Death of a hippy

[PEACE FROG]

I dont know if Ive told anyone but I recently(6 months ago)Took a job with a pretty big company(major big). Well, we all dress the same there, like a uniform but I wear a peace button. It's green and says "work for peace", It's really small, discrete, bout the size of a quarter. Today I was told to remove it........ "we dont want the customers to get the wrong idea" you know Ed "offended". I was like "who would be offended by not wanting to kill people?" He then said he'd hate to see something in my file over this. I said Okay and took it off. He gave me a "WE STAND UNITED" pin with a red, white and blue let's kill brown people ribbon loop...... " here Ed this one is approved by the company" OH...... I JUST WANT TO CURL UP AND DIE..............

[tooter_mcgee]

I don't blame you. I know that I don't want to be censored by some company, but when I finish school and get a real job, that's probably going to happen to me. Everyone should be able to be themselves everywhere in an ideal world, but unfortunately we live in this world where many of us are forced to sacrifice parts of themselves for a job in order to be able to afford to live. :( I definitely understand how you feel though.

You aren't wearing that pin are you?? Or did they make you? You'd think it would be optional...

All the best to ya :)

~~Diana

[CowboyHippy]

i feel for ya man
on one hand I like to fight the man
the other says live to fight another day

my teacher often asks, "which hill would you die on?"

I sacrificed long hair and the earrings in orderto increase my chances for employment, and it worked.
I changed the way i live, so i could be healthy and live longer, and it worked.

for the button, michigan is a right to work state, they can fire you for whatever they want, sexual preference, behavior, gender, etc...and just last year in the news, someone got fired for smoking at home (not at work, but on their own time at home, and it held up) it's illegal to deny them the opportunity to apply on these basis, but once your in company police can apply to a great many things

there probably isn't much you can do though, which is damn frustrating. They probably have a dress code and cited standards and such. Live to fight another day, read the manuals and literature, make friends with a lawyer, and find out what you can do without getting in trouble.

My job requires longsleeve shirts, which sucks bing outside, on a black tar roof, a couple hundred feet up on a summer day, in the sun, but it doesn't say what color(s) they have to be
thank goodness for tie dye, i can express myself to the dismay of the supervisor, and to my own enjoyment.

[Dead Fan]

I really dislike the censorship of your button thats just asinine. Although I may disagree on the matter of the war. Dont get me wrong I dont like it and I hate bush. I just know there is a problem with the people there, anybody who would blow up a 300+ year old hand carved buddhist statue in the side of a mountain just because it is a different religin is not really my friend. I do think that Bush is there for the wrong reasons. Im sorry for thread jacking but just didnt want a misunderstanding on what I said. I hope that this whole thing works out for ya.

[treehugger]

Wow, Ed, I feel for you, too. I'm one who's always pushing the limits of what I can get away with wearing at work politically. I've even gone so far as to wear a shirt that says "our bombs are smarter than our president".

Of course I work right in the middle of Hippieville, the UW-Madison campus.

Nobody's said anything yet but one of these days I'm sure I'll find out what the limit is. Luckily I'm union so they can't just fire me without a warning first, so I'll find out what that limit is.

:hippie:
Kath

[PEACE FROG]

Thank's for the responses guys. It's strange to me that someone desiring peace would be thought of as controvercial. Especially in Chico......Chico State University, uh... hello? I do own some radical buttons, never thought of them as appropriate though.... but peace? And dead guy,SHHHHHHH....... dont give the Bush folks another reason I had'nt heard the "They broke a statue" excuse yet.

[unclejoe]

try this and see what happens: wear the pin up side down.
back in the 'wild west' days of our country, bad guys would sometimes take over remote stage coach stations in order to rob unsuspecting travellers. the stage coach agents were allowed to go about their regular duties to keep up appearances. the agent, unbeknownst to the bad guys, would fly the flag upside down to warn incoming stage drivers that they were in trouble and to send help.
i wear a small flag on a regular basis. often, my little flag is upside down. those who know, see it and nod understanding. the semi-literate (GW, etal.) see it and haven't a clue.
i wear it in support of the young women and men who are being poorly (politically) led, not the current regime in WDC.

[Dead Fan]

Yea sorry that was just a buddhist thing. Had to rant.

[hempcrow]

dude, you gotta stand for your peace pin!!!! don't sell out just cause some little man in a suite tells you to. i say, if it's a crap job, screw it!! tell that s.o.b. boss of yours to swallow the darn ribbon with the pin open....

[Dead Fan]

Thats not very peaceful, he would be a bit of a hippiecrit.

[StellaBlue]

dude, you gotta stand for your peace pin!!!! don't sell out just cause some little man in a suite tells you to. i say, if it's a crap job, screw it!! tell that s.o.b. boss of yours to swallow the darn ribbon with the pin open....

Some people have bills to pay, you know...

Sometimes people gotta do what they gotta do...

[morningsunshine]

I dont know if Ive told anyone but I recently(6 months ago)Took a job with a pretty big company(major big). Well, we all dress the same there, like a uniform but I wear a peace button. It's green and says "work for peace", It's really small, discrete, bout the size of a quarter. Today I was told to remove it........ "we dont want the customers to get the wrong idea" you know Ed "offended". I was like "who would be offended by not wanting to kill people?" He then said he'd hate to see something in my file over this. I said Okay and took it off. He gave me a "WE STAND UNITED" pin with a red, white and blue let's kill brown people ribbon loop...... " here Ed this one is approved by the company" OH...... I JUST WANT TO CURL UP AND DIE..............
i know how you feel, man. i usually just wear whatever socks I can find on my floor, so they usually don't match, but it pissed off my boss and i have to wear matching socks at work now... i've been late because i haven't been able to find matching socks...
Well I guess it's not quite the same, but similar. Just keep keepin' on, I suppose, even if you have to do it outside of work. o_O

[Unkle_John]

Joe has the right idea. Wear it upside down....or don't wear it at all (IMO).

Everyone is right here, but Stellablue said it best: "Some people have bills to pay, you know...Sometimes people gotta do what they gotta do..."

It's your decision on what you want to "display" or where to work. I've been in the corporate world. It sucks, it sucks big floppy donkey dick. But if you like the money and the field you are in, then you have to make sacrifices. Lucky for me, i've worked in the graphics field. They know us artists are not ones to "conform" well. I had one job that didn't allow long hair, earrings or facial hair on men (women were ok). I had short hair at the time, but I had an earring, the first day I forgot to take it out (I don't even notice it there unless I scratch my ear), well I got my ass chewed... for a stud ear ring. the funy thing is, I wa in the graphics dept and NEVER saw daylight..or customers (I worked for Miller beer). So to get around things and loop holes and stuff, I grew my sideburns long. Like Elvis, then Wolverine long. I got chewed and then pointed out in nowhere in the manual it mentioned side burns. I stayed there about a year then quit when I found a job closer to home.

After over ten years in the graphics industry, I've decided to do something else. I still do graphics on my own time and maybe one day I'll open a sign or silk screen shop or something. But right now I'm having fun working for the USDA and local farmers. I don't have to worry about the stress that the past 10 years have put on me, I don't have to worry about my appearance (besides nice looking / clean clothes). I'm happy with my decision for my career choice now. Safety is stressed and I don't have a quota to meet any more, I can take my time. Yeah I get paid half of what i was making, but you know what I don't need all of that money. I make enough to pay my bills, put food on our table, gas in the vehicles and a little extra to save for that "rainy day"

I'm not trying to talk you out of what you do Ed. But corporate America is also a Conservitive America. They want to do what they want you to do "for the good of the company". They don't honestly care about your feelings or views. They want you to be a good robot and do what you are told. The whole "going your record" thing. let them put it on there. You are someone who "thinks outside the bun..er box".

[oldkzildjians]

luckily, my job has no such restrictions. I teach drums for a studio. my boss would encourage such behavior.