Self-Expression vs Workplace Appearance

So I was at work today, pondering different things, when a lady walked by my window talking on a cell phone. She wasn’t remarkable in any way, nor did she do anything that was particularly interesting, aside from walk down the street and talk (loudly) into her phone. But I did notice that she had her lip pierced. And then I started thinking…

A couple of days ago, I came into work and I hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, but it wasn’t all that bad (I thought) and I figured I could get by that day without too much trouble. Needless to say I was incorrect. I was asked (and I use the term loosely) to come in to work the next day clean shaven.

So now I wonder. I come from a generation that prides itself on many things. Ipods (of which I do not own), the internet (which we all know Al Gore created), and a whole plethora of other things. One of the more prominent things is our self-expression.

Pick a way my generation engages in the need for self-expression, which is something that has been ingrained in most of us since birth. Some people talk/debate/argue, others pierce things, others wear outlandish or unpopular clothes, some hairdos, some people tattoo the hell out of themselves. All of which is fine by itself.

But then you have other things that play a role in how self-expression wars with other ideals like…oh…say, appearance in the workplace.

I have come to understand that in certain settings it isn’t appropriate for people to get visible tattoos and have visible piercings. In some instances I can see where this is appropriate. Such as having piercings (aside from ears, I suppose) when working with food? Or when you enter the corporate world?

But how much of those expectations are holdovers from the “Leave it to Beaver” and other past concepts of what the working world is suppose to be? I mean I understand the need for self expression, and as long as those options are available, people (especially younger people) are going to take advantage of them when it suits their needs/desires.

But now you have a contradiction. For my generation’s entire lives they’ve been told to express themselves and a whole plethora of other self-esteem building garbage. But when they enter the workplace, they’re expected to do a complete 180 and be the epitome of conformity, because that’s the image of the working world/corporate world. And if they don’t conform, they’re doomed to not get any jobs better than working at fast food places or places like Hot Topic where those issues apparently don’t matter as much.

Now I realize that this has been a little unorganized in the way it’s been presented here, as its just sort of falling out of my head. But the two real issues here I suppose are, where do you draw the line between working world image and self expression, and two: how are we going to correct the disparity between the two.

I could write pages and pages (probably a thesis length work) on the different sides of the issue, but that’s not going to help anything, and it would be parroting the dozens of viewpoints that have already been said. And I certainly don’t have any answers, and would welcome discussion on the issue. But it was something that bothered me, and probably a lot of other people, so I figured it was worth putting here.