Well today didn't start out as wonderfully as I thought it would. This morning I had the first of three exams for the city of Salem community service officer position for the Police Department (super wordy!), and yet again I was excluded from employment due to my cheek dermals. Let me explain the reasons why this enrages me.
1) I've always wanted cheek piercings, and I mean always. They were the first piercing I really wanted, but could never have due to many different reasons. When I finally was able to get them Oregon's laws changed which disallowed piercers to pierce behind the first molar or some bullshit. This ultimately meant I couldn't get full piercings, but only dermals instead. So I thought, hey, why not? I mean, what's the difference, right? HUGE DIFFERENCE. For one thing, THEY CANNOT BE REMOVED which is a pain in the ass sometimes, let me tell you. And secondly, they don't give the 'dimpled' look I was going for. Basically what I'm trying to say is, I paid waaaay too much for something I really didn't want and I will regret it for the rest of my life because I can't let anything go...EVER! What it all comes down to, for me at least, is the money. I spent over $150 to get my cheeks pierced and they weren't even what I wanted. If I had any sort of backbone...but I digress.
2) This is like the umpteenth job I've been declined for solely due to my physical appearance; and I don't know about you, but that sounds like discrimination to me. It's 2013 for christs sake...are piercings really that big of a deal?!?! And why should they be? Should employers be allowed to turn qualified applicants away just because they look differently from everyone else? That is so discriminatory!! But what do I do? Where is my spine, where is my integrity? Instead of doing something about it, complaining to people who can change things I bitch and moan on the internet, to perfect strangers. I am a loser, and until I stand up for myself I'll always be a loser.
3) This might be a silly reason, but it's a reason all the same. Because this wasn't the first potential job I've been turned away from, I was smart and I called the city of Salem Police Department to make sure I wouldn't be automatically excluded due to my piercings. So I called and explained my situation to the nice receptionist (who knew absolutely nothing) and she informed me that there was no way it could exclude me and to come to the written exam all the same. So I did. It was very dumb of me, but I went. I drove to Salem, before I had class in Corvallis, actually skipping a class just to go to this stupid fucking 'exam' and I asked the Sergeant there. I asked him if I would be excluded from employment due to my cheek dermals and he simply replied, "yes, grooming policies forbid body modification of any kind." That's all I wanted. I didn't ask for anything else when I called the week before. So you can understand, maybe...hopefully, why I was pissed to have wasted not only my time, but my gas and money going to Salem for a job I was already unable to be hired for.
Needless to say, I've had a shitty morning. But on my way to Corvallis I saw some geese, happily swimming in a pond, not a care in the world, just swimming and eating, being a goose. That was all I needed to be happy again. I turned on my Zune and started to sing along, forgetting about the unfortunate events which I had just experienced; I let the music fill me as I drove down the long stretch of highway towards better things.
No comments:
Post a Comment