When You Can't Be Yourself

Plenty of Goths have had this problem. You're trying to find a job, whether in the business world or just a retail job to get yourself some money while getting through high school or college, and the first thing you need to worry about? Your tattoos and piercings. I've been on a few job interviews trying to break my way into the business world so I'm not stuck selling useless crap almost every single weekend. The most recent one I had mentioned that I would have to take out my lip ring (keep in mind I already had a clear stud in both my lip and nose) but that I could keep a stud in my nose. These rules were actually part of their "dress code." Now dress codes have always irritated me from the time I was high school, mostly because the teachers and principals in my school liked to make up bullshit rules about why Goths couldn't wear what we liked, but when it came to all the little preppy girls in short skirts and low-cut tops they turned a blind eye. Even in retail the "dress code" rules you encounter tend to get ridiculous.
Now the majority of these rules are so the employees can look "professional." I'm sorry, but any business that is open beyond 7pm at night and open every weekend is nothing professional. It's grunt work at best. Now when you actually get into the business world, let me ask you this... Does your appearance have any impact on how well you do your work? No, in fact some of the more "professional" people I've seen throughout my retail experience have been some of the laziest. In my opinion, it seems nothing short of biased that a company can turn a candidate away just because they have bod mods. For all they know, that candidate could be a far better worker than any of the "normal" candidates that came in.