Imagine a job with a high heel ban!

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FuzzyB

Senior Cook
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
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Location
Surrey
I read the other day that apparently some unions are voting to take a stand against high heels in the workplace!!!!

Apparently they believe women should be made to wear more sensible shoes! We would all look like Miss Trunchbull from Matilda haha!

How wrong is that? Surely it’s a personal choice about what you put on your feet when you go to work? As long as it does not affect your ability to do your job then what right do they have to stick their oar in?

Can you imagine your bosses walking around carrying a tape measure and various other tools to carry out a ‘shoe risk assessment’? I can imagine the following;

“This one is to pointy you may get angry and stab someone at work”

“This one is really high it could make you appear taller than you are”

Etc etc… Hehe! Imagine all of us women in flats 24/7! Don’t get me wrong I probably wear flats more than most (not of the Miss Trunchbull variety) but some outfits need a heel to be complete!

Not to mention confidence – sometime wearing a certain shoe can give you a little extra confidence to do your job effectively! I know its only a shoe – but they make all the difference! I mean Imagine wearing your pyjamas to work!!!!!!


:wacko:
 
I worked at a flooring distributor years ago. I was in the office but had to go in the warehouse frequently and no high heels were allowed in the warehouse.
 
Every company I have ever worked at has had some sort of dress code. Why should shoes be exempt? I am sure that those who are not allowing high heels are doing it for safety reasons probably. It can cost a company a lot of money if someone in high heels breaks a heel and twists an ankle or something similar.

I have worn pajamas to work (on pajama day of course). I don't see why that would affect my confidence.
 
Any physician will tell you that high heels are BAD!!! They put extra strain on your back and knees and cause a host of foot problems. Wearing them once in a while is okay but daily is a health risk. After my knee surgery, I had to give up heels and now wear nothing higher than 1" and have to say that the back aches and foot pain lessened quite a bit. Besides the health considerations, it seems to me that the younger generation has a lot to learn about proper professional dress. Dear Abby and other advice columns have letters all the time about the inappropriate dress of the young women. By banning high heels, maybe the company is working toward a more professional look for their employees.
 
If someone's confidence is based on their shoes, they have other issues to work on!

As an employer, I have had to make rules about footwear when a few folks are too immature to realize that safety HAS to come before fashion at work. I have banned both high heels and open toed shoes in the workplace.

I've also had to take young women aside and discuss appropriate undergarments at work. I have had to repeatedly discuss visible midriffs and exposed undergarments, mostly with young women. I've also had to have discussion about inappropriate pictures/words on tee shirts, mostly with young men. Until some people grow up and understand workplace etiquette, employers have to make rules.

For your information, I own at least 40 pair of high heels myself, but know when to wear them. And I do NOT look like Miss Trunchbull!
 
We have footwear rules both formal and informal at our workplace. The formal rules are "closed toes shoes ONLY in the kitchen" thats OHSA rules. The INFORMAL rule is that you wear sandals elsewhere on site at your own risk. There is always the chance that some heavy footed adolescent will stomp you so you take your chances.

Oh, and Silversage, we enforce a very strict dress code upon our adolescents too. I can't tell you how many times a day I have to send someone back to their room to cover a belly, or a "t-bar" etc. They get ONE chance and then I make them put on a housecoat for the rest of the day. Mean huh?

I think ladies "fashion" these days could use a little make over. Many women think to look fashionable you must also look like a tramp. Thank goodness Stacy and Clinton are out there making sure we can see that fashionable doesn't mean sleazy.
 
Haha I understand where you guys are coming from re young fashion etc... It is very out there at the moment and some of the shoes that are in fashion at the moment scare me they are so high!

I am not the kind that is stuck in high heels every day but would hate it if the opportunity to wear the footwear I wish to wear with any particular outfit was taken away from me :(

Obviously I would not wear 6 inch heels to work (let alone anywhere else, I don't mean extreme heels, they are beyond me), But I love my shoes and honestly do find that it makes all thwe difference to your outfit - and to be honest a nice pair of shoes make all the difference! But maybe I just think that because I LOVE SHOES! They are my next passion after food! I have more than I can wear but I cant help it! Am I weak? LOL!
 
Am I weak? LOL!
No you are not weak. You just need to remember the "there is a time and place for everything" saying. Work is probably not the time or place to be wearing high heels. Saturday night probably is.
 
FuzzyB, I hear you. I have a passion for shoes too. Love 'em. I'm at a point in my life now though that I realize I can look just as professional and put together with a cheap pair of flats from Payless as I can with a Stuart Weitzman and I'm safer too. Unless you work in an office where you don't need to be on your feet too much heels are an impediment. Lovely, but dangerous. Sad but true. Sort of like long hair on your waiter...might look nice but you might get a nasty surprise later. EW.
 
I used to work in an office where the young girls would wear very high heels (you know what those are called:LOL:) to work and take them off and wear slippers (pronounced "slippahs") around the office. Managers let them do it. They'd put them on when they went out to lunch and again to go back home.

And that was a big company. You see their ads on tv.
 
I'm 5'2" and wear flats. I have worn heels, but never really high ones. I like to look nice, but it is hard to look nice when you are grimacing. LOL

A friend of mine was a recess duty person at our kids' elementary school. She was out on that field and blacktop every day with jeans and high spiked heels. Nuts. LOL

:)Barbara
 
I certainly couldn't wear the big heels into work! Forget that - I dont even wear them to go out! I can't walk in them and dont want to walk around like a hunch back all day!

But yeah I see where you guys are coming from with this and perhaps the employer does have the right to tell you what to wear etc.... But there is still an element of me that likes the choice you know! Obviously within reason ;)
 
Well the other option is that you become the boss. Then you can require everyone to wear heels ;)
 
Well the other option is that you become the boss. Then you can require everyone to wear heels ;)

Hmmm now as a way to go this could work lol! It'll take me a few years to get there though!

P.S. Im in my flats today :) Where I work there isn't such an issue, but no one has come in with anything overly unsuitable as yet though.... I would hate to see the day when they do as one person can ruin it for everyone!

We used to be allowed to wear jeans as long as we kept it smart, this person came in wearing scater denim short things and that was it - none of us were allowed to wear jeans agaiN!
 
A fair few places have banned High Heels its nothing new, i used to work in a lot of bars, clubs and restaurants. You'd never be allowed to wear them in that sort of industry as you could do youself and other some serious dmage!
 
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