dress code follies

[GrayHare]

The "bank error in your favor" thread reminded me of something completely different.

At minicorp we started without a dress code, but that eventually changed after many incidents. This was the pre-casual era when in-the-office meant a "tie" level of dressing, clients meant suit, which kept things simple for guys, for whom simple is good. Women had far more options, perhaps too many, which is where trouble began. Hardly a week went by without someone wearing (or not wearing) something that caused attention. Typically it was female cow*rkers who snarked, guys never seemed to mind. One lady routinely put so much cleavage on public display her nickname became Community Chest. What was/is it like at your w*rkplace?

 

[ncbill]

Left Megabank over a decade ago, but dress code was suits (no blazers) 5 days a week, lthough ast year I was there casual Friday meant men could wear a short sleeve shirt (button down) & khakis.

No jeans, etc.

Met someone recently who works there and my casual Friday wear is now their "dress up to meet a client" wear.

 

[davebarnes]

When I started at StorageTek in 1989, the [unwritten] dress code for males was: suit and tie. But, the only allowed suit colors were black, blue, gray. I once wore a pink button down shirt (very Brooks Brothers) and was reprimanded by a Senior Executive VP.
When I left in 1995, it was business casual every day. The ex-IBM VPs were very unhappy.

Now, at my "place of business", cargo shorts are always in style when dressing up.

 

[Gumby]

At my first law firm, it was all suits all the time, and only white shirts (at least for the lawyers). If you were going out of your own personal office, you were supposed to put your suit jacket on. Women were not permitted to wear pants, until all the women in the firm got together and all wore pants on the same day. The old guys almost croaked, but the rule changed on that day.

 

[RobbieB]

First job out of school, suit & tie

Last job was Co logo knit shirt and slacks. Jeans on Friday.

 

[braumeister]

I guess in a way I had it very easy. The Air Force told me exactly what to wear every day, and exactly how to wear it.

 

[scrabbler1]

My former company had a dress code which was gradually done away with over a 4-year span in the md-1990s. They introduced Casual Fridays for a few summers, then over the whole year, then Casual Summer in 1998 which was then made permanent.


My one weird moment was a few years before the Casual Fridays began. Behind a partition at the back of my oddly shaped cubicle was a small gap where I could hang my overcoat on a large binder clip I inserted into the top of the partition. One sleeve of my overcoat stuck out a few inches, though, and could be seen, even though it was hardly an eyesore.


Some corporate bigwig saw the sleeve sticking out and got all annoyed at me, demanding I hang up my coat in a coat closet not near my cubicle. (Doesn't he have better things to do than be the Coat Police?) I hung it up there for a day then resumed hanging it up in the gap as always, and kept doing that for the 10 years I had that cubicle.

 

[MRG]

I hated dress codes. Didn't follow them for years. Supposed to wear suit and tie our group wore jeans. We weren't allowed to but management turned their head to it.

Later I conformed and went along with a lesser dress code, slacks and a polo shirt. I started managing people and had a gal who drove me crazy. The dress code said no crapi pant she wore them, then the war started. HR got in the middle of it and made it worse! Suddenly I found myself in a position of having to go around and see if the females on the staff were dressed appropriately!

Of course the dress code was unenforceable. I flat out refused to ask female associates if they were wearing hose, not stockings! What the heck are crapi pants and why do people wear crap pants? What business of management is it what's underneath your clothes? Soon the troublemaker was let go, unrelated to what she wore, her mother's father died for the second time and I made an issue over it, and my life was better. A couple years later the female HR VP that was so interested in what females wore under their clothes retired and the code was updated.

 

[upupandaway]

I hated dress codes. Didn't follow them for years. Supposed to wear suit and tie our group wore jeans. We weren't allowed to but management turned their head to it.

Later I conformed and went along with a lesser dress code, slacks and a polo shirt. I started managing people and had a gal who drove me crazy. The dress code said no crapi pant she wore them, then the war started. HR got in the middle of it and made it worse! Suddenly I found myself in a position of having to go around and see if the females on the staff were dressed appropriately!

Of course the dress code was unenforceable. I flat out refused to ask female associates if they were wearing hose, not stockings! What the heck are crapi pants and why do people wear crap pants? What business of management is it what's underneath your clothes? Soon the troublemaker was let go, unrelated to what she wore, her mother's father died for the second time and I made an issue over it, and my life was better. A couple years later the female HR VP that was so interested in what females wore under their clothes retired and the code was updated.

My assumption is the dress code said no "Capri" pants. Although crapi pants would be amusing.

Definition
close-fitting calf-length tapered trousers, usually worn by women and girls.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I guess in a way I had it very easy. The Air Force told me exactly what to wear every day, and exactly how to wear it.

The Air Force probably told you lots of other things as well. : )

 

[MRG]

My assumption is the dress code said no "Capri" pants. Although crapi pants would be amusing.

Definition
close-fitting calf-length tapered trousers, usually worn by women and girls.

You know I started calling them crapi pants after this incident. I've done it so much capri pants doesn't look right.[emoji111]

 

[W2R]

What was/is it like at your w*rkplace?

I don't remember all of it, but to start with I remember these restrictions:

No shorts
No sandals
No jeans
No Capris
No low cut blouses, bare midriff, or other skimpy attire
No t-shirts
No logos

Summers in New Orleans are hot, and the windows of our high rise wouldn't open so this dress code bordered on being inhumane. The thermostat was adjusted miles away from the building, by strangers who ignored any suggestions. At least we could wear polo shirts and nice pants with closed shoes and socks, basically business casual.

Everyone had security clearances and it was a secure area, so it's not like we had random outsiders hanging around there to impress.

At meetings (usually held elsewhere, or on the non-secure first floor of our building), men were expected to wear conservative suits and ties, and women were expected to dress accordingly.

 

[pb4uski]

We were suits and ties for years and then employer allowed "business casual"... a few rough patches until we spread word around that one needed to dress as you would to go to the country club... IOW, no jeans or tee shirts but rather khakis and collared shirts... overall pretty easy transition where I worked.

Later we allowed jeans (but not tee shirts) on Fridays.

 

[Gumby]

. . . I started managing people and had a gal who drove me crazy. The dress code said no crapi pant she wore them, then the war started. HR got in the middle of it and made it worse! Suddenly I found myself in a position of having to go around and see if the females on the staff were dressed appropriately!

Of course the dress code was unenforceable. I flat out refused to ask female associates if they were wearing hose, not stockings! What the heck are crapi pants and why do people wear crap pants? What business of management is it what's underneath your clothes? Soon the troublemaker was let go, unrelated to what she wore, her mother's father died for the second time and I made an issue over it, and my life was better. A couple years later the female HR VP that was so interested in what females wore under their clothes retired and the code was updated.

At the aforementioned law firm, my secretary was also the boss for all the other secretaries on our floor. She was constantly having to deal with them "narcing" on each other about capris, stirrup pants, bare midriffs, filmy tops and too much decolletage. And all right outside my office door. It felt like being in junior high school.

 

[Walt34]

For the first 18 years, like braumeister, the police department told me what to wear and how to wear it. That does have it's advantages, I didn't have to think about what to wear. When I went into the Fraud Section it was suits, because virtually all of the victims were businesses. But they were liberal; I could wear not only white, but other colored shirts along with the suit and tie.

 

[DFDubb]

Thankfully, it seems that the old guard has retired and they took their stupid dress codes with them. Spouse and I both work for Mega's that have done away with the antiquated dress codes. "We trust you engineers to design and build 50 million dollar machines, but not to dress yourself appropriately for work" never made sense to me. What are we, fifteen? Of course we're responsible enough to dress up for client whathaveyous, but otherwise, just about anything goes. I will admit, working at a campus with 50k+ employees, you do get to see some interesting choices each day.

People work better when they're comfortable. Who cares what they wear so long as they're not customer or client facing? Make me wear slacks with a tucked in shirt and tie and I'm going to spend most of my day fidgeting with my collar instead of working. Super thankful that the younger generation has ushered in change in this department.

 

[MichaelB]

I spent a year and a half working in the Guayana region in Venezuela, where it’s all mining, minerals, and metals processing, along with the Guri Dam. My employer mandated suit and tie across the country, no exceptions. It was funny, because I was literally the only person in the entire region with a suit and tie. All the senior management and execs wore guayaberas and khakis, and even when we had never met, they knew who I was as soon as I walked into the room.

 

[Red Badger]

First career - Army.

Second career - biz casual unless traveling; then sport coat required.

Not too bad.

Now? If I put on socks, it must be a big day.

 

[aja8888]

Out of college and in manufacturing (1970s) - Management wore ties and choice of jacket (when required). Im was an engineer and wore a tie.

As Plant Manager (manufacturing) , I wore a suit or tie and sport coat.

First corporate job (ARCO - Los Angeles -1981) - we were required to wear three piece suits. Really!

As an Oil & Gas engineering consultant (1990's - 2000's) - business casual in the office, BC with a tie when meeting clients, and FRC coveralls and steel toed boots in the field. Sometimes hard hats...

 

[GrayHare]

We would sometimes get complaints from clients about our employees who visited them, and mostly those complaints were about one woman. One written comment stated, obliquely, that she dropped and picked up a white board marker. For quite some time we didn't understand what that was supposed to mean. She had great legs and routinely wore miniskirt suits at our office, but nothing out of the ordinary for that era.

Maybe I should not bother mentioning the following because it will be doubted, but I swear it is true. Eventually she and I visited a distant client together. She had on the shortest skirt I have ever seen worn in a business setting. Apparently this was her "thing" to do when away from home. She was a health nut and supposedly for those reasons claimed to not wear underwear. During our client visit that day she showed me that was indeed true. It was then I understood the dropped white board marker comment.

 

[Just_Steve]

I hated dress codes. Didn't follow them for years. Supposed to wear suit and tie our group wore jeans. We weren't allowed to but management turned their head to it.

Later I conformed and went along with a lesser dress code, slacks and a polo shirt. I started managing people and had a gal who drove me crazy. The dress code said no crapi pant she wore them, then the war started. HR got in the middle of it and made it worse! Suddenly I found myself in a position of having to go around and see if the females on the staff were dressed appropriately!

Of course the dress code was unenforceable. I flat out refused to ask female associates if they were wearing hose, not stockings! What the heck are crapi pants and why do people wear crap pants? What business of management is it what's underneath your clothes? Soon the troublemaker was let go, unrelated to what she wore, her mother's father died for the second time and I made an issue over it, and my life was better. A couple years later the female HR VP that was so interested in what females wore under their clothes retired and the code was updated.

Somebody in HR or upper management had a sense of humor.

 

[Chuckanut]

As a middle school teacher I threatened misbehaving classes that if they did not shape up I would wear my Bermuda shorts to class and let them see my hairy old legs. That actually worked a few times.

 

[nhcycling]

Have been an engineer most of my career and worn jeans almost every day for 30 years

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

As an almost millennial the folks most worried about dress code seem to grate my nerve the most. Not their wardrobe focus, just generally this personality type. My favorite was my first line supervisor concerned about my compliance with the dress code. I asked to see a copy. Hint: there wasn't one. Adults know to tailor their wardrobe to the demands of the day. Go ye forth and focus on mission.

 

[steelyman]

Fortunately, I was never told I should wear more flair. I don’t think it would become me.