Dress code issues

[ExFlyBoy5]

Not impossible, but apparently not easy either.

The US Army needs 57 pages (AR 670-1)
The US Air Force needs 180 pages (AFI 36-2903)
The US Navy needs 389 pages (NAVPERS 15665I)

Ugh...you're giving me terrible flashbacks. I am convinced that 1/2 of the regs (the AF calls them a most-politically-correct "instruction" instead of "regulation") were designed so that you are subject to harassment at the BX or commissary at ANY TIME for ANY stupid reason at all. Oye...I don't miss that crap in the least.

 

[braumeister]

Ugh...you're giving me terrible flashbacks.

Yep. The most ridiculous one IMHO was the ironclad rule that you must NEVER under any circumstances be seen out of doors without a hat on. That drove me crazy but there was no leeway. You go out the door of a building and you put your hat on. Period. Perfectly normal behavior until 50-60 years ago, but since then? Only in the military.

 

[Music Lover]

NHL coaches also ware jackets and ties, what I find more absurd is baseball managers in full baseball uniforms.

In the early days, baseball mangers were often both managers and players, so they wore a uniform in the event they had to enter a game. The tradition simply continued.

A friend of mine coached in the NHL for a couple decades...I knew him back when he was a part time scout, and he would wear a suit to scout games. When I asked him why he bothered to wear a suit to watch a hockey game, he told me: "I'm representing a professional organization and feel that I should project a professional image."

 

[NW-Bound]

Not impossible, but apparently not easy either.

The US Army needs 57 pages (AR 670-1)
The US Air Force needs 180 pages (AFI 36-2903)
The US Navy needs 389 pages (NAVPERS 15665I)

Never been in service, but working in aerospace I had been exposed plenty to formal engineering specifications and testing requirements for hardware and software. Come to think of it, without these strict requirements, our soldiers would not have good equipment to rely on in the battle field. These are called MIL-SPEC and it is not at all easy to meet these specifications for durability and toughness. Commercial equipment would fail within 10 seconds into some of the mechanical tests like vibration and shock.

Still, the funniest thing happened when one of us ran across a MIL-SPEC for lobsters. We were laughing thinking how these lobsters would taste.

PS. OK, here it is: MIL-L-44190 - Lobster Tail, Spiny, Raw, Frozen.

 

[Souschef]

On the Cruise Critic Board, dress code is a real "hot button" topic along with tipping. When, depending on the line, you have formal, semi-formal and casual nights.

 

[FI by 2024]

Not impossible, but apparently not easy either.



The US Army needs 57 pages (AR 670-1)

The US Air Force needs 180 pages (AFI 36-2903)

The US Navy needs 389 pages (NAVPERS 15665I)

Lol

I love mocking the Navy for the ridiculous number of uniforms they have, and this just adds to my pleasure. I wonder if anybody in the Navy has made the connection between the 4573 different uniform combinations and the ultra-lengthy regulation?

 

[Just_Steve]

In the early days, baseball mangers were often both managers and players, so they wore a uniform in the event they had to enter a game. The tradition simply continued.

A friend of mine coached in the NHL for a couple decades...I knew him back when he was a part time scout, and he would wear a suit to scout games. When I asked him why he bothered to wear a suit to watch a hockey game, he told me: "I'm representing a professional organization and feel that I should project a professional image."

And NHL players are contract bound.

"Exhibit 14, Paragraph 5 reads: "Players are required to wear jackets, ties and dress pants to all Club games and while traveling to and from such games unless otherwise specified by the Head Coach or General Manager.""

 

[FUEGO]

On the Cruise Critic Board, dress code is a real "hot button" topic along with tipping. When, depending on the line, you have formal, semi-formal and casual nights.

We've sailed on Carnival the past few cruises and enjoyed the almost unenforced dress code. I can't quote it, but basically no shorts and flip flops in the dining room in the evening was what I remember best. And I usually wore a shirt with buttons and/or a collar but never long sleeves.

I'm not expecting quite the same leeway on our MSC cruise in December which might put us in the buffet some nights.

 

[Souschef]

We've sailed on Carnival the past few cruises and enjoyed the almost unenforced dress code. I can't quote it, but basically no shorts and flip flops in the dining room in the evening was what I remember best. And I usually wore a shirt with buttons and/or a collar but never long sleeves.

I'm not expecting quite the same leeway on our MSC cruise in December which might put us in the buffet some nights.

We have given up formal nights. Years ago I was on the Cunard QE2 and it was formal every night except the first and last nights.

 

[growing_older]

The above said, t-shirts were frowned upon, and shorts and flip-flops were big nonos.

I think the idea was never that shorts and flip flops were an approved part of the dress code. It was the technical folks asserting that they were so good at what they did and so valuable to the company that they could get away with flaunting any attire they chose. So so engineers better look good in acceptable clothing, but the truly gifted ones could do whatever they wanted and their managers just tried to get them to keep working.

Not that this is an original idea. Think of doctors in M*A*S*H who were indispensable and could get away with their own idiosyncratic ideas of what it meant to be in uniform.

 

[JoeWras]

I think the idea was never that shorts and flip flops were an approved part of the dress code. It was the technical folks asserting that they were so good at what they did and so valuable to the company that they could get away with flaunting any attire they chose. So so engineers better look good in acceptable clothing, but the truly gifted ones could do whatever they wanted and their managers just tried to get them to keep working.

Not that this is an original idea. Think of doctors in M*A*S*H who were indispensable and could get away with their own idiosyncratic ideas of what it meant to be in uniform.

At my Megacorp, men wear shorts and flip flops. This for engineers, who are stuck in the cubes.

I think this culture came from the early "F.U." brilliant types who told the boss: "You want the product next week? Fine, but if we are staying here, 24/7, we wear what we want." It has stuck ever since.

Interestingly, we coexist in the same building with telephone sales types. They wear very conservative business casual attire. Their culture clearly frowns upon the extreme casual of the nerds. So nothing is written down, but clearly there are standards.

This makes for a very strange clash of cultures at the cafeteria.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Lol

I love mocking the Navy for the ridiculous number of uniforms they have, and this just adds to my pleasure. I wonder if anybody in the Navy has made the connection between the 4573 different uniform combinations and the ultra-lengthy regulation?

But the best part is the way in which we in the Navy may or may not follow the regulation, based upon common sense. We aren't robots like the Army!

 

[Revlefty]

No uniform

have you ever seen anyone in the dugout without a uniform?

Yes. The St. Louis Cardinals have a translator for a Korean player. He is not in a uniform, although he is wearing a Cardinals jacket or shirt and hat. And I believe the athletic trainers are not wearing the standard baseball uniform either.

 

[davemartin88]

I ran an internet control center for a megacorp for a few years- folks really liked to push the dress code there. I told my crew that if they could go straight to the beach from work, then they weren't dressed right for work. Seemed to work for most people and we gave the mid shift a bit more slack.

 

[harley]

Back to the original topic, I think it's quite telling/amusing that the intern was so shocked that they would be held accountable for being disruptive to the work environment. I think a lot of recent college grads are in for a real shock when they step outside the world of Bias Response Teams and Safe Spaces and into the world of work and responsibility. It's like my favorite quote from Ghostbusters (the original) - "You've never been out of college! You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector. They expect results."

 

[kcowan]

Decades upon decades ago, an old manager, who transferred into sales from marketing, told of a PR writer who was, apparently, brilliant.....he'd come into board meetings, slightly hung over and somewhat disheveled, clutching a container of milk.....no-one said a word.

We had a senior salesman who carried a can of Coke all day and you could smell the rum from 6 feet.

 

[harley]

We had a senior salesman who carried a can of Coke all day and you could smell the rum from 6 feet.

That's why vodka is the choice for real professionals.

 

[MRG]

We had a senior salesman who carried a can of Coke all day and you could smell the rum from 6 feet.

We had a couple of guys with serious alcohol issues and a management team that wanted it to go away on its own.

A 1:00 PM staff meeting one's leaning against the wall in a SRO conference room falls over sideways dead drunk! I still laugh at the looks; thirty people who knew this would happen and six who prayed it wouldn't.

They did get the guy into rehab , unfortunately he wasn't done yet.

 

[haha]

Speaking of dress codes...does anyone else find it odd that NBA coaches wear jackets and ties? I always wondered why that was...you are a coach. Granted, you lead an organization that is worth MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars..but..you are a coach. Why the suit?

Ever bump into an NBA player around town? GQ all the way. The coaches are themselves very highly paid multi-millionaires, they live in the same world as the players, need the respect of the players, and maybe they like the ladies too.

Ha

 

[timo2]

that's when I realized that if I followed that advice I would show up at work in a t-shirt shorts and sandals since the job I really want is retiree.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

Upon reading your post I realized I have been gradually doing this for the last two or three years. In my IT shop, for years and years I wore business casual from Kohls or Penny's, making me one of he better dressed folks. In fact one manger once used my attire as a positive example for millennial IT developers of how to dress. As soon as I set my RE date for 2018, I started letting my hair grow a little longer each haircut, and not replacing the nicer business casual clothes as they wore out, replacing them instead with REI style khakis and short sleeve cotton or hemp button shirts. I didn't replace my dress shoes when they wore out, and started wearing leather casual shoes. So now after several years, it turns out I am dressing for the retirement I want. (BTW, my new attire is still only down to the nicest IT developer outfits).

 

[jazz4cash]

tradition; every male basketball coach I've seen, college or higher wears a suit

that's why we yell "sit down bus driver!"

Well, there's this guy (Bob Huggins):

 

[ls99]

I was listening to the Today Show and heard a segment about interns being fired for challenging a dress code. One of the hosts made the statement that when she was an intern she was told to dress for the job that you wanted not for the job that you have, that's when I realized that if I followed that advice I would show up at work in a t-shirt shorts and sandals since the job I really want is retiree.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

If you are still in, go ahead an try it for a month or so. I am resonably sure the system will help you exit the daily grind

 

[ls99]

Not impossible, but apparently not easy either.

The US Army needs 57 pages (AR 670-1)
The US Air Force needs 180 pages (AFI 36-2903)
The US Navy needs 389 pages (NAVPERS 15665I)

Maybe the Navy needs more words to simplfy the concepts Like how many words needed to explain the color blue?

 

[ls99]

That's why vodka is the choice for real professionals.

The boss at a defense contractor I once w*rked at used to say, wish the engineers would drink booze I can smell, at least I would know that they are drunk after lunch and not just stupid.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Being able to dress in my normal clothing/have my appearance how I like (raver pants, geeky t-shirts, sneakers, hair has been everything from mohawks to the current neon top knot plume) is part (a small part, but still meaningful) of why I've spent my entire career making games. Best clothing disparity experience: sitting with the Senior Vice President of International Business at a game publisher back in the 90s, him in a dark blue 3 piece suit with a serious tie, me with my hair shaved in a mohawk, tied into 9 braids, a dog collar around my neck, with steel toed boots on my feet, in my usual t-shirt, black pants with decorative elements and unbuttoned untucked long sleeve shirt outfit I wore back then.