AmandaGHS07's blog

I am currently a hostess working at O'Charley's. We have recently been going through something that is called the "Rev'Olution." It's fine and dandy that we are doing so much renovation to the place, and changing the way we do things. I've only been working there for such a little time, and I happened to be hired around the time that they were doing all of the changes, so I got double the training. One of the rules that they are harshly cracking down on now is the dress code, and uniformity. We all have the same shirts. Hosts/esses have the black button down shirts, while servers have the marroon shirts. A co-worker that works there, Matt, was fired. Twice, infact. The reason he was fired was because he has dark hair, but the front of it, from about the line to his ear, is bleach blonde. They said he could come back once he fixed his hair. So I over-heard a conversation between two other co-workers about it, and they said it was discrimination, because one of them is a girl who has short, spiky hair, and it is slightly bleached blonde. They think it's discrimination because they are okay to have it, but not Matt. So is this discrimination? At first, I was thinking, what are they talking about, that's stupid. Then it got me to thinking. Maybe it is a form of discrimination, because it is more acceptable in society's eyes for girls to have such a hair trend, but not males. Just a few thoughts I had today while I was working. Thanks for reading!

Being from Gallatin High School, the Valedictorian is not to speak at the graduation. The Student Body President, who is selected popularly among his/her peers, speaks for the student body at the Graduation at the end of the year in the spring during May. There has never been too much controversy over this at Gallatin High School, although some teachers and students' feel very strongly that the Valedictorian, who retains the highest grade point average and work ethic, combined with a possible high amount of extracurricular activities, should speak at the Graduation, since he/she has earned it. But it has been a tradition at Gallatin for the President to speak. The past year in the spring of 2006, a fellow friend of mine, Christopher, was the valedictorian. He is highly outspoken, and is extremely intelligent, with over a 5.0 GPA. He was alloted a certain section of the yearbook to have a semi-speech, but felt that he deserved more than just a sheet in the yearbook. Upon his name being called on May 19, 2006, he rose to the podium to receive his diploma, and took the microphone from the speaker who was announcing the Senior names. He began to recite his speech on how the future would not be met if today's students did not rise up to meet their full potential, and that we are stuck in a world of industry and technology, forgetting what our true morals were. Some were inspired by this, while some were disturbed. The microphone was taken from him, and he was immediately escorted from the graduation without his diploma, where they then treated him like a minimum juvenile delinquent. Is this fair? No, it is not. Chris did not get his diploma for quite some time. After graduation, he was to get his diploma from Mr. Lassiter, the principal, but Mr. Lassiter claimed that he caused a disturbance to the graduation, and therefore should have been arrested, because there was a warning before graduation that any person(s) who disturb the graduation, will be escorted and arrested. Mr. Lassiter sent out an arrest warrant for Chris. So, tell, me, if someone who DESERVES the opportunity to speak, who has worked so hard for four years, against someone who merely won a popularity contest, they should be arrested? I am also on student Council, so I realize it is not always about popularity, but Chris deserved his chance to speak. Although it may have been seen as slightly reckless, he should have been able to speak. The controversy lasted for a few days, until finally Mr. Lassiter realized how moronic he was being, and the Director of Schools said that he could not hold Chris's diploma. Chris finally received his diploma, and is now attending UT Knoxville for engineering. This small incident could have scarred Chris's future for college, and Mr. Lassiter even tried to take back the recommendations for the scholarships that Chris had received. He was the voice of the youth that night, saying the things that we all wanted to say, but could not figure out our own voice to say it. He accepted the consequences, but faced them. Mr. Lassiter reacted rashly to the whole incident, and was merely looking for attention, considering he was all over the news for this arrest warrant. But, when you think about it, most schools let their valedictorian speech. In our county, we are the only school who does not. It is unfair to those who have worked so hard. In the future, we should resolute this injustice.  Read More »