A reader writes:
Last week I had to journey for work. My boss lives in a single state, I reside in one other, and we met in a main metropolitan space in a third state for 3 days of conferences. On the third day, Thursday, we carpooled from the resort to the airport. We arrived about an hour earlier than my bosses flight however 10 hours earlier than mine.
About two hours into my wait, I used to be on Instagram and a tattoo artist I’ve cherished for years and occurs to be within the metropolis I used to be in for my journey posted that that they had a gap in an hour. I checked and I may Uber there in 20 minutes. The artwork I wished was a small floral piece so I’d be again on the airport about three hours earlier than my flight. I went forward and did it.
A related element: due to the delicate information my firm handles, we’ve got very strict necessities on the forms of work that may be carried out in public and the web connections we use. Other than answering a few straightforward emails through my cellphone, there wasn’t any work I used to be going to do anyway and my boss was okay with me studying, scrolling the web, or in any other case doing nothing to kill the time within the airport. I additionally didn’t expense my Uber prices to my firm.
The subsequent day on a convention name, my boss observed a recent tattoo on my forearm and requested about it as a result of it clearly wasn’t there when he noticed me simply 24 hours prior. At this level, his tone was fairly pleasant and extra like “there’s no way I missed that, right?” I informed him the chain of occasions that led to me getting the tattoo the day prior. He seemed mad informed me it was unprofessional. I apologized, principally out of shock as a result of I didn’t know the way else to reply, after which he informed me I needs to be glad I didn’t get written up.
It’s been a week and he’s nonetheless pissed (truthfully it’s the most effective phrase to describe it) at my “flagrant unprofessionalism” (his phrasing).
It’s not that dramatic, proper? I get that it’s a bit odd and I’ve no plans of creating “I got a tattoo on a work trip” my go-to dialog starter, however his response appears excessive.
One coworker who witnessed it thought it is likely to be a case of him ensuring a youthful newer worker wasn’t ignoring skilled norms however I’m unsure what norms I ignored and whereas I’m newer to the corporate (nearly one 12 months in) I’m not new to the workforce. I’m in my mid-30s and the boss in query is solely a few years older than me. A buddy thought perhaps it had much less to do with “tattoo on a work trip” and extra to do with “tattoo on a woman” which might be on-brand for this particular person and his extra … conventional … views.
I’ll say he hasn’t introduced it up since and our interactions have been utterly nice so perhaps he had a dangerous day?
Yeah, this is ridiculous!
Your boss’s response is solely out-of-line.
What you do in your personal time when you’re touring for work is none of your employer’s enterprise so long as it’s not going to have an effect on them ultimately (like if you happen to bought so hungover you couldn’t focus on work the subsequent day, or instigated a battle with a native competitor). Getting a tattoo on your personal time shouldn’t even register.
Your boss may not like tattoos, however that’s not in any means related to what he does and doesn’t have standing to intervene on as your supervisor. There are all types of belongings you would possibly do on your personal time whereas touring that you just may not approve of however which aren’t any of his enterprise: playing, sleeping with a stranger, consuming a sandwich that was left in your automotive all day, watching hours of trashy TV in your resort room at evening, and on and on. None of these give him any standing to threaten you with skilled self-discipline.
If he brings it up once more … nicely, in idea, you have to be ready to say, “Can you explain how me getting a tattoo at a time when I wasn’t expected to be working has anything to do with my professionalism?” … however whether or not or not it is sensible to hassle moving into it with him relies upon on (a) the remainder of your relationship with him and what you recognize about how he responds when challenged, (b) what different battles you would possibly want to save capital for, and (c) your sense of how a lot it will actually matter a month from now. If it’s going to have actual penalties for you (like if he truly tried to write you up for it, which might be absurd), you’d want to handle it extra head-on (which may embrace looping in HR, who presumably/hopefully would shut him down, particularly if you happen to can argue it’s gender-based), however in any other case you is likely to be higher off simply internally rolling your eyes and letting it go.
