Impressions

It's been a great couple of days. Samhain was great. I was glad that I was able to celebrate with friends. Everyday for a while now, its kind of been on my mind the whole "coming out of the broom closet". I know I mention this a lot, but its constantly being swirled around in my head. I mean I'll have days where I want to just walk out and announce it to the world and other times the cons outweigh the pros and I keep silent. I recently had a situation present itself that stirred this thought in my head once again. I went to talk to my chef instructor about my internship and we were discussing the interview and whatnot. He was talking about presenting myself in a clean way and made a few remarks that sort of took me a bit by surprise. For one, I was wearing my I love boobies rubber bracelet and he told me I should probably remove that and keep it off just in case they get the wrong impression. Well, let me tell you this, if there was any "wrong impression" it would be on my end. The bracelet is more than just a funny/dirty phrase, I wear it in support of breast cancer research. So to anyone who would think I'm some little pervert, they can shove it! Second, he mentioned my pentacle that I proudly wear out. He again said I should probably tuck it in behind my shirt. At this point, both sides of this argument were going on in my head. The one side was arguing my personal morals and reasoning behind the jewerly while the other was arguing political correctness and looking professional to a potential employer. You can only imagine the confusion in my head as I basically argue with myself. I mean both have valid points. One, the necklace is a symbol of my religious practice. If it was a cross or a star of david, no one would bother to question it, but thanks to popular misconceptions, my pentacle and religion are public enemy number one. Second, that would be a violation of my constitutional right to be able to practice my religion openly(in a sense). Third, it would also be religious discrimination if they chose not to hire me because of it. On the other side, he is also correct. Humans are judgmental beings. We constantly do it. Even though the employer has to be unbiased, its human nature, he or she will do it anyway and that will affect their final thoughts. Second, in an interview, you do want to be seen as unique, but some unique traits should not be disclosed. Third, this is basically about political correctness. Society has created this mold for what is acceptable and what is not. The food industry is about pleasing others not so much about expressing yourself. Alright enough about that for tonight...hopefully.