Kicked out of work for wearing kilt

[joecool]

It sounds to me like he was just a power-tripping moron looking for an excuse to exert his new-found authority and you were the unfortunate target. If it is possible, get a new job, if it is not, then carry on. If I am ever in your part of Wisconsin, I will wear a kilt into your book store and buy a nice Bible. Lets see him try to talk to me like that, it would be the end of his career at that store! I have to respectfully disagree that you can say whatever you want to your employees (under the dress code policy) as long as it is a private company. Yes, you can set the dress code, but calling an employee's sexuality and gender identity into question is completely irrelevant and inappropriate! Of course you already know that, and you came to us to vent. You have my full support with whatever you decide to do. My advice, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. You are not a private in that Major's army. You are a well respected and valued employee, and you deserve to be treated as such!

[CDNSushi]

Respectfully, I disagree with bigdad on this. The shift manager is the one who broke the chain of command by usurping power from his own superiors. Scotcop did say that the shift manager knew about it ahead of time and yet, he still chose to do what he did.

In fact, the shift manager went out of his WAY to deal with his problem in a passive-aggressive manner. He had ample opportunity to voice his dissatisfaction to either Scotcop OR the higher-up manager BEFORE any of this was scheduled to happen, but chose not to. He chose instead to blow his top at a precisely pre-chosen time and he chose his words in a very calculating way, so that he KNEW Scotcop would be most likely to obey... And equally, he KNEW that the higher-up manager doesn't have much power NOR the chutzpah to discipline him. That is shrewd, calculating, and very much well-planned. It's not just some moron who saw an employee in a kilt and lost his cool. This was a rehearsed, purposeful act of malice.

The obvious problem here, is that the shift manager is an insubordinate fool who has problems with authority (kind of funny given his background) but yet, he obviously feels that he does a better job than higher management in making decisions and enforcing them. If the higher-manager cannot rein him in and keep him on a leash, I would DEFINITELY be at Kinko's printing out some copies of my resumé. This is only a symptom of a much larger problem and I would not want to be around the next time the bully wants to take a chunk out of someone because his bosses are too spineless to put HIM in his place.

How about another bookstore? How about another Christian bookstore? How about another store in the same chain (a transfer)? Just some ideas...

[robthehiker]

I'm sorry this happened to you Scotcop. I wish you the best of luck; whatever you choose to do.

[LANCER1562]

I may have been a "short timer"-4 years U.S. Army. I didn't think of anyone as being SUPERIOR to me only SENIOR. One thing that was stressed from the Commanding General all the way down to the lowest Private was that respect is earned. You have to give it to get it. I think the Major may have forgotten that when he was talking to the OP.

Scotcop said he had gotten permission from the store manager weeks in advance which would have given the shift manager ample oportunity to voice his oposition. He also said that his coworkers knew that he wears a kilt and were okay with it and that they knew he planned to wear the kilt. Isn't the shift manager a co-worker? Did he know that Scotcop wears a kilt and was planing to wear it to work? If so, why didn't he say something sooner instead of waiting until AFTER he had clocked in for his work shift to make him go home to change causing to have to clock out thereby losing time and money.
I presume that because it is a minimum wage job and one has to clock in that it pays by the hour.

In the Major's "military mind", he may have been offended by Scotcop bypassing him in the "chain of command" and going over his head to the store manager. If that's the case, he handled it the wrong way.

If the shift manager's issue was with the fact that Scotcop was not wearing the proscribed "uniform" of "white above the waist and black below" maybe he should have worn a white button down shirt with a black Shadow Tartan kilt and matching tie from SWK.

In any case, this incident should be reported to upper management before he decides to "pull rank" with someone else who won't have the patience of a saint and won't hesitate to tell him where to go and what to do with himself when he gets there.

[O'Callaghan]

In any case, this incident should be reported to upper management before he decides to "pull rank" with someone else who won't have the patience of a saint and won't hesitate to tell him where to go and what to do with himself when he gets there.

This exactly. It's a bad idea to let anything like this slide. I'd act dumb and tell the store manager that I was confused because she said I could wear this outfit and yet Major Blimp sent me home ... and I'd do it without delay. That's all I'd do. It's extremely important that the store manager has a record in case the situation gets worse in future.

As for legal issues, there is in general much less protection for workers in the US than in the old country, whether it be Ireland or the UK. However, I know of at least UK precedent for sexual remarks being taken as sexual harassment even when said by one straight male to another. I wouldn't sue unless I had been fired, though.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.

[Nighthawk]

If the shift manager's issue was with the fact that Scotcop was not wearing the proscribed "uniform" of "white above the waist and black below" maybe he should have worn a white button down shirt with a black Shadow Tartan kilt and matching tie from SWK.

In any case, this incident should be reported to upper management before he decides to "pull rank" with someone else who won't have the patience of a saint and won't hesitate to tell him where to go and what to do with himself when he gets there.

I study Shotokan karate. I was doing kata (kind of like the martial artists equivalent of playing scales) and I got to thinking about this situation. (I know that sounds weird, but doing kata is a meditative thing, and I very passively run all kinds of odd things through my mind when I do it.) I had the the same thought about the matching tie thing. Wear the black tie, and when said supervisor crawls up your posterior, remove the tie, pull a copy of the dress code out of your black leathersporran and give it to him, point out that you are now wearing black below the waist and white above, put the tie away (emphasis on the fact that it's not white), apologize for having been over dressed, and point out that you now are in complete compliance with the dress code. AND- have the Princeton definitions of both KILT and TRANSVESTITE handy and in a printed format, on the same sheet, so that when he utters T word again, you can read him both definitions, clearly illustrating that you are obviously not a cross dresser. (I personally would point out that any idiot can clearly see that I'm not trying to impersonate a woman, but then, I'm so done with putting up with stupid people and have gotten rather blunt in my olde age. That may not be what you want to do... )

[Woodsman]

Wow gone for a day a look what I missed! I don't think I need to add to all the great pieces of advice given here. I just wanted to say that I read through all the comments with keen interest and fully support you. It gives you inner strength and confidence knowing that you are right.

[NewGuise]

As chair of a department that I had thought I knew well, I discovered that bullying is rampant within academia, although it is often disguised as something else (including, alas, academic or intellectual freedom). I started talking about it, and very soon articles on bullying were in circulation not just within my department or faculty but across the institution.

Apologising to bullies can keep the peace but does not solve and can ultimately exacerbate a problem in the workplace. You were in the right, having asked and gained permission even for the apparent dress code violation, you obeyed your immediate superior when he ordered you to change clothes. In sharp contrast, he has violated several codes of conduct, professional and ethical and yes, Christian -something that matters, explictly, in this particular case. He has no right to say what he said to you – not any of it, at least as reported. An apology from you to him would effectively state otherwise, would grant him that right.

So go to your – and his – boss, and explain what happened. Apologise to her, perhaps, for any trouble that this might cause, since you are clearly not the kind of person who deliberately stirs up trouble for anyone (your reaction to your public dressing down confirms that) but be clear that you dressed exactly as expected and approved, and were belittled and insulted for it, and your working relationship with your immediate supervisor is thus in jeopardy. This is a workplace issue, and she is the one who, for better or for worse, needs to deal with it.

If it were up to me, I’d fire him on the spot, and hire you.

[morrison]

Do NOT apologize. Rather, take the offending shift mgr to the permit issuer, present your case illuminating the foul and ask for an apology. In Writing.

. . . the shift manager standing there. He tells me "I have 3 words for you, asinine, idiotic, and unprofessional. This is not Jr. high, this is not show and tell, we are big boys here, and we are here to work, I dont care if it's Irish Day, I don't care if you are a transy, but when you come to work, you will wear this uniform, or you will be released. You have reflected badly on me, my judgment and position, you have embarrassed me and the other employees, and you have reflected badly on the professionalism of this job. If you have any sense of decency and maturity about you will be go home and change into proper attire."...

The shift mgr was WRONG.
The manner of address toward you was utterly inappropriate, the choice of words delivered was purely erroneous, random and betrayed his ignorance. The attitude of delivery was strictly from an ego-centric, self aggrandizing troubled individual, and the atmosphere it created in your workplace was a seriously oppressive provocation.

Hmmm...looks like he failed to learn anything about leadership in the Army. How did a moron like that last 20 years in an honorable profession?

Brian has a cold chisel on that! Dead center.

I had showed the store manager a color photograph of m ensembles, she had picked out the one I wore, I had a white shirt combo in the portfolio.
Yes, the is a Christian bookstore, and its part of a chain.

"The Christian Bookstore" name itself implies maturity in spirit AND intellect when dealing with both the general public and company employed. The shift mgr in his tyranny has diminished the stature of "The Christian Bookstore." He has embarrassed the supervisory capacity of the upper managers while betraying the confidence of the corporation to treat its employees with respect and dignified address in his reprehensible spewing of bigotry and impassioned prejudice toward a person.



ah. . tennn HUT

. . .KILT . . ON

WITH impunity!

[Good Egg]

Cancel my last. Given the circumstances that you have outlined - that a senior manager who gave you permission specifically approved what you were going to wear then I think you should go directly to her and explain what happened. You may wish to give the Major the heads up first.

My letter was predicated on the circumstance where I thought the permission might have been a bit of a 'shifting sand' clearly that is not the case.

In general I do not have problem with a business that wants to have a uniform or dress code, it is part of setting the tone of that business. I could well understand why a business may feel that highland dress is not compatible with the ethos it wishes to project and that some customers may feel that you are not taking the business seriously.

As its been mentioned I'll chip in with my 2p's worth (about 3c at current exchange rates) I do not believe this is really an issue of 'diversity' or discrimination. recently in the UK a women lost her case for discrimination because her employer did not allow her to wear a crucifix on her uniform. Amongst the arguments used in her favour was an attempt to claim some sort of equivalence with Sikhs and their turbans or Muslim women and their head scarves. I believe this is wrong. There is a mainstream religious and cultural imperative on Sikhs not to cut their hair and to wear a turban just as there is on Muslim women to wear a head scarf. Not to allow them to do so, or more realistically to not give them a job because their dress goes against the dress code would be discriminatory against them. On the other hand there is no cultural or religious imperative on Christians to display a crucifix on their clothing just as there is no religious or cultural imperative on us to wear our kilts however much we may personally want to and however much we may be hurt and offended when we are told we can't. That's work.

On the other hand if some one tells me I can't wear highland dress to a social or cultural event they can ram it. If it was a private party I simply would not go (I make exceptions for weddings) or if a 'public' event such as a mess function I simply turn up in my kilt and the nay sayers can go hang. As for teh school prom I agree with the previous writer who said that the school would not dare to discriminate against some one who turned up dressed like an African chief or Chinese Mandarin so I see no reason to tolerate them discriminating against Scots.