Quite a long time ago, I was working in my career and I got it into my head I wanted a small tattoo. I thought a lot about what it would look like, and had some cute ideas,.. So I decided upon a small spider. Nice and simple.
Well a tattoo is a commitment, so that summer on vacation in the 1000 islands, I got a temporary tattoo of a spider put on in one of the gift shops. Right on my left wrist.
The next work day I was at the coffee pot, and a co-worker remarked… “Stephen, I didn’t think you were that kind of person!”
Basically people got judgy in a corporate environment about a simple little visible tattoo.
So I gave up the idea.
What I found in my life is people treat you very differently based on the appearance you present. Especially in a corporation.
For instance, I was computer science/researcher my whole carrier, so I basically wore jeans, sneakers, and sometimes a nice shirt, sometimes a t-shirt. As I walked the halls I was pretty invisible except to people who I worked directly with, who’d say hi to me.
Well one day I decided to try something. Wear a button shirt and a tie. I did that for a few days and found that now as I walked in the halls, managers who never acknowledged me before would say “Hi, hows it going?” as they walked by.
Once the experiment was over I went back to my normal attire.
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