What's your opinion on displaying hickeys?

Question

A woman at work always has hickeys all over her neck. She got a divorce 6 mos ago and when she was married she was always covered in hickeys and now that she's single and dating she still has hickeys everywhere. Co-workers are always making comments to her and tell her that it looks really bad and unprofessional but she tells people to mind their own business.
Is it their business since, as an employee, she's representing the company, or should they mind their business?

Thanks all of you for your input!
Incidently, she DID get fired just a couple of days after I posted this question (but management didn't site the hickeys).
And FYI - she worked for a convalescent center that belongs to several orders of Catholic Sisters (seriously!) but i didn't want that to have any influence on your answers. Besides, does it really matter? She should present herself with more self-respect no matter where she works.
I agreed with almost all of you, so you guys pick the best answer!
Thank you!!!

Answer 1

i think she is being very unprofessional. no one wants to know what she was up to the night before. i think her behavior definetly reflects on the company and she is embarassing herself. a lady has much more class than that. she's behaving like a tramp.

Answer 2

I think hickeys are so unattractive. And I 'm not sure why girls/women let guys do that to them. How can someone let someone else kiss or suck on them in the same spot long enough to give them a bruise like mark? That's not something that would turn me on. As far as having a hickey showing in a work setting, I think maybe a supervisor or manager should let them know that hickeys are not professional and should be avoided. Everyone else should mind their business.

Answer 3

People are stupid. Professionalism is evil anyway, it takes the human out of people. It's not their busness, and looking human doesn't or atleast shouldn't reflect negatively on the company in anyway. So they shouldn't use the justification that they should judge people by their appearcance simply because other people do, so they have to.
They can say it's ok not to let people have hickeys if the customers don't like people with hickeys. But how is that different than haveing a problem with certaian races or religions, simply because you kmow the customers do? Or maybey you know your customers don't like fat people, or people with long hair? Does that make it ok to go up to people and tell them they shouldn't be fat, or have long hair because they represent the company and customers might not like the company because of how those people look? NO. That would be totally messed up. But I've been called childish cuz money doesn't matter to me as much as other things. So some people would say it's not okay for her to look how ever she wants, and her appearance is everyone's busness but hers, if it makes the company lose money...

Answer 4

Is she working with any outside customers? If she is talking with people from outside the company then it is the company's buisness. They have every right to make her do something. On the other hand if other employees have said something and that is her reaction then those people should go to Human Resources or such and address the problem. Maybe the company doesn't care. In any circumstance my view is she proably has a self-esteem problem if she feels the need to display hickies like some high-school kid. There are ways to cover them up and ways to not get them in the first place so my guess is she enjoys the attention they are bringing as well.

Answer 5

I think it's tasteless to display a hickey, especially when they can be covered with makeup or when you can ask your lover to give you one in a place where the whole world doesn't see it.

As for her co-workers, they are correct. She is representing the company. Hickeys are unprofessional. Would she wear a sheer blouse and no bra to work? Probably not. To me, hickeys relay the same message.

Answer 6

Hickeys are a definite "no no" in the professional world.

It's lame to conduct business with a woman whose neck is filled with evidence of how she spent the night before coming into work. If she wants people to "mind their own busines" she needs to stop advertising what her business is!

And - what guy is so insecure that he has to "brand" his date so everyone will know she's his woman? Too stupid for words...

Answer 7

I think its a bit disrespectful. Why would you be okay with your partner deliberately bruising you? People are going to think what they want about anything any time, you can't stop or prevent that. But a hickey is a bruise, and it is physical damage. Sure it is not anywhere near dangerous or life threatening, but it is still damage nevertheless.

Answer 8

I think that hickeys are trashy and disgusting. Anyone who has that little shame to openly display them is a scrag and it does look very bad for the company.

Answer 9

Hickeys are not to be displayed. You can't be proud unless you think what you are doing is right not only in your eyes but also in the eyes of the society!

Answer 10

Unless a supervisor says something, then no one else can do much. In answer to your question, displaying hickeys in my opinion is TACKY! What goes on at home should stay at home, not on display!

Answer 11

Depending on where you live...I guess, because I know in Germany it's nothing to be ashamed about. Is she by any chance German? ( I'm not German...I just lived there). I personally think it looks disgusting. I guess she doesn't have a real friend, who tells her as it is, and who she takes corrections to heart from. What does the owner or president of the company say? Take it up to him/her. Maybe she will, listen to him/her. It sounds serious enough to me to take it up to someone bigger than her.