[alum]

We were interviewing people for a position recently. One applicant was wearing appropriate clothes for the type of position but failed to wear dark hose or even trouser socks under her slacks. Needless to say, I could see her gigantic multicolor dragon tattoo extending from the exposed top of her foot past the hem of her pants. I'm glad there were 4 others involved in the interview , because I then kept looking for dark shadows under her sleeves. Yes, it distracted me that much.

I also become discombobulated when some young sales clerk has outlandish jewelry such as something in her nose or tongue. The tongue-piercers always have speech impediments. I'm not sure if that's a result of the piercing or if the piercing had improved the speech. You don't want to stare but then you lose your train of thought when making a conscious effort to ignore the item.

This does not happen when I encounter other people who may not look conventional. I routinely deal with soldiers with amputations, wound scars, burn scars. Even though these differences are much more obvious than facial jewelry, I have a much easier time ignoring it and not being flustered.