Grooming Policies selectively enforced...

Hello there everyone, I work in the for a very upscale international hotel/resort chain. Job requirements are stated in our employee handbook/contract and covers mostly everything we need to know. The thing that really bothers me is... they enforce only what they want when the rules are supposed to be universal for all.

I am a 24 year old male and I prefer to wear my hair a little longer than standard. After all, I do have a life outside of work. My hair does not extend below my collar and I keep it out of my face when I'm working. No one notices. The rules do not state that my hair has to be SHORT, it just says it cannot extend below my collar. Now, my hair is about medium length and modern for a guy my age. My boss storms into the office one day as I'm about to leave and embarrasses me in front of everyone by yelling to me that I "need to get a standard MANS haircut don't make me tell you again". How professional is she being when she berates me in front of an audience? This company, by the way, prohibits managers from acting in this manner as well. I was off the clock and my hair fell in my face because I washed out the gel, I'm no longer on company time so why is it her concern? My gripe here is that she allows men to shave their heads bald (against company policy) and women to have male style hair cuts (not accurately defined in policy). I was afraid to bring it up to upper management because they'd discuss it with her and I'd have retaliation handed to me big time. There is a record of employees who have been shoved out the door by this woman all because they challenged her in some way. I refuse to give up my life just so I can satisfy an unfair ruling but it's a very good job (hard to come by in my parts). Why are head shaving, visible tattoos, bad teeth, and horrible office skills ok but longer hair is not? I've never gotten a complaint and I have good customer relations. I believe neatness counts yes. However, I feel discriminated against over this matter due to the fact that many other infractions go under rug swept.

How would I go about presenting this to management without citing that incident and encouraging them to allow men to wear their hair long but neat and within reason? Corporate rules also differ from regional property rules so I'm not quite sure how to handle it. The rules seem to differ by department as well. There was a male baker with long hair and many of the back of house employees hair goatees, earrings, you name it! I'm just at my wits end here.

If you want to make career, make some money in the future and be profesionall then buy a book about "grooming". You are quite young to know understand this. On your age I thought the same. Sometimes you have to listen to others. But better invest in a book about grooming and etiquettes, this will help you to grown up. Here some idears:http://library.duke.edu/specialcolle...etiquette.html
Good luck, life is to short to not like it!

A dutch

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello there everyone, I work in the for a very upscale international hotel/resort chain. Job requirements are stated in our employee handbook/contract and covers mostly everything we need to know. The thing that really bothers me is... they enforce only what they want when the rules are supposed to be universal for all.

I am a 24 year old male and I prefer to wear my hair a little longer than standard. After all, I do have a life outside of work. My hair does not extend below my collar and I keep it out of my face when I'm working. No one notices. The rules do not state that my hair has to be SHORT, it just says it cannot extend below my collar. Now, my hair is about medium length and modern for a guy my age. My boss storms into the office one day as I'm about to leave and embarrasses me in front of everyone by yelling to me that I "need to get a standard MANS haircut don't make me tell you again". How professional is she being when she berates me in front of an audience? This company, by the way, prohibits managers from acting in this manner as well. I was off the clock and my hair fell in my face because I washed out the gel, I'm no longer on company time so why is it her concern? My gripe here is that she allows men to shave their heads bald (against company policy) and women to have male style hair cuts (not accurately defined in policy). I was afraid to bring it up to upper management because they'd discuss it with her and I'd have retaliation handed to me big time. There is a record of employees who have been shoved out the door by this woman all because they challenged her in some way. I refuse to give up my life just so I can satisfy an unfair ruling but it's a very good job (hard to come by in my parts). Why are head shaving, visible tattoos, bad teeth, and horrible office skills ok but longer hair is not? I've never gotten a complaint and I have good customer relations. I believe neatness counts yes. However, I feel discriminated against over this matter due to the fact that many other infractions go under rug swept.

How would I go about presenting this to management without citing that incident and encouraging them to allow men to wear their hair long but neat and within reason? Corporate rules also differ from regional property rules so I'm not quite sure how to handle it. The rules seem to differ by department as well. There was a male baker with long hair and many of the back of house employees hair goatees, earrings, you name it! I'm just at my wits end here.

thanks but i'm not looking to make a career there at all (at least not anymore). i fail to see why i should change myself for the sake of someones old school hang up. lets remember the other factors involved... people are allowed to routinely break grooming policy but for some reason, my boss hates long hair on men. my hair isn't even long and IS in compliance with corporate standard. she's just making things difficult because of her personal preferences. talk about controlling life outside of work... i'm thinking about just buying a short hair wig and make her think i cut it lol.

on top of that, i've gotten great comments back from guests. if anything, she should be happy! sorry my hair is so much hotter than hers . unfortunately because of this, they make my life very difficult at work. i could move heaven and earth for them but they'll never see past the hair. its sad that someone can contribute as much as i have and still get no appreciation because of it.

oh well, what i used to look forward doing is now just that... a JOB.