Good Afternoon All,
I would like to add to what Heather has said about 18th century
manners.....I believe it was Ben Franklin (who was actually an 18th
century "bad boy")who said, something like, "....we eat to please
ourselves and we dress to please others..."  Not bad advice for the 21st
century....
Come to think of it, Ben Franklin's advice should be the basis for a
museum dress code.  Now let's get back to work, preserving the past and
learning from it.......and hopefully teaching someone something about
what it all means...sigh!
Best Wishes,
Wesley
Wesley S. Creel
Administrator of Programs
Pink Palace Family of Museums
Memphis, Tennessee
USA
www.memphismuseums.org


 -----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Heather Yager
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 12:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: comment on today's youth - ot

Well, to be quite fair, everyone is out of line nowadays.  If I recall
correctly from _Museums in Motion_, patrons could not even enter the
Louvre in its first years without full formal dress on, including a
powdered wig and sword (this was the requirement of most of the first
public museums).

Ah, how I reminisce on those golden days, and wonder to what our
society is coming now that youth deign to enter the hallowed halls of
museums and Kinko's stores with piercings and tattoed skin...  I
uphold the virtues of yesteryear and never leave home without my
sword.

I have even heard that some women are wearing pants to work these days.

In utmost respectful sincerity,
A tattooed and pierced library student.

On 10/3/06, Leah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm going to weigh in here, because the subject is near and dear to my
> heart, as a pierced person, and also as a younger person just
beginning
> my career and hoping to stay pierced as I move through it.
>
> in regards to the quality of service of the Kinko's employee, the
first
> thing that popped into my mind is, how much is this girl, or any
> employee there, getting paid? Probably not that much. Also, chances
> are, the girl who waited on you did not have anything to do with the
> mistake in your order. My guess is someone who worked the night before
> messed up and she was finishing the transaction.
>
> Yes, we are judged. Everyday. But that doesn't give us the right to
> form opinions about someone's character or quality because of the way
> they look. In that sense, judging a person by the way their hair is
> cut, the piercings they have, or what they wear, is akin, in a small
> way, to judging a person by the color of their skin. It is a judgment
> and an assessment of them as a human based on the way they look.
>
> I agree that we, as professionals, and usually as humans, are judged
by
> the way that we look, how we talk, our grammar, all of that. But that
> doesn't make it right and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't struggle
to
> not judge people by the way they look.
>
> I think that this is a really grey area, and one that we could argue
> over and over. But what makes something appropriate? Just because you
> work in an office downtown, does that mean you should dress in a suit?
> Convention says yes, but who is to say that convention is right?
>
> The thing I try to remember about those blessed people who work in the
> service industry, is that they work hard for, usually, less than
> optimal pay.
> I try to remember that they might have had a hard day, or just dealt
> with a difficult customer. I'm not saying that you should be happy
with
> substandard service, with your picture or the girl's attitude.  But,
in
> my opinion,  stereotyping her as 'goth girl' and taking issue with her
> appearance was inappropriate and probably had nothing to do with the
> quality of service.
>
> Just my opinion,
> leah durand
>
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