Would you wear your regular everyday jewelry if you..

[diamondseeker2006]

No, I absolutely would not wear any significant diamond jewelry when doing any kind of charity work with the poor. I would feel that it was flaunting wealth and would never want to do that to those who are less fortunate. As others have said, I do not even wear my diamond rings in my own kitchen, either, because I take care of then!

 

[partgypsy]

Yeah to think you are going to inspire someone going to a soup kitchen by wearing diamond jewelry, to me, is just so wrong-headed.
I volunteered for 2 homeless shelters in college. One time worked so late we missed our ride, so stayed for dinner. I remember being shocked at how much butter they were all putting on their (white) bread and how unhealthy of a food choice that was. I then realized, abashed they were just trying to get maximum amount of calories they could out of that meal.

Their situation, possibly homeless, or similarly dire situation, they are trying to get by day to day. For people in that situation it is more about, getting safe housing, possbily away from an abusive spouse, getting their kids fed and to school without too much disruption, possibly hooking up with mental health or substance abuse treatment. Being an inspiration by flaunting wealth is so far away where they at, it is insensitive. Because what you are doing there, in the soup kitchen or pantry, it is NOT about you. It's about helping them, and that's where the focus should be.

 

[lambskin]

No because I can't get the hairnet over my tiara. Seriously, I leave the bling off when I am doing charity work.

 

[Jambalaya]

I would wear my most subtle jewelry. I wouldn't wear none at all, because that would be so far from how I normally dress, but I do have some very tiny jewelry, with just 3 or so diamonds of about 0.05 - 0.07. I wouldn't wear blingy items.

This is somewhat different, but I have a friend who has always struggled with money, and I wouldn't wear my best and blingiest items in front of her. That would be just insensitive.

 

[wildcat03]

I work in an ER that serves an inner city population which includes a large homeless population. I'm not married, so no ring to worry about. I wear a pave diamond circle necklace daily - which occasionally draws compliments. I occasionally wear a sapphire/diamond bezel ring on my right hand and sometimes wear my 0.84 ctw studs. A lot of my patients wear a lot of jewelry. Some of it is probably real gold/platinum/gemstones and much of it is probably costume jewelry, so I wouldn't feel that odd wearing a nice band or something. I wouldn't want to wear a large diamond, though, as I feel that would start to stand out. My colleague got engaged 2 months ago and I haven't seen her ring yet as she doesn't wear it to work. We talked about why and she said that she just didn't want patients knowing/thinking anything about her personal life or her as a person - that she'd prefer just to focus on the patient during their visit. I thought this was really smart and I will probably follow her lead if/when I am engaged.

Through years of working with underserved/underprivileged population I have learned that the less attention that is drawn to the differences in our circumstances, the better I am received.

There is no policy against jewelry at your hospital? At the hospital where I worked the policy allows no jewelry or long/fake fingernails for those who are hands-on/treating staff (MDs, RNs, PAs, techs).

I've worked in 4 hospitals as a physician and 4 hospitals during medical school and none of them had a policy against jewelry. I do remember someone addressing fingernails at some point, but I can't remember what the policy was or where since I don't bother with nails/nail polish.