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Here is the kind of place where I work.
Yesterday (while I was home sick), one of my co-workers had a seizure and fell, banging her head on a counter. She was disoriented and confused, so she was told to go home and rest.
In what world would an employer not send someone with an obvious concussion to the hospital? Yikes. Aren't they concerned about the well-being of their workers? And barring that, aren't they afraid of lawsuits? Being a good little first-aider, I told them how they should have proceded.
And onto the next item....
The company claims to be extremely conscientious about cleanliness and hygiene, and indeed, we never physically touch any of the food. The food is sheltered from our money-dirted fingers by surgical gloves or bits of waxed paper. We cannot wear nail polish or false fingernails in case they should chip or fall into the food.
BUT, the plastic spoons and knives are stored bowl and blade ends up, so we grab 'em with our dirty hands. Same with the coffee stir sticks. Go figure. And they wanted me to keep my asthma inhaler in my tip jar, so the money gets all over the bit that goes in my mouth. Nice.
And then...
Company policy is very strict in that no piercings may be displayed to the sensitive eyes of our discerning clientele, aside from one simple stud per earlobe.
Go back a few days to when I decided to exchange my nose hoop for a tiny, gold ball nose screw. Taking the hoop out took about one hour and involved two big sets of pliers as well as copious amounts of pain and foul language. The hoop was also ruined by all the necessary prying. Putting the screw into my nose took another hour, and caused much more pain as well as violent vernacular outbursts. I covered the ring up with a tiny clear spot bandage, and reported to work.
My bandaged nose seemed to go over just fine.
But this morning, the manager told me that a bandage was unacceptable, and that I'd have to remove both the bandage and the nose screw.
What if someone with ten piercings were to show up to work with ten bandages all over their face? It would be an eyesore. It would be readily apparent that they had ten facial piercings if they wore ten bandages. Similarly, someone with a nose bandage would make regular customers deduce that s/he had a nose piercing.
I told her I was not willing to do this, as it was both excruciating and time-consuming. So she said that I could certainly finish out the day with my bandage, but either the nose ring went, or I did (but she said it nicer than that, because she's actually a real sweetheart).
I felt a small thrill of pleasure. Could this be my loophole? My escape from a fast food career?
I went through the rest of the morning coasting on an air biscuit of happy.
That afternoon, I was called back to the office. "I have good news!" said the manager. "I spoke with head office, and they only just introduced a new policy about facial piercings. A small bandage on the nose is acceptable. And as a supervisor, you should be aware of the policy. No other piercings can be covered by bandages--only one small bandage on the side of the nose. Nowhere else. So you can inform any new staff of this, too."
So an eyesore of a bandage plastered on my face is more aesthetically-pleasing, doughnut- and coffee-vendoring wise, than a tiny and tasteful gold dot.
Damn. There went my out. I'm stuck with the job.
Yesterday (while I was home sick), one of my co-workers had a seizure and fell, banging her head on a counter. She was disoriented and confused, so she was told to go home and rest.
In what world would an employer not send someone with an obvious concussion to the hospital? Yikes. Aren't they concerned about the well-being of their workers? And barring that, aren't they afraid of lawsuits? Being a good little first-aider, I told them how they should have proceded.
And onto the next item....
The company claims to be extremely conscientious about cleanliness and hygiene, and indeed, we never physically touch any of the food. The food is sheltered from our money-dirted fingers by surgical gloves or bits of waxed paper. We cannot wear nail polish or false fingernails in case they should chip or fall into the food.
BUT, the plastic spoons and knives are stored bowl and blade ends up, so we grab 'em with our dirty hands. Same with the coffee stir sticks. Go figure. And they wanted me to keep my asthma inhaler in my tip jar, so the money gets all over the bit that goes in my mouth. Nice.
And then...
Company policy is very strict in that no piercings may be displayed to the sensitive eyes of our discerning clientele, aside from one simple stud per earlobe.
Go back a few days to when I decided to exchange my nose hoop for a tiny, gold ball nose screw. Taking the hoop out took about one hour and involved two big sets of pliers as well as copious amounts of pain and foul language. The hoop was also ruined by all the necessary prying. Putting the screw into my nose took another hour, and caused much more pain as well as violent vernacular outbursts. I covered the ring up with a tiny clear spot bandage, and reported to work.
My bandaged nose seemed to go over just fine.
But this morning, the manager told me that a bandage was unacceptable, and that I'd have to remove both the bandage and the nose screw.
What if someone with ten piercings were to show up to work with ten bandages all over their face? It would be an eyesore. It would be readily apparent that they had ten facial piercings if they wore ten bandages. Similarly, someone with a nose bandage would make regular customers deduce that s/he had a nose piercing.
I told her I was not willing to do this, as it was both excruciating and time-consuming. So she said that I could certainly finish out the day with my bandage, but either the nose ring went, or I did (but she said it nicer than that, because she's actually a real sweetheart).
I felt a small thrill of pleasure. Could this be my loophole? My escape from a fast food career?
I went through the rest of the morning coasting on an air biscuit of happy.
That afternoon, I was called back to the office. "I have good news!" said the manager. "I spoke with head office, and they only just introduced a new policy about facial piercings. A small bandage on the nose is acceptable. And as a supervisor, you should be aware of the policy. No other piercings can be covered by bandages--only one small bandage on the side of the nose. Nowhere else. So you can inform any new staff of this, too."
So an eyesore of a bandage plastered on my face is more aesthetically-pleasing, doughnut- and coffee-vendoring wise, than a tiny and tasteful gold dot.
Damn. There went my out. I'm stuck with the job.
