Posted on 08/23/2006 8:48:35 AM PDT by qam1
On those rare occasions when insurance executive Tara Guizot wears a suit to her Los Angeles office, "people invariably ask me if I'm interviewing for a new job," she said.
The trend toward casual dress has gone so far that Matt Smith, a 27-year-old Los Angeles lawyer, is on a quest to establish "Tie Tuesday." He would like to wear a suit to work but knows he'd be ridiculed. Instead, Smith dons a tie every Tuesday and hopes other men in his office will follow. So far, a couple have.
"It's just something fun," he said.
Forget casual Fridays. In many workplaces, it's casual everyday as corporate dress codes have gone the way of fedoras and white gloves.
Office workers, from executives to receptionists, now wear pretty much what they want, sometimes baring more cleavage, tattoos and body fat than co-workers care to see.
....
Polo shirts, sweater sets and tailored slacks -- what many companies consider "business casual" -- have given way to halter tops, rubber flip-flops, T-shirts and jeans.
The trend has even sparked a mini-backlash among professionals opting for a more buttoned-down look.
"Wearing a tie used to be a sign of conformity. But dressing down is now conformity and dressing up is rebellious," said Robert Stephens, who founded the Geek Squad, Best Buy Co.'s computer repair service. Squad members sport short-sleeve white shirts and black ties.
Credit younger workers, who bring a who-cares-what-I-wear attitude to their cubicles, for the casual-everyday trend
.....
"It really helps us, specifically with Gen X and Y workers," said Miriam Wardak, senior vice president for ICF International, a Virginia-based consulting firm, adding that some younger workers have told her they would not consider a potential employer if they had to wear a suit and tie.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Worthy of a tagline change ... plagerism isn't always a bad thing.
Wow! People such as you are very rare. You do hiring and know what to look for. I've seen far too many complete idiots in IT who get the job because they have a BS degree and dress nice. They start working and don't know sh1t about anything. Reminds me of the time I had to show someone with a Masters in computer Science how to map a network drive.
I'll agree with you except to say that there should be different standards for those who work in IT. A good 60-80% of people in IT are social misfits or downright anti-social. What constitutes "professional" for them does not involve interacting with other people at all.
They spend 90% of their time TOTALLY away from other people, staring at a computer screen. To an IT person, the standards are reversed: slovenly appearance, messy desks, coffee cups everywhere, are signs of the tortured, introverted genius within. (And I ought to know)...
There's nothing wrong in being an assistant night manager at Burger King. It's honest work and in a way there's something enobling about an honest worker in an uncomfortable outfit.
As a guy who did his fair share of IT recruiting, I cared about 2 things, first, do you have the skills necessary to do the job. But 2, and damn near as important, are you a team killer. If so, I don't care how good you are as a coder.
Appearance, couldn't care less.
HELLO??? Ever try to rotate a 300 lb quad wearing a form fitting, starched white uniform?
My wife wears loose-fitting scrubs with dogs and palm trees on them. She works in Hospice. The dying don't care how she dresses, they see her as an angel.
Depends on what I'm doing...
When I was in Iraq, the psycho site lead ALWAYS wore khakis. I wore jeans every single day while I was in the AOR, all 366 of them.
Now it depends. At this time I wear jeans just about every day with a collared shirt simply because there is a chance that I'll be working on cabling or fiber runs. But if I'm sure I won't be, like when I'm building a server or something in that vein, I'll wear khakis from time to time.
You seem like a really cool dude to work for!
"The last company that I worked for that required the stupid things got exactly what they demanded....one tie, worn every day and washed not dry cleaned...(shrunk up pretty well over time) Looked absolutely ridiculous and was shucked for the junk drawer in the desk each time I left the building. I wanted one with a nekid lady on it but my spouse drew the line at my rebellion."
Had the proverbial "nekid lady" tie. Actually it was Max Parrish's "Awakening" and the 'lady' was an androgenous "wood nymph." Raised some eyebrows in the embassy...
My apologies to all honest wage slaves. I'm sorry you have to wear a dog collar.
Actually, I once read that the whole point of the suit and tie was to forever remove a man from the category of guys who could roll up their sleeves and do dirty manual labor. A man in a suit would never even be asked to change a wagon wheel or shovel pig $#!t. It was a manifestation of the British notion that a gentleman was someone who had independent inherited wealth and need never work with his hands a day in his life. It is a fashion and a philosophy unsuited for a democratic Republic.
-ccm
"Tired of seeing women's tramp stamps sticking out over top of their jeans"
Unless you know of a good way to clean Copenhagen out of a keyboard, you owe me a new one!!!!
The sad reality is that we spend more time awake with our coworkers than with our families. I'll be damned if I'm gonna hire someone to make those hours more of a pain in the a$$ than they need to be.
I like your priorities. I for one, would enjoy more time with my family than at the office...
Didn't you get the memo on this?
I'm wearing a tie right now. It's covered in $100 bills.
Good one, I'll remember that.
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