this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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It's a matter of professionalism and optics. I work for an impressively liberal financial institution, but I guarantee you I would be written up at best (probably fired) if I showed up to work in a pink schoolgirl dress and put a sign on my desk that said "Lolita's Credit Union."
The driver wasn't arrested. His identity doesn't appear to have been shared publicly. The wording in the article implies that he still works for the transportation company but was taken off of the school route. It's not like it's a witch hunt. He's just facing the natural consequence of unprofessional behavior.
If you're going to be the public face of a company, you shouldn't comport yourself in a way that anyone with half a brain cell would know is uncomfortable and offensive to your client (in this case, a Catholic private elementary school).
Fuck shitty concepts of "professionalism" and "optics". I don't give a shit about pointless things. Those are just excuses for people to be judgmental of others for inconsequential differences. Anyone who uses them as a defense loses all respect from me
He was doing the job, anything else is irrelevant. The way he dresses doesn't have anything to do with how he drives.
No task exists in a vacuum; optics are part of the job. Nobody can be forced to employ him in the position that he prefers. If he feels strongly about it, he can establish his own transportation company called Lolita's Bus Line and attempt to win the school district's contract on his own merit.
P.S. Moderating your own self-expression to accommodate the comfort level of a diverse audience is a healthy, mature part of human social interaction. You aren't obligated to do so, but you must expect friction and obstacles when you don't. There are times and places to let your true colors fly. It's wise to recognize that and seek out those settings.
Yea. Just entirely fuck the logic that this argument is premised on. People should be allowed to express themselves freely and others should learn to cope with others being different. Fuck anyone who says otherwise.
Optics aren't part of the job. That's utter bullshit. The only thing that is part of that job is driving the bus. Anything else is irrelevant.
People shouldn't have to moderate their self-expression based on the arbitrary sensibilities of others. That isn't "healthy and mature" that's restricting and oppressive.
What's healthy and mature is learning to cope with the fact others are different and not judging others based on those arbitrary differences or forcing them to conform to your expectations of them.
If you expect others to conform to make you more comfortable even if they aren't doing anything other than existing (which is what this driver was doing) in a way that is different from you, you can go get fucked. If you're uncomfortable, the only person whose problem it is to deal with it is you. You don't get to force others to change for you.
Oh, absolutely that's true, and I hope I didn't imply otherwise. It goes both ways. What's healthy and mature is learning how to meet people where they're at and avoid conflict. Sometimes that means overlooking things that make you uncomfortable, and sometimes that means being mindful of how your own appearance and behavior can make others uncomfortable.