The boss might be a woman.

It doesn't say the gender of the boss anywhere in the fml. While I agree that that is extremely douchey, it's a bit rude to just assume it's a man.

Beauty is a matter of perspective, two people can look at the same thing, one can find it beautiful and the other might think its hideous

Personal appearance matters in a job environment where you deal with clients/customers. Just playing devil's advocate here, maybe OP doesn't take enough time to groom herself before work (not that makeup is a necessity for anyone at all, but general appearance is.) So maybe they appear a bit too sloppy/casual for the workplace, and the boss just wasn't tactful in their approach to the issue. But then again, the boss could just be a dick :P

We have very little evidence on this subject matter, and what little we have seems to point to the contrary ;P.

Don't be an ass.

Why does this happen so often on the internet? Not everyone is physically above average (beautiful), and that is totally ok. By making it a standard that every woman has to be beautiful, you put specific emphasis on that her feelings would not matter if she was not beautiful. Learn to appreciate that unattractive people exist and can be valid without pleasing your eyes, instead of denying them as a group.

#81, That's not entirely true. Everyone is beautiful to someone.

Well if I were OP I would say some much more..colorful things than to wear makeup. But that's just me.

OP ?

You must be new here. OP means Octopus Platter. It's a delicacy many members of FML enjoy.

Thanks ! (I'm french)

Doesn't say if her boss is a guy or not

Your profile scares me

Exactly what I was thinking. Sounds like something that should be taken up with HR.

Too much sand in your vaginas? Take it for what it was, a boss being a controlling douche, and let it go.

I agree that the Boss is a Douchebag. But an interesting thought. In Many Businesses they can demand from you a specific work attire (not counting jobs with a specific uniform of course like firemen and police) . And stuff like a shaven/trimmed beard etc for men or short hair for men longer for women etc. Why is that still ok but makeup is frowned upon. Should we frown upon everything else either because its personal choice?

I think that sort of standard should probably be assessed based on the form of employment, I suppose. Some of those specifics (say, the beard length) are for safety reasons in some circumstances, and aesthetics in others. Either way, the boss in this case was out of line in his approach to the situation even if his angle was business-based.

Because there's a subtle but substantial difference between asking your employees to dress appropriately and clean themselves and essentially telling your employee that her face isn't good enough for the workplace. What's considered "professional" varies between businesses (I know very few that don't allow facial hair or long hair on men as long as it is groomed and well maintained, and all of them are religious) and is always changing as time goes by. But without further information we can assume for now that OP met the standards for professional attire in her workplace. The issue here is not that the boss was insisting their employee be professional (which is acceptable), but that they demanded the employee be physically attractive (unacceptable).