Getting rid of male and female work uniforms in retail
Getting rid of male and female work uniforms in retail
If you're wearing the work uniform, should it matter which one you choose?
“What are you?” he asked my cousin, as she headed toward the breakroom area.
She looked back at him and responded, “Excuse me?”
He asked again, “What are you?”
With a blank stare, she still didn’t really understand the question.
He stumbled over it and mumbled a brief explanation about how the retail store chose one outfit for women employees and another outfit for male employees. My cousin, who clearly would never be mistaken for a man from the boobs alone, had created a cross between both outfits. Her shirt was baggier. She’d ignored the skirt suggestion altogether. And her pants hung a little lower than the higher-hip version in the handbook. Still though, with her voluptuous frame, freckles and braids trailing down her shoulders, it seemed odd to ask this woman “what” she was.
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The employee had been sent to talk to her regarding her attire. For whatever reason, the manager felt like it would be less offensive coming from another black person (yet another problematic situation) than from a non-POC person. That didn’t happen. She snipped at him, “I’m a woman all day!” and stormed away. My eyes narrowed, listening to her tell this story. She ended it by saying, “So I decided my cousin should write one of those long-ass complaint letters about him!” She grinned. I laughed out loud. It figures she had a larger goal.