them in my head....stretchty but not tight, fitted, but nice and loose around the legs? gauzy, maybe?? so it almost looks/feels like a skirt...

i wear the funniest uniform.
we have to wear DARK blue jeans, no fading or fraying. (do you know how hard they are to find?!?!)
then our shirts....i guess they're not THAT bad. they are solid button down short sleeve shirts. there are a dozen or so different colors, and we are allowed to wear any color. they want us to wear a few cheezy shiny buttons (like anniston's flare in "office space", but only like 4 pieces!)
when i started there, we had to wear a "bright, contrasting color tee shirt" under the colored shirt, and roll up the sleeves, like super 80's! it was terrible, luckily they did away with that!
we also have to wear white sneakers. can't be chucks or anything cool, cuz you'd kill yourself slipping around the kitchen.

they SAY no piercings--we had a manager for a bit that made me take out my tongue ring, but no probs in a bit. a friend of mine has a nose ring, eyebrow ring, and blue hair, but they don't really bother her much.

in my case i don't have a choice...this is the best job for me right now, financially anyway.....paying rent on Long island is out of control...
gotta do whatcha gotta do!
well, good luck and PEACE.
LP

 

yeah, and the best part....one of the sackers has got a mohawk, and they don't care....
so mohawk but no nose ring....

maybe i should go for dreads like i've been wanting to for some time now, just to see what they'd do

 

if you really want to keep this job, wait till it's secure, or ask around. don't do it just to 'piss them off' they wont hesitate to let you go on the grounds that you "just weren't needed"

 

ha ha...made me think of what i wore to work today - i'm a private school teacher - i wore my new sneakers that have wheels in the back (heeleys, they're called - they're for kids but i've got small feet). i took the wheels out soon after, but still...bright pink sneakers with my teacher outfit. it was funny, and totally against regulation, but i'm a good and funny teacher, and the school is too damn busy worrying about everything else to bother me, so...anyways, i got a kick outta it.

 

I had a job interview today and I wore pinstriped pants.
Man, I felt odd.
But I think I got the job, and theres no dress code, so I don't need to wear the pinstriped pants again.

 

talked to the dude with the mohawk this evening and found out how the management's ok with it. apparently he's worked there since before they changed the code, so they decided to let him "grandfather" in since the customers were a bit attached to his hair or at least used to it! just kinda cracked me up that he grandfathered in because he's maybe 25...

 

You know what you can do though...

Decide on the pointyness or roundess of your collar, how about a 70's fang collar? or a sweet blouse style collar, finished with a funky trim of sorts. And the sleeves, you can have cuffs or short sleeve or long sleeve, bell sleeve, 3/4 lenght shirt... Tight, loose. And how many buttons you want to do up.

You can also decide what sort of pants you wear, hipster, baggy, man-style, flared straight, belled etc.

You can put really funky buttons on your shirt to personalise it a bit.

And you can always wear cool socks, even if youre the only one who sees them, you'll be amazed at the difference they make to your mood

and the othetr thing you can mess with is hair, you can have a variety of clips and bands and ribbons and bows and all sorts. You just have to be a little bit creative.

I work as a service cashier in a supermarket too and our uniform is the same as yours, you just have to think outside the square

 

the sock thing is soooo true.

 

Wow, a tie at a grocery store? Like a tie tie or a bowtie? Sounds like a swank place!