I am dreading dreadlocks.

[Coppersmith]

I was reading a news article on the CROWN act which prohibits discrimination based on hair styles favored by non-whites. This bill recently passed in the House. I'm against discrimination so I favor of this legislation, but toward the bottom of the article there was a discussion of dreadlocks and I realized this might have a negative effect my business.

When I'm hiring service truck electricians, I have a long list of requirements including that they are neatly groomed (regardless of race). I think poor grooming reflects badly on the company in the eyes of my clients. This does not disqualify people with big beards as long as they are neat. This does not disqualify people with pink hair as long as it is neat. And this does not disqualify people with dreadlocks or any other Black hairstyle as long as it is neat.

The problem is I have seen many instances of gross, nasty dreadlocks. I would not want to hire somebody who looks like they have never brushed their hair and just let it become a giant matted mess. Am I being prejudiced? Do I have a legitimate concern?

 

[Coppersmith]

Just to clarify, not all dreadlocks are nasty IMHO. The small ones look fine. The huge ones usually look bad to me.

 

[Buck Parrish]

I was reading a news article on the CROWN act which prohibits discrimination based on hair styles favored by non-whites. This bill recently passed in the House. I'm against discrimination so I favor of this legislation, but toward the bottom of the article there was a discussion of dreadlocks and I realized this might have a negative effect my business.

When I'm hiring service truck electricians, I have a long list of requirements including that they are neatly groomed (regardless of race). I think poor grooming reflects badly on the company in the eyes of my clients. This does not disqualify people with big beards as long as they are neat. This does not disqualify people with pink hair as long as it is neat. And this does not disqualify people with dreadlocks or any other Black hairstyle as long as it is neat.

The problem is I have seen many instances of gross, nasty dreadlocks. I would not want to hire somebody who looks like they have never brushed their hair and just let it become a giant matted mess. Am I being prejudiced? Do I have a legitimate concern?

I don't think you can brush dreadlocks. I think they do come with a certain stigma. But now a days, probably no different than pink hair.

I was always told long hair can get caught in a drill.

 

[Hv&Lv]

That won’t fly at our company.
I don’t care what color you are, long hair (and real long beards) cannot and will not be tolerated.
There are too many accidents where guys with long hair gets blown into energized power lines or pulled into chippers.

 

[Coppersmith]

guys with long hair gets blown into energized power lines

Is the long hair acting like a sail?

 

[Hv&Lv]

Is the long hair acting like a sail?

Yes. OSHA requires long hair around machinery to be secured, so there’s that.

On a particular windy storm back I believe the late 90s a contractor had a guy repairing lines. His hair was blowing all around and ended up blowing into the energized primary lines while he was putting a tap neutral back up with no gloves on,(stupid, I know)
Electrocuted the worker and burnt his hair off.
Lucky it didn’t kill him, just created a fireball around his head. Still burnt his head pretty bad.

 

[hbiss]

I know a guy who works for an HVAC company who the nicknamed "ZZ" because of his long ZZ Top beard. One day he was clean shaven. Seems they told him to get rid of it because it could get sucked into blower wheels, belt drives, etc.

Now he's working for another company and the beard is back.

-Hal

 

[roger]

One contractor we worked with had a guy get his long hair into a drill motor which promptly wrapped it into the side of his head with a good wallup. Being that it was locked in tangled hair he decided to put it in reverse and ran it out to the end where it wound up in the opposite direction with another wallup to the side of his head.

Roger

 

[winnie]

'Clean and neat' is to some extent subjective. Its going to take some work to overcome personal biases but still have reasonable standards.

Say the employee were female, but had a very 'butch' crew cut. Would you say 'neat and acceptable ' or would you be taken aback by the 'non-normative' grooming?

IMHO there are many situations where long hair is not appropriate or must at least be contained.

IMHO, no matter how hard you try, you will hit corner cases where you are either unfairly 'prejudiced' or where you feel taken advantage of. This isn't a reason not to try; making the world fairer by not focusing on irrelevant personal traits is the right thing to do. Simply recognizing that right isn't always easy.

Jon

 

[zbang]

Well..... my hair is a little shorter than it was 40 years ago, that is, it's only down to my lower back now. It's neat and clean, and sometimes blue, but it's also contained and managed. If someone doesn't want me to work for them because of it, then I probably don't want to work for them, either. OTOH, I've worked in a steel mill, in factories, and in rather conservative offices- all of them for my expertise and experience, not for my looks .

This is also a very subjecting thing- what goes in Boston/NYC/LA/San Francisco may not in Peoria or Waco.

 

[rambojoe]

All anti-race, anti-discrim, profiling legaslation only creates more hate, discrimination and general stupidity.

 

[LarryFine]

Electrocuted the worker . . .
Lucky it didn’t kill him . . .

Well, to be technical, electrocution means death, not shock.

 

[Hv&Lv]

Well, to be technical, electrocution means death, not shock.

Definition of ELECTROCUTE

to kill or severely injure by electric shock; to execute (a criminal) by electricity… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[LarryFine]

Hmmm. Does execute also mean to just beat someone up badly?

 

[Hv&Lv]

Hmmm. Does execute also mean to just beat someone up badly?

I was under the same impression regarding electrocute until it was brought to my attention.
I think the meaning has been changed over the last 40 or so years..

 

[wwhitney]

All anti-race, anti-discrim, profiling legaslation only creates more hate, discrimination and general stupidity.

That makes no sense.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[LarryFine]

I was under the same impression regarding electrocute until it was brought to my attention.
I think the meaning has been changed over the last 40 or so years..

Kinda like the way "myriad" has somehow become a noun?

 

[gadfly56]

Kinda like the way "myriad" has somehow become a noun?

I don't think I've ever heard a linguistic construction where "myriad" was used as a noun. Have you an example?

 

[GoldDigger]

I don't think I've ever heard a linguistic construction where "myriad" was used as a noun. Have you an example?

I see "a myriad of...." fairly often.

 

[LarryFine]

I don't think I've ever heard a linguistic construction where "myriad" was used as a noun. Have you an example?

I see "a myriad of...." fairly often.

What he said.