Re: Dress Code *Results*

[Dan BRINEGAR <vr2link -at- VR2LINK -dot- COM>]

Eric Haddock <ehaddock -at- ENGAGENET -dot- COM> wrote:

>I've received oodles of responses and they're almost all the same:  suits
>except for Friday, and even then it's "business casual," not jeans. Some
>companies allow jeans on Friday but they're uncommon. Most got "casual" Fridays
>only within the last 6 months. Weirdly, it doesn't matter if you ever see a
>customer or not--wear a suit.
>   Many said that even "business casual" was strictly regulated.

I was actually asked in an interview today how I felt about dress-codes...
I was wearing starched khaki trousers and white dress shirt, matching shoes
and belt, power-red-foulard tie with a Windsor four-in-hand military knot,
straight gig-line and lifer-press on the shirt. I asked my interviewer,
"now don't I look ridiculous?" He laughed out loud and scribbled something
I couldn't read on his form.

<shrug>

I guess I'm lucky that I live in Phoenix and am my Dad's kid...  when
working as a TC, I've always gotten away with a big,  dark, plain, pocketed
t-shirt, and clean (relatively) new Levis. Anywhere I've worked in TC the
only people who wear "the Woman's Power Suit," or "men's power ties" are
those managers who never have to go outside (it's too hot in Phoenix 7 - 9
months out of the year for worker bees to put up with wearing a tie.).

However, when working as a computer tech, I managed to ruin over $120-worth
of Dockers and starched white shirts (and my favourite interview tie) in
one month crawling around under workstations and getting 17" monitors in
and out of my car (go figure-- which looks worse, a tech in jeans that
don't show stains, or ruined white shirts?).

Also, in the shops I've worked in Phoenix, there's a sort of worker-bee
uniform that "meets" the business casual dress code here, but certainly
isn't a flattering look on anyone, and looks silly on anyone born after
1945, so you dont see it that often anymore <grin>: blue polyester
short-sleeved shirt, tan or brown JC Penny or K-Mart poly knit trousers
(with those little pills on the legs and seat - highwaters optional), and a
bolo (string) tie if the boss is gonna be in the building that day...  even
when I was a kid, I rarely met anyone who wore the "IBM/EDS" uniform who
wasn't an executive manager (as opposed to technical managers or
worker-bees).

At my Dad's retirement party a couple of years ago, our " boss" showed up
and announced that despite 28 years of trying, nobody could make Dad wear a
tie except during that *one* presentation to the CEO, so anybody at the
party who didnt take his tie off *right now* would have to leave <smirk>.

Many of my coworkers can't bring themselves to come to work in jeans, but
none of the bosses I've had ever gigged anybody on it.

(Now, if there were any hiring managers out there who hadn't been turned
off by my frequent revolutionary screeds, I'm fer sure on the blacklist for
jeans, right? <grin>)

-----------------------------------------------------------
Dan BRINEGAR, CCDB Vr2Link
Performance S u p p o r t Svcs.
Phoenix, Arizona

vr2link -at- vr2link -dot- com
http://www.vr2link.com
"Show up, be there, think it up and do it, exceed your job-description,
 control your own means of production (that's yer brain)! "

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