this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Malicious Compliance

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People conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request. For now, this includes text posts, images, videos and links. Please ensure that the “malicious compliance” aspect is apparent - if you’re making a text post, be sure to explain this part; if it’s an image/video/link, use the “Body” field to elaborate.

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[REPOST] Woman says she started wearing ‘terrible wigs’ after work banned her pink hair (www.thelondoneconomic.com)
submitted 1 year ago by floppy@rabbitea.rs to c/maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://rabbitea.rs/post/280182

I think this is appropriate here!

‘I am a self-expressive person and I feel very confident with pink hair so I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair’

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[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I hope her creative resistance doesn't get incorporated as part of the brand of her workplace.

EDIT: To the downvoters:

Brands have begun to incorporate some imperfections into their marketing. For example the Deutsche Bahn, our german railway company, are sometimes making jokes about how their trains are notoriously late. Are they making their service better? No. Or not noticeably so far. I think McDonalds have also made jokes about their broken soft ice machines and they did not do anything to make them more reliable. According to iFixit, they and the company making the machines have actively fought against a small company that wanted to make a tool to making fixing these machines easier.

So that's why i hope that our wig-wearing heroine doesn't just get incorporated into the marketing instead of being allowed to show her pink hair.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the marketing version of "inclusiveness":

"We are a great, hip and youthfull place to work: just look at *picture of male model with a hipster beard* Joe from Accounting"

(Reminds me of how since about first Tech boom, Tech companies would show to the Press and prospective candidates all the amazing facilities they have for employees to relax - fuzzball tables, relax-spaces with beanbag chairs, even indoor slides - but if you're on the inside you quickly find out you're expected to work 12h/day on a never ending sequence of death marches and you'll never actually have time to use those "relax facilities")

This kind of thing is the result of about the same process as their businesswise evaluation of complying with regulations: they usually conclude that the profit maximizing option is to provide the appearence of complying whilst internally and through less explicit methods (usually all in choices that aren't explicitly justified) acting in a completelly different way.

If there is one thing companies have learned in the last 4 decades is that image managements is way cheaper (read: "profit enhancing") than actually doing the right things and delivers pretty much the same results if in influencing those external to the company.

One can trust a corporation about as much as one can trust a known sociopath.

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

One a sidenote, I never got the point of e.g. xbox rooms and ping pong tables in offices. Why the hell would I want to relax in a place of work? I want to do my work, then go home (to relax). Playing 30 min video games in the afternoon would mean that happens 30 mins later.

[–] CaptFeather@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

McDonalds does it on purpose to give work to the "technicians" that service the machines. They're bogus simple issues like overfilling that lock the machine down until they use their service tool to clear it. Great doc by Johnny Harris if you have 30min to kill

[–] UnbeatenDeployGoofy@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

landed a front-of-house role in the hospitality industry without a face-to-face or video interview

Seems like the flawed interviewing process is to blame.

[–] sudo@lemmy.today 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, so they could discriminate her based on her looks sooner?

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Well, as a customer facing role, they have good reason for the requirement. She is representing this business. They have the right to represent themselves a cartain way.

[–] toxicbubble@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

dress codes have always been rooted in racism & sexism. there's absolutely no reason a job should control your hair unless it disrupts business, not for "offending conservatives"

[–] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Capitolist have controlled out bodies for far too long.

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can she wear a pink wig?

[–] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Probably not, in a previous job my hair (wig or real) had to be a "natural" colour.

[–] UmbrellAssassin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sure there was a dress code when she signed up for the job. She agreed to it. Instead of realizing how childish she's acting, she just doubles down and whines on the internet. Really a snapshot of people these days.

[–] kttnpunk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

These expectations are the problem, if I agreed to sell my soul because I didn't want to read a several page agreement while installing a free program, should they get it? Fuck no. Also, as somebody who's worked all sorts of different positions: these rules are unenforceable, in a lot of cases. If a business hires you, they will try to keep that asset. A lot of times managers do not care what you wear until you're someone they don't like. Especially if you work in food service, and make a standard industry wage (that is, not shit!!) Push that envelope. Your coworkers will too, maybe.

[–] NatoBoram@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A job shouldn't force you to modify your body in any capacity

[–] just_change_it@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can I be full on nudist then?

fwiw I think pink hair should be perfectly fine but there are some rules with dress that are a good idea. I don't care if you wear a dress, slacks or have rainbow hair but generally I prefer people I do business with to wear stuff.

Then there's food safety. Things like hair nets and prohibiting certain jewelry and outfits in food processing plants is another example of when sometimes it's ok to limit personal expression for the sake of others'. A server though? No such reason. Maybe a hair net if they brought food to your table or were also a chef.

[–] LegionEris@feddit.nl 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Literally none of the things you listed here count as modifying your body? As a reply to "nobody should have to arbitrarily change their body for their employer," "sometimes there are practical clothing and equipment requirements" is practically a non-sequitur.

[–] xietbrix@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which is cool, except the subject of this entire thread has nothing to do with modifying body parts so it's also fair for the responder to be referring to attire rather than actual body modification.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So, would you let your boss shave your head because that was the 'dress code'?

[–] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

That is exactly what happens when one enlists in the U.S. military. Dress codes are a thing, and legitimate.

[–] xantoxis@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"They think this is better?"

Yes, they actually do. They're probably conservative dickheads. They know that pink hair is code for "I am a tolerant and kind person; I might be gay but not necessarily; I support counterculture ideas."

They hate the counterculture ideas. They don't hate the color pink. Covering it up with a terrible wig makes it about something else.

Or anyway, so they think. What they've actually done is given her an opportunity to start conversations about the pink hair.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago

What they’ve actually done is given her an opportunity to start conversations about the pink hair.

Keen insight. I wouldn't have known she exists otherwise.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Profestional people shouldn't have pink hair but this is still really funny

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Professional people can look past hair colour.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 months ago

Well I can't. There is no reason you should die your hair unnatural colors. Its harmful for a persons and company credibility and has no place in the work place