I was told yesterday that I am not allowed to tell customers that I wear hosiery. I agreed to it, because I want to keep my job. I thought about it this morning, and became mad. Read the remainder of my post to see what I think.
It seems so unjustly discriminatory.
A customer complained to the department store that I was telling people that I wore hosiery. When my manager told me that, I was sad, sympathetic, and disappointed.
This morning, I began to play in my head how I would go about telling people about the different hosiery products. I think that the best way to create credibility is to say, I know somebody who wears.
, and then just go on talking. However, I do not think that will work well. I am humiliated when women think that I know less about hosiery than they do.
This made me mad. The department store took the side of the customer, and reinforced mainstream misconceptions. I feel like crying foul, and filing a complaint about discrimination.
Do any of you have any experience in filing complaints on discrimination?
Another thing that bothers me is the fact that women are still so stuck in the past. Women, of all people, should know what it means to fight hard for the freedom to wear certain types of clothing. To know that somebody would complain in a way that limits men's fashion freedom is really offensive to me.
My long time readers have known that I have fought long and hard to be gentle in my approach to bringing this trend into the mainstream world. I never intended to force myself on anybody, but because of that woman, I now feel aggressive. I just wanted people to be happy.
I think that the first step is protecting my job. I will show up for work without raising any issues, for the first several months.
The next step would be to look over the company's policies to see how they handle discrimination.
Comments? Questions? Input? Feedback? Help!
Why on earth that woman go and complain about that? I'd go mad myself. Unfortunately, the store will take the side of customers. By the way, does the store know about this blog? Did you tell them that you wear hosiery before they hired you? I thought that was what made you the best candidate for this job. Very sorry, Eugene, but no idea how to help. :(
ReplyDeleteThe woman complained, because she was too afraid of something non-existant. :^(
ReplyDeleteThe store should know about the blog. Perhaps they check it. I don't know. I tried to be careful with my words. The only part that is possibly threatening is the part about being in their face, but I was not planning to do anything like that at work.
I thought more about what you said. I ended up deleting anything that made me look like I would cause trouble. I think that the remaining text is relatively neutral, but I welcome feedback.
ReplyDeleteI think that I did tell them that I wore, when I applied. I bet that they assumed that I would keep it a secret under my pants.