Quite a while ago (over two years ago actually), Kivaka sent me these shots of people who came into his shop with rejecting piercings, at least one of them completely unaware that there was even a problem!

Kivaka sends in these very gross pictures of a scarring, swollen, and oozing Madonna piercing he had to remove. Now, on one hand it’s the fault of the person pictured, because they allowed the piercing to get so irritated. But on the other hand, it’s the fault of their employer, who forced (lest they be fired) them to take the piercing in and out every single day because of a “no piercings at work” policy.

I’m loathed to tell private employers how to run their business, because I feel that they do have a right to dictate dress code down to the specifics. However, they need to realize that a “take your piercing out at work” way of thinking really isn’t limited to “work”. In the vast majority of cases, taking the piercing in and out constantly will destroy it… Thus these “work” policies also aggressively dictate how the employees dress on their off time.