Poll of the Day > You shouldn't work somewhere where you're paid for how you look.

(+) Yeah! (+)

why the heck not

There was a time where pretty much every job paid you for how you look, because they expected you to not look like a dirtbag or you'd get fired.

Standards keep getting lower and lower though.

Which is generally a good thing. "You're not allowed to hold a professional job unless you can afford a suit" has always been ridiculous, elitist gatekeeping that serves no actual purpose. Basic things like "take a shower so you don't leave dirt smudges on everything you touch" are reasonable for the sake of maintaining general tidiness, but arbitrary standards of "professional dress" have never been anything more than arbitrary (and in many cases, outright racist because they only permit "white people looks").

Which is generally a good thing. "You're not allowed to hold a professional job unless you can afford a suit" has always been ridiculous, elitist gatekeeping that serves no actual purpose.

Yeah, but there's an in-between there, where things like "be clean-shaven" and "cut/comb your hair" sort of fall. And those are things that have sort of fallen by the wayside as well.

There's an argument to be made that not every business should be "business formal" all the time, but there's also an argument to be made that maybe work shouldn't be "full casual" for a lot of jobs.

A lot of it depends on what the job is, though.

I never got why being clean shaven is professional, a good beard looks way better and more professional than a babyface

Disagree. There are a lot of jobs where looking professional and wearing a suit shows customers that you're taking your job seriously. A lot of people don't want someone to handle... for example... their will or your divorce case while wearing cargo shorts

There are a lot of jobs where looking professional and wearing a suit shows customers that you're taking your job seriously.

A lot of people don't want someone to handle... for example... their will or your divorce case while wearing cargo shorts

Yeah, but there's an in-between there, where things like "be clean-shaven" and "cut/comb your hair" sort of fall. And those are things that have sort of fallen by the wayside as well.

Which is not "this is a thing because there's an actual purpose behind it," it's "this is a thing because a lot of people want to think it's a thing." These are arbitrary standards that serve no purpose.

But it's still a thing. That's the point. You're basically just arguing against human culture. It is what it is until it isn't. There are enough people out there that want you to be well dressed to handle business that is important to them that it isn't unreasonable for employers to require it for certain positions

That doesn't, however, justify complaining about how "standards are being lowered," nor does it mean it's wrong to criticize the current standards for being unnecessarily restrictive and push for cultural shifts in favour of greater permissiveness.

Basically, there's a purpose in businesses following those arbitrary standards, since that's capitalizing on the culture that has established them. There's no purpose in the standards themselves, though, so eroding them to limit the number of people that are excluded from jobs for not being able to afford the right suit is a good thing.

As much as a lot of "professional dress" standards are rooted in simple classism

Any place that says I have to wear heels is not the place for me. Never have worn those damn things, never will.