OT!Tattoos, My Job, & the Law..really-O.T!

OK, let me begin,

I have worked for Trader Joe's for 7+ years. It's a "unique grocery store" for those that don't know. I was hired with visible tattoos on my arms. No problem. Worked for a couple years. I wanted to get promoted to a manager, jumped through the hoops, and boom, the call comes 5 years ago.
The store manager says, " I don't know what your new manager's policies are, but you may have to wear long sleeves as a manager". OK, I want the money, so I bite.
I commute for two years wearing long sleeves. Long commute, with a 6 hr. turnaround. Get back to my hometown after 2 long and hot years. Doing good. Great raises and reviews. Go to a new store. Still wearing long sleeves to keep up the "management profile".
I now have sleeves.
A couple of months ago, I decided I didn't want to be a manager "shirt" (hawaiian) anymore. Want to go back to school and take some trade classes. Told my store manager, and all is cool. I make my availability, work with short sleeves (its 100f around here), and am still kicking ass.

The other day my "NEW" store manager says as I am leaving..."it would be great if you could wear long sleeves",...WTF? I am a regular Part-time person now.

There is nowhere in our "do's and don't's" manual about anything that has to do with tattoos. Many of my the other people have them at my store, and mine are called "excessive". So what? They aren't derogatory or objective of any way. They are done well.

Is there anything I can do?


Should I just keep quiet? Should I raise up a problem? Should I call Human Resources? Should I contact the state?

We are not Union, and I wish we were.

I am very sorry for this post to all that clicked on it expecting something else, and I also hope I didn't break any rules.

I am just looking for anyone who has either gone through this, or knows a way out.

Huge rant and I am sorry. I am a regular (everyday) guy around here, and am lookig for a little advice.

It is very much appreciated,
Erron

 

Tell him your getting a lawyer cause you feel 'discriminated' against because of your color!...lol...

I've been kind of in the same boat once before....Double check i guess to make sure its not in the 'employmee policy' then tell him or his supervisor that you feel you are being 'targeted' & 'harassed' by him...Where i work now....They would can his a@@ in a heartbeat....Its a tough situation to be in holmes....Good luck with it and i hope you are able to resolve the issue...

 

Just my .02 cents>>>> If co workers have visible tattoos showing and they are allowed to wear short sleeve shirts, then you should too. If this is the case, I would politely tell your manager that you will where long sleeves, when your co workers do. The amount of tattoos should have nothing to do with it.

I had a saftey man tell me (female) that I needed to put my hair in a pony tail. I told him, "No problem, as soon as all my co workers with long hair do (men)." Never heard another word about it.

Now in a reverse situation, I get pissed off everytime I go to Walmart and see some guy with electical tape on his ear covering up his earring. I asked him why and he said managment made him. I said "That's discrimination, the girls don't have theirs taped." What's up with that??

 

I think fair is fair and if the store policy does not forbid, none are in bad taste ect. then stand your ground. But just for arguements sake, did you not ever think having full sleeve tattos would close some doors? Or give people with preconcieved notions the wrong idea? You know 20 years or so ago only the roughest of characters (Mostly hardcore patch wearing bikers) had multiple arm tattoos. Much the same as only the white supremist Nazis had shaved heads or black inner city militants wore baggy pants. Styles always emanate from the rebellious of society, the most shocking, the criminal element profile or badass personna. No it isn't right that you not be judged by your character but in reality there are lots of people (cash bearing customers) with preconcieved notions/prejudices about the way people choose to adorn themselves. The bean counters have to live with this reality. Although not a totally fair comparison think of how much of a woman's chest she can expose. Some clevage? The J Lo all the way to the belly button look? Come to work with a Baywatch bikini top? No top at all? Management has to draw lines somewhere on appearances that shock or trouble old fogeys that spend their money.
I hope everything works out and you can pave some ground for other people with ink.

 

I think as long as your tattoos don't have anything offensive to anyone, they should shut the fuck up and admire the artwork. But then again, EVERYONE can find something to be offended by these days, atheists don't want to look at a cross or jesus, old women don't want to see naked ladies, christians don't want to see evil skulls or satanic shit, nobody wants to see the swastika (well, some idiots think it's cool)... you know what I mean? Just like TV, they somehow lose the ability to change the channel when they come across something they don't want to watch - they just complain about it.

I would check the employment manual very closely, talk to others with yuppie mickey mouse tats, see if they were approached... no reason to involve a lawyer unless you were actually dismissed for your tats. If he's the only drip who thinks he's wearing his "big boy pants" now and can order people around... tell him to shut the fuck up or you'll show him the ones on your knuckles.

 

I've always looked at it this way....

If I go to them looking for a job then I had better be willing to accept their rules, no matter how screwed-up they are.

On the other hand, if they come to me asking me to work for them, then they had better be ready to accept the whole package as it is.

 

You have to think of all the "straight" customers who are offended by everything.The store is in buisiness to sell stuff and unlike here they can go elsewhere.If you want the job,wear long sleaves,if you don't just move on.
I'm 52 and I've done everything from managing an upscale mens suit store
to sucking the shit out of portable toilets.Much more fun to move on and experience new things.It's the only way to find out what you like doing.

 

I hate to tell you this but there may already be a court decision against you. I'm a city employee and a few years ago someone in administration started making a stink about visible tattoos. They couldn't figure out where to draw the line so they wrote up a policy that any visible tattoo had to be covered up.

Our union tried to make a stink about it and sued the city. I just heard that the courts sided with the city.

I was a little pissed when the policy came out because like you, I had a substantial amont of tattoos when they hired me and it didn't bother them then. I finally realized that they are the ones paying me and if I continue to make a stink about it, I'll be down the road.

So fuck it . If they want me to wear a clown suit to work I really dont give a shit. They pay me well and I dont go to work to make a fashion statement anyways.

 

Im familiar with Trader Joes. Im vegan and shop there quite a bit along with Whole Foods. The problem with tattoos in the work place is that it usually isn't a policy in the books that you can see in black and white. People tend to add their morals or preferences into the mix. FUCK THAT!!! I work at a hospital in a department called central services, which consists of assembling surgeries for the following day along with a ton of other responsibilities that require me to run around the hospital during my shift. So, basically I'm seen by everyone. My whole left arm is sleeved and my right arm has a big piece with my mother's name on it running from my bicep down to my forearm. ( It was a mother's day gift two years ago. ) Oh and my ears are stretched. I have 1" tunnels in both ears. With my uhhhhh...exotic appearance, I haven't run into any problems at work what so ever. I'm lucky to have a pretty lax staff and supervision to work with, I guess. I never wear short sleeves or take my tunnels out. Shit, If I did, I'd have two quarter size holes in my ears and I don't think anyone wants to see that. Haha. My work ethic at work does all the talking for me and no one has any complaints or reasons to tell me to cover up. No one in the hospital complains either. If anything, a lot of the older women ask a ton of questions and always tell me they like how the tattos look etc... So all in all, If I were in your position, I'd have a talk with the person giving you grief about your ink. If you explain to them that opinions are like assholes, but in a nice way, they might get the picture. Goodluck with it.

 

well said!

 

Great subject.

heres my thoughts on the matter. I work for one of the largest oil corporations in the world. Im sleeved and most of my co-workers dont even know it unless they see me away from work. Whats the policy at my job? dont know...

Call me ignorant if you want but I dont plan on pushing the issue until I retire Then they will get to see them

 

My last job required me to cover up my tatoos and no matter how hard I looked in the employ manual I couldn't even find the word tatoo, but when I asked my supervisor why it was that I couldn't show tatoos he showed me where it says "employs must have a clean and profesional appearence". If you look though your manual you will most likely find something along those lines and that is their way of dealing with things like this. Your manager may beleive that one or two tatoos is ok, but full sleeves are unprofessional. I'm not siding with your asshole manager, just saying the way the real world works. Your options are wear long sleeves or find a new job that eccepts tatoos, like I did.

 

Some hidden truth here. If you are doing a great job, have a posative attitude and are easy for your coworkers to get along with, yadda, yadda, then they will look the other way on lots of stuff. If you are a lazy argumentative asshole that is just going to do the minimum to get by (not saying you are) they the are not going to let you slide and will in facr make up new rules or reinterpret the old ones. Remember how Bill France had to come up with that "spirit of the rules" crap so he could bust Smokey's chops more easily on infractions that weren't actually documented? same thing.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I am going to just call my Human Resources Department (which has been really cool in the past), and ask their advice. They are the ones that know the rules, usually better than the managers and regionals.

Thanks again,
Erron

 

Let us know how it turns out...I'd like to know. and GOOD LUCK!!!

John

 

It is funny how we pre judge people. My son is in college, his first semester he introduces us to a friend he met there. Tattos, piercing, dyed hair etc. My wife makes this big fuss turns out, naturally, he doesn't drink, do drugs, gets straight A's, works hard. They have a house together now and she has "accepted" him. I really dont get it, people are who they are whether they have tatoos, earrings or whatever.

A customer probably said something and the manager felt he needed to say something. Remember the customer is always right. Retail sucks sometimes.

 

i shop at whole foods in Pasadena. most of the employees there have tats and some look like there from the hood. i don't care of they have tats. it never bothered me as customer.

i worked with a guy for about 2 yrs. at a high end body shop. he always wore long sleeve button up shirts. he had to deal with the public a lot. the day that he quit he came in on his Harley, Mongoles club jacket and both arms sleeved. i was like WTF. he said he had been in the Mongoles for yrs and always had tats. i never knew it and he wouldn't tell anyone.

whenever i went out job hunting. i always wore long sleeve button up shirts. once the probation period was over. i would stop wearing the long sleeve.

i would make a stink about it, if i was you. especially if you have 7+ yrs with them.

 

My fear is I would win that battle but eventally they would get me for something else....

Just cover them up and show them when your off the clock...

 

If you were hired with tattoos and they were visible. It is discrimination if they come back later and have a problem with it. When I was hired at my job when I moved to Seattle two years ago. The first thing I asked was "Do you have any objections to tattoos or piercings?" They said they had no problem at all. Since working there I have added a really large naked Bride of Frankenstein to my sleeve. And a huge neck piece that goes from my collar up behind my ear. I love to push the limits with employers when it comes to things like this. Not much they can do when they hired me on and verbally said they have no problem with it.

 

Man... our male Walmart employees out here in California have multiple peircings... I wonder why it is different there in TX.

Speaking of piercings... I teach at a middle school here in CA... and my principal has a new eye brow piercing... I like it, it tells me we're getting even more liberal out here.

Sam.

 

Yeah, thats just what we need.

 

would i be in trouble?, heck i can wear a sweatband over my forehead
and a poloshirt,

 

My right arm, and right leg are full sleeves, my left arm is on its way to a full sleeve. I wear pants and a long sleeve shirt to work ever single day I have any contact with my customers on the sales floor. I have a few guys that work for me that have tattoos, and they are all covered by clothing when they are on the sales floor. I own 2 retail furniture stores, and have found that clean, and neat makes it easier to sale furniture. I go to work each day to make money, and I try very hard to not do things that make it harder to do that. I choose to cover up my tattoos, and my name is on the building.

I cannot fathom talking to someone in HR about it, but I guess I am getting old, and when I worked for someone else, I did what THEY wanted me to do. I saved all of my desires to do what I wanted until I was THE BOSS.

 

Wrok at Whole Foods. All the guys working at my Whole Foods are covered in Tats and have those big ear rings that streatch their ears out so that they will never be the same again. Gonna scare the hell out of the grand kids some day...

Seriously, some places are cool and some places suck.

 

In our employees' handbook,we specify the dress and exhibition codes we want our staff to follow. Some of it is for personal safety-a cat hanging from an eyebrow ring(happened) is NOT cool and you can be damn sure I don't want your Workman's Comp claim for that. Some is for the clientele-a lot of our clients are older women and they just don't see body piercings and tattoos as "professional".

I'm not into tattoos,but not against them, either. Several of my family,and my employees have some interesting art. However, I run a business and I am not about to do anything that diminishes our reputation. What really interests me in this posting is the amount of "US versus THEM" mentality- let's hide stuff from the people we work for and then screw what they think after the probation period is over. We work very hard at being a team with our employees-as I imagine many the managements some of you work for do as well. Being sneaky,underhanded or coming along with a screw you attidtude means, one way or another, y'all won't be working for me very long. Just my opinion.

 

Discrimination is one thing i am afraid of. I am going back to school at age 30 to get me teaching degree, my right arm is on its way to being sleeved and so is my right leg. someday both arms will be done. My main fear is that this may affect my getting a job, especially here in the bible belt. i am willing to wear long sleeves so the kids dont see them but cant really hide them forever. None are or will be offensive but people are ingnorant and i dont want some stupid parent making a fuss. i guess i will just accept that long sleeves are in my future and try to be the best teacher i can be.

 

If you would just wash your arm and leg with warm soapy water the temporary tats will come off J.

Whats up J still on in Oct,

My take on it is I have a job where I deal with the public everyday so I keep my Tats above my short sleeves and you can see them when i want them seen.Its like when I am on my bike and I pull up to a old lady in a car next to me she rolls the windows up and locks her doors.It's all a preception and sometimes its not a good one.Do you love the job enough to sacrifice something for it if not I have always said you chose your own destiny i would find me a job with like minded people and interests then there is no conflict..


good luck and I hope it works out for ya.


Shoe

 

Unfortunately, there is no discrimination law dealing strictly with tattoos...federal and state laws only protect against discrimination when dealing with protected classes (gender, race, etc.) However, you do have possible legal ground if others have been showing tattoos or because you used to show them (precedence). Further, if you can prove that TJ's is discriminating against you, you are protected under the Civil Rights Act from any retaliation from TJ's if you do decide to raise some hell about it.

Good luck!