Corporate sucks.
For a little bit of context, I work in a restaurant that caters towards the alternative folks. Colored hair, piercings, tattoos, rock music, the whole shebang. We’ve got goths, punks, emos, stoners/hippies— you name it, they work there.
I was hired almost a year ago, and I showed up to my interview with a full face of piercings, goth makeup and weird hair since I was already quite familiar with the vibe that was allowed (for decades, by the way) before corporate decided to hire people who would millennial-ify every single inch of the company’s identity. My manager regretfully informed me this evening that they are wanting us to look like normal people. No modified shirts, covered up tattoos, no piercings, no strange hair or makeup— despite all of us being hired looking the way that we do. None of my coworkers or managers are happy about the change, since they all agree that’s what gives the business character and draws in customers.
They have changed so much within the last couple of years to the point where the business itself is staring to dwindle in profits. It unfortunately isn’t just our location. Our customer base comes to us because of the fact that we differ from the norm. We’ve always been the “cool” restaurant, the spot where the weird kids who don’t fit in can come and feel normal for a while and enjoy some kickass food.
Our appearance has no relation to how well we do our jobs, and we all do them very well. I’m just extremely upset about this whole situation, as is everyone else, and I’m not quite sure what to do about it. I love my job too much to quit. It’s like my little home away from home, and I’d genuinely feel lost without it. I’ve been alternative for as long as I can remember, it’s been my identity since I was a child and I have no plans to change.
I understand some people in the comments will see this post say that it’s not that big of a deal, but when it comes to a restaurant chain that has catered to a specific type of people since the 70’s, it seriously is that big of a deal. I’ll never understand new corporate hires immediately trying to change a business model that has been proven several times to work and acting like they did something good for the company when they’re doing wayyyy more harm than good.