The Strictest Hooters Uniform Rule There Is

Whether or not you've dined at Hooters, you likely know what the "Hooters girl" uniform looks like: white logo t-shirts and bright orange shorts. This uniform already strays far from average restaurant-worker attire, but it gets even stranger.

In fact, a big problem some Hooters employees had with their new uniforms was that the shorts revealed far more than they covered. The chain ultimately decided to allow its employees to choose their shorts style but otherwise continues to enforce a strict dress code. Hooters employees must wear a specific shade of pantyhose, natural makeup, and styled hair, and they're prohibited from donning jewelry and tattoos (per How I Got the Job).

As you might expect, failure to comply can result in job loss. Hooters employees can even allegedly be fired for putting on weight because it disrupts the chain's image. Another allegedly fireable offense? Wearing the uniform outside the restaurant. 

Because the Hooters uniform is so well-known, it probably comes as little surprise that some ladies would want to dress up as a "Hooters girl" for Halloween. However, they can't borrow a real uniform.

Female Hooters employees have reportedly been fired for letting their friends borrow their uniforms, one Hooters employee told BuzzFeed. "You were only allowed to be seen in your uniform at the restaurant — no arriving in uniform, no leaving in uniform, and definitely no lending the uniform to friends for Halloween/costume parties. Girls actually got fired for this," the self-identified employee told the news outlet.

In addition to the strict no-loaning policy, employees can't wear their uniforms outside of Hooters, even when arriving at or leaving work. Although that may seem excessive, the aforementioned rule supposedly comes down to employee safety. According to E! News, Hooters employees can't venture outside the restaurant with any part of their uniform showing "for safety reasons."