Lauren Mixon, 22, didn't think the tiny stud was "extreme jewelry" that is discouraged in the Tax Collector's Office, where she had worked two years.
Posted on 11/30/2007 1:11:06 PM PST by Cagey
Tax Collector Mike Olson says the office worker was told not to do it.
LAND O'LAKES - Lauren Mixon said she wanted to sparkle - but just a little bit.
She wanted to get her nose pierced with a tiny diamond. She checked the dress code at work.
It discouraged "extreme" jewelry.
She checked with her supervisor. The answer, Mixon said: "It wouldn't be in my best interests."
Now some may interpret that one way. Mixon's own interpretation: no one ever said "no."
So she had her nose pierced. It hurt like heck for three days.
Now it really hurts.
Mixon is now out of a job over a tiny piece of metal that has suddenly become a big deal.
Her old employer said he feels bad. But he also said the rules don't allow it, her supervisor told her not to do it and that Mixon wasn't fired - she quit.
Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Olson said having the public served by someone with a nose piercing is not his idea of public service.
"We are a professional organization," Olson said. "If you choose to have that, work somewhere else."
* * *
For two years, Mixon worked the counter at the Land O'Lakes office, helping people pay their property taxes, renew their vehicle tags or get their hunting licenses. She got good reviews there.
"It's a good place to work," the 22-year-old said. "It really is."
She got pierced the night before Thanksgiving. A nose stud isn't extreme, she thought, and it was just $10.
Mixon hoped she could start with a clear plastic piercing that wouldn't be too noticeable. But the tattoo shop told her she had to start with a small sterling silver stud for four to eight weeks, to prevent infection.
Come Monday, she told her manager - the same manager who discouraged her the month before.
"She said 'You were told not to do it,' " Mixon said, "and I said 'No, I was told it wasn't in my best interests.' "
* * *
The next day, Tuesday, was Mixon's last.
She met with her manager and a human resources official. They spelled out the rules: the stud had to go.
Frustrated, Mixon said she would find someone to take out the stud, then come back Wednesday with her two weeks notice.
"With all of this going on and with the way I was treated," she said, "I didn't want to be here anymore."
She left the office with her husband Steven but returned with a new determination: "I got to thinking this isn't fair. I didn't do anything wrong."
She offered to put in a clear, plastic stud right away, or disguise it with a band-aid. And she said this:
"I'm not quitting and I'm not taking it out."
Too late. She was handed a letter accepting her "verbal resignation." She was excused from the office her last two weeks, and would be paid through Dec. 11.
Mixon said Thursday she only wants one thing:
"I just want my job back," she said.
But Olson said it's best for both of them if they go their separate ways.
* * *
Mike Olson knows a thing or two about dress codes, about professional workplaces.
"There's one thing about office policy every employer and employee knows," he said. "When you have something like a dress code, if you don't maintain it, then everybody gets upset."
The former county commissioner is 62 now. He's spent his entire adult life in one office or another.
He was 18 when he got his first office job in 1963.
When he was 19, they laid down the law on him: no sport jackets, no blazers.
Management was to wear suits only.
Lauren Mixon, 22, didn't think the tiny stud was "extreme jewelry" that is discouraged in the Tax Collector's Office, where she had worked two years.
GUILTY?
Another dumb liberal youth gets slapped in the face with reality.
I have not a lot of sympathy for this one.
“Not in your best interest” is pretty obvious how the company feels about it! She just didn’t give a crap.
No dear. You want your job back on your terms, which are to make the dress code whatever you want it to be.
It is just beyond me how any female thinks putting a bolt or ring in her nose will be an aesthetic improvement. Tacky, ugly, unsanitary, nasty. I just don’t get it.
Translation: "You have money for drilling holes in your body, maybe you're overpaid."
For the best story you've read today, read this short anecdote of when I asked my father if I could have an earring:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/53146
Instead of a stupid nose piercing she should be saving her money for braces.
-she should be saving her $ to get her teeth fixed.
By my standards, which are very conservative in regard to facial jewelry, that’s not extreme.
How about, HOw did she do her job?
Hell,
I can be a flaming queen, dress in drag or as a pregnant nun in San Frisco and go to work for the city and still do a lousy job and not get fired,
What the hell is so wrong with this stupid nose stud?
Again how did she do her job? Was she there on time and preform her prescribed duties well?
If not ok then fire her ass. If her only blemish is a stupid hole in her nose and you fire her then look out for a real good big lawsuit.
You og girl, and I think these studs are stupid.
You are an idiot, Mixon!
Next she’ll want to wear a thong jutting out from the back of her pants.
Employers don’t want to hire kids attempting to attract personal attention to themselves. They want employees who work hard and make the business look good. Professional appearance impacts customer impressions.
Guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and she sprays snot out the side of her nose now...............
What about a little lip ring?
If I take a pretty girl and use her as the poster child, does this change the fact that she violated policy? Usually such policy is in writing somewhere (which she signed) as well. Furthermore she was warned! Not only is she fired, I wouldn’t hire her either.
I have installed hundreds of tags, noe rings, etc in livestock for the last 40 years. I don’t see the transition of said practice to humans as attractive. Nose rings served a purpose when pigs were run outside.
It is simple for me. Don’t wear the stud at work if your employer doesn’t like it. If you want to do whatever you want start a small business and be your own boss. She sounds like a narcissist. That said I’ve never found nose piercings or lip piercings the least bit attractive, no more than the warts some call beauty spots. Still they can do what they want on their own time. I’d hope the judge throws this case out. It is a horrible waste of tax payers money to spend even a hearing on this silliness.
Gee, wonder which party she likes best.
God bless your Dad and good luck to you with your little ones when they come to you.
she should’ve saved the piercing money for her crooked teeth.
No honey...ya didn't.
You did something stupid and ill-advised and have paid the price for your lack of vision.
If I see a clerk with something poked through his/her nose or other weird place I move to a different checkout line — even if it’s a longer line. I have a pretty high gag threshhold, but for some reason I can’t handle that.
I used to work for a major resort where “big money”, “old money”, and royalty stay. Dress code was strict. Permitted jewelry was made clear to employees. No more than 1 ring on a hand (wedding set counted as 1 ring). Earrings: No more than 1 per ear, no dangling, nothing bigger than size of a nickel. Bracelet: No more than one. Necklaces: No more than one. Nose ring? Don’t even think about it! The reason was that classy people, especially “old money” and royalty consider anything more to be tacky. Employees who didn’t like it would no longer have a job.
I meant post #22 for Domenad.
I call them crystalline boogers. The diamond or zircon ones anyway.
The kid looks fine. Frankly, her employer and these posters remind me of the jackass I knew who ripped the extra earring out of his wife's ear when multiple piercings became fashionable back in the eighties.
Bunch of friggin atavistic proto-muslims.
I have never washed lettuce so thoroughly in my life.
What is “Extreme” in her view?
Lip?
Eyebrow?
crotch and navel piercings are undercover and unknown to the employer (unless you file for medical claims for infection of such piercings).
STUPID....STUPID people do this....too stupid to work.
The other day I noticed two male tellers at my bank wearing big, flashy “diamond” earrings in both ears. Call me old fashioned but I found it totally inappropriate.
It starts with a little nose stud, then it moves to an eyebrow ring, and then a lip ring and the next thing you know, you have a circus freak working the counter. Give an inch and the next thing you know she’s looking like Marilyn Manson
It's not even the point whether she was told not to. The fact is, she decided to get a nose ring, and her employer decided he didn't want to employ someone with a nose ring.
In France you don’t even have to do your job, just show up 30 hours a week...
Are you emperor Palpatine? “Only now at the end do you understand....”
Uh....warts are not ADDED....nose rings and lip rings are. You DO know the diff.....right?
One day a pretty blonde young thang with a room temp IQ wore in a shirt that said in big, bold letters across her chest
Wine me
Dine me
69 me
A month later, we had about a 20 page dress code for everyone to live with, forevermore.
One of my high-school buddies was ill-advisedly wearing hoop earrings when tree-climbing (yeah, we were tomboys) and ripped her earlobe in half under the piercing when the hoop got caught.
But to have your HUSBAND do it? OMG!
Amen....people with CLASS don’t do this kind of thing.
Eddie Murphy used to have a standup routine where he gave a tip on how to save your gold necklace from muggers. Just string it over your ears and let the little dangling thing hang from your nose and act like you don’t know that they see your “booger”.
These nose piercings always remind me of that even if they are in the wrong spot.
uh, oh....you must have some ugly piercings.
Yer good. Not many people get the allusion when I use it.
The Force is strong with you young Jedi.
She worked in a tax collector’s office.
People paying money to the State don’t want to be put off by the employees they are paying for.
Police have to keep their tattoos covered up, even if they have “sleeved” tattoos up their arms and are working in the summertime.
Exactly. If you want to feel special work hard and build credibility and relationships at the office. I worked for a client that I had to go out and buy a new suit. It was only for a short month long contract but I still did it. It just came with the territory.
Why people believe that just because they are hired they deserve to have a protected position is beyond me.
“Another dumb liberal youth gets slapped in the face with reality.”
LOL So true!!!
Just the way it should be.....
So, our tax dollars are paying for that?
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