Am not very good at following the rules and regulations of an office. I dislike being constrained by other people’s notions of what they deem to be appropriate behaviour, let alone appropriate work wear. My general philosophy when it comes to workplace etiquette ‘Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself’. So far it has served me quite well.
The Big Guy decided that today would be the day to impose policies regarding dress code. New policy requires all employees to wear semi-formal attire Men: dockers, dress pants, dress shirts. Women: semi formal wear, semi-formal foot wear.
My instantaneous response is outright indignation/rebellion. ‘What do you mean I have to dress in a particular manner when coming into work? How dare you insinuate that my current work attire is inappropriate. Semi formal. Fneh. Buddy you want me to wear semi formal attire you’d better be prepared to give me a raise. Sputter. Sputter. Sputter!’
It’s not that I am completely against some form of dress code: No holey jeans hanging onto body by last thread. That I can agree with. What I dislike is the idea that you have to be dressed to the nines in order to be productive. Personally I find the opposite to be true. Have you ever tried working in high heels, and a tailored skirt? I have, and from past experience I can tell you that productivity flies out the window when most of your day is spent fidgeting, as you try to re-arrange yourself so that the cold blast from the air conditioner does not ride up all the way, leaving you nippley, agitated and just plain old grumpy.
Posted by munin at Mayo 21, 2003 04:15 PMFrom what you've told me about how well the business is doing, I'd say the imposition of a dress code is a misguided attempt on their part to re-establish control over the company by micro-managing things that don't matter.
Is changing the way people dress really going to improve morale enough to bring back the forty-hour work-week? gah!
I know how you feel; I hate being told how to dress, especially when my budget cannot accomodate it.
If it makes you feel better, I'm sure a lot of the other people in the office will be wearing the same outfit quite often.
In fact, I'd suggest wearing the same outfit every day, as a peaceful protest, or at least just to make a point. :) How many people in the office would follow suit?
erg. sorry, there are puns I meant to make, and then there was that one.
Posted by: edgar mousehat on Mayo 21, 2003 06:55 PMUmm... Dockers are NOT semi formal.
I hate conforming too, and completely agree about the skirt thing.
It's just dumb.
I feel for you munin.
Posted by: Melissa on Mayo 21, 2003 08:19 PMEither micro-management OR someone(s) have abused the priviledge of a relaxed approach, with the consequent backlash from management.
Do the customers know the difference - that really should be the operative principle.
Oooo...this could be fun for you. All those bridesmaid dresses that you have only worn once are waiting. I'm sure when those get old, there's a few girlfriends willing to donate their "seafoam green" delights.
Posted by: guruvious on Mayo 21, 2003 11:22 PMsemi-FORMAL? are they mad? it's completely unfair to do that, you know. they've just told everyone to go out & make a major investment in clothes, for one thing. i mean if there hasn't been a semiFORMAL dress code before, most likely, most folks don't have a closetful of semiformalwear. it's ridiculous.
i'd have my resume out & scanning the classifieds bigtime. semi formal. hmmph.
Posted by: liz on Mayo 21, 2003 11:27 PMHey, that ain't a bad dress code by any means. In fact, that's downright lax!