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Have the earring rules relaxed in your work environment?

MMtwo

MMtwo

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 20, 2009
Messages
5,022
Years ago (almost 30 years, time flies) I worked in a bank. The professional dress handbook required earrings the size of a dime or smaller.
So much time has passed. I occasionally grab dangles to wear to work, but usually return them to the holder because of the old rules on professional dress.

What type of earrings do you wear to the office?
 
When i went to work in 1990 i wore a uniform
As an 18 year old i viewd my earings as my only form of self expression i could get away with
I worked for a regional corporate but in their retail shop, not the office or out in the feild

A few years latter i joined the army reserve
we learnt to bend the rules on earings as females were allowed one plain stud in each ear - to blue studs to match our beret

As i got older i went back to smaller earings that couldn't get ripped out as easy as i ended up in hardwear
Shop keeping can be quite physical

I do wonder what it would be like to work in an office and be clean and warm and wear nice shoes and good clothes
Id wear my pearls


But anyway there is nothing worse than a coworker asking you where is your other earing ? :(2 becauae you have lost another one
 
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Technically the NYC school system has no dress code for employees. Just that clothing is "safe". I've worked in city buildings for 12 years and have had admins with head tattoos I personally have plenty of earrings and my nose pierced. My dress code at Macy's was more strict by far.
 
I worked in controlled environment where make up and jewellery were not allowed except for one wedding band with no stone.

Some would permit a plain pair of earrings with no stones, often sleepers as studs and backs were at higher risk of falling out.

Some even specified the minimum heal size, and stilettoes were not allowed in case they damaged the floors.

I could wear anything in the office as long as I was prepared to take them off.

However I wore minimal jewellery when I was in a junior role and had to go into the controlled environment frequently.

As I progressed up the corporate food chain, I spent more time in the office, and would wear more jewellery like a watch, one ring on each hand, non dangling bracelets, a pearl necklace and a pair of fancier studs.

DK :))
 
dk168 said:
I worked in controlled environment where make up and jewellery were not allowed except for one wedding band with no stone.

Some would permit a plain pair of earrings with no stones, often sleepers as studs and backs were at higher risk of falling out.

Some even specified the minimum heal size, and stilettoes were not allowed in case they damaged the floors.

I could wear anything in the office as long as I was prepared to take them off.

However I wore minimal jewellery when I was in a junior role and had to go into the controlled environment frequently.

As I progressed up the corporate food chain, I spent more time in the office, and would wear more jewellery like a watch, one ring on each hand, non dangling bracelets, a pearl necklace and a pair of fancier studs.

DK :))
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Oh my - i have seen the damage stilettos do to polished floors, and im sure those employee's legs were greatful for the ban

I tried wearing braclets at work when i spent 3 years in a more admin focused role
one night on close i shut my braclete in the till - with me still attached !
I did have a bit of a panic

Ive lost too many nice bracelets over the years - both cheap and exspensive but always loved and sorely missed

When i worked in a garden centre my older (my age now) workmate lost a beautiful wide gold braclete that was her mother's
We were doing renovations the next week so between that and stock take we should have found it - we think it must have slipped off her wrist as she put someone's shrub in their car :(2
 
I work at a very casual work environment, it is basically "casual Friday" every day of the week. I don't think we have any rules when it comes to jewelry, and like Asscherhalo_lover, we have a few employees with head to toe tattoos, so jewelry largely gets unnoticed.
 
HI:

I am lucky if I wear 2mm studs.

cheers--Sharon
 
I felt quite quietly upset at my leaving present from one workplace
They usually brought ladies earings but my lady owner said she didn't with me because i never wore jewlery
she got me white serving plates instrad because i cooked

i cook because we eat

i absolutly detest white serving plates
my sister in law swapped me for some gold earings i just found out were only plated

I never wore jewlery at that hardwear shop because it was old and a death trap and i am kind of attached to my ear lobs and didn't want to get them ripped and then die of the infection from 100 years of dirt and dust (we had a saw sharpener on site)

It was ok for her and the other ladies sitting in a nice warm office all day to come to work every day in their finery, i did wear a hair clip
 
I've worked at home for a long time so hard for me to even answer it. I mean, my work uniform is tshirt, yoga pants, flipflops (with socks if its cold) To keep it easy I wear my diamond studs all the time including when I travel to DC. When I travel, I DO have to look professional as I go from the plane into meetings for the day. THey beat the hell out of me with all the meetings the time I'm there. Still wear studs as they're easy and most don't even see them anyway...lol (mine are not really that big 5-6mm?)
 
I wear studs all the time. Diamond, gold ball or pearl.
 
In my working days a lot of my career was client facing or phone work with elderly clients (worked in a Investment Finance).
Our rules were Office wear, not party wear. So no mini dresses, no spaghetti string tops, no plunging necklines etc. We did encourage anyone with tattoos to cover them up and certainly weird piercings were not appreciated. I actually had to not employ someone due to their tongue piercing. The problem was their speech. When you are dealing over the phone with elderly people (hard of hearing) it’s not helpful if the tongue piercing makes their voice too difficult to understand.
My Juniors were my nightmare.
Had Nancy come into the Office straight from her previous night out. Still half drunk, wearing what could only be described as “one third of a dress”, carrying her shoes and her hair and makeup looking “eek”. Had to send her home. Another wore Hoop earrings the size of dinner plates. I told her they were likely to catch on something so please don’t wear them to the office. Another one wore a tight skirt, it was like a shiny black plastic number (looking very B & D), another wore leggings, just the leggings with a T shirt top. Another one who hadn’t gone home to change from the previous nights activities!
Those were the days!
 
I worked for Neiman Marcus briefly (very) and learned a lot, both through formal training combined with access to beautiful things at a discount, and through unspoken rules. The lesson I took with me was never wearing better fine jewellery than my superiors did. That’s served me well.

In my most recent work (now on hold due to Covid) I wore an earpiece for walkie-talkie radio. Pearl studs worked well to convey a certain level of polish, and were generally unimpeachable.
 
I remember the fashion earrings of the 80's and 90's and completely understand why there would be a dress code rule for a professional environment, lol. Remember those rubber balls with spikes on them...all kinds of neon colors?
i have not worked in a corporate environment but now I am curious if DH's dresscode covers jewelry. he's never had to worry about it as he only wears a wedding ring. If he is on the manufacturing floor near equipment he can slip it off.
 
Bible belt/southern Indiana, mid 1990s: no one gave a rip about jewelry. But we couldn't wear pants unless we had on a jacket/blazer that came down over our hips so no one could see our ass in pants. Another place I worked was similar; you could wear any type or size jewelry but you had to wear a skirt with a hem at the knee or longer and pantyhose and close-toed shoes. Just absolute gag. This was in retail. I managed, but still spent time out on the sales floor.
 
I’ve never worked in an office that had rules about earrings, not even at a small law firm.
 
monarch64 said:
Bible belt/southern Indiana, mid 1990s: no one gave a rip about jewelry. But we couldn't wear pants unless we had on a jacket/blazer that came down over our hips so no one could see our ass in pants. Another place I worked was similar; you could wear any type or size jewelry but you had to wear a skirt with a hem at the knee or longer and pantyhose and close-toed shoes. Just absolute gag. This was in retail. I managed, but still spent time out on the sales floor.
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I still remember the day i came to work in really nice dressy pants back in 1990
an older co-worker informed me our dept manager didn't like to see woman in trousers
What a load of BS !
 
Telco worker here based in a relatively informal regional office frequently visiting a more formal head office. I'm a technical/development manager in our engineering section. The dress codes aren't strict but they're still there and tacitly observed.
If I'm in my home office, I'll usually be in jeans, a professional-looking top, nice shoes, nothing too fancy, dresses occasionally if I just can't bear wearing jeans.
Jewellery is anything - I wear studs because that's what I have but am planning to get them remade into a dangling collet set. I have facial piercings and have had the entire time I've worked here (17+ years). I never wear a bracelet because it annoys me to have it banging as I type.
Never too dressed up or corporate in this office because I'm the only one from my department and most everyone else is networks or sales. Since I'm not sales, I tend towards the networks dress code but not as casual as the real engineers.
When I'm in head office, I'll tend to wear nicer tops and shoes or dresses because there even the technical managers dress more corporately and I'm primarily there to be in meetings as a manager. But not so much in suits because that's exec-wear and would get some comment from my peers.
Working from home 3-5 days a week, I am living in yoga pants and jumpers. All our company had to work from home fulltime over our lockdown and even now that we can go back into office, most people stay working from home a few days a week. I've noticed that the in-office dress code has relaxed a bit now, I think as a result. It'll be really interesting to see if it stays like this or returns to the previous one.
 
Wearing a uniform my entire working life sure took the guesswork out of appropriate dress
 
@Daisys and Diamonds

Hi Daisy & Diamonds,

Your responses are always so enjoyable. I work in an office now, but before my second office career, I worked retail in a hardware store. I don't even remember earrings on my radar back then - I always have loved jewelry, but cannot remember anything I wore in my ears. Dress was jeans and some sort of plain top that I wouldn't mind ruining. Sounds like we had some similar environments.

I worked in a manufacturing environment spot welding car parts, and sometimes bending and extruding metal. I wore steel toed shoes and came home covered in black grease. No earrings there either. Those years are so long ago and a blur now. But did I even have earrings back then? Nothing fine worth remembering if I did. My focus was on work and kids.

I was one of about 20 hired based on engineering aptitude tests in a wide cattle call of applicants - the idea was to hire the highest aptitude on paper, and train proficiency with tools. the money was great, but working conditions were rough. Long story short, the crew I hired in with has the most unfortunate injuries. One man had an arm ripped open by a robot pipe bender, a woman had her hand crushed in a press, and the worst was a man working a few feet away that had two fingers severed into a muffler. I had a cage drop 2 feet from my head.

Ha, another funny part of the job was working shoulder to shoulder with gruff old blue collar men who would chew tobacco and spit the juice up the ventilation hood. So, the ventilation did not work well for removing the welding fumes. It was a spittoon. I wonder if that ever changed. Our little experimental group felt cursed. It was a little too dangerous, so I left. A month later I developed carpal tunnel and my manufacturing days were kaput forever. This was 30 years ago.

Not long after playing Rosie the Riveter, I started at a bank as a customer service rep. and clothes mattered. Shoes mattered (not that my unfortunate feet were made for pretty shoes) and jewelry mattered...in appropriate sizes. I missed the less formal jobs where I could get my hands dirty and solve problems in mechanical ways :) Life at a desk can be rather boring.


@Asscherhalo_lover

NYC gives leeway for artistic expression. It's nice that you don't have to worry with a hard dress code. Department stores can have a high bar, which is challenging, because the pay for a floor person does not really afford a fine wardrobe. Those discounts could be nice though.


@dk168
Hi DK, this reminds me of my daughter who works in pharmaceutical manufacturing and occasionally visits a clean room environment. So, it's no polish, sometimes no earrings or rings for her.

A pearl necklace and studs is one of my favorite choices. Pearls always look beautiful.They are one type of jewelry that a woman wears, but always highlights the lady wearing them.

@Daisys and Diamonds
Oh dear...hands caught in the til. Hopefully you were able to extract yourself without too much fuss.
Your workmate must have been sick to lose her Mother's bracelet.

The boss that didn't think you liked jewelry, that's really sad. And to think you're here on PS telling this story! Too bad that lady didn't just ASK you if you might like the jewelry or something else.

@jaysonsmom
So nice. Do you find though, that you don't wear super flashy stuff because it doesnt fit with super casual, or do you just wear as your heart desires?

@canuk-gal
2mm studs are sooo tiny. Is it a work environment thing, or a personal preference?

@Arcadian
I'm a home worker part time, so today will be shorts and a decent top so if I have to jump on Zoom, I'm ready to go. Studs are always good and I tend to live in mine too. I just cut my hair short though, so now my ears are visible again and I'm considering a branching out.

@Missie1
You're always well dressed with a stud.

@Bron357
It sounds like a sitcom. I never did "get" the tongue ring for that reason. It sounds terrible. Your juniors hopefully grew out of clubwear at the office. I worked with one a few years ago that wore stripper stilettos to a casual work environment. The boss never said anything, but it looked so off at a homeless shelter as a social worker.

We would also have to ask the college interns not to wear crop tops and cut offs.

@PreRaphaelite
"The lesson I took with me was never wearing better fine jewellery than my superiors did. That’s served me well." That is an excellent lesson.
Pearls are unimpeachable. That is a perfect word for pearls :) They always look beautiful.

@1ofakind
HA! Yes, I remember all the crazy jewelry, the bra outside the shirt (Madonna wear) big drop earrings with balls that dusted the shoulders. I can see why maybe it was good to have it written down.
When I worked in manufacturing, the big deal was preventing accidents with machinery. I think for that job, minimal jewelry was requested (nothing that could get caught).
 
When I was working there was no dress code per se. We were not allowed to wear open toe sandals but that was the only requirement. I enjoyed wearing my antique dangle earrings to work.

Now with the mask wearing at first I eschewed wearing my earrings but now I have the "hang" (haha) of it and I wear my dangles with my mask. No problem.
 
Depends on my work environment (industry). There are some where absolutely no jewellery, not even wedding band. Some will allow pretty much anything.
 
Working on a military base as a civilian we cannot wear flip flops or sandals, skirts should be no shorter than above the knee, jewelry is ok unless your in a manufacturing type job. No sundresses or spaghetti straps. Leggings are ok but blouse must cover your butt if wearing them.
When I was instructing I wore slacks or a skirt, blouse and pumps. I left the pumps many years ago after foot surgery so now it's slacks and a blouse and comfy shoes. Fridays we are allowed to wear jeans (no rips, tears or cut off bottoms)
 
missy said:
When I was working there was no dress code per se. We were not allowed to wear open toe sandals but that was the only requirement. I enjoyed wearing my antique dangle earrings to work.

Now with the mask wearing at first I eschewed wearing my earrings but now I have the "hang" (haha) of it and I wear my dangles with my mask. No problem.
Click to expand...

Sorry I’m quoting my post lol but if you make the photo larger you can see I’m still enjoying my antique dangles. Despite both mask and shield. Not gonna let that stop me.

7D40BEE3-179C-415C-946D-3BCACA53830D.jpeg
 
@monarch64
Ugh, I remember those sort of dress codes. I look back and can't imagine why the dreaded "pants" were so threatening. We all have butts. In my cause it looks better in a longer shirt covering it, but hey, I know what works and it's my butt to dress.

And pantyhose, does anyone wear them anymore? I wonder if they are still required.

@JPie
Since you mentioned never having a dress code, I wonder if you might be a little younger. It seems they have loosened up some of the picky dress rules. I'm 55, by the way.


work calls, more replies in a bit.
 
@moneymeister that's where I worked, in pharmaceutical and food manufacturing facilities, now in supply chain logistics.

DK :))
 
@moneymeister I’m in my 30s, but I have had dress codes. I don’t remember them including earrings, and if they did they were never enforced! It likely has to do with the fact that I’ve spent most of my career in the retail industry, corporate side.
 
JPie said:
I’ve never worked in an office that had rules about earrings, not even at a small law firm.
Click to expand...

Same. All my professional work is law firm. I started in a small firm and now work for a firm that is one of the biggest in my state and have for going on 8 years. No rules for jewelry. Now there are rules for clothing and shoes, as well as what you can put in the microwave and office decor, but no rules for jewelry.

Generally speaking though, nobody wears crazy jewelry.
 
elizat said:
Same. All my professional work is law firm. I started in a small firm and now work for a firm that is one of the biggest in my state and have for going on 8 years. No rules for jewelry. Now there are rules for clothing and shoes, as well as what you can put in the microwave and office decor, but no rules for jewelry.

Generally speaking though, nobody wears crazy jewelry.
Click to expand...

What you can put in the microwave?????
 
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