Tattoos are becoming more and more common place these days. Once reserved for the rebellious and those wishing to make a statement, tats, as well as piercings and other body modifications are now becoming much more popular. But with so many more people starting to indulge in such things, should it have an impact on working life?
Time to put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Say you were having some work done at home, and you had to have a sales guy or gal round your house to give a bit of spiel and take some measurements. Now say that person came in with died hair, visible tattoos and maybe a tunnel in their ear. This is obviously not what you would expect a sales person to look like, but could you see past their appearance and listen properly to the information they are trying to give you?
I know I could. I have grown up with metal music so I am quite used to people not conforming to the norm. But I know that if I went to go sell windows and doors to a couple, say 60 years of age, with tats, tunnels and died hair, I am pretty sure that all they would notice is my appearance, judge me on it, and then not buy from me based on that judgement. Unfortunately, we still live in a world where appearance still makes up the mind of some people before they know anything about that person. It would be great if people could just take people at face value, rather than judge on personal motifs. However, this is not the case.
It’s different if you’re a fitter though. Fitters, being slotted into that rough and ready stereotype, can get away with piercings and tattoos, as most clients would expect it. Doesn’t necessarily make it right, but this is how it is. So I guess what I’m asking is if you were the customer, would you expect to be sold to someone clean cut? Could you look past the appearance of people, no matter what they look like, and listen and learn from them properly?
I was inspired to write this post because of how young I look. I am 24 (nearly 25) years of age, but look around 5-6 years younger than that. I often get funny looks at the door when I turn up on an appointment. I sometimes think to myself, if I’m getting funny looks just because of how young I look, how would someone with ear piercings or visible tattoos get on?
All comments welcome in the section below.
I used to be a punk and remember trying to get a job in a well known burger restaurant, not the one with the clown. I was very polite but the manager turned around and said to me. ”I would not have you in here as a customer, let alone work here!” funny now but I was pretty put out at the time. Still I went on to get a job as a hairdresser looking as I did. BUT and here is the point, I still judge people by appearance ‘first impressions’ even though I have been on the other… Read more »
You know this is something I feel very strongly about. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest if a person turned up at my door with dyed hair, tattoos and piercings; in fact it’s a talking point. It happens everywhere, not just in this industry. For example, there are constant debates about teachers having tattoos and piercings etc. However, several of my teachers have visible tattoos, but because they teach in a college it’s ok for some reason. If they went to teach in a primary, middle or secondary school it would be a problem. Why is there one rule… Read more »