Dealing With The Office Dress Code As Piercings And Tattoos Proliferate

The biggest challenges to the practice of podiatry change from time to time. For a long time, it was orthopods. They quieted down when we all faced the new challenges of governmental regulations and insurance companies. None of these issues was as difficult to me as the office dress code.

   When I started practice in 1975, most of my staff wore white dresses from nursing uniform shops. I did not need an official dress code. I only asked that the dresses be modest with no plunging necklines. Everybody complied without complaint.

   Uniforms changed to pants and appropriate tops in the 1980s. The office paid for these so all the staff could wear a clean outfit each day. There was still no need for an official dress policy.

   Universal precautions hit in the late 1980s and the stylish tops were covered with bulletproof gowns. There were a few complaints but they all recognized that an OSHA offense could close the practice.

   The 1990s brought on a new set of challenges. Some of the younger staff began piercing their ears to accommodate five or six earrings in each ear. It also became fashionable to wear as many rings on the fingers as one could cram on. The worst were a ring on the proximal phalanx of each finger and several on the intermediate phalanges.

   Enter the official dress code. We allowed one set of earrings, one on each ear lobe and symmetrical. We also allowed one ring on each hand over a proximal phalanx and never on the thumb. The staff was not happy and accused me of being stodgy and old fashioned. I blathered on about professional image to deaf ears with multiple piercings.

   The late 1990s brought a new set of challenges: tattoos. These usually started as small heart-shaped tattoos, discretely hidden beneath clothing. This soon erupted into the big tattoos across the lower back. I modified the dress code to allow tattoos as long as they were not visible.

   The tattoo thing worked well until some of the staff started wearing surgical scrubs. When they bent over, the shirt slid up and the big “tramp stamp” became visible to all. That along with thong underwear created quite a show. I worried about some of our older male patients having a stroke.

   We solved the visible tattoo issue with requirement of a long lab coat for the caregivers. I breathed a sigh of relief after negotiating these issues in an atmosphere of workers’ rights and the risk of sexual harassment for mentioning one’s unmentionables.

   The year 2000 did not mess up the computer grid but it was the onset of piercing and facial jewelry. Nothing says non-professional as loud as a nose ring, a tongue stud and the clinking sound of hardware hidden beneath the required clothing. I held an emergency office meeting.

   Up until that point none of my staff had facial jewelry except the two symmetrical earrings. We worked together and modified the dress code once again. No metal was allowed on the face other than in the earlobes.

   This happened just in time for an interview of a new hire. She was bright and friendly, and needed a job desperately. She also had a nose ring, a small diamond embedded on the side of one nostril and a ring through one eyebrow. I suspected there were multiple other pierced and bejeweled areas that would not be a factor.

   I offered her the job and explained our dress code. She said, “You can’t require me to remove these things. This is my identity.” At this point, I worried that if I did not hire her, I would have to hire a lawyer, something I dislike more than pierced nostrils.

   I played her bluff and told her, “At this point, your identity is being unemployed. You have the opportunity to establish a new identity. Take your choice.” She agreed to remove the visible pierce jewelry and came to work. I allowed her to keep the tongue stud as long as there were no patient complaints. That is one piercing that heals over quickly if one removes the stud.

   These issues are not important to some doctors. I have been to some doctors who have employees that resemble poorly assembled erector sets. It takes me a long time to get past the initial impression that nobody cares about the little things.

   Now that I am on the other side of the business, I may go out and have one ear pierced. Maybe I’ll even get a tattoo.

   Dr. McCord retired in December 2008 from practice at the Centralia Medical Center in Centralia, Wash.