SAK= Workplace Violence

[Monrogue]

My work does have dress codes and hair neatness rules, although nothing has been said about my increasingly long beard yet   I'm not aware of any rules regarding knives though.

[captain spaulding]

The whole facial hair thing at work bugs the crap out of me. Facial hair is as old as the human race. Who are they to tell me to shave it off. Its not like I can control if I grow facial hair or not.  On the same note I applied for a job quite a few years back. The interview went great and they told me I had the job, but had to shave off my "very clean shaven" goatee. I looked at the woman working the cash register that had a huge tattoo on her chest and was wearing a low cut shirt to show it off. I told him that I refuse to cut it and why is my facial hair unacceptable and tattoos are just fine. Tattoos are a choice, my facial hair is not.  yes I lost a job opportunity over facial hair. Some might see this as a dumb move, but I guess i'm just stubborn. When certain things don't add up to me I refuse to comply.

It just makes you think, what if there was a woman with facial hair (as some have). Thick mustache coming in. I highly doubt they would make her shave it or even attempt to mutter a word about it since its a woman. Kinda smurfed up in my opinion. 


Just as a side not. I have no problem with tattoos at all its just the principle of the thing. The only reason I see a business to have a facial hair policy is in the food industry. As for the looking professional thing who is to judge me. Why is it that facial hair is unprofessional.  jesus had a beard. 

[Aloha]

I was also told to shave quite a few years ago and I too refused,  heck with that noise.  I can be quite stubborn when it doesn't add up as well though I have mellowed a bit.  I do understand policy and I get that companies can dictate what is accepatble by the people who choose to work for them.  This is precisely why I chose to become self employed.  My clients only care about the job I do for them and that I am honest and hard working and clean.   

[Cogito]

The OP's situation is like Dilbert

[nmpops]

I tend to agree on most issues but i would have strongly objected to the pictures of any commonly carried knife being portrayed as a weapon. They are tools first and foremost. On the other hand at least they they didn't ban them all together.

On the issue of facial hair, having IS A CHOICE. You can choose to let it grow or to shave.  Many unions have pushed this issue and now in places you see cops in uniform with beards. Sorry but it looks like crap, very unprofessional. Since about 2005 my old department will not hire new employees with tatoos that will not be covered while in normal uniform.  Reasonable or not, they have that power.

[Monrogue]

My work will allow tattoos as long as they're covered.  I have none to worry about anyway, just the beard.  I actually had long hair when I went to get the application many years ago, and I was told by a couple people I knew there that I'd have to cut it in order to stand a chance.  I wasn't pleased with that, but I needed the job badly enough that I did it.  Glad I did because it's worked out nicely.  As for my beard, I'm curious how long it will get before someone says something.  I'm not sure I should push it to that point, but I wouldn't get in trouble, I'd just be told I need to trim it at the least.  I really think it's longer than the rules allow, but it may also be my position that gives me some slack with it.  I don't deal with the public or anyone that would have any reason to think it mattered.  I honestly would find visible tattoos to be more unprofessional looking than facial hair anyway. 

More on topic:  a SAK is nowhere near a weapon, and I certainly wouldn't use the blade to attempt to stab someone or anything like that.  I think I'm in a fairly professional setting where violence wouldn't likely take place among employees unless someone "snapped" or something like that, but then it's on as far as I'm concerned, and you should be able to defend yourself with whatever you find handy to use.  Still wouldn't be a SAK, but likely whatever object was within reach, like a printer or stapler

[captain spaulding]

On the issue of facial hair, having IS A CHOICE. You can choose to let it grow or to shave.  Many unions have pushed this issue and now in places you see cops in uniform with beards. Sorry but it looks like crap, very unprofessional. Since about 2005 my old department will not hire new employees with tatoos that will not be covered while in normal uniform.  Reasonable or not, they have that power.

I never said I have no choice, I said "who are they to tell me to shave it off. It's not like I can control if I grow facial hair or not." Obviously I can shave if I like and I do keep a clean goatee most of the time, but if I want to let it grow out no one should be offended. Its perfectly natural to have a beard. On top of that if I shave each day my neck gets very irritated and I get very bad razor burn all over my neck. Does a severely red, bumpy, razor burned neck look professional? I understand there are certain perceptions on what is "un-professional" but I don't agree that having a beard as one of them. Being professional (in the workplace) is how you do your job, not how much hair you have on your face. Sure the company you work for has the power to tell you what is acceptable or not concerning your appearance, but the workers have the ultimate power, the choice to work for them or not! Not everyone is alright with being told what is "acceptable."


It may sound like i'm yelling this at you, but it is hard to state your mind through text (for me) without sounding like your yelling at someone. I'm not mad in any way i'm just letting you know how I feel about it. 

[ironraven]

I... I can't respond appropriately to this. It just makes me angry. As angry as people suggesting I cut off my beard. Like drunken dwarf realizing he just got pranked by a bunch of elves angry. Where's my axe....

[derekmac]

I'm lucky where I work.  I can wear just about whatever I want (except shorts), have a beard (unless I was on the spill response team), have visible tattoos, carry and use any legal knife that I choose.  The only reason that someone on the spill response team can't have a beard is that you need to have the mask fit tight to your face, which is completely understandable.

Also, if I am working in a production hangar, I can't use my MT or knife on the hangar floor as it's not included in the tool control.  This is just a safety concern for the aircraft, so I have no problem abiding by it.  If I were to use it, set it down and someone else found it, it would spark a major flight safety investigation.

I don't think a SAK should be banned anywheres.  It's a tool know all around the world, carried by probably millions of people everyday.  It is far from a weapon, and if you tried to use it as such, you'd probably hurt yourself more than the person you were attacking.

[Steinar]

I was told that perhaps I should shave off my beard and cut my long hair before the interview to my current position. I didn't. I got the job anyway. I was told afterwards by one of the guys doing the interviews that my appearance was part of why I got the job. They wanted people who could accept a certain degree of "weirdness", and my slightly non-conformist looks worked in my favour.

Getting a job should be about finding the right fit between employee and company, and culture is a huge part of that. In a perfect, la-di-da world we could all simply be ourselves and it would work itself out. Those of us with beards and multitools would work in places where stuff like that was either ignored or encouraged, and bori... other people would work the other places.

[Aloha]

I have seen a reSURGEence of bearded men lately.  The goatee has been a staple but I've seen a lot of younger men sporting full on lumberjack type beards.  My contact at a commercial site has a ZZ Top beard and last year when he cut it almost completely off his employer was bummed.  He said he cut it cause his wife actually didn't care for it so long.  He's now back to a full ZZ Top beard and a totally bald head.  I do believe there are some positions where beards or long hair just dont fit the "uniform". 

  Knives unfortunately will be seen as weapons unless the holder is a chef or person where knives are regularly used in that profession.  They sure do become a tool quickly when non knife folks need one though huh?  I've been there, at a park and some mom needs to cut something and her keys just aren't working.  I've been at a local home improvement store and a guy ties up his load with the stores provided twine and then needs to cut it free cause its not secure enough.  Man I wish I could grow out a ZZ Top beard.             

[Jothra]

I've also been in workplaces in which shaving for the interview was suggested, but after hiring no-one cared about whether or not I grew full-on Viking Beard.

As for multitools, no-one has ever called me out on a Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman. Not even in schools. Mind you, I try not to fiddle needlessly with them during work time.

[pfrsantos]

If you don't show off your blades and only use them when someone needs help, you'll find they're more willing to let you have them (just in case someone needs to use them again).
 

Just a quick note: I don't lend my knives/tools. If people need something, I do it for them instead. This has two advantages: they don't abuse/ruin my tools and they don't hurt themselves.
 

[PTRSAK]

It's the hypocrisy of it that bugs me. I had someone give me the "WMD" look for a Rambler when sitting on their desk was a "document spike" 6 inches long. 
Can you say SHANK?



p.s.  name that movie...

[Steinar]

The Meaning of Life (Monty Python)?

As for hypocrisy: Security theatre, anyone? 

[Toolslinger]

Man I wish I could grow out a ZZ Top beard.             

Me too .

[gorbag]

My current (soon not to be as I leave for better pastures) place of employment has a knife policy similar to the OP.  I think the slide was even the same.  But, as a cook, my job description allows me pointy bits. So I get to carry a bag of pointy bits, as well as have pointy bits upon my person.  It rules.

 I'm the only one in the kitchen who carries a multi tool, and consequently am the only one who can fix his own problems without calling maintenance.  I got a funny look when I first started there, but that changed when I fixed the meat slicer while they waited for maintenance to finish watching Jeopardy.

The world belongs to the funkiest.

[Bensasupertool]

Modified shotgun shells with knock off SAK's

That is violent.

 

[captain spaulding]

That poor shotgun barrel. 


I guess theres no rifling in it so it wont really affect future rounds though, but still. 

[Steinar]

That poor shotgun barrel. 


I guess theres no rifling in it so it wont really affect future rounds though, but still. 

Oh, I'm quite sure all the components were too soft to cause any damage.

[pfrsantos]

In Portugal it was usual for hunters of wild boars to use zagalotes. Those are shotgun shells filled with shrapnel instead of round lead. I believe their use is now forbidden.

[Sneider]

I have never heard of the company in Switzerland instructions in this art adopted. OK, running around in an office building with the machete is not elegant, but as pocket tools such as SAC to ban ... that's sick.

If we lose the healthy human mind? 

[captain spaulding]

That poor shotgun barrel. 


I guess theres no rifling in it so it wont really affect future rounds though, but still. 

Oh, I'm quite sure all the components were too soft to cause any damage.

Your probably right. 

[PTRSAK]

Just when you think the madness can't get any worse...

[Subterranean]

That's a joke, right?

[Aloha]

 

[captain spaulding]

Double 

[Sneider]

Please tell the that's a joke 
triple 

[Toolslinger]

 

Yup, the world is going to heck in a hand basket.

[Cogito]

My former employer had workplace violence awareness training. And one of the slides was this:
 
(Image removed from quote.)


 
The policy states, “Employees whose job duties do not require the use of knives or blades are prohibited to possessing or carrying any blade exceeding 3 inches”
 



And we all know that SAK blades are under 3” and should be fine, but the “deadly weapon” pictured is a SAK (albeit a knockoff sak).
 
So this could lead to all sorts of confusion.  For the average person, pictures mean more than words. People see the picture and think knives that look like SAKs are bad. If you deploy a SwissChamp to clear a clogged printer or stapler, your manager will haul you to HR for having a deadly weapon. You’ll be able to straighten things out, but the worst thing you could do for your career in the corporate world is prove that your manager was wrong.
 
The lesson: keep your SAK in your pocket.

I think this means they want you to carry a Leatherman, Gerber or a Sog instead