http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080605/national/bald_waitress_fired So this girl shaves her head for charity, goes to work and her boss tells her to go home for the summer after she refuses to wear a wig. I can almost understand this, as employers are allowed to set dress codes and things like that. What really gets me in this article, is that some customers have said that they would be "appalled" to be served by her. I have to ask, why? Are there really people out there who are so picky that they demand that the person who brings them food from a kitchen has a full head of hair? What if the server was overweight? Would that be appaling as well? I really dont think that what the person looks like matters when someone is serving me food, as long as they are pleasant while they are serving me, thats what I think matters. what do you think?
Management is entitled to do that kind of thing, and given their customers, it seems they're right to do so. The response of the customers is pretty pathetic though.
Do they not understand this whole.. Charity thing? Or are they that shut in? This is really, really, low. I mean really. Kudos to the girl for sticking to her guns.
She's lucky to still be on the payroll. I'd have just fired the girl on the spot. I'm amazed they went so far as to even request that she wear a wig - that's remarkably patient of them. You want a job, you fullfill the criteria that your employers want. Plenty of resteraunts and establishments have a high quality of clientele, and those clients want a smartly dressed and presentable waiter or waitress. If you work at a place like that and you shave your head, you should expect to not work there for much longer. Overweight, no. Obese? Definitely. Obviously if I'm in some £5 cafe I don't expect much. But if I'm in a suit, in a decent restaurant, and paying over £40 or £50 for my portion of the meal, I want service staff who are neat and presentable. That means no skinhead girls, that means no obese people, that means no horrificly ugly people. It means people with inoffensive accents and voices, it means people who are polite and understand how to provide good service. If I want to tattoo "**** YOU" on my forehead should I still be allowed to work in a primary school, just because I raised £50 for charity doing it? Obviously not. Charity doesn't require people to do stupid things like shaving their heads, and since there's no mention of the woman in question having learning disabilities one assumes she walked into this with her eyes wide open. She may expect the world to say "Oh, it's ok since you did it for charity" but that's simply not the way the world works, nor should it be. No doubt there will be 5 posts succeeding my own one saying how much of a jerk I am by people who aren't bright enough to understand that I'm not rallying against charity here.
i've managed to donate to charity before, and be sponsored for things without shaving various parts of my body, seems an absurb pre-requisite for people donating money, surely a charity run or cycle would have been less stupid. tho i have purple hair, what can i say lol
I'm inclined to agree with you, but I'm not sure that tattooing "**** YOU" on your forehead is really comparable to shaving your head, regardless of the charity aspect. The phrase "**** YOU" would appear to give offense to the reader (whether the reader takes offense is another matter). Shaving your head would appear to be a personal decision about your grooming habits. I do agree, however, that the restaurant's management has the right to set its own dress code, and that the dress code may or may not include appropriate hair length (for a given value of appropriate). -monkey
Thing is, its probably more hygenic to be served by her, since she's less likely to have her hair fall in your soup! What would happen if the situation was reversed and the restaurant required all waiting staff to shave their heads? Would that be acceptable? And what if she had alopecia (Is that even how you spell it? ) or had been in Chemotherapy? tbh though, I think Spec is pretty much on the money on this one. The jerk!
I have to agree with Specofdust here. In a society we have rules. If the rules aren't followed, for whatever reason, there will be consequences. It's really that simple. The employer have a set of rules that they employee have agreed to. She broke the rules, and got "punished" thereafter. If I rob a bank and give it to charity, doesn't make the crime less serious... You all may, or may not agree, but this is reality.
The chemotherapy point brings another tough question, but in that case she did not choose to lose her hair and violate her employers dress code, she had no other choice. I had to keep my hair short for one of my jobs, and if I had chose to grow it long, even with the intention of cutting it off later for charity, I would have been fired after it was at a certain length for too long, and it's the same thing as this, the employer sets a dress code, you follow it or you are fired, that's how it works.
If i didn't know and she had served me, i would feel bad because i would assume she has some sort of illness. Some people are truly snobbish... That's just the way things are these days though, looks over other things...
It doesn't really. In most countries you can't be fired for being ill. So the employer has a choice, they can use you while your hair is short, or they can hire a temp and give you paid leave untill you make yourself look acceptable. You think this is a new thing? Dear sir, you need to expose yourself to some history if you honestly believe that!
Agree with Spec of dust. She probably has a job description and it probably says to be presentable. It's part of her job to be nice, polite, punctual and presentable. She's not doing that. If the woman had any sense she'd have run it by management in the first place.
It's got nothing to do with that though, shaving your head is just "weird" if your a woman, she should of checked with her employer before she went ahead with the whole charity event. Having cancer and then having your hair shaved is a totally different situation, and I guess the person would be off on sick pay etc?
So you kick out a staff member because of a few snobbish customers? not very good managment strategy, what happens when the rest of ths staff revolt because their friend got fired and they all walk out on you? First of all they cant fire her, this is Canada, and we treat our employees with a bit more respect than that. if she had been fired she would not have to worry about working for a while, the lawsuit would cover her bills for quite some time. Second, Any person who considers themself to be "high quality clientele" and judges someone so harshley, is gravely mistaken about themselves. third, no ugly people? ok, its a given that a restaurant wont likely hire someone who is ugly from the start. but if something happens to someone and they become ugly, they cant be fired. again, this is canada. fourth, Offensive accent? again, canada, more tolerant than that. fifth, if someone tatoo's **** you to their forehead, that is directly offensive to anyone who looks at it. that is a reason to be arrested. and its different from shaving your head. sixth, it doesn't matter why she shaved her head, charity or not. she has a right to do it, she's an adult. it does not affect her job, she is no worse at her job because of it. In fact she is somewhat better becuase now she doesn't have any hair that can fall out. If they wanted to make her wear a certian style of clothing and she refused then yes they can send her home. but once she is hired, they can just fire her for something like this. +1 you just compared shaving your own head to robbing someone else's bank. He didn't say that he thought it was a new thing.
When I first saw this I thought "fired for shaving your head for charity? Bit harsh". Then I thought well actually it isn't, she will have broken the contract that I assume she signed, the best comparason would be her coming to work everyday for 3 months without wearing the proper uniform, eventually (not as long as "the summer" thats for sure) you would get fired. She is still on the payroll, and is basically being given the summer off. Lucky her. At the end of the day she broke her contract, but the management where clearly smart enough to realise it was for a good cause, so instead of firing her they gave her a nice summer holiday and a job when she gets back.
It's the customers that pay their salary, actually. If they are to stupid to understand this, they don't deserve to work (and make money). Nobody in a company is irreplaceable. Too many people do the mistake of believing that, though. It's an analogy... Point is, a rule is a rule. They are NOT made to be be broken. (Sorry to disappoint you there) You don't become a hero for shaving your head... Sorry.
No, your country treats your employers with disrespect. There's a difference. The great thing about being wealthy enough and upstanding enough to be referred to as "high quality" is that you don't need to pay attention to what people like you think That's not generally a problem, few people get horribly ugly over night. I know it's for the most part an uncultured expanse, but I'm sure you have one or two places in your bigger cities where people with annoying or offensive accents will not get hired - don't delude yourself otherwise . In degree only. When I'm eating at a nice restaurant I don't want anything to be in my field of vision which is displeasing. Hence you don't get people walking in in cheap jeans and trainers. Similarly, I don't generally want someone who looks like a tramp or a neo-nazi serving me. In this you are correct. Well done! She has a right to shave her head of course. She does not have a right to a job - or rather shouldn't, your stupid country of course gives her that right by taking away the employers rights. If she doesn't fullfill the role required of her (which isn't just to serve food, only a bloody pleb would think that, but to look nice and sound good while doing it) then her employer has the right to no longer hire her. If you choose not to do the job, you don't keep the job. Simple as that. I took it as implied, since he said "these days" and people generally say that to imply a degredation towards the current situation, or at least to imply that something was not always so. That does not apply in this case though. This has always been so.
