by canofhumdingers » Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:50 am
There's a lot of reasons. Some view the need to stand out or be different as a lack of maturity.
For example, I work in a field where standardization and conformity is an absolute must for safety reasons. If you don't conform to basic social norms and standards, people will assume that you most likely don't conform to the industry ones either and therefore won't want to employ or associate with you professionally. It may or may not be a correct assumption, but it's there nonetheless.
It's also something many people have to make a conscious choice about in order to pursue their career. People know this and they usually hire the ones who conform over the ones who don't. Conforming shows you're willing to do what is necessary (or at least what the boss or customers think is necessary) to do the job. As a boss why would I chose one guy who sticks out in a (perceived) negative way when I've got 3 other people who don't stand out negatively?
Again, to use myself as an example, I used to dye my hair wild colors in college. I knew that it was something I wouldn't be able to do later if I wanted to pursue my career and was just having fun as a teenage/twenty-something student. But even so, I had a couple of professors make rather harsh (and incorrect) judgements/assumptions about me because of it. I stopped doing it, not because of those professors, but because I knew it's what I had to do to get the job I wanted. Also, as I got older I lost the desire to have crazy hair and the attention it garnered (which is an example of why people see it as a maturity issue: b/c, as they age, many people just stop caring about things that make them stand out socially). I have zero desire to ever dye my hair again, but I still enjoy the memories of the fun I had when I did. It's kind of like high school (for me at least). I had lots of fun & really liked high school but I've moved on and have no desire to ever re-live or try to get back to those years. But some people never seem to move on past that stage in their life.