Bartender Without Makeup Faces Bias

Some places, such as Disneyland, require strict makeup rules for employees--not too thick, not too bright, nothing garish.

But here’s a new one on me, and frankly, it’s the first time I’ve ever gotten riled on a makeup issue: A Reno bartender was fired recently because she wore no makeup.

How can makeup amount to a bourbon’s jigger worth of difference in bartending skills? You forget your makeup one day, and suddenly you’re off the mark on mixing a White Russian or a Singapore Sling?

But women in the workplace have always had to deal with discrimination issues men never come up against.

Here’s one I heard from Charlene Walker, co-director of Tustin-based Womens Focus, a career development firm. A woman was qualified for a high-level job, performed well in the first-step telephone interview, and drove to Irvine for a face-to-face interview with an executive recruiter (a woman). From Walker: “The candidate wore a tailored business suit, tasteful pumps, a lace blouse and her hair and makeup were conservative.”

But she lost the job before she said a word.

Fatal lace.

The recruiter was quoted by Walker as saying: “At this level, I expect people to know what is appropriate.” And lace was taboo, even if mostly covered by a good suit.

Walker also tells about an attractive woman upset because her clients, mostly male attorneys, refused to treat her as an equal. Before a dinner meeting is over, she knows she’s going to be hit on for further “private” contact with the client, even the married ones.

“Her boss (also a woman) told her to simply go with it; if flirting’s what it takes, take advantage of your looks,” Walker said. “But that’s not how she wanted to operate.”

Of course not. She’s like the rest of us; she wants respect for her work.

I told the lace blouse story to UC Irvine professor Judy B. Rosener, who’s written numerous books on women in the workplace. It’s the type of issue men don’t have to face, Rosener said.

“A man won’t lose a job because of the way he’s dressed unless he’s sloppy or naked,” Rosener said.

Things are getting better for women, Rosener said, but they’re still pretty bad:

“Men go into the workplace with a knapsack of privileges. The assumption is they’re competent until they prove otherwise. With women, it’s the opposite. They are assumed incompetent until they prove they can do the job.”

Rosener was en route to the airport to be keynote speaker today at a Ford Motor Co. gathering in Detroit. It’s creating a women’s network series to help women gain equal footing in the workplace.

“A man e-mailed me to complain; what if he wanted to start a men’s network?” Rosener said. “There already is a men’s network. It’s called the status quo.”

Bartenders, Rosener said, are easy prey for male owners:

“Men set the expectations, because traditionally, they’ve been in charge. They don’t want bartenders, they want someone pretty behind the bar.”

Darlene Jespersen, 44, had been a bartender for 18 years, much of that at Harrah’s in Reno. She scrubbed her face clean daily, but didn’t wear makeup. But a new grooming policy was established for women in the bar--makeup, along with teased, curled, or styled hair, and black leather shoes.

A Harrah’s spokesman told the Reno Gazette-Journal: “It is one of the expectations of our culture.”

Well, maybe it shouldn’t be.

Veteran Orange County bartender Jody Riordan says she’s never had to face a makeup issue for bartenders. But she wells knows the thinking behind it. Riordan owns the American Bartender School in Westminster. Bars prefer women bartenders today, she said. The prettier the better.

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I asked Riordan what would happen if she sent two women out for the same job, one who was pretty but not very good, the other who had average looks but was a superb bartender. Who would get the job?

“The pretty one, every time,” Riordan said.

Riordan does wear makeup, but sides with the Reno bartender. “By making it a rule, they’re saying that your looks mean more than the kind of bartender you are,” Riordan said. “My job is to send out good bartenders, period.”

In my informal poll, I found many women who sided with Harrah’s. It’s part of grooming, they contend.

But I liked the answer from a friend of mine from Long Beach; I’d asked her to put herself in bartender Jesperson’s black leather shoes. Her reply:

“I would be crushed at first; clearly someone would be telling me that my looks weren’t up to snuff. Then, after I got over the hurt feelings, I’d be pretty angry. I can understand someone being told to maintain a professional appearance. You don’t want to walk into a law office and see a disheveled receptionist. But there’s a difference between that and being forced to wear makeup.”

Another friend of mine from Tustin Ranch had this answer:

“You should absolutely not be forced to wear makeup,” she said. “Deodorant? Yes!”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com