Has Anyone Else Noticed How Grooming Standard Have Changed

[The Night Rider]

In The Security Industry?

When I first started doing security the company I worked for forbade males to wear earrings and they forbade anyone to wear any kind of facial jewelry. Visible tattoos were forbidden, hair had to be a natural color and for males had to be off the collar. For females hair had to be put up.

it seemed to me that the change wasn't gradual. I showed up for work one day and I got a trainee with a beard and he'd been there for quite some time and they were okay with that. I had males showing up on my site for training wearing makeup and earrings. I trained females with purple hair.

I've also had to deal with guards who showed up and it was patently obvious the day had not bathed for a couple of days but I wasn't allowed to send them home for that.

my question is is this a shift in the general culture or are security companies that desperate for Warm Bodies?

[Curtis Baillie]

Yup. I only shave every other day now.

[The Night Rider]

Yup. I only shave every other day now.

Aren't you retired?

[Curtis Baillie]

Yes, that's why every other day.

[Jim1348]

...my question is is this a shift in the general culture or are security companies that desperate for Warm Bodies?

I think the answer to that is:

D) Both a shift in general culture AND security is desperate for warm bodies.

[Condo Guard]

Jim1348 is right. I noticed a gradual change in the 1990s when goatees and small single earrings for men became fashionable. Nowadays everybody from 18 to 80 seems to be sporting ink. The company I worked for in the early 2000s took out the "no tatoos" rule because it weeded out too many good candidates. (One of our best security officers had large arm tattoos - luckily they weren't offensive, so we let it go.)

The desperation for warm bodies has accelerated in the last 2 years, from what I can see. I've seen guards in sandals, crocs and white tennis shoes (ugh!). I've explained to more than one female officer to tuck their hair in their collar or get it cut short so it can't be yanked by the scum we deal with. (I keep my hair short for that very reason.) And I think I mentioned one time the contract guard walking around who was so disheveled looking we thought he was a homeless guy that stole a uniform, until he went back to the store he was posted at.

Bathing should still be required, but I think lack of supervision and low standards is probably the cause.

[The Night Rider]

I ran into a female who was doing security for our apartment wearing a long ponytail.

I suggested that she put it up in a bun, she asked why and I told her "Because if you don't somebody is going to grab it and put you on your ass some night." Her eyes got big as saucers. The next night I saw her and it was in a bun.

[copelandamuffy]

In The Security Industry?

When I first started doing security the company I worked for forbade males to wear earrings and they forbade anyone to wear any kind of facial jewelry. Visible tattoos were F
forbidden, hair had to be a natural color and for males had to be off the collar. For females hair had to be put up.

it seemed to me that the change wasn't gradual. I showed up for work one day and I got a trainee with a beard and he'd been there for quite some time and they were okay with that. I had mails showing up on my site for training wearing makeup and earrings. I train females with purple hair. I've also had to deal with guards who showed up and it was patently obvious the day had not bathed for a couple of days but I wasn't allowed to send them home for that.

my question is is this a shift in the general culture or are security companies that desperate for Warm Bodies?

A Ops Manager at Allied Universal said to me "You look like an unmade bed" I thanked her for being so observant

Me? Think Larry Fine of Three Stooges,
But if you are in need of a Security Guard who works double shifts, 1st, 2nd, 3rd shifts 62 hour work week
Writes informative DARs
MYOB
STFU
Shows up 15 minutes before his shift
Does his Job
Writes notes
Follow's Post Orders

I am your Guy

[Condo Guard]

The pony tail thing should apply to beards - your mountain man beard may be impressive, but seems to me its another thing a perp could grab in a struggle.

One of our guys has blue hair. One guy has needed a hair cut for six months - now I'm just wondering how long it will get before the Director says something. Love the guy that wears the "Super Troopers" '80s mirror sunglasses - terrible looking, but better than the plastic white frame sunglasses he alternates with. (I want t tell him to give those back to whatever 8-year-old lost them.)

Copie is right - some of the little stuff you can let go if the person does the job. I've never been a big one about polished boots (I worked on too many construction sites) - as long as they were clean and not too faded, it was good enough. And I worked for one company that had an 8 point inspection sheet that you were supposed to go through and send guards home if they had more than two negatives. Problem was, we were always short people and the guards were making minimum wage. I had a three point inspection - sober, awake and no jelly donut stains on your shirt - good to go on patrol.

[copelandamuffy]

I am no Hollywood fashion plate But I do wear my uniform, and yes do my job

[Condo Guard]

I also blame the techies and remote workers. People simply have forgotten how to dress for work. The fact that I have to explain to 20 somethings why we wear a uniform in the first place just boggles my mind.

It starts at the top - you let one guy or gal get away with an untucked shirt or wearing the security cap backwards, and pretty soon everyone is just doing their own thing and the majority look like a joke. Like I said in June, there is something seriously wrong in this industry when I have to watch a guard from another company walking around because I can't tell if he's a homeless guy in stolen clothes or not.

[Soper]

I also blame the techies and remote workers. People simply have forgotten how to dress for work. The fact that I have to explain to 20 somethings why we wear a uniform in the first place just boggles my mind.

It starts at the top - you let one guy or gal get away with an untucked shirt or wearing the security cap backwards, and pretty soon everyone is just doing their own thing and the majority look like a joke. Like I said in June, there is something seriously wrong in this industry when I have to watch a guard from another company walking around because I can't tell if he's a homeless guy in stolen clothes or not.

Bazinga!…!

[The Night Rider]

Six months later I'm convinced that most security companies are so desperate for employees they're taking.anyone who can pass the drug test.

FWIW When Colorado legalized marijuana every security company in town quit testing for Marijuana.

[Condo Guard]

I remember the days when you could be disqualified from the Navy if you had tried pot 3 times. Now, I think they just want you to be clean for 3 months.

I've worked for companies that only tested if you got into an accident. The one time it came up, the guard threw his keys at me, yelled, "I quit," and stormed off. He never reported for the test, obviously.

I've also had to remind guards not to "wake and bake," because they come in reeking and it stinks up the locker room.